In Search of Vietnamese Pancakes

We headed out at 9:30 to go to Talat Nang Loeng outdoor market for brunch.  Brett and Brendon had gone to this outdoor market for Vietnamese “pancakes” and since Chinda had a list of food stalls here she wanted to visit that she had learned about on YouTube we headed to this market. We took the Sky Train to the Metro.  We got off the Metro at Hua Lamphong station and crossed the road to the water channel to catch a water bus that would drop us off close to the market.  As we stood at the boat station a woman called out from across the river, pantomiming 11:00.  We didn’t want to wait for an hour to get the boat ride down the channel.  So Chinda and I got a tuktuk (she can negotiate a better price speaking Thai than I got as a blonde foreigner) and Melissa, Matt and Yves walked to the market.  I love riding the tuktuks!

Chinda and I got to the market about  a half hour before the rest of the family.  I watched with wonder as Chinda went through the market with her list of food stalls, purchasing delicacies for a few baht here and a few baht there.  We found the Vietnamese pancakes and watched the woman make them for us.

Chinda got multiple bags of food:  pork and beef inside tapioca that I called ox eyes, Vietnamese pancakes, Vietnamese appetizer (meat on toast squares that was deep fried), pan fried chicken noodles, shrimp with morning glory stems and noodles, durian sticky rice with a coconut sauce, and a sausage dish we were too full to open.  I got not one but two Thai iced coffees to drink with all these great tastes.  I am a huge fan of Thai iced coffee.

I have been amazed at the traffic here.  Tuktuks and motorcycles weave in and around cars in ways that seem to me to be accidents waiting to happen.  Instead of a cab or a tuktuk you can hire a motorcycle to transport you.  The motorcycle drivers wear helmets but their passengers don’t.  Women often sit side saddle.  The whole thing terrifies me. Today, as we were leaving the market a motorcycle transporting a passenger went down onto the pavement.   No one panicked….not the motorcyclist beside them…not the driver….not the passenger.  They simply got themselves unpinned from the motorcycle and climbed back on.  In the US there would have been an incident report to fill out.  

We were able to catch the “boat bus” back to the Metro station.  What a great way to travel and it appears to be free since we were never charged.  

We took the same route home.  As we completed the one block walk back to our rental we hoped we wouldn’t run into any cockroaches.  We showered and took naps.  Matt talked about heading out by himself to the Thai Labor Museum but fell into a blissful sleep instead.  We have been doing so much that it felt good to have a quiet afternoon.

As Yves took a nap we discussed where we wanted to go to dinner.  We are staying on such a busy tourist street that anywhere we wanted to go was going to require a lengthier drive in traffic than any of us had the patience for tonight.  So Matt and Melissa ordered food from a Vietnamese restaurant.  As it turns out, this was our Vietnamese cuisine day.  

Yves was in a great mood.   He especially loves sitting on his father’s head.

The cockroach saga continued tonight.  Matt and Melissa were bathing Yves when they looked over to see another cockroach.  Matt alerted the owner again.  He rang the doorbell within minutes.  He wanted us to know that his cleaning staff scoured the place today and he hired people to seal up all cracks.  He was sure this was a lone cockroach, acting on his own….absolutely no family or friends around.  He also made sure to give each of us the same educational lecture on cockroaches, which had no basis in reality.  He apologized, comped us a night and said, “For every cockroach you find I will comp you another night, but please don’t bring any in from the outside.”  Hmmm….really.

We played cards and enjoyed not going out.