The MRT lets you off right at this mall, the "Esplanade" and being the wusses that we are, we opted to walk thru this mall with A/C to the back where the night market is. Gotta stay cool as long as you can! The Rod Fai is really popular, with live music, lots of clothing, fun stuff and a retro vibe. And then, there's the food. Soo many choices and as the evening goes on, gets really crowded. We had seen some great meals on Youtube but choosing was hard!
I was intrigued by this woman selling flattened squids- you get 3 for 50 baht ( $1.50 USD) and she cooks them over an old style charcoal pot, cuts them into bits with scissors and hands you the bag of pieces. It smelled really good.
We wandered around and saw MANY choices, even at least 4 places selling roasted bugs- maybe some other time. We did get some fried chicken chunks and a watermelon smoothie (my fav-they just blend ice and watermelon and a little simple syrup- terrific) and then got a banana/chocolate roti-
He makes a pastry then cooks in this flat wok- puts in the goodies and folds it into this square like an envelope. Then it gets cut up into little pieces. They offer lots of different choice flavors and so good.
We wandered around and in the back is a HUGE aisle of about 25 bars, all playing their own music. Most are double decker and it was early and not too busy but the noise is crazy! We plan on hanging out here again, but tonight we were on a mission to explore.
We finally decided on a place to eat that had seating. Very tight though and by that I mean all the tables next to us had to get up and out so we could sit down. VERY busy seafood booth, I had wanted to try the salted fish and they were making it fresh-so this was the place!
It was kind of funny, a boy maybe 13 got our table and took our order and another young lady who looked about 8 brought our food and plates. We tried to order beers, they were on the menu but I got a total blank look from the boy- I mean, nothing. Another customer said "he is not Thai" and tried to order for us, but we finally gave up and just gestured drinking, which got us two warm coke bottles.
Those kids were working very hard getting food and orders as fast as they could doing a great job and I wondered if not Thai were they Laotion, Cambodian, or what?
Jimm wanted the prawns, and the salad herbs and cabbage came with. They stuff the fish with lemongrass and coat it in salt, turn over hot coals and done! It was very tender and mild, the green sauce is spicy but adds a lot of flavor. Really good food and again the booth was PACKED--and how's this:total for this meal including the napkins you have to pay 60 cents for was $16.80 out the door.
Okay, now the live bands were really getting started, but they play right next to each other and as you might imagine, it's a little chaotic.
It seemed you could order food elsewhere and get beers here and sit at these bars with live music- this was the first market we had been to with no general seating. Kind of makes it hard to walk and eat but most people seemed fine with that. Okay, so more checking out the stalls-you can get your nails done, a haircut or a tattoo also. Here's a few more shots of the bars, they were all showing the soccer game..
We will definitely go back, it is a bit of a hike to get there but so much fun. On another note, all our thoughts go out to Florida and Hurricane Irma-I have friends and Egencia coworkers there and we are thinking of you and hope all will be well.
Thanks for now!
