The Weird & Wonderful Food of Thailand

Thailand is known the world over for its beautiful food. The streets of every village, town and city are filled with a wide variety of mouth-wateringly delicious food.  Pad Krapow and red and green curry’s are everywhere. But there is also a weird side to Thai food. In this post we will take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Thailand’s weird and wonderful food.

Khao San Road, Bangkok

The street food in Thailand provides convenient, delicious and cheap meals and it is one of the best ways to get in touch with the local culture but can be a little intimidating at the beginning.

One of our most favourite places in the world is Khao San Road, Bangkok. You can spend hours here roaming among the stalls and food vendors. Khao San is a bustling hub of travelers from around the world. It is a great place to meet people and make great lifelong friends.

Sometimes it seems that you can buy anything you want in the world on these crazy and bustling neon filled streets.  From cheap T-shirts and beer Chang to the more darker side of Khao San, fake passports, prostitutes and drugs, they sell it all here. This area also boasts some of the best street food and nightlife in the world. It was on this street that we had our first Pad Thai at 3 am in the morning after a grueling 13 hour bus journey where we had to fight off all the money grabbers that go along with traveling, but that is for another story. Dave also ate his first (and unfortunately not his last) scorpion here. He is a sucker for a bit weirdness.  

Khao San is a road that never sleeps and while you are here, you will not be sleeping either. This road is a beacon for backpackers from all across the world and a great place to party, so if you would like to get a good nights sleep, we would recommend staying a few blocks away in one of the quieter streets.

Just weird

A thing of nightmares: water bugs, scorpions, tarantulas, grasshoppers, crickets and many other nasty little nibbles

Eating insects and other creepy weird things in Asia, is on the itinerary list of many travelers, us included. We will try anything these days. Ducks feet (see below), scorpion, tarantula and even crocodile. Only a few years ago you wouldn’t have caught either of us anywhere near this type of stuff.  

Yet there will always be one Thai food that defeats Silvana: the dreaded Balut. A Balut egg is the fetus of a nearly hatched egg . We are not vegan or vegetarian, but come on! that’s a bit mental.

Thailand has a vast array of horrid little oddities to nibble (something you should definitely try at least once while you are there). If you are not brave enough, take a photo of the insect stall on Khao San for 10 Baht, so that you can show your friends and at least pretend to be brave and stupid when you are back home. 

From left to right: The truly weird ducks feet. a lady selling scorpions. a Thai man cooking squid

The Wonderful

In between gorging yourselves on the street food and cheap booze, you should definitely check out some of the local restaurants. Because in Thailand it’s not just the street food that is great. Thai dishes are some of the tastiest in the world. Check out the dishes below for proof.

From left to right: Tom Yum Soup, Beef Soup, Thai Noodle Soup, Coconut Curry

The Markets of Thailand

While you are checking out all of the weird and wonderful food of this stunningly beautiful country, we would highly recommend checking out the Markets. Thailand has superb street-food markets where you can gorge yourself until you burst, but it also has some very exciting and bustling food markets where vendors sell live fish, fresh vegetables, dried seafood and a thousand and one other things that will grab your attention. If you do not mind a bit of a smell , dive straight in and don’t forget your camera.

One of the great markets in Hat Yai, Southern Thailand

To see some of the more scenic markets, you will need to go out into the more rural areas. Krabi province is a great place to go, filled with many things to see and do. Renting a Motorbike in Thailand is quick, easy and very cheap, costing about five dollars a day. It is also the best way to get out and see this amazing country. We will post a picture of the market we saw in Krabi, below.

Outdoor market near Krabi Town

A little boy selling frogs

Well, you have reached the end of our very first web post. If you got this far, we hope that you liked what you read and would like to see and read more. We will be posting regularly about a variety of different subjects including, tips, prices, travel guides, how not to get scammed, weird and wonderful food and just about anything and everything that is involved with Roaming The Roads. 

If you manage to make it to Krabi , head to the coast and you will be in for a surprise. If Hannibal Lector owned a fish shop …

P.S. shout out to the time I met a Siamese cat in Siam (Thailand)

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