I'm Just Here For The Food

Saturday, March 25, 2006

The Quest For Chicken

Now I can be a stubborn man. I'll give you a second to recover from the shock of that statement...Oh, done already? We'll move on then. This manifests itself when I'm traveling as an overriding desire to find places that I can't seem to find. If I want to get there, come hell or high water, I'll find it. The longer it takes the less likely I am to ask for directions, and it becomes a matter of honour, and my belief that I'm an excellent map reader (a skill that might come in useful on The Amazing Race I hope). Now this trip I've been a rock star at navigating. No matter what the city, after the first day or so, I'm usually good without a map I don't know where every street is, but I know areas, and how to find what I need. Bangkok however, KICKED MY ASS THE OTHER DAY.

So I set off to go to Wat Pho, since I didn't have enough time the other day. But I knew where it was, and was close by, so I left Khao San Rd, and started walking. Well I got lost. WAY LOST. So lost that I couldn't have told you what direction I was even heading in. I was also using the LP maps which were spread out over 10 pages, and I didn't even know which one to look at. That's when I became determined to find my way no matter what. It's not as easy as you think, since Bangkok has the worse signs ever. I eventually did find my way, and didn't get lost on the way back. Dignity tarnished, but salvaged.

Now all of that was a prelude to my quest for chicken. Lonely Planet kind of sucks, but their food recommendations are almost always bang on. So it was with that that I decided to dine at Soi Polo Fried Chicken. The best fried Chicken in Bangkok it said. I love fried Chicken...I mean love it, and I must admit, I made a damn tasty fried Chicken...damn tasty. So I was off to find chicken. The place however was pretty far, and a cab ride was out, as was walking. This meant braving the Bangkok bus system, and then taking the sky train, then walking a bit. The bus was easy enough, and the stop I wanted was near the MBK mall (which had awesome A/C so I just had to walk around there for a bit), so it was hard to miss. After that I figured out the Sky Train, and while I did miss my first stop, it was easily corrected. Then I exited to the street. I had no idea where I was.

I was dark so I couldn't navigate that way. The streets weren't labeled, and I had no clue where to go. So I figured I just walk to the next cross street and figure it out. Well the blocks aren't as close as in NYC, so I walked for 15 minutes before I came to a cross section...which had no signage either. So I turned and walked. I did see a big park, which was good, since the place I was looking for was around Lumpini park. I just had no idea what part of the park is was. So I continued walking. Now it turns out that when you're walking the streets of Bangkok, and see a big sign for an upcoming intersections the street on the sign isn't the street at the intersection, but the street that you're on. WTF? Who knew. Needless to say I walked around nearly the whole damn park. I was walking for at least an hour. It was getting late I was starving, and I'm lost at night in Bangkok. Time to swallow the pride and ask a taxi. They didn't know where it was either. I asked two drivers. No idea. They couldn't even speak English (despite the sign that says "Yes we speak English"), so they couldn't even tell me what street I was on.

So summoning all my navigatory ability (What? It's a perfectly cromulent word). I used the park,and the direction of traffic and all other little clues and was able to pinpoint exactly where I was. I was actually on the right street, but had walked about 15 minutes past Soi Polo. So I headed back. Now you might think that it's a bit of Thai humour that they have the best chicken on Soi Polo, I mean I did, I thought it was hilarious. Did they do it on purpose? Well it turns out the Bangkok Polo Club is on that street, hence the name. I don't know if that makes the joke better or worse, I'll leave that up to you. So I finally found Soi Polo, now I just had to find the restaurant (which I had been searching for for about 80 minutes). I was convinced that the place would be closed, but I was determined. Sure I passed a few places that looked good, but I wanted Chicken damn it.



Then I saw it. A cartoon roasted chicken in the window, a place packed with people. This was it. So I walked in. I was the only non-Thai in the place. They led me to my seat, I ordered a half-order (which LP said was enough for two), ordered a well deserved beer,and waited for the glorious meat. Now I was getting some stares. Lone white guy in a room full of Thai, I kind of stood out. I didn't care though, they didn't know what I had been through, they didn't know the lengths I went through to get here. Then the chicken came.

IT WAS SOOOOOO FUCKING GOOD




I mean it was insane how good this chicken was. Golden and crisp on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. They even fry up garlic bits and pour it on top. And then there's the dipping sauce. Spicy, yet a little sweet. A really good Thai BBQ sauce. So I ate, and ate. After that plate was finished ordered another half order and eat that all up. All the while the Thais were getting drunker and drunker on 100 Piper Scotch (which made me kind of miss Piper. I miss my Dog). The dinner was amazing, and worth the journey. It took me all of twenty minutes to find my way back to the Skytrain by the way.

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