Food tour through Chinatown 😋

I have the morning free and can look through some photos at the hotel. In the afternoon, I have a food tour through Chinatown planned. On the way to the meeting point, I see this beautiful spirit house (San Phra Phum – literally "Shrine of the Guardian Spirit of the Land"). According to my AI, these are often built in front of a house to drive the house's spirits into the spirit house, and then to appease them, the spirit house is made more beautiful than the actual house. People also regularly visit with small gifts to ask the spirit for favors regarding various things.

Then it's off to Chinatown. From the meeting point, I'm taken to a building with many rooms, each containing a few chairs, a table, and a toilet. It soon becomes clear that the groups gather in these rooms before the various tours depart. Among them are two older American women with whom I have a good chat, and three young American women who appear to be celebrating their high school graduation.
Typically for Americans, they all introduce themselves by their state instead of the country. I'm still waiting for someone from Georgia to do that. Which reminds me that I wanted to memorize a greeting or something in Georgian for just such an occasion 😇

The tour is well planned overall; at each stop there are already members of the team who reserve tables for us or order food for us, so that we are served our meal shortly after arrival.

We start with braised duck, a typical Chinese-Thai dish. I'm pleased by the visually appealing selection of spice options: pickled garlic, chili sauce, and fresh green chilies. A fairly common way to serve it in this type of container. And I suspect it will be the tourist version.

The next stall is Michelin-starred, and they have chicken and pork skewers marinated in curry. Then there are fried seaweed, which were surprisingly delicious with the sauce. And a salad of cucumber, onion, and chili pepper. Very tasty, and because of the spiciness, I have it all to myself. And I order seconds. They also have filled dumplings (shrimp wontons), but those are from a different stall.

Next, we head to a street food stall that has received a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which signifies good food at fair prices. We have a curry with chicken, winter melon, and Chinese sausage. Afterwards, we order Kuay Jab, a soup made with crispy pork belly and rice paper that curls up as it cooks.

The soy soft serve ice cream is somewhat unexpected but surprisingly delicious.

To finish, a sumptuous seafood feast is served. There are king prawns with enormous antennae (or whatever they are—I'm a computer scientist, not a biologist 😊), clams in basil-chili sauce, and a prawn hot pot, Tom Yum Goong. To top it all off, there's green mango with shrimp paste for dipping; the contrast makes it something special.

Finally, here's a photo of a full and satisfied Tina and Mango Sticky Rice.

On my way home, I suddenly see bats on the ground. And then on the wall. Immediate attention!.
According to a subsequent AI analysis, the Chinese word for luck/blessing sounds similar to the word for bat, which also features the symbol for five. It is therefore a play on words: "Five Bats" = "The Five Blessings" (long life, wealth, health, virtue, natural death). It could have been a bar or a restaurant.