Who doesn’t like to see cities during night time? What about eating in the same time? In each city I look for a place from where I can have a panoramic view of the city during night time. Because I liked Bangkok very much even since I walked out the airport, I wanted to see the city from another perspective, so we chose to have a dinner on a cruise boat along the river Chao Praya. After we searched for few hours the right company to offer us this experience, we found Loy Nava-Dinner Cruises who were promising an unforgettable dinner in a traditional ambient, on an open space boat.
I have to admit that at the beginning we were both skeptical because we never done this before and didn’t know what to expect, what food we will get or what will be the atmosphere. You know, the never ending fears when you have uncertainties.
We accessed Loy Nava’s website and made our booking online. They organize these kind of events on their own boat, twice a day: one at 18:00 and one at 20:00. Ever since before we knew their team, we liked their way of taking care of the customers because you have the possibility to choose between three types of menus: traditional Thai, vegetarian and seafood menus. We chose one vegetarian and one seafood. They have three packages: Standard, which includes the cruise and dinner for 1400 baht / person (approximately 170 ron), Superior for 2075 baht (approximately 250 ron) which includes the cruise, the dinner and 4 drinks and Deluxe for 2400 baht / person (approximately 288 ron) which includes the cruise, the dinner and 5 drinks. We chose two standard packages.
In that evening we went to the port from where we were taken by a member of the team. Right at the entrance on the boat, the two traditional dressed hostesses were expecting us with lots of smiles, typical Thai, and with a small gift made from nice smelling flowers.
On the nicely decorated table, with candles, there were the appetizers, few of each type of food: shrimp salad, salad with mushrooms, tuna salad, small pieces of soy, spring rolls and soy sauce.
After few minutes wewere both served with soup: a seafood one and a vegetables one. The food was delicious and even if Thais use to cook very spicy food, our menus were well spicy balanced, suitable for Europeans taste. The waiters were very professional and friendly, they were always making sure that we have water on the table and that we feel good. While we were exchanging soups, we noticed that the table was filling with food: the main dish was coming. Even tough the portions were small, there was enough food in order top make us feel full and even not being able to taste from all of them. Few of the main dish menu: white and brown rice, bean salad with vegetables, shrimps, shells, crab, etc.
With so many sauces on the table, I admit that we had no idea how to associate them with the main dish in order to have a good taste, but the waiter was kind enough to tell us what kind of combinations to make. We had peanuts sauce, spicy sauces, curry sauce, soy sauce, etc.
And because there is no dinner without a dessert, we got two plates of them: fruit salad, cookies and the well-known mango sticky rice.
We loved that our dinner cruise was very intimate and quiet, with Thai music in the background. From time to time the hostesses were dancing traditional dances. The lights of the city and the lights of the boat made the experience a very cute and romantic one.
All the time during the cruise we had the chance to see lots of temples which were very nice lighted and the Wat Arum was the surprise of the evening. Our dinner ended up with two glasses of champagne and when we wanted to head to our hostel they informed us that the transfer to it was made by them, free of charge.
This experience was so nice that it made me wanted to try this as often as possible and it will remain one of the nicest and special things that I have done in Bangkok.