Culinary on the road: Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore

If we would say that we travel only because of experiences, learning and discoveries … that would be a lie. Of course that is what we get when we travel, like it or not, and it´s fine, but we are traveling of pure enjoyment on the road and on the destination. I don´t say that this enjoyment are material things, far from that, but part of it are also material things.
One of topmost enjoyments that we cannot imagine out trips without is food. Local culinary. We are lucky that kids are gourmets, they like different tastes and they actually indulge in them almost as much as we, the old ones, do. We don´t do to McDonald´s and in our kitchen cabinets you won´t find Nutella or Poli. I don´t say that something is wrong with those things, that is just the way that we live. I admit that it´s sometimes annoying that we spend half of family time in the kitchen creating something and then the grownups have to clean all the mess. But on the other hand kitchen is the heart of our home and food is much more than just ingredient to survive.
In prepared food you can see creator and everything around that. Ingredients, spices, fusion of colors and tastes, aromas and sounds that surround all that – and we can feel it with our taste buds, as well as something less tangible, more sensually and hearty in ourselves. We can feel the country and its people directly through local food. And we truly enjoy in that.
I have to admit that our last trip is dear to our hearts (or better, our stomachs) because of excellent culinary, among others. We rarely eat so good, as we constantly ate on that trip.

We started in Singapore, where you can eat crazy good food for reasonable price (quite cheap, actually) in their foodcourts, even though they have high standard and even higher prices. We would be able to continue this for a long time, and wouldn´t get tired of. Don´t let high prices of Singapore scare you off for at least short time exploring this city, where you can quite enjoy even if you have an average budget. And you can eat well 🙂 .
I will write more about Singapore in a while.

We continued our journey on Langkawi, Malaysia, which we didn´t like at all … except … great Asian food. I won´t write more about Langkawi – it is great starting point to Koh Lipe, and by our opinion that is all.

And after that a week of indulgence in Koh Lipe. Koh Lipe is a paradise for sea food and Thai taste lovers. I can still recall tasting their pad thai and green curry. And I haven´t even began to talk about fruits. Wonderful pineapples, mangos and watermelons. The prices were reasonable, even though Koh Lipe is one of the more expensive Thailand islands. The cheapest pad thai was 80 baht (2 eur), but in more fancy restaurants it cost more, of course. I believe that in other parts of Thailand you can get it for even lower price, but we thought it was cheap. And then there is green curry, tom yum, Thai pancakes and their fried vegetables, noodles and rice on 101 ways. Yum 🙂 .

In average we paid 16 eur for lunch for four persons with coconuts, water or beer. Prices of beer aren´t the same around Koh Lipe – in the shop it is 40 baht (1 eur) and in the restaurant 60 baht (or a little bit more, check it for yourself). Prices of sea food are a little higher, but reasonable. We paid 30 eur for abundantly and delicious dinner for four hungry persons and that included fish, shrimps, crabs, fried vegetables, soup and drink.
And of course fruit juices, waffles, Thai pancakes … You can also get “western” food, but we didn´t get further than knowing prices of pizzas. You can get big slice of pizza for cca 100 baht, the whole pizza is more expansive – 300 baht. But if it is possible try to enjoy in local food that is really delicious. If you get bored with Thai food, go to Indian and their tandoor for a change 🙂 .

In Bangkok and surrounding area the prices of Thail food are even lower. Street food and street food once more. And street food again. Local markets and market squares – smells, spices, sounds, colors and delicious tastes. I don´t know about experiences of others, but we didn´t hold back and have no digestive problems (as it happened in Sri Lanka and Philippines). Even though Bangkok is touristic and full of people of all nationalities, it has some charm. When you have enough chaos, you just go to the quite street and indulge in an hour long Thai massage. And after that, what could be better in Bangkok than – pad thai 🙂 .