I will mention that I had a normal spicy Thai rice and egg dinner prior to getting the shenanigans started. Figured I should fuel up before diving head first into tequila shots and giant Chang beers on Khaosan Road. My sleep arrangements in Bangkok consisted of a super swanky room at Le Meridien overlooking the city, with a good travel buddy who I met in Iceland the previous Christmas. As we geared up for the night, we really had no idea what to expect. Fireworks? Monkeys? Lady boys? Any of the aforementioned was fair game in Thailand.
With a few additional friends in tow, we cabbed over to Khaosan Road, also known as the backpackers ghetto paradise. While this street was once a bustling rice market, it now hosts cheap accommodations for travelers, chotsky shops, bars, food stalls… and ping pong shows.
Talk about sensory overload! Various DJs were hosting parties on each street corner, street dancers (and a hip hop dance team at one point) flipped and six-stepped for our entertainment, massage chairs were set up virtually everywhere, and silly string flew through the air. The tequila, beer, and liquor buckets flowed heavy, fireworks decorated the sky, and children ran around wild with no sense of an impending bedtime. It was probably the most chaotic and wonderful scene I’d encountered.
Eventually we found the infamous bug stall. This food stall featured a plethora of bugs- worms, crickets, scorpions, even tarantulas, all deep fried. While the furry spider was getting nowhere near my mouth, I just had to try the scorpion. I bought my scorpion and as a mere afterthought, asked the vendor “is it ALL safe to eat?” while pointing to the fried critter. She grabbed it back from me and said “oh no, claws poison,” and proceeded to rip off 1/3 of the scorpion. Wow… crisis averted! Forget about any sort of FDA regulations around here.
Thoughts? It tasted like fried pork skin, or as we call it in the south, cracklin.’ It honestly wasn’t bad. In fact, after a few more drinks I found myself craving another one!
Additional New Years Eve highlights: Someone gave me their baby. Yes, I’m being serious. And even better, the baby had a mullet. Asian baby + mullet = perfection. Second, we stumbled across a crazy DJ dance party and were summoned to join behind the turn tables. We felt like VIP as we fist pumped the sky. The third standout of the night was the incredibly delicious and spicy pad thai ordered from a food stall as we hailed a cab to return home. Because of the heat, no one else really wanted to eat it, but as someone who tries to avoid wasting food, I insisted upon it. I scarfed a good amount down before truly realizing the spice factor. My nose started dripping and tears welled up in my eyes because of the pain, and everyone got a good laugh. Oh well, it cleared up my sinuses.
All in all it was an extremely successful New Years Eve and a hell of a way to bring in 2015. The next day was not fun but I was in Bangkok for National Hangover Day after all, so life could’ve been far worse.
