Bangkok – Short Culinary River Boat Trip To China

Staying right next to the Chao Praya river we are almost across from a restaurant we visited and enjoyed first almost 15 years ago.

A quiet and elegant terrace next and below Thaksin bridge with almost exclusively local Chinese-Thai patrons and good cuisine.

So we decided we had to go back to the Red Argosy, its farang name.

Actually this is a Chinese, more precisely a Chao Zhou place.

Many Thais, especially among the wealthy elite are descendants of Chinese immigrants, the former PM Thaksin or his sister, the present PM are examples as are the owners of Pat Pong Rd., a private street owned by a Chinese family and in-famous for the Go-Go bars and sex shows in central Bangkok.

So we took the short boat hop across the river a few times and had long and tasty dinners of classics like Fishcakes, Lap Thai ( minced meat with basil and spices ), mud crab, Mantis prawns and fried rice all washed down with cold Singha, the local beer while watching the busy and colorful boat and barge traffic on the river.

Hardly any farangs here, just locals – no wonder, the place is advertised only in Thai and Chinese.

As always the case in Thailand great and friendly and helpful service by the dedicated staff and Tom, the happy-go-lucky chubby Maitre interested in my cigars, who sails part time on a passenger vessel from Pattaya to Ko  Kong and Sihanoukville in Cambodia, a 2 nights, 3 day trip that would interest me …

We tend to close the place and watch the staff have dinner, among them a dedicated Muay Thai kickboxer.

All this at 30 C and little humidity being the dry season now, comfortably eased by a light breeze.

Life has sweet moments when experience brings you back to trusted, unchanged places.

Nino