As the Day Closes, Dinner Picks Up
November 11th, 2008
A Day in Summer Coffeehouse
Bangkok, Thailand – Nightfall had set in and with it the subdued buzz of motorbikes and cars transporting weary workers home for the evening. It was time for me to go home. Today, I was a worker too, my first after a week of playing tour guide and before that months as a traveler. But before heading back, I needed to do what many Thais do after work, pick up something to eat. Through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, I’ve watched the 6 pm stop-off when motorbikes pull up to street stalls and dinner markets and people jump off pointing at this curry or that stir-fry before it is slipped into plastic bag, nimbly secured with a rubber band and deposited in the bike’s front basket.
I haven’t often had the occasion or, for that matter, the dinnerware to do dinner to go, but with a day of work behind me and a friend’s lonely apartment ahead, tonight was the right time for Thai take out. As I turned out of a coffeeshop, where I’d spent the afternoon hunched over a laptop, and down the street near Wat Arun I spotted a table spread with whole fried fish, spicy bamboo salad and a whole lot more. I pointed to the red curry with pork and spicy long beans with shrimp, which along with some steamed rice, were scooped into a styrofoam container. I carried my purchase off to a cab and joined the legions of workers heading home in the Bangkok night.
Pork in Red Curry
Bamboo Shoots with Chilies and Kaffir Lime Leaves
Street Stall Near Wat Arun in Bangkok’s Thonburi District
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