While walking around the Wat Sriboonruang, I thought about my next destination and I decided to head to Phed Mark for an early lunch. I again called for a ride using Grab, and my ride - again a regular taxi - arrived within minutes.
I recently learned about Phed Mark from a food blog. Phed Mark is is partly owned by American food blogger Mark Wiens. Mark deserves much credit for bringing Thai food - in particular southern Thai cuisine - to a wider audience in the west. The one issue I have with him, though, is that he eats everything with a crazy amount of chilis, and in doing so he is perpetuating the myth that Thai food must always be spicy.
The ride to Phed Mark in the Ekkamai area took about 25 minutes. Again, I marveled at how quickly I got there. I found that Phed Mark was right next to the Ekkamai Bus Station, which serves points southeast of Bangkok. I remember in the past battling traffic for two hours one way just to get to this station to hop onto a bus bound for the beaches and islands east of Bangkok. Now, the BTS runs right to it.
Phed Mark serves only one dish - pad kaprao, a much loved Bangkok street food dish made of minced meat fried with thai basil and chilies and served over rice with a fried egg. I ordered a pad kaprao neua (beef). Out of an abundance of caution, I ordered spice level two. The version served here was very good, but I ended up putting more chilies into my dish because spice level two was actually quite mild. While eating, I realized that Phed Mark was a clever wordplay. It could mean "Spicy Mark (Wiens)", but it could also mean very spicy (phed maak).
After eating, I took the train to one of the big malls in the Chid Lom area. My initial plan was to look at silk cushion covers at the Jim Thompson stall. My first stop at the mall was a coffee shop. While sipping coffee, I browsed the cushion covers online. I balked at the prices, and then I realized I was lukewarm about silk as a material because the silk worms have to die in order to process the silk. I decided to not buy the cushion covers, and I once again found myself pondering my next move. I thought about visiting the Jim Thompson House, but I realized going through a curated exhibition wasn't going to help me connect deeper with Bangkok. I knew I still wanted to go to Chinatown, but I was unsure about going to Thipsamai because getting back would be a pain without the klong taxi in operation. I decided to go straight to Chinatown. So, I hopped back onto the subway and made my way there.
ThailandBangkok13°43’11” N 100°35’6” E
ThailandBangkok13°43’11” N 100°35’6” E