Vanilla Cafe

On the suggestion of my blogging colleague, Marc of Creative Spark, I checked out Vanilla Cafe in Bangkok. It’s located at 53 Ekamai Soi 12, Sukhumvit Soi 63, Bangkok and the moment I walked in, I knew why Marc had recommended it. For me, it was a bit like stepping back into the 1950s (not that I ever lived in the 1950s but I’ve always liked mid-20th Century interiors).

The cafe itself sits next to Sauce, a bookshop, and both are located in a tranquil garden with a quaint path that leads to stairs that take you to Vanilla Cafe. The interior is full of mid-20th Century “antiques” like old coloured telephones; kidney-shaped low wooden tables; and vintage toy cars. The interior is light and spacious, thanks to the large glass windows.Thank goodness we visited on our second day in Bangkok because I heard the area where the cafe is located was later flooded.

The best way I can describe the menu offerings is a fusion of Japanese, Italian and American. I was eyeing off the desserts so decided to go for a toasted sandwich with some tempura-type chips. Pretty standard fare really. But the desserts – well, I had crepes with banana and caramel sauce. Sensational.

The service was pretty bad though. They took ages to bring out the food and there was hardly anyone at the cafe (I think due to the threatening floods). This is offset by the ambiance of the cafe though. Next time I’m in Bangkok, I plan to go back and this time take note of the names of dishes and the price. I also plan to visit the other two cafes Marc recommended: Spring & Summer; and Audrey Cafe & Bistro. I was disappointed about not getting to Audrey’s – thanks to Bangkok’s floods. But hey – great excuse for another visit to Bangkok.

Lalida and I enjoyed our time at Vanilla Cafe.

 

A happy Thai boy

In Thailand, a foreigner is referred to as a farang. This term is used mainly for Caucasians and it depends on the context as to whether it’s an insult or not. More often than not though, it’s a neutral word and so I am the farang aunt for Peem and Poom. These cute boys are the sons of Lalida’s brother but I didn’t get to meet them when I was in Thailand recently. Peem (who is 4-years old) came to meet us at the airport but was so shy, he hid behind Lalida in the car and I never really managed to meet him properly due to Nam-tuam. I didn’t meet Poom (2-years old).

We gave the boys some New Zealand gifts – a soft toy Kiwi for Peem and a white fluffy lamb for Poom. Peem is staying with his father at the factory he works at due to the flooding, so I don’t have any photos of Peem opening up his gift. But here are the cutest photos of Poom enjoying his new friend, a New Zealand lamb. I LOVE the largest photo of Poom smiling at the lamb. Just too too cute!

 

Snap du jour

I’ll be doing a post soon on a couple of fascinating places I visited in Bangkok: the Vanilla Cafe and Jim Thompson’s house. I’ve been to Jim Thompson’s before but I love going back every time I visit Thailand. Today’s photo shows the cafe, which overlooks a calming pond full brightly-coloured Koi.

 

 

Elephants

Walking around Bangkok is always a feast for the eyes. In the most unexpected of places, you’ll suddenly come across some shrine or temple – in this case, a shrine to the Hindu god Brahma with four faces (which symbolize the four books of the Vedas). What struck me were the many small elephant statues at the base of the shrine.

Thai people are quite suspicious and believe in many guardian spirits or angels. A very common image I saw is the guardian serpent, Naga, whose job is to keep bad spirits at bay. You see Thais paying respects to all sorts of gods and spirits, including Indian ones.

And when a Thai person believes that a god or spirit has helped in their life, they pay respect through offerings such as food, flowers and, with Brahma, small elephant statues. I would love to have spirited off with a couple of the cute elephants, especially the gold ones, but thought that would be very bad karma indeed!

 

Amazing cakes

Rome had tempting cakes and pastries and Malaysia was equally tempting. But who knew Thailand would offer colourful, intricately decorated cakes. The attention to design and detail is very impressive. I had to take lots of photos to show you various cakes decorated with marine life and mermaids; people; cars; landscapes.

Some of the cakes had bright blue icing (a bit off-putting), whilst others featured gorgeous emerald green and buttercup yellow icing. I was sooooooooo tempted to buy a cake and see whether it tasted as good as it looked. My experience with Asian cakes and pastries is that they are often not as sweet as their Western counterparts and can sometimes be disappointing. Having said this, I scoffed a stunning mango pastry layered with delicately-spiced whipped cream in Malaysia.

I resisted the urge to buy a cake in Bangkok though. Serious brownie points to me! To give you an idea of cost, one of the cakes I was looking at weighed 2lbs. The Thais use the Imperial system of measurement so I have to convert this to metric…hang on…..that’s around 0.91 kgs. The cost of a 2lb cake was 1,100 Baht or around NZ$43.00. I reckon I’d pay that just to taste one of these sensational looking cakes but due to the floods, no time. I also spotted some macaroons, which I love, but also avoided these. Note to self: try to ease up on holidays and let go occasionally.

 

Drunken chicken

You know how I can’t resist scanning a menu – not for the food items so much – but for the spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or oddly-named menu offerings. Rome proved to be exciting – remember Chop Of Pig and Good Made Food?

Well, Thailand is just as good for it has Drunken Chicken. Yep folks: should you fancy a bit of chicken for dinner, you can have the usual – grilled chicken, stir-fried chicken, baked chicken, steamed chicken but why not step out a bit and have….drunken chicken!

I have no idea what Drunken Chicken is all about as I didn’t order it. I went for the stir-fried chook. But I had visions of some poor chicken having its fill of white wine and falling into the cooking pot in a drunken stupor.

 

Thai care package

On arrival in Bangkok, Lalida had a care package ready and waiting. Lalida and I call each other sisters, even though we are not related. We have a lot in common and talk about everything and anything.

We arrived on October 22 and the capital city wasn’t yet on high alert. But Lalida thought we needed a care package just in case. It included: drinking water; milk tea; crispy pork snacks; shortbread; toilet paper; umbrellas; Thai sweets; a fan; and the most useful of items – a manually-powered tiny torch. She thought of everything.

Each day, new drinking water would be delivered, along with my favourite fruit – mangoes. Lalida’s father has a property on which he grows mangoes and jackfruit. She also bought some Durian chips but I never managed to try these due to leaving Bangkok earlier than expected, thanks to the advancing floodwaters.

Lalida’s father has a joke. Every time Lalida and I meet – there’s some sort of crisis. Last time, in 2005, I was staying at their house when Lalida contracted chickenpox. I’ve never had chickenpox and ended up moving to a hotel. This time around, it was Nam-tuam – the floods. I’m hoping that Lalida and her Dad visit us in New Zealand in late 2012, along with her nephew, Peem. I stop short at joking that there will be another crisis, like an earthquake, considering we live just outside of Christchurch.

Mmmmmm…better get a Kiwi care package ready for Lalida!

 

Fabulous

Tomorrow, I hike it back to New Zealand. As much as I enjoy Asia, I’m really looking forward to going home. I think because I’ve been on the road since July, with only three days back in NZ after Rome before flying out to Malaysia. I’m a bit tired of living in apartments or hotels and living out of suitcases. I plan to spend the first week back home doing – nothing. Well, actually I still have work to do following my stint in Rome. I’m on retainer until the end of the year and will work five days a month on the project. Then who knows. Maybe two trips back to Rome next year. I’m in the budget for that, so we’ll see.

Meanwhile, I realise I have a lot of catching up to do. I need to bring you posts on my weekend trips to Florence and Siena. A review on Vanilla Cafe in Bangkok. Plus, show you some of the makeup I bought in Malaysia from Sephora. But first, let me show you the fabulous earrings I picked up in Bangkok for NZ$30.00.

They’re from Northern Thailand and are hand-made. I really like the shape of the earrings, which feature turquoise, lapis lazuli and red coral – all set in gold. Thailand (actually all of Asia) has amazing jewellery and I enjoyed just browsing and seeing all the different designs.

 

Preparing

In the days before leaving Bangkok, sandbags outside buildings were a common sight. I remember reading somewhere, many years ago, that there is a specific way sandbags should be stacked for flood protection and that the bags form a dike that also needs to be protected with plastic. And pumps are required to remove any water that seeps through. This is about all I remember so I sure hope that the residents of Bangkok know about sandbagging for flood protection.

All along the roads of the city, I’d see sandbags dumped outside offices and buildings, including Prada, Louis Vuitton and an Indian temple for worshipping Ganesh, the Hindu elephant deity. The height of the sandbags differed. I guess it is a matter of how many sandbags you can get hold of, along with trying to estimate – from all the confusing announcements – just how high the flood waters will get.

 

Nam-tuam

Well folks: I flew out of Bangkok today. Along with thousands of others fleeing Thailand’s capital due to the relentless floods that are about to wash over the city. Nam-tuam is Thai for floods and you hear these words a lot in Bangkok right now. I went to Bangkok, after working in Malaysia, to visit my Thai family - Lalida and her parents. I first met Lalida in 2003 during my first visit to Thailand and hadn’t seen her since 2005. So I thought I’d spend a week in Bangkok with Lalida and her family.

Didn’t count on the floods getting in our way though. It’s been a bit of a scary week actually. Lalida and I had hoped for a week of visiting some temples, seeing elephants painting and checking out Siam Paragon (a huge shopping complex). We did manage to rush through Siam Paragon yesterday but the rest of our plans were sent into chaos as Nam-tuam marched relentlessly towards Thailand’s capital city.

Daily the news seemed to shift. One moment, you’d hear that the flood waters were 2.1 metres and well below the 2.5 metre barrier that is holding the flood waters at bay. Next, you’d hear that with the high tides, the water level would reach 2.65 metres. Drinking water is almost impossible to find and food prices are skyrocketing as shop owners take advantage of panic buying.

Fortunately, Lalida is a sensible person and has been stocking up on essential items. Earlier this week, the Thai Government said that the flood waters could be a problem for up to one month. So Lalida has ensured she has rice, dried fish, drinking water and medical supplies to keep them all going for one month if necessary.

Two days ago, the Thai Government announced that residents should leave Bangkok because high tides and flood waters are expected to gush into the city this weekend. Lalida was keen for us to leave but we were equally keen to see that she would be okay. Hubs and I managed to get on an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we’ll spend this coming weekend before flying back to Christchurch. Bangkok airport was in chaos this morning as the floods sparked a mass exodus.

I’ve been on the road, so to speak, since late July and this week of uncertainty has pretty well convinced me to stay put in my beloved New Zealand for quite some time. I’ll bring you some photos of the floods and empty shops but for today’s post, here are some photos of Lalida and her parents.

We were invited over to their house a few days ago, before Bangkok was placed on high alert due to Nam-tuam. Lalida’s mother cooked my favourite dish of chicken with ginger and we also enjoyed the Thai dessert I love the most – mango with sticky rice. We then went off to see an amazing show – Siam Niramit, A Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam. This took our minds off the floods for a few hours.’I guess this weekend will show whether the barriers around Bangkok can contain Nam-tuam.

Chicken soup, duck, chicken with ginger and mango with sticky rice - a Thai feast!

Mango with sticky rice and coconut milk.

Lalida with her parents. Her father is always happy and smiling. Her mother just had an eye operation.