(dance music)
- Wow, I really broke a sweat putting on my songkran shirt.
It is blazing hot today in Bangkok.
Songkran in Thailand is when friends and family
come together to celebrate when you have a chance
to bless your elders and loved ones
and when you have a chance to have the biggest water fight
in the world.
Here's the plan.
It's April 13th, this is the first day of Songkran
and I'm gonna take you on a Thai street food tour,
water fight, of Songkran.
We're gonna sample whatever's available.
We're gonna get wet and I'm gonna share it all with you
in this video.
We're on our way now.
Quick little bonus here.
I didn't know my mother in law was cooking,
but she made some food.
It's time to have some breakfast before we leave.
Got some fried fish.
Got some rice.
The sauce is where it's at.
Some shallots and garlic under there.
And then there's also gaeng liang goong
which is a vegetable stew.
Oh she put some of the,
I think that was leftovers from the other day.
She put some kai mod dang,
which are red ant eggs in there.
The larvae of the ants
and they are incredibly delicious.
Add a little bit of that chili garlic sauce to this bite.
Break into that fried fish.
Oh yes.
Oh yeah, that's delicious.
The fried crispy fish, the rice,
there's a lot of lime in that sauce.
Those chilis
Yeah, they have some heat to them.
And that raw garlic.
There's pumpkin in here,
there's all sorts of type of gourds.
And then agan, yeah, those kai mod dang,
those ant eggs.
Oh, there's a good little ant nugget right there.
Mhm, mhm, mhm.
The healthfulness of all of those herbs and vegetables.
The little red ant eggs,
they kind of burst like really creamy little pop sensation.
We're fully prepared now.
Micah.
(laughing)
Micah just chucked the shoe into the garden.
Rah!
Check out Micah's amazing songkran outfit.
He got the shorts included.
Micah's gonna stay home today with grandma
because things are gonna be a little rough out there.
Joe, you ready man?
- It's gonna be a cool day though.
- He goes.
- Bye bye.
Love you.
Got the full songkran gear.
The shirts. Water guns. Check.
Got the bag, the waterproof bag with the phone and cash.
And as soon as you step out of your gate during songkran,
you will get doused, you will get wet,
you will get soaked.
♪ - About to leave. ♪
♪ Already packing. ♪
♪ Come with me. ♪
♪ I'm not really asking. ♪
- Just about everybody that rides the BKS
during songkran, during this day,
is on their way somewhere to water fight.
(speaking Thai)
Randomly on the BTS.
Met up with Dwight.
(speaking Thai)
Courageous kitchen.
- I'm going to eat.
I'm not gonna play.
- We don't want anybody interrupting lunch.
You gotta make sure the phone is in here.
In a dry bag.
- Be prepared at all times during songkran.
(dance music)
- We're jumping out of the BTS at saladaeng station.
This is where the Thai street food water fight begins.
And welcome to Silom.
It's just like a gigantic water park amusement here.
Oh wow, there are a ton of people here.
Hi, nice to meet you.
Whoa, oh that's ice water.
People actually put ice into the water to spray you,
so it's like a jolt.
It's like a shock of water.
Whoa, that's cold.
Within five minutes, I'm already soaked.
This is saladaeng, this is silom, this is the downtown,
this is the financial district of Bangkok.
But now this is just, whoa,
that's some ice water.
Now it's just a complete water park zone.
Whoa!
Wow, okay, it is about time to eat.
This is gonna be a Thai street food,
this is gonna be a Thai street food water fight.
Now that we are properly soaked,
it's time to start eating.
I think this is the prime opportunity to introduce you
to I'm pretty sure it's the number one songkran food.
(speaking Thai)
- Airbag.
He's very friendly.
- He's in the mood.
He's so hilarious.
But that is part of the songkran spirit.
People are willing to share,
people are so friendly.
That's part of the Thai culture
that you will love.
It looks like an inner tube.
It's a flotation device.
It's actually floating in the oil.
I have never seen a single
(speaking Thai)
Just one egg.
- Just one, just one, just one.
- It's just one egg.
You can probably pop it like bubble wrap.
(speaking Thai)
During songkran, if you are with your family,
you might have a special dinner,
you might have a seafood meal,
you might have a spread of dishes.
But there's not really a certain exact dish
that you have to eat during Thai new year.
It's just about enjoying food,
whether that be with your family,
or whether that be a street food snack
when you're walking around water fighting.
And this, by all means, khao kai jeow,
which is rice with a fried egg omelet.
It's easily the contender for
the number one food of songkran.
Just look at the interior of that egg
and the crunchy goldeness of it.
Yeah.
That's like a jolt of saltiness
that will delight your tongue
when you're walking around soaking wet
and in the hot sun.
He graciously hooked us up with some mood tod,
which is fried pork.
I'm gonna get some of that kai jeow,
some of that egg.
With a piece of the fried pork.
For the deluxe bite.
- He was making the omelets right here,
but he also had some pot pad kra pao moo.
Great lunch snack for songkran.
Hm.
Comfort food of Thailand, right here.
- Oh, oh, there's bamboo shoots.
Yeah, they're pretty good.
- And then I eat it.
- Ying, how's that khao kai jeow?
- Really good.
- Would you say that the number one food for songkran
is khao kai jeow?
- Yeah.
- Yes.
- You have to eat khao kai jeow.
- And make sure you hydrate yourself very well
during songkran.
It really is the hottest time of the year.
All right, let's move.
(speaking Thai)
Here's a big giant cooler full of that straight up
chunks of icebergs in that water.
They're gonna fill it up for us.
Nice to meet you, thank you very much.
He's rolled in his suit, that's awesome.
Probably the most famous thing about songkran
is a water fight,
which this is known to be the world's biggest water fight.
Like actually songkran is really about family
and it's about the blessing of loved ones
and especially elders.
And so most Thais, what they will do during songkran,
is they'll visit their elders,
their grandparents,
and they'll pour water over their hands.
But that has turned into an all out water fight.
Nice to meet you!
(speaking Thai)
A little more water fighting
and I have found what is my favorite snack to eat.
One of the ultimate Thai street food snacks, sai krok isaan.
This is a sausage.
It's hanging out here, it dries in the sun.
Slightly ferments, and then they grill it up over here.
Yeah, this is next perfect salty songkran street food snack.
He said there's a mixture of pork with rice
as well as mung bean noodles inside of here.
That always hit the spot.
You immediately have to chase it with a chili,
a piece of ginger, and some cabbage.
I like to go all at once.
And that is the sai krok isaan entire mouth full experience.
It's very fatty.
So fatty that it's creamy.
And then you got the, it has a little bit of sour component
because it slightly ferments,
then it's smoky because the grills.
And then the part that makes it
is the extra chili and that ginger for me.
From here we've decided to jump on a tuk tuk
and go to khao san road,
which is another ultimate place of water fighting
in Bangkok for songkran.
And and Joel picked up some jackfruit by the way.
At the last stop.
Thanks man.
- [Joel] Yep.
- This is a reclining tuk tuk.
Woohoo.
Jackfruit is fantastic.
To me it has like an overripe banana taste.
(dance music)
Whoa.
Oh, Ying is about to take her revenge.
(speaking Thai)
She dishes the curry up over khanom chin
which are the rice noodles.
You can smell the krachai in the air,
which is fingerroot.
It's kind of similar to, it's gingery.
And then she has just the tables lined up
with the condiments.
I got the nam ya kati
so the noodles are here and they served it soup style.
This is one is with the coconut milk.
So it's got a bit of a thicker.
There might be fish.
Is there fish the broth?
There's fish, ground up fish meat.
And then the fish balls.
I gotta just try it first before seasoning.
Well the powder is coming off.
There's like a smell.
You can really taste the fingerroot in there.
Oh that's good.
And then it has a little bit of a fishiness.
And it's creamy from the coconut milk.
That is good.
How's yours?
- [Joel] I love the soup.
- Okay there's no spoon in the chili,
so I think you're supposed to just dump it.
My herb of choice is the bai maeng-lak,
which is the lemon basil.
I'm gonna add a bunch of this.
This is really what makes it great.
And stir this up with that chili.
With the lemon basil.
Okay, that's, there's a lot of vegetables to eat, too,
but I'll start with this for now.
♪ - About to leave. ♪
♪ Already packing. ♪
♪ Come with me. ♪
♪ I'm not really asking. ♪
- Oh that lemon basil.
Meatball.
This is phack krachet, which is water mimosa.
Kind of like you're eating like a stem from a tree.
And it's delicious.
That was a great bowl of khanom chin.
Oh man.
And with that chili, with that lemon basil.
That was delicious.
That just sort of slides down with flavor.
We're heading back into the wet zone.
♪ - A classic cliche. ♪
♪ We're on the run. ♪
♪ This is what we're waiting for. ♪
- The khao san road is just absolutely packed.
It's just kind of like single file.
We haven't gotten,
oh right in the ear.
We haven't even gotten on to the actual road itself.
But we're almost there.
Trying to everyone just kind of like marching along.
Like a marching army.
Whoa.
(dance music)
Saw the donor kebab,
and it's just illuminating our faces.
It's something we have to eat.
(speaking Thai)
- I was not gonna order it with cheese,
but then I saw she blow torched it.
We gotta have the cheese.
I mean we're just going all out on snacks today.
Thank you very much.
Wow.
Oh that it just oozing.
It's like an oozy mess.
This is exactly what you're gonna wanna eat in songkran.
Whoa.
That tastes extraordinary during a water fight.
It's all just gonna drip down your chin.
(fiddle music)
- We're heading out of khao san road.
It is incredibly hectic.
It is a lot of fun.
It's a place you can come for songkran
if you want the full action.
Like a crazy amount of action, nonstop action.
On our way out we have stopped for,
he's a friendly man.
He's making a variety of Thai teas and drinks.
So it's always good to end on a cha yen,
which is a Thai iced tea.
Oh yeah, that hits the spot.
When it's hot like this.
It's creamy, it's a little bit sweet.
You can taste the undertone of tea.
To me it kind of tastes like melted ice cream.
He sprinkles in quite a lot of condensed milk,
so it has that like extreme creaminess to it.
♪ - Come with me. ♪
♪ I'm not really asking. ♪
♪ We'll get away ♪
♪ To a place where we don't know. ♪
- We've come to the end of this Thai street food songkran
water fight ultimate episode.
It's been a lot of fun.
Songkran it's really about spending time
with friends and family.
And if you have a chance to visit during songkran,
it can be a fantastic time to celebrate
and to enjoy the ultimate water fight for food.
It's a lot of quick food.
Especially in these areas,
the busy areas where they water fight.
You'll find a lot of quick easy food.
But it's definitely tasty and it's been a great time.
So I just wanna end this video by saying
an extremely happy Thai new year,
happy songkran,
(speaking Thai).
Thanks again for watching.
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Thanks again for watching.
Goodbye from Bangkok.
(speaking Thai).
See you on the next video.