Not Just Around Spooky Alley

As many of you may remember I named this blog "Just Around Spooky Alley" because during our first stay in Bangkok we were staying in a hotel that was just around an alley Mike's colleagues over the years named "Spooky Alley".  The area was a tourist area with only one alley that wasn't very touristy.  It was a nice alley full of Thai culture, but at night it was dark which is probably how it got its name.

I decided to keep the same name because Spooky Alley is where our Bangkok adventure began.

Our neighbourhood is quite different from the last one we were in.  Our street has many hotels on it but it is also very residential.  There are a lot of nice residential buildings and some massive villas around.  It is a really nice street with all we need just at the end of it: a great supermarket, McDonald's, Starbucks, Beirut restaurant, a massage parlor, a few other coffee shops and the sky train for transportation.  It is also one sky train stop away from our old neighbourhood so it is very familiar to us.  For my shopping I take the sky train to our old neighbourhood because it is shopping central!

Street food on our street.  It is open super early until super late. They have fresh produce hanging in bags along the wall

An amazing Indian restaurant on our street

Cristiano strolling on our street - the glasses have been a must for both of them.

We are also one street and a cross street away from Arab town.  Arab town is interesting...there are a lot of Arabs and more shawarma joints than in Ottawa with a different place every five feet or so. Shawarma restaurants, sharwama on the streets, shawarma everywhere.  Being in Arab town does not necessarily mean we feel at home because there are no Lebanese here.  However, it is definitely convenient to be in Arab town. Mike, at the park one day with Cristiano, met a Jordanian man who has been living here for years.  He told us about an Egyptian man who owns a little supermarket in a small alley near by.  He makes delicious pita bread and sells everything we need from thyme, tahini, rose water, to orange blossom.  This is extremely convenient for us. 

Merchants setting up for the night market in Arab town

One of the many restaurants serving Arabic foods

If you look close enough to the left you can see one of the shawarma stands

The Egyptian supermarket - only accessible via an alley and through a security guard

The night market up and running now

The street parallel to us is called Nana.  This street is very very busy and is home to special massage parlors and girls (and most likely lady boys) outside every restaurant and massage parlor calling men in for "body to body" massages.  It is a very vibrant street that provides lots of entertainment!

One of the special massage places

Cristiano and Adriano with the girls from Hooters in Nana (teita and dad got a kick out of this)

We are also a 20 minute walk from the hospital which helps tremendously with the kids.  We have already been there three times because of a cold the kids caught and we found a pediatrician we like for them which is a great relief.

The fun part is that every night we discover something new about our neighbourhood.