Fun and Exciting Dining Experances

Thai food is our favorite Asian cuisine. Most dishes are masterfully balanced: They're hot, sweet, sour and spicy - all at the same time. The variety of vegetable and meat dishes is astonishing, and the presentation at better restaurants is a work of art, so pause to take a look at the vegetable and fruit carvings before popping them in your mouth. Pork, poultry and some beef are used; seafood is outstanding. Try tom yum koong , a spicy shrimp soup. Those little green peppers floating in the soy sauce on most restaurant tables will bring tears to your eyes, so beware (tell your waiter you want your food mai ped, if you'd prefer to avoid the volcanic variety).

We like the street food, which is generally safe to eat in Bangkok - but before buying, be sure it's hot and take the time to see how they clean the cooking utensils. (One of our favorite dishes was grilled spicy chicken cooked by an elderly woman on her little grill in the alleyway next to our hotel.) Be adventurous - try the barbecued chicken legs, omelettes, sweet crepes, and sticky rice and taro rolled up in a leaf (don't eat the leaf). There are plenty of Western-style restaurants (including the more common fast-food outlets).

The drink of choice is Mekong whiskey - it's half as potent as Western whiskey, which is why you'll see more than one bottle on a table. The standard brand of beer is Singha, and the premium brand is Kloster. If you order orange juice, instruct the server " mai sai kleua ," or he'll put a teaspoon or so of salt in it. Thailand is a paradise for tropical fruits - and tropical-fruit lovers. There are more than 20 kinds of bananas (Thais eat them fresh, grilled and fried). Definitely try rambutan ( ngau in Thai). It's a reddish lychee with soft spines on the outside, and it tastes like a sweet lemon. The mangoes ( ma muang ) are good March-July, but be aware that among the varieties for sale are some that are (intentionally) crisp and sour. Mangosteens ( mongkhut ) are another great-tasting tropical fruit. They're round with dark-brown skin and are a little bigger than a golf ball. Inside is a sweet white fruit in segments, like an orange. Guava has an unusual taste, somewhat like a sour apple. Papayas and pomelos (like a sweet grapefruit) are also available. And if you can get past the smell, try the infamous durian fruit (it's so pungent that it's illegal to open one in your hotel room). For a snack, try the fresh toffee-coated peanuts sold on street corners.

Tipping
Tipping is not a traditional custom in Thailand , but the rising number of tourists is changing expectations. It's up to you whether you want to tip someone for especially good service. In most cases, it's safe to observe what other customers seem to be doing and use common sense. For example, it's usually fair to round up to the nearest tenth, including taxi fares. There's no need to tip in massage parlors

When paying by Credit Cards widely accepted in Thailand and most businesses display stickers for the cards they accept. Shops will sometimes add an additional charge of 3 to 5 percent when a client pays with his card.