So I'm a native Californian and eat Thai food there all the time as it's probably tied with Mexican food as the best thing ever. Living in California I like to think our Thai food is at least somewhat authentic.

I planned my first-ever trip to Asia and decided to end in Bangkok because I thought that would be the best place in Asia to visit. I'm currently in Bangkok and I've tried several varieties of Thai food from both restaurants and street vendors and so far none of it left me all that impressed and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I like my Thai food spicy so I assumed this wouldn't be a problem but even when I ordered Guay Tiew Phad Kee Mao (my favorite American Thai dish) extra spicy it's wasn't all that spicy. I was drinking hot tea with it just fine which is something I would never do back home. Furthermore there didn't appear to be much in the way of basil in this dish which I assumed every Thai dish should be full of.

I realize pad kee mao probably isn't the most "authentic" thai dish out there, but I've tried all kinds of stuff and everywhere I go it just seems bland and boring which is leaving me really frustrated because I know that I'm doing something completely wrong.

My only thought is I'm yet to attempt to order anything but satay from a street vendor where the menu was completely in Thai. I've ordered noodles from non-English speaking Thai vendors but they at least had a menu in English so I had an idea as to what I'm ordering.

I'm taking a food tour tomorrow so hopefully that will help but I'm leaving here soon and I really don't want to go home and tell people that you can get better Thai food in Paso Robles, CA than Bangkok because that just makes me sound like a complete idiot.