Back to Bangkok: Boat Noodles at Victory Monument

Boat noodles. Yum

If you don't count places I have actually lives, I’ve spent more time in Bangkok than in any other city in the world. Bangkok feels like a home on the road. It’s both exotic and familiar. So coming back, once our train finally arrived, felt like a homecoming.

That first night back, we headed straight to Victory Monument, the pulsing roundabout at the heart of the city. Crowds of Thais and foreigners alike stream along the raised walkway circling the monument, while stores and malls bustle below.

And the food. Oh, the food!

Noodles, sausages, cakes, more sausages, fried balls of dough, steamed buns, and plenty of things I still can’t identify. Victory Monument is a street food paradise.

But we were there for one thing: boat noodles.

Finding Boat Noodle Alley

Boat noodles—so named because they were once sold from boats plying Bangkok’s canals—are one of my very favorite Thai foods. Near Victory Monument, there’s a spot called Boat Noodle Alley. Here’s how to find it:

1. Walk the raised walkway around Victory Monument to the northeast corner, near Fashion Mall.

2. Look for the canal near the walkway (Google Maps will help).

3. Head down the stairs (there’s a little stand at the bottom selling excellent cakes—worth a stop).

4. Pass the cakes and a few other stalls, go through a back alley, and bravely dodge the swarm of minivans.

5. Cross the small bridge. At the end, workers from the boat noodle shops will be waiting to entice you in.

My favorite shop is immediately to the right after you cross the bridge. Just take a seat.

Ordering and a Word to the Wise

You might be tempted to sit at a table overlooking the canal. Don’t. Those canals smell like someone gathered every dead thing in the world and left them to marinate. I’m not a doctor (well, not the medical kind), but I suspect just smelling those canals might give you hepatitis—at the very least is can ruin your appetite.

Sit away from the water.

When ordering, you’ll choose pork or chicken and your noodle type. I usually go with sen lek (skinny rice noodles), but you can also try sen yai (wide rice noodles) or baan mee (wheat noodles).

Bowls cost about 20 baht each, and they’re small, so order lots. The more bowls you stack, the greater your eating prowess.

Bonus: Ragnam Road Food Walk

If you want to make a whole food tour, don't fill all the way up on boat noodles. You can wander and graze the Victory Monument area, but our favorite thing to do is walk over to Ragnam Road. Head for Isan Rod Ded, a fantastic Issan (Northeast Thailand) place. Everything is good, but if you want to get out of your comfort zone, order the duck face.

If you still have room left to eat more, wander southeast down Ragnam (where there are often food carts set up selling noodles, fruit, and (if you are lucky) moo ping)) towards Baan Ajarn, where you can finish off the night with a plate of curry.

By the end of the night, you will be pleasantly, uncomfortably stuffed with Thai food.

Lucky you!

As for us, we’d only be in Bangkok a few days this time before heading north with a group of ten students for an internship in international development. But we knew we’d be back. Back to Bangkok.

Because travel our travels always seem to lead us back to our home on the road: Bangkok