(Rudy Maxa) I'm fabulously lost in a city that lives to eat.

It's a city of the senses-- a bejeweled, dazzling, fantastical mix of magic and faith, hard work and love of life, grace, and wild abandon.

It's a city where chaos and serenity happily co-exist.

It's the City of Angels-- Bangkok.

[sitar & percussion play in bright rhythm] (woman) "Rudy Maxa's World" is sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries-- committed to bringing authentic Japanese food products to the world.

Additional funding provided by United Airlines, serving more than 330 destinations worldwide.

United-- fly the friendly skies.

And by... (Rudy) Maybe it's all the color that makes Bangkok such a pleasure.

Adrift in flowers, festooned with gilded temples, awash in brilliant tiles and murals and brimming with eye-popping food, Bangkok is a sensory feast.

Bangkok is Thailand's economic and political capitol.

It's a business traveler and tourist mecca and a dynamic mix of megamalls, temples and markets.

But in spite of its size and congestion, Bangkok, with its year-around temperate weather and gracious people, is one of the most welcoming cities on the globe... even in a downpour.

[loud clap of thunder] I'm here in Chinatown looking for my good friend and Washington DC restaurateur, Daisuke Utagawa.

He told me to meet him off Yaowarat Road, Soi 11, I'm in the right place, but this entire neighborhood is a food maze.

[loud rush of the fire] [man barks an announcement] Ah!

There you are!

(Daisuke) Rudy!

You made it.

What took you so long?

It's like a maze out there-- typhoon that just went through town.

[laughs] You do look a little wet.

Have a seat.

Looks like you started without me.

Don't you worry, this is just a snack.

In Thailand people eat all the time.

Perfect for you!

Absolutely.

Now let's get you fed.

Perfect for me!

(Rudy) I can tell we'll be here half the night.

There are food stalls everywhere on and around Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown.

Flaming woks light up the night, and a little rain doesn't dampen anybody's spirits.

Bangkok's a capitol that loves to eat.

Its 9 million-plus inhabitants comb the streets searching for the best food.

It's a national pastime.

The next morning, we're right back on the streets for breakfast.

(Rudy) Look at that!

Ah yes, street food for breakfast, I see.

Of course.

Nobody cooks in Bangkok.

It's like everything inside is outside.

Plus you've got this variety-- it's probably cheaper to buy food outside than getting all the ingredients and cooking yourself.

Plus you don't have to heat up your apartment with all that heat.

(Rudy) What have we got here?

(Daisuke) This is crispy pork belly, this is what's called larb kai.

That's also pork, look at that, that stuffed bitter melon.

That's probably stuffed with chicken, liver... (Rudy) Fried chicken-- I should recognize fried chicken!

(Rudy) It's true.

Bangkok is inside out.

The kitchens are on the streets, and the whole city is one big dining room.

It's so much more fun to eat when you can pick your dish and have it cooked up right before your eyes.

And it's all done with great care and skill.

(Rudy & Daisuke) Kobkhun krab.

You see, this is so perfectly Thai-- respect and tradition on one hand and carefree, carpe diem on the other.

You are right, absolutely, I love it when we say thank you or greet somebody this way.

Yeah.

Do you know the word sanuk?

It means fun, right?

Absolutely, pure joy.

We are going to have a lot of pure joy in Bangkok.

I am so ready!

All right let's go.

(Rudy) Bangkok is a young city.

Founded in 1782, it began as a swampy backwater in the delta of the mighty Chao Phraya River.

Thailand itself is young.

The official history usually dates from 1238 when a capitol was established at Sukhothai in Northern Thailand.

A little more than 100 years later the capitol changed to Ayutthaya That city lasted about 400 years before being sacked and looted by a Burmese army.

Bangkok was founded a short time later.

(Rudy) Hey, speaking of sanuk, you feel lucky?

I always feel lucky We're in the right place, no question about it This is like lottery ticket central.

(Rudy) What's more fun than winning the lottery?

Anyone can participate in the government lottery, and just about everybody does.

People hunt for lucky numbers in shrines, in dreams, on license plates and patterns.

At the temple, Wat Mahabut people rub oil into the trunk of a sacred tree to discover numbers to play.

Rudy, I've been thinking about number 9.

It's a lucky number here because the nine is "gow," and the word for progress, kow-nah, and the word for rice is khao.

I've got a 9 in my birthday.

I've got a bunch of 9s on my phone number, so 9 is then!

My goodness, look at all these tickets!

We've got to find 9.

Here's one with a bunch of 9's.

How much do you win-- do you have any idea what we're going to win here?

[Daisuke laughs] No, I don't!

I don't even know how much a ticket costs.

(Rudy) Do you get that whole pack?

(Daisuke) That's it, that's the winner.

Kobkhun krab.

(Rudy) Luck and magic go back centuries here.

Before Buddhism arrived from India, people practiced animism -- worshipping spirits and objects.

In Bangkok, most buildings have spirit houses where people make offerings to avoid misfortune By keeping spirits housed and happy.

Sometimes you'll see an opened soft drink, with a straw left for the spirits.

In this city, Buddhism, magic, animism, and Hinduism all mingle to create a unique faith.

(Daisuke) That spirit of sanuk we see in art and architecture comes out in the food too.

Thai flavor is an explosion of intricate and complex flavors.

Good example is som tum, the green papaya salad.

One thing I find interesting about traditional Thai cooking that many ingredients come from elsewhere in the world like chili peppers and papaya.

Right.

Thais are very welcoming of other ingredients or ideas about cooking in their culture and yes, the ingredients can come from elsewhere-- the chili, the palm oil, nam pla, which is the fish oil, salty, and the lime.

Right?

But they're very quick to make it their own.

I mean, look at this-- this is where it's at, I mean, hand-cut, even such a humble, simple cuisine, there is art to it or craft to it.

You see, these days you can find these apparatuses to mechanically cut, but what that does is, It makes even pieces, and you get bored.

I mean, you get desensitized, and you stop paying attention.

(Rudy) You mean in your mouth, while you're eating?

(Daisuke) With this, each pieces are random, different, and when you cut like that the surface of each piece is really glossy-- it's very pleasant in your mouth.

(Rudy) Really?

I never thought about that.

It sounds sort of easy; that's easy enough.

Yes?

I'd like to end this with 10 fingers still.

Harder?

Harder.

Like so?

It's not as easy as it looks, it turns out.

Daisuke likes irregular pieces-- he's going to like these, then shave?

Okay?

You're so much better at this than I am.

That's why I don't run a restaurant in Bangkok.

Wow!

I've had a lot of papaya salads in my life.

This is number one.

You see what I mean by random pieces, random shapes, glossy surface?

Makes a huge difference.

Plus, this is made with love.

Just the burst of flavors here and there, but so well managed.

I would come to Thailand just to come to this restaurant just to have papaya salad.

[piano & guitar play in bright rhythm] I tell folks who have never been to Bangkok before to go down to one of the piers by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel or the Shangri-La and for, I don't know, $40 an hour rent a long-tailed boat, and just say take me up the canals, They're called klongs here, k-l-o-n-g-s-- Take me up the klongs, just take me around.

And it sort of seems like you're in the country here, in some rural place, but just in front of us is a skyscraper, Bangkok, and the huge, wide, very busy Chao Phraya River.

And to be able to come up one of these klongs-- quiet... (Daisuke) it's a residential area.

(Rudy) Yup.

(Rudy) Life along the Klongs gives a glimpse into a calmer, more traditional way of life.

A fitting finale to our klong tour is a meal along a canal.

Daisuke's taking us to Boat Noodle Canal.

Back when Bangkok was a city of canals, noodle vendors paddled along selling their wares.

(Daisuke) Want this one, this one, this one?

You want to try the fried pork skin?

(Rudy) The signature, we've got to.

Yeah Okay, we'll try that too.

Three of these are official boat noodles.

These two are with pork or soup and this is sort of dry, sauce.

And we'll get a couple extra just for taste.

Ah-ha, first bowl.

What's this red stuff here?

This is a vinegar, the scary vinegar.

"Scary vinegar?"

[laughs] (Rudy) that's scary.

(Daisuke) that's the scary vinegar number two.

Green peppers.

Chile yeah.

Green chili.

That's scary pepper, and that's not so scary sugar.

Sugar, I can handle sugar.

Ummm, good.

This is, the soup is thickened with blood.

(Rudy) What kind of blood?

(Daisuke) Beef, I think.

(Rudy) What did you put on it?

I used scary pepper and scary vinegar number one.

I'll try the scary vinegar.

(Daisuke) It's very good.

I don't know why we're calling it scary.

(Rudy) Because I'm a Westerner, and I know Thai dishes can be very, very, very spicy.

(Daisuke) Some can be but it's all in balance.

People talk about bold flavors in Thai cuisine.

Right?

The spicy, the sour, the sweet-- to me there is a background of more deep, balanced, complex flavors, it's almost like having a very intricate carpet in the background, but then you have these bold sculptures put on top.

I mean, this is a good example, using the blood for thickener-- bold, complex, well-balanced-- makes it terribly satisfying.

(Rudy) This is beautiful soup.

But then on top of that you've got these flavors.

Ah-ha!

Oh my goodness.

Look at that.

Do we do them one at a time or do we hop from one bowl to the next?

You can, but usually people finish a bowl, and then they move on.

(Rudy) Oh, they do, okay.

So Rudy, what do you think?

It's wonderful, I mean, it's a party in the mouth Heat in the mouth, great flavor, not the kind of heat that hurts.

The one or eating now is not traditional boat noodles.

I like it, I have it on my boat.

Well, you got to get a boat.

Got to win the lottery.

Well, there's that first, yeah.

I better win the lottery.

I've got to see a Thai tailor about getting bigger slacks after this.

Are you kidding?

We just had some snacks!

We're going to go to another Bangkok favorite after this.

You're kidding.

Oye!

(Rudy) There's no real downtown to Bangkok, just major districts with town centers.

Getting from one to another can literally take hours.

Bangkok traffic is legendary.

Locals will avoid traveling across the city at all costs-- except for a great meal.

The Skytrain provides a speedy, mercifully air conditioned way out of the jam.

Although it's scope is limited, it's one of the best places to sit and take in the sights of Bangkok.

We're on another quest for soup.

Yes, it's sweltering outside, but that doesn't stop people from craving tum yum.

I love all these outdoor restaurants here, not street front-- on the street.

That is good food.

Look at that, see that?

That's a freshwater food.

So there's different kinds of shrimp, freshwater shrimp, saltwater shrimp.

Freshwater shrimp are more delicate, it's not as firm as the sea shrimp, or the deep sea shrimp but they're also sweeter The sea is a generous helping of that stuff there-- that's like the inside of the head of the shrimp.

You know the yellow part the people call the mustard of the crab?

It's a similar thing for the shrimp, and that's what makes a really good meal.

(Rudy) I like this place.

Looks pretty popular.

It's awesome.

It's going to be fantastic.

Hello.

[both speak Thai] And fish balls, maybe, fish balls, And the shrimp.

[speaks Thai] (Rudy) Ummm.

So what have we got here?

These are fish balls, fried fish balls, obviously this is the small shrimp.

They are fried, you can dip those in here.

This is a vegetable called chayote shoot.

(Rudy) These are really sweet.

This is the tom yum.

This is the tom yum.

You see these things floating about?

That's the extra ingredient they put, the inside of the head.

They put extra of that.

Head of the freshwater shrimp.

Right, and that's where all the flavor is.

In the old days, sugar was an expensive commodity, so to be hospitable, a lot of people started adding a lot of sugar.

To show they were especially generous.

Especially in the high-end restaurants also where the foreign travelers came, they'd add a lot of sugar.

Here the sweetness mainly comes from the shrimp itself.

It's definitely also sour, it's that Thai sweet-sour thing.

Ummm.

Yup.

(Rudy) For short trips and for some sanuk, tuk tuks are the way to go.

Many are adorned with garlands, offerings to Mae Yanang the goddess of journeys.

We're headed to garland central, the flower market.

In this land of perpetual summer, flowers abound.

And the flower market overflows with the ubiquitous garlands, offerings to appease or bring luck.

(Daisuke) I like that.

(Rudy) The intricate flower designs mirror the elaborate temple decoration.

All over Bangkok, gorgeous gilded temples rise up toward the heavens.

These serene enclaves, in the midst of the roar of traffic and street vendors, reflect the duality of the Thai spirit: the contemplative interiors are hushed and solemn, while the temple exteriors burst with color and gold and effervescent energy.

These temples often illustrate the uniquely Thai intersection of Buddhism and Hinduism.

Buddhism may preach letting go of desires, but that doesn't stop people from pursuing the pleasures of life-- food of course, and shopping.

Megamalls abound in Bangkok.

Look at this.

I love this town.

This is exactly my kind of town.

Why eat 3 big meals when you can eat often and well?

This is a shopping, this is a food court.

(Rudy) what is this?

(Daisuke) That's fried liver back there.

(Rudy) Fried liver?

I've never had fried liver.

Pork bones, fish cakes, fish.

(Daisuke) This is a high-end food court, and you have street food almost.

(Rudy) And this is just like 1% of it.

Northern Thai spicy sausage, this is called Thai sausage.

We're just getting started.

Good, huh?

Oh, this is fantastic!

(Rudy) Ah, lovely!

(Daisuke) Look at that!

You know, when it's done so gracefully like that, it'll tasted better.

(Rudy) It enhances it.

(Daisuke) Absolutely.

Ooo!

Hum!

Unexpectedly soft and melts in your mouth.

Told you-- I'll never lead you astray when it comes to food.

Never had chive dumplings before.

So this is the main thing, if you stay in that hotel you can walk through inside, come here and have street food all under the comfort of air conditioning.

And it's still street food.

It is.

Right.

(Rudy) Food has a special place in Buddhist ritual as well.

In Thailand, young men are encouraged to spend at least a few months in the monkhood as a kind of rite of passage.

Doing so insures "merit" or spiritual points, good karma for the next life.

Merit is also had by giving alms to monks.

Every morning people deliver food and receive a blessing in return.

So what is this hour's snack?

It's phad thai.

Why'd we wait so long to have Thailand's most famous dish?

It's famous alright, but actually it was made up as sort of a propaganda and that wasn't so long ago.

Really?

Yeah.

So actually phad thai in Thailand is starting from around World War II As a result of a government decision, an issue, a promotion?

Yes, we wanted it because We have the economic problem and the rice is very expensive but the rice noodle is made from the broken rice, so that's why it's cheaper So broken rice could be used for any rice, any form of rice, any shape of rice.

(Rudy) And these are still rice noodles today.

(Thanyanan) Yes, this is the authentic phad thai.

And because our restaurant has a long, long history, So we are starting from my grandmother in my generation.

Right now it's 77 years already.

(Rudy) 77 years.

(Thanyanan) Yes, already.

We still use the tradition way to cook the Thai food because we use a charcoal stove.

(Rudy) The charcoal is very interesting.

(Thanyanan) It gives us the special flavor, special smell, and that is the way that we preserve the traditional Thai cooking method.

My father-in-law, he is a fisherman, that's why we use the seafood to cook our phad thai.

The deep-sea prawn is very fresh, we buy it every day.

(Rudy) Never frozen.

(Thanyanan) Yeah, never frozen.

Fantastic.

Before World War II there was phad thai.

Yeah, no phad thai.

One of the most well-known dishes in the world.

(Thanyanan) Yes, thank you very much.

(Rudy) If I were to use one word to describe the Thai people, I would choose graceful.

Not just in movement but full of grace.

Just watching the greeting between people, the "wai" or swift, slight bow speaks volumes about the respect the people show each other.

And everywhere, sanuk abounds.

(Rudy) Victory Monument-- big traffic hub.

Well yeah, this is why this area has got great seafood.

A lot of people passing by.

You know?

Hang on, I've got to check the lottery.

Ah, the lottery, tell me if I can retire.

And... oh.

Not a single nine.

No nines at all?

No.

We've get to play the next lottery because I'm getting obsessed with numbers.

Everywhere you look anywhere there are numbers.

Me, I see food everywhere.

Yeah, we are on our way to snack number 16,782.

Hang on, that could be your next number Could be.

And we are at Victory Monument!

Could be.

Lots of the dishes that Daisuke and I have devoured have their roots in Chinese cooking.

It's no surprise-- Thailand has the largest ethnic Chinese community in Southeast Asia.

Chinese traders came to Siam early on and became the merchant class.

They assimilated and intermarried, in fact, many Chinese Thai no longer are able to speak Chinese.

Chinatown in Bangkok is immense, lively, colorful, and packed with food.

In typical Bangkok fashion, the people take a Chinese dish, add their special ingredients, and a new dish is born.

A great example of this is the chicken and rice dish, Khao Mun Gai.

All right, I'm looking forward to it!

It's been here 40 years.

40 years?

Look at that!

Kobkhun krab.

(Rudy) Oh my gosh, look at that!

Now, you must regard first how plump and skinny-- you see how it's plump and skinny?

But the skin is plump but not oily.

So they have somehow managed to cook this by draining the fat away from the skin which would go into the meat and would taste really good.

But the skin is sort of blown up.

Try it.

Ummm!

The chicken is not dry, it's incredibly moist, not stringy, it's incredibly firm.

It's just cooked just right.

A seemingly simple thing like this is really not easy to do.

Ingredients change.

Right?

(Rudy) Right.

(Daisuke) Chicken you taste today is not like chicken you tasted when you were a kid.

Yet somehow they managed to make this chicken taste like when you were a kid.

Wow!

That's flavor right there.

That taste-- that's chicken.

You're eating chicken right now-- real chicken.

Your family has been in the chicken business for 40 years.

Who started it, how did it begin?

My grandfather moved to Thailand from Haibnan province in China.

What he knew back then was how to cook chicken right.

At the beginning it was just a little street counter.

(Daisuke) What I'd really like to know is, how did you manage to make the skin so plump yet not fatty at all?

(Ekkaphon) It takes a lot of patience.

Thai people are used to cooking with really high heat Chicken takes really, really low heat.

It takes about almost 2 hours just to cook one chicken.

The other thing I really like about this food is that your rice-- each grain is so pristine, no broken pieces, and you have managed to keep the natural sweetness and the smell of rice-- that's really beautiful to me!

(Ekkaphon) And we still cook in the traditional method-- open pot-- we don't use any electrical rice cooker.

That's one way of making sure that the rice comes out with a nice grain.

How hands-on is dad?

He's here every single day.

Every single day?

Every single day.

My god.

Are you happy your son is now doing this business with you?

[speaking Thai] [laughs] (Daisuke) We don't need a translation for that.

I'm really happy!

[laughs] (Rudy) It's almost too good to be true-- a city filled with fun-loving, food-crazy, spiritually rich, profoundly graceful people.

Bangkok is like the perfect Khao Mun Gai-- subtle, balanced, bold, spicy-- a symphony of flavors.

Bangkok bursts on the palate and lingers in the heart.

We end our journey as we began it, on the street in search of more food, in yet another corner of the enormous dining room called Bangkok.

Can we just walk for a little while?

Are you kidding me?

This is my fantasy come true!

Miles of food stalls-- I can eat here all day!

Right.

Which relieves you of the restriction of just having one lunch a day.

Exactly!

Well, we're in Bangkok, I guess that's the way we roll.

Have as much food and sanuk as possible.

I smell something great!

Oh, I just bet you do!

(woman) For more information on the places featured on "Rudy Maxa's World," visit... To order DVD's of "Rudy Maxa's World," visit... (woman) "Rudy Maxa's World" is sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries-- committed to bringing authentic Japanese food products to the world.

Additional funding provided by United Airlines, serving more than 330 destinations worldwide.

United-- fly the friendly skies.

And by... [synthesizer fanfare]