I remember the times when we used to travel to Port Klang just for seafood, to Seremban for a breakfast of beef noodles, to Bidor for duck noodles and to Ipoh for my favourite creme caramel. While I don't think it's crazy travelling great distances in search of food, I think many foreigners would think we were mad!
My recent trip to Thailand saw me taking a 4 hour journey north of Bangkok for tamarind and oranges and 4 hours south to Bang Sean for a seafood dinner. I also remember the times when I was working in Bangkok and L and I would plan to go to Chonburi for dinner after work. Chonburi is near Pattaya and would take us a solid 80-90 minutes of driving each way but we'd make our way through the Bangkok jam (I'd try to sneak out of office early), get on the Expressway and speed along, planning on what to order. Thinking back, it was absolutely madness, as these were working nights (like school nights!) and all in all, it would be around 3 hours of driving.
During my last trip, on the Friday we were there, G had a field trip to Chonburi Province so she said to us, "Why don't you take the bus and meet me at Bang Saen for a seafood dinner? It will only take about max 90 minutes." Sure, I thought, why not?
So we timed ourselves, got to Ekkamai Bus Station at around 4pm and looked for a counter that read Sri Racha / Bang Saen. Found the counter, no problem. Paid only around RM7 for the ticket and the bus was leaving in 15 minutes.
We get on the bus, realise that we are the only 2 passengers. Wow! Bus leaves and I'm getting all excited .. then it stops at another bus terminal ... funny, I thought to myself, isn't think supposed to be a direct bus? G calls on the mobile and I ask her and she says, well sometimes with less passengers they may stop to pick up more. OK.
Later, I realise that the bus ISN'T getting on the Expressway but rather, we were taking the normal roads UNDERNEATH the Expressway and that the bus was stopping at ALL the bus stops along the way! Spoke to G again and she was like .. argh, sometimes the bus with few passengers do this in order to get more $$. You see, the $$ I paid goes to the bus company, but the $$ they collect from all the other passengers goes into the driver's pocket.
Thus, we resigned ourselves to the ALL STOPS bus to Bang Saen ..in the light drizzle and all. Nearly 4 hours later (3 hours later than we thought!) we finally arrive at Bang Saen. Poor G is starving and dying from hunger, poor dear. We go to this Seafood place for dinner (we've never been before) and the food wasn't very great and there was very poor lighting, so the pics I took of the food didn't come out very well.
Anyway, after dinner, we stop at this stretch of shops which I love visiting for they sell all kinds of tid-bits. Unfortunately, many were close but we still managed to get some really yummy and freshly roasted cashew nuts, sotong bakar, durian chips and G also got us this sticky rice thing cooked in a bamboo (looks like our lemang but it's cooked with some beans and coconut so it's dessert-like). Took some pics while I was there. The stickey-rice-in-bamboo (Before and After) and pics of some raw small crabs a lady was selling ...
My recent trip to Thailand saw me taking a 4 hour journey north of Bangkok for tamarind and oranges and 4 hours south to Bang Sean for a seafood dinner. I also remember the times when I was working in Bangkok and L and I would plan to go to Chonburi for dinner after work. Chonburi is near Pattaya and would take us a solid 80-90 minutes of driving each way but we'd make our way through the Bangkok jam (I'd try to sneak out of office early), get on the Expressway and speed along, planning on what to order. Thinking back, it was absolutely madness, as these were working nights (like school nights!) and all in all, it would be around 3 hours of driving.
During my last trip, on the Friday we were there, G had a field trip to Chonburi Province so she said to us, "Why don't you take the bus and meet me at Bang Saen for a seafood dinner? It will only take about max 90 minutes." Sure, I thought, why not?
So we timed ourselves, got to Ekkamai Bus Station at around 4pm and looked for a counter that read Sri Racha / Bang Saen. Found the counter, no problem. Paid only around RM7 for the ticket and the bus was leaving in 15 minutes.
We get on the bus, realise that we are the only 2 passengers. Wow! Bus leaves and I'm getting all excited .. then it stops at another bus terminal ... funny, I thought to myself, isn't think supposed to be a direct bus? G calls on the mobile and I ask her and she says, well sometimes with less passengers they may stop to pick up more. OK.
Later, I realise that the bus ISN'T getting on the Expressway but rather, we were taking the normal roads UNDERNEATH the Expressway and that the bus was stopping at ALL the bus stops along the way! Spoke to G again and she was like .. argh, sometimes the bus with few passengers do this in order to get more $$. You see, the $$ I paid goes to the bus company, but the $$ they collect from all the other passengers goes into the driver's pocket.
Thus, we resigned ourselves to the ALL STOPS bus to Bang Saen ..in the light drizzle and all. Nearly 4 hours later (3 hours later than we thought!) we finally arrive at Bang Saen. Poor G is starving and dying from hunger, poor dear. We go to this Seafood place for dinner (we've never been before) and the food wasn't very great and there was very poor lighting, so the pics I took of the food didn't come out very well.
Anyway, after dinner, we stop at this stretch of shops which I love visiting for they sell all kinds of tid-bits. Unfortunately, many were close but we still managed to get some really yummy and freshly roasted cashew nuts, sotong bakar, durian chips and G also got us this sticky rice thing cooked in a bamboo (looks like our lemang but it's cooked with some beans and coconut so it's dessert-like). Took some pics while I was there. The stickey-rice-in-bamboo (Before and After) and pics of some raw small crabs a lady was selling ...
