As we left Wat Pho, our friend had an idea for what he assured us would be a great, inexpensive lunch:  Shoshana Restaurant.  He was also confident this was easily walkable.  Ok, the first part was quite true – yummy lunch.  No arguments there.  The second part… well, let’s say that it can be walked, from Wat Pho to Shoshana, absolutely.  It’s the easily part that is debatable.

So we set off with the initial thought that we would stop at the palace between.  But, you see that line of people heading into the palace? (picture below)  It was HOURS and HOURS (and hours) long.  Like, a whole street food tent city was set up to serve the line, along with free water stands.

After we had our trip planned and flights booked, King Bhumibol, who is beloved by the Thai people and was the longest reigning monarch in the world with over 70 years on the throne, passed away.  There have been a steady stream of people coming to pay their respects since.  While it would have been a meaningful time to go in to the palace complex, we just couldn’t justify the hours in line.  And honestly, I would have felt a little odd and disrespectful – like we had snuck into the funeral of someone we didn’t know – going through as a tourist at a time when the Thai people were waiting so long to get in to pay their respects to their beloved king.  So after a short conferring, we decided to move on.

This is as close as we got:

The streets in the area surrounding the palace are actually quite beautiful with trees and flowers lining them.  In the following picture, you can also see the black and white bunting swagged along the street.  Black was draped over and around many locations in mourning.

Our little stroll wound up including being funneled through a security check.  Some of us had to show passports.  Some of us didn’t.  All our bags were searched.  We went through metal detectors.  Questions were asked.  Then we were sent on our way.  We weren’t totally sure what that was about, but assumed it was something to do with heightened security after the kings death.  Taking pictures of security areas is generally frowned upon, so sorry, no pictures for you!

About half a block later, there were nice tables set up with free waters and cooling cloths, which were awesome.  We were so appreciative, because it was hot to those us unaccustomed to even this ‘cool’ time of year in Thailand.

Hey!  Pink elephants!  Pink elephants are always worth a picture.  Hey, wait.  Each of the 3 elephants have 3 heads… trippy.  This was actually built in 2011 as part of Rama IX’s 84th birthday celebration.

We continue along, crossing major streets, dodging large groups of young guys in uniforms I couldn’t identify.  And traffic.  Lots of traffic which is much more erratic than we are used to, but we all came through just fine.  

We passed food carts set up in a parking lot which smelled meaty and called to our empty stomachs.

And Thai street art.  Or is this grafitti?  I’m not good with where the line falls here.  In theory, “street art” is constructive and artistic, while graffiti is destructive and contributes to lowering property values and decline of a neighborhood.  But I still look at a lot of what I see and am unsure what side of the line it falls on.

We crossed over Khao San Road which we would return to after lunch, and soon found our selves threading our way down a narrow alley, which we were again assured, led to good food.  But we first had to walk by a whole row of street food options, which were fairly tempting themselves.

And here we are!  We are at Shoshana Restaurant, Thai & Israeli Food.  Actually, and Greek, too.  And always popular in Thai restaurants, a few Italian choices… and a few other things thrown in.

This is the restaurant.  The whole thing.  Our group took up about 25% of the tables.

And I have to give our friend credit – it was delicious!  This may look a little basic:  fried, thin-sliced chicken, tomatoes, and lettuce in a pita, with a side of fries.  But there was a creamed garlic sauce to go on it that really made the sandwich.  I had not anticipated going to a great little restaurant right off Khao San Road… for schnitzel of all things.  But hey, works for us.

Even the kids approved… At least I think that’s what that means.  

Oh!  And if you look at that pic of the kids above, you see the bathroom sign along with the sink & paper towel holder for the bathroom on the left edge of the picture.  There is a door that falls out of frame, and that leads to the actual one-potty bathroom.  Pretty western as far as the bathrooms go.  And if you are a Harry Potter fan, it’ll put you in mind of Harry’s cupboard under the stairs – because the toilet is actually tucked in the space under a staircase.  The sink is on the outer wall because there’s just no room for it inside.

My crew after lunch.  🙂   LydiaLydia, leaning on Dad’s shoulder, was actually in a good and silly mood.  She was quite proud to have pulled a ‘blah’ face for the picture, which mom couldn’t see because I’m wearing polarized sunglasses and couldn’t see the screen well enough.  This apparently brings her great joy.  Teenagers.

Shoshana Restaurant:  86 Chakapong Rd., Talat yod, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 

The Restaurant’s Website is <<HERE>>

To see the TripAdvisor page on Shoshana, complete with more pictures and google maps location, go <<HERE>>.