urban retreat

phranakorn norn-len โรงแรมพระนคร-นอนเล่น

what happens when a former thai beauty pageant queen joins the green and grassroots movement? she opens phranakorn norn-len (aka p.n.), the "urban retreat," the trendy, rustic, eclectic, artsy, and quirky boutique guesthouse. written up in travel guides, international travel mags and even timetm magazine, this place is the trendiest of it's breed.

my fave features:
- "she's crafty, and she's just my type." p.n. is all about the creative use of old things. every floor hall houses a mural of a different theme, their gift shop is stocked with traditional and indie handcrafts, and their room decorations are bright uses of the traditional thai-country fabrics.- organic rooftop garden. they grow herbs and veggies up top with a loungy sitting area.- organic vegetarian (sort of) breakfast. inventive, simple, sensible portion size. last time i had breakfast, p.n. served mushroom & cheese egg wraps, mango & sticky rice, and green papaya salad. - really friendly service. you can tell the employees like working here.

things i feel "ehh..." about:
- hard to find. virtually no taxi drivers know how to get there. you'd best print out the map from their website.
- rooms are pretty small. like two-queen-beds-slid-next-to-each-other small.- no tvs. i like watching tv. sue me.
- it's pretty expensive. at 2400B a night, you could stay at a really ritzy hotel. but, if you're about the experience and the slower pace, this is your place.

phranakorn norn-len hotel
2400B+/night
46 thewet soi 1, phranakorn district. 02-6288188-90
webby: http://www.phranakorn-nornlen.com/

fireflies and loveliness

amphawa floating market

after my trip to the damnoen saduak floating market, i was content to never visit a floating market again. the 2 hour travel, contrived "traditional way-of-life," overpricing, and hordes of tourists were a turn-off, to say the least.thank god for redemption; after visiting amphawa floating market, my faith in floating markets has been restored. so, hurry up and get your butt over to amphawa before it gets dirty and stops being quaint and charming. the market open weekends, friday to sunday.

do stuff:
amphawa is known for its fireflies, which can be admired year-round, but in greatest abundance in hot season (apr-may). take an evening longtail boat tour down the river for 60B/person and watch the riverbanks flicker like christmas trees. most tours include other sites along the river, like fishing spots, temples, and sugar palm-making homes. plenty of companies along the market have tours that are all pretty much the same. take your pick.
you, too, can shop! the amphawa is much more of a DIY community than many other tourist spots, so we were able to find many more handmade and creative wares. the handmade glow-in-the-dark firefly cell phone charms at 39B each were my favorite souvenirs there. you know you want one.

just for a moment, suppose anthropologie and thailand had a lovechild. taramart is that lovechild. the first floor boutique sells hip, yet rustic, brightly printed tops and thai fishing pants and lady-bags while the eclectic, country-meets-chic second floor tea room has bright, inventive tea blends at 85B a pot. 081-696-4797
eats:
staying true to thai form, a great trip must have great eats. and as small as it is, there is so much great food at amphawa. in my opinion, these are the requisite "best eats"
*ice creams and sorbets at kumpan (กำปั่น) restaurant are homemade and delightfully thai. we tried (from l-r) star-gooseberry sorbet, apricot-guava sorbet, and coconut un-chun ice cream (our fave) for 35B a cup. *grilled river prawns. oh no, you shall not call these shrimp, for shrimp are not the length of your hand. these are prawns. and they are delicious. buy a plateful for 30B, then promptly buy another.*khao griap (ข้าวเกรียบ). a foot in diameter and impossibly delicate, lightly sweetened, grilled rice crepes. sorry, i forgot to take a picture, but it's worth buying a 20B bag of 3 crepes here, since everyone else's version tends to be a thicker, deep-fried, or savory version.

*amphawa also has a ton of beautifully-presented and delicious traditional thai snacks and desserts that are too numerous to list or even recommend. just eat your way around.
fat = happy, right?accomodations:
thanicha resort
amphawa is known for their "homestays" which means anything from crashing on some family's floor to a bed & breakfast. thanicha boutique resort is a charming thai-style teak bed & breakfast within walking distance from the market, modest and simple rooms and friendly service. it's like staying at a friend's house. you know, your hip, retro-traditional thai friend with 10 or so extra rooms. it was lovely.webby: www.thanicha.com/indexe.htm
03-472-5511

getting there:
amphawa floating market is in samut songkhram, and a mere 13km from damnoen saduak.
ac vans from victory monument, mo chit, and the southern bus terminal for 70-100B (depending on where they drop you off) that leave hourly (or more frequently, if busy).
also buses from the southern bus terminal.

what time is it?

Wine O'Clock

Well, if it's between 11-2 at "Wine O'Clock" Italian restaurant on Suk 49-- it is time to get a delicious and awesome pasta dish for 99 baht!
lunch menu features:
Four kinds of pasta
Four categories of sauce to choose from (red, cream, garlic/wine, and Thai curry) with about 8 variations of each sauce
Then, you can add a salad (3 choices) for only 49 baht!

The restaurant is situated on an adorable soi, and has an nice "alfresco" patio for cooler days. Inside, the walls are decorated in cork (which somehow comes across as classy) and the seating ranges from black leather couches for lounging to cozy corner tables. The ambiance is comfortable and the staff is attentive.

Every meal starts with freshly warmed french bread, oil and vinegar. Mineral water is 30 baht/bottle and the house wine starts at 250 baht/glass. (The white was delicious)

I ordered a mixed salad- lovely meslun leaves, tomatoes, onion with a light vinaigrette (they also ground fresh pepper! Hooray for traditionally served Italian food.)- followed by spaghetti with sausage in a saffron sauce. It was amazing. Served with fresh parm. Michelle had linguini with melanzane (eggplant and tomato) sauce, also a nice flavor.

I loved this restaurant so much the before we were done eating I started making plans to eat here again... later this week!

Check it out: Wine O'Clock 55/1 Sukhumvit Soi 49, 02-662-7895.

update: (michelle 5.11.09) true to her word, lexie and i did come back and i was so impressed with the saffron sausage that i ordered it again. unfortunately, it was served to me as "thai sausage" with a generous portion of chiles and no cream sauce. so, i pointed out to the server that this wasn't what i ordered. he then proceeded to tell me that i was wrong and that this was really the saffron sausage pasta and even brought over the menu - which i then pointed out was supposed to be a cream sauce and was different than the dish we ordered just one week ago. annoyed, he took the dish back and then came back with the same dish, except this time with cream in the dish and he said as he gave it to me, "it's the same, just with whipping cream." honestly, i'm not a stickler for superb service, but i don't appreciate service where they try to prove the customer wrong when they themselves have made a mistake and without considering the possibility of a mistake. and then, once the mistake has been acknowledged, my dish was altered and not corrected, and served back to me without apology. the altered dish, honestly, was tasty, but i was just so turned off by the way they handled it. is it too much to ask to get what you order and not made to feel like an ass?
i was so for you, wine o'clock, why'd you have to go and ruin it?

stop and smell the roses

pak khlong night flower market

you want flowers? you go here.
buy arm-fulls of orchids, roses, daisies, ferns, carnations, jasmine, marigolds and lotuses for scandalously cheap prices. flowers are sold wholesale mainly for flower vendors, meaning most things are sold in bulk quantiites. a bunch of 100 roses runs about 50-100B, depending on size and color and condition.it's worth going in the middle of the night simply for the fragrance emitted by the millions of fresh flowers - because really, when do you need like 100 orchid stems? you can buy flowers in smaller quantities at slightly greater cost as well, especially the ones that are rarer.

pak khlong night flower market
~250m northeast of the memorial bridge (saphan phut) on the chao phraya river; intersection of thanon chakphet and ban mo.
open all day, flowers best bought at night when freshly delivered.

god bless the military

JUSMAG

it isn't the gourmet delicacies and rare ethnic fare that make their residence in my brain's craving cortex, it's the common, the mundane, and the frequent conveniences i miss: the bagels, the sandwiches, the cereal. and because i refuse to spend $10 on a box of cereal, it's a forlorn memory of the familiar here.

i wouldn't have found the jusmag if a friend hadn't told me about it. why? because it's the joint u.s. military advisory group. the little hidden secret is the little diner-esque restaurant inside the complex. 60B usda hamburgers, deli sandwiches, 300B usda steak, bbq pork sandwiches that are nothing more than pork with kc masterpiece sauce...don't expect special, just expect dime-a-dozen american.the heavy, easily-missed steel door on the street requires your us govt-issued id to pass security. and once you're in the jusmag complex, the restaurant in the back is quiet, fluorescently lit, and pastel vinyl furnishings, the basic crowd is primarily jusmag personnel, vets, and other americans running errands at the jusmag, lending a small-town dive environment. even the wait staff, though thai, are quite un-thai in their indifferent, distracted airs. they might as well have blue hair, horn-rimmed glasses, and huge butts.

off to the side, there are american snacks available, meaning you can pick up pop tarts, mounds bars, cream soda, combos and dr. pepper as readily as you can in the states.

also, they have a us postal service office, barber shop, and athletic courts on campus, but no staff was available to tell me if it's available for all us citizens to use or military/govt personnel only. comment if you know.

jusmagthai
south sathorn rd., across from the suan lum night bazaar.
restaurant: mon-sat 6:30a-3p; bar opens 3p
webby: http://www.jusmagthai.com/jusmagthai.html