nadia wanders

It’s 7:19pm on Saturday, November 23. I’m writing this while flying back to Jakarta with my parents across the aisle from me.

We’re 30,000 feet in the air, watching the sun set over Malaysia. I just spent ten days traipsing around Thailand. This trip came together because a family member offered us her family’s timeshare. The available dates coincided perfectly with my dad’s birthday. Thailand wasn’t really on our radar, but I’d always wanted to go.

The opportunity and the timing was right so we booked our flights a few weeks ago. I’d spend two extra days in Bangkok before my parents arrived so I could run around town and explore on my own. I knew of some attractions in Thailand through friends who’ve visited before. I knew about its white sand beaches, amazing food, and fun shopping. I’ve had many aunties tell me to go with a nearly empty suitcase because there’d be so much fun stuff there to buy.

But what I’ll take most from our Thailand trip are the flavors.

One of the reasons I love traveling internationally is how my tastebuds light up when I try new flavor combinations.

Nothing gets me more excited than when I travel to Mexico and Latin America and have the best tacos or ceviche of my life. To see the dozens of different types of corn and potatoes, or avocados the size of your head. Those are the memories I still hold onto.

Or when we get to visit friends in Vancouver and Montreal. Nothing tastes better than red wine and steak with friends at one of the many fancy restaurants, or a late-night poutine after drinking too many martinis. Our recent trip to India opened my eyes to incredible spice blends, chutneys, and sweet milk cakes that I still dream about. Food seems to taste better when a passport stamp is part of the journey ;)

The flavors, textures, colors, and smells of Asian food are in a league of their own. Obviously, living in America, I have my favorite places for legit Cantonese dim sum, or Thai noodles from the local place we’ve been going to for years.

Thai Tea concoctions purchased at the source. Nothing gets better than sipping on some cold tea on a hot day in Bangkok.

But nothing compares to going to the birthplace of these dishes to make your mouth and soul light up.

The November weather in Thailand was no joke. To think that we we’re going during a time when it’s less hot and humid was nearly unnoticeable. It rained a lot while we were there, like monsoonal torrential rain for one to two hours each day. The rain was actually a relief, briefly cooling down the city before the heat returned. Most days we stayed inside during the peak heat, oftentimes finding ourselves wandering luxury malls, inevitably ending up in the basement food court or buzzing restaurants.

One of the many snippets from the night markets in Bangkok

I can honestly say I never had a bad meal in Thailand. From mall bakeries and street food to oceanfront seafood markets and Michelin-starred spots, everything I ate was unreal. I knew that there were a lot of award-winning restaurants in Bangkok, and I was eager to book a reservation, but I found just as much joy walking through its bustling streets, snacking along the way.

Skewers of meat, fresh fruit, seafood, noodles, curries, and rice dishes—my Asian-bred tastebuds were in heaven. I took small bites everywhere, essentially turning every day into a progressive meal. Thai teas, delicate pastries, endless noodles, and curries became my routine.

Sweet little bites from the food court in Bangkok

I’m fairly certain I took at least a half dozen photos of every meal I had. I tasted all of the local favorites and took 500+ photos of food alone.

My camera ate first at every meal, of course. It’s an unspoken rule among foodies, especially Asian Americans like me. There’s something so beautiful about food—the composition, colors, and steam rising from a dish—that begs to be photographed before even knowing what it’ll taste like. My phone now holds a gallery delicious reminders of every bite imprinted on my phone just to show off later.

It’s a weird concept, but this photo gallery is absolute food porn for people like me.

Puffy, cream-filled buns straight from the kitchen

Mango sticky rice nearly everywhere you look

Michelin-rated rice with fish-sauce eggs and chinese sausage

Salmon laab from our hotel—it was the BEST.

Fresh fruit makes for the best welcome gift

As an Asian American, I think I’m the only person in my friend group who snacks just about every three hours. I’m excited to plan my next meal, and I’m even more excited to think about what I’ll cook next.

Since traveling the world so much these last few years, I’ve grown to love learning how to make my favorite Asian dishes once I’m home. I’ll get hyper fixated on a dish I’ve eaten while traveling, and then learn how to cook it with all of the special sauces and spices I’ve brought back.

In Phuket, I had the genius idea to take a cooking class. I wanted to meet some locals, check out a market, and learn to cook Thai dishes.

Taking a cooking class while traveling might be my new favorite thing to do. I found Phuket Thai Cooking Class with VJ through my Marriott Bonvoy app. I was looking for a class that offered a market tour to see where some of the ingredients were sourced.

I arrived at VJ’s and waited for the rest of the class to arrive. We hopped in the van and drove just a few minutes down the road to a local market where we learned about herbs and vegetables we’d use during class. We tried local fruit (I had the best pineapple and longan there) and I bought some local chili oil, which would be the base of many dishes to come.

Our guide showed us around the market a bit before we went back to the classroom to start prepping Tom Yum Soup, Shrimp Pad Thai, Red Curry, and Mango Sticky Rice.

We put on our aprons and learned about the herbs and vegetables we’d use. Kaffir lime, galangal, and lemongrass were never things I cooked with before so I loved how our teacher walked us through how to prep each item.

Cooking with a wok—now at the top of my shopping list—made everything lightning fast. We started prepping shallot, garlic, and other aromatics, along with chili peppers picked up from the market.

I was never a huge fan of Tom Yum Soup back at home, but after making it from scratch, I’m a convert. From the fresh kaffir lime leaves to the lemongrass stalks, now that I know how it’s supposed to taste, I totally get it. The American version of the soup always tasted too sour for me, but now that I know that tamarind, fishy chili oil, and coconut milk are the main components, I know how to make it the real way.

The soup turned out amazing and took no more than five minutes to make. We started prepping the sticky rice for dessert we’d have later, just before prepping the ingredients for our Pad Thai.

I’m normally a Pad See Ew kind of a girl, and leave it up to someone else at the table to order it, but now that I’ve cooked fresh Pad Thai on my own, I absolutely cannot wait to try and cook it once I’m back home.

From the charred-flavored meats and tofu, to the perfect mix of tamarind, fish sauce, oyster sauce, palm sugar, pickled radish, and chilis, I totally understand why this is the most popular noodle dish to come out of Thailand.

The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking Chang beers, while swapping stories with other students about their travels. The cooking class attendants were fantastic, even helping me when I didn’t get my curry paste to the right consistency (probably because I was taking too many pics instead of grinding out all of the ingredients). I had such a blast and would 100% recommend everyone take a cooking class while traveling abroad.

My tastebuds feel alive again—call it a culinary awakening. I don’t know about my other fellow Americans, but not only has food gotten stupid expensive, but it just doesn’t taste all that good. It feels uninspired.

Grocery-store produce has started to look a little sad lately, and our local restaurants have been disappointing. Armed with new recipes, I can’t wait to show off my new knowledge.

My mom will be the first one to tell you that I never liked Asian food when I was a kid. She’d work a whole day at the office, come home and make a giant bowl of stir fried noodles and a saucy chicken to go with it. And I’d be the idiot who’d say she’d prefer fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread instead.

Times have changed. I’m fully embracing my roots. Even Andy is getting so much better and using chopsticks and upping his spice level.

We’re about 45 minutes away from landing back in Jakarta where we’ll celebrate my dad’s birthday. Next week we’re headed to Bali for a couple weeks to catch up with family and friends. I’ll also be wedding venue hunting!

It hasn’t fallen short on me that I’m so incredibly lucky to have this free time to travel right now. My home country is a little rocky right now and I’m so happy to be here in Asia spending time with family and experiencing things from my mom’s home country. The holidays are right around the corner and I’m looking forward to a tropical, even monsoonal Christmas.

If I have it my way, our holiday dinners will feature my Pad Thai and Tom Yum Soup.