I am at Thailand Festival this year. I was here in 2018 and 2019. I enjoyed during those visits because I got some freebies and there were cultural tents too which are not related to food. Potpouri, fruit carving. I thought that I would get to experience something similar this year. No, unfortunately. There were MANY food tents which sell similar food - papaya salad, mango sticky rice, porkball skewers, noodles or rice with beef or pork, cold drinks and smoothies, Singa beer everywhere. The event is for 5 days! There were parasols, benches, tables in abundance for visitors to enjoy their meals. They really thought this event well! There is security too that requests to check your bags to remove any liquid. I suppose this is a method for them to encourage folks to buy drinks from the food tents. Singa beer 330ml for SEK93. Daylight robbery. I got mango smoothie for SEK99. Also daylight robbery. Not fresh mango, but frozen mango chunks from a sealed package (saw that the brand is Simply Good). Felt cheated by this.
Once the performances ended, two persons came up and sang loudly at the top of their lungs - seem like karaoke to me. So loud that my friend and I needed to leave the stage area to hear each other.
Most of the food was pre-cooked and ready to be served. Except for papaya salad. The food was cold when we bought ours.
Durians - 500g for SEK300. Ouch.
One of the many stalls that sells papaya salad for SEK150, and crispy pork skin.
The only cultural tent that I saw. Taleow - a Thai protective talisman to ward off negative energy. I did not try making it but it interests me. I might do this at home.
First food that I got - Crying Tiger grilled beef with sticky rice SEK150. Porkball skewer SEK30. I did not get any sticky rice. Normal rice. The rice was packed in a plastic bag! WHAT! Did they cook the rice in plastic bag? I hope not. Beef was chewy and dry. Not tasty at all. Food not spicy at all despite being named 'crying tiger' to refer to spicy sauce. I thought the meat looks good but now, I realised that it is dry especially when exposed out and not soaked in broth or sauce.
My friend had roasted pork with rice. At least, her roasted pork is juicy and her rice is not in a plastic bag.
Very dissatisfied with the meal. Next meal we shared - Boat soup with pork and liver SEK140. Soup was very tasty. I enjoyed this.
After the second meal, we walked around to see other tents. There were 2 tents selling stuff for example woven items, lots of costume jewellery - reminded me of the earrings I got from Chatuchak market and the earrings hung heavy from my ears. There is also a massage tent.
Massage services are strangely priced - 15 min SEK300. 30 min SEK450. Then 45 min is SEK750 and not SEK600 because I thought additional 15 minutes will cost SEK150. But my mathematics is wrong here. Finally 60 minutes is SEK900. A very large increase from 2018 (15 min SEK100 and every 15 minutes cost SEK100).
Finally, my very expensive mango smoothie that was made with frozen mango chunks. See the packet behind the blender, in the second photo
This year's event is very different from what I remembered in 2018. It does not make me look forward to the next event.
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