Thai Food

 Photo by Everypixel.com

If I didn't already love Thailand, the cuisine would convince me that I had come to paradise.   Everywhere we went the meals were a highlight.

The first week,  Qiu introduced us to an unusual appetizer that we found at the bazaar.  We brought it back to our home stay to share.   

 Miang Kham uses a Chaplu or Thong Lang Leaf as the wrapper then a plateful of ingredients are wrapped in the leaf and it is all dipped into a sauce.  Most of the ingredients are shredded and one can choose the proportions before you wrap the leaf and dip it in the sauce. 

   Here is a list of ingredients.

1. Chaplu Leaves or Thong Lang Leaves
2. Peanuts 1/4 cup
3. Dried shrimp 1/4 cup
4. Ginger 1/4 cup
5. Coconut 1/4 cup
6. Shallot (cut into small pieces) 1/4 cup
7. Lime(cut into small pieces) 1-2 Tbsp.
8. Chilli 1-2 Tbsp.

Miang Kham Sauce

• 1 Tbsp dried shrimp
• 1.5 inches galangal, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, chopped
• ½ cup water
• 125 g palm sugar, chopped
• 1 teaspoon shrimp paste, or more if you like the flavour
• 1- 1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp toasted coconut, ground until mealy 
• 2 Tbsp toasted peanuts, ground until mealy

Then in Chiang Mai we discovered Ta's cooking which was special.

Ta's stuffed cabbage

And even though I do better on animal protein and few starches or sweets,  I found something to love about just about every dish we sampled in Thailand.   And yes I ate the sweet sauces and the rice accompaniment that goes so well with the curries.   It's all about proportion and a rare opportunity to eat the dish as cooked by the locals. 

Ta's sauted mushrooms with chives and garlic

When we got back to Chiang Mai after the elephants, Tui took us to another cafe where we basically had fried and boiled chicken for breakfast.  It was tender and delicious and so interesting with the accompaniments, the hot chilies and the cucumber to cool the palate.   The place was packed even at breakfast.

Breakfast of boiled and fried chicken with sauces and cucumber to cool the tongue

The chicken cafe boilers

The fried chicken has cornstarch and chilies mixed into the breading and is extra crunchy. The boiled chicken was so tender that I couldn't imagine their secret.

One of the chicken cafe workers 

It seems that food is a main feature of Thailand and the outdoor markets are especially enticing. 

 Even though it wasn't the season, Dave and I tried Durian Fruit which is considered by the Thais to be the King of Fruits. 

  I have to say that it didn't do it for me.  A fruit that tastes like a custard is not, in my book, what a fruit is supposed to do.     But there are so many to choose from.... many only seen during monsoon, that there is a king and queen fruit for every palate.  

 Durian Fruit ...Matador network.com

An out of season piece of Durian, the king of fruits, I bought at the bazaar.

The  Durian Fruit and its huge seed

The Barber shop

Now it's hard to believe that I was talked into bringing a hairdryer to Thailand as every town has shops or salons that will do a great job.

Thai hairdressers in Chiang Mai

The first salon I went to on our trip was almost across the street from Pom's family home in Chiang Mai.  I was led into the back of what looked like a men's barber shop... where there were several lounge beds and ladies giving shampoos.  I lay down on one, my head perched over a sink... so much more comfortable than a chair. 

Then the coiffeuse started the shampoo.... with vigor, with intensity.  After about 15 minutes of this I made the universal cut off sign and the washing stopped ....for a moment, while she rinsed my head.    I was afraid with this robust treatment I wouldn't have any hair left.

Then it started up again with more shampoo and a kneading of my scalp, then my shoulders then my neck.  The standard, I found out later was three shampoos, three rinses.  

 After another 20 minutes of this I didn't care if there was hair left or not, since I realized that this was going to be a serious head massage, the likes of which I had never experienced.

An hour and 15 minutes later I emerged from the back, dazed but happy with hair still intact, happy clean hair.

The styling took about 15 minutes and all that was 100 baht, about $3.29.    

Then if you aren't fussed about privacy, there were these two charming barbers at the outdoor market. 

Barbers at the bazaar

New Year's resolve

Early morning , Place Massena, Nice

Today I got to see by video that the Ducks won the Rose-bowl in Pasadena.   And what a game, 28-27 against the Wisconsin Badgers.  It was a game you might say was scripted by Hollywood,  never a dull moment.  Both college teams were excellent.

 I started reflecting a few days ago, what it means to "play".  The cat ( Mozzi) plays even though he is middle aged ( 10 years old).   He makes up games for us to engage in when he is bored and insists that we play.

 We see children play all the time.... but older adults give up playing unless they have a round of golf or bridge from time to time.  

So to see that my brother, who attended the University of Oregon and worked there,  has a passion for the teams and coaches of the Oregon "Ducks" is a healthy thing...a good thing.  Even more so as my other two brothers share his enthusiasm and it brings them all closer together.

Dave told me on our trip that his admiration is not just in the winning but it is about the overall coaching and the recruiting of a team of athletes and (good scholars too) who epitomize team work.   He follows the women's teams too that have their own ratings.  But this is just a side of him.  He is also an accomplished musician, poet and nature lover, husband and father.

  My family was never encouraged to be athletic.   My sister does ballet every week but she was never given lessons as a child.   Now she is on "pointe" shoes and it is a big part of her week.  And she is just a few years younger than I am!  Dave and I do walking, weights, pilates and did tennis in the past...but were never part of a team.  My other brothers are pretty active as well and Jim definitely knows how to be playful. 

So yes, there is something that we can take away from this kind of team building and play.  One is that hard work equals joy in accomplishment and joy is contagious. 

I  admit that I was depressed yesterday,  the let down of trying to regain my enthusiasms after the highs of Thailand and then a whole night of singing and partying across the street for"Réveillon" left me cranky and searching for some answers.

I am feeling a lot more chipper today because I finally broke a long spell of relative inactivity ( no organized exercise while in Thailand).  This morning I got myself up at 5am to pump up my bike tires and take the thing out before the traffic started up.    I went to the port and back and that was enough to get the juices flowing...especially the endorphins.    

I did it early because during the sunny hours this time of year the Promenade is full of hundreds of people strolling, riding, skate- boarding, walking dogs, using scooters and trying out remote controlled cars on the sidewalk and bike path.  Frankly unless you have excellent reflexes and want a frustrating ride,  daylight is not a good time to go.

So I have decided this year to include two things.... The first one is to play just for the hell of it...like kids do. ...to find something playful to do just for the laughs and joy.

 The second thing is to do physical exercise almost every day.  It doesn't have to be a sport,  I just need to get myself moving. 

   I don't usually do New Year's resolutions but for a lazy sod like me, it's a good idea to start with the brain.  As the ad says,  "Just do it". 

Hike with Lan Na, Chee and Nome

Our dormitories at Bann Chang

Lanna, Nome (with the hat) and Chee

After the a cozy night in the well appointed dormitories of Bann Chang, we set off for a hike with Lan Na, a huge male elephant with rubber protection ( for the trees) wired onto his meter long tusks.  He was named for Lan Na or Lanna Kingdom, also down as Lannathai,  which was an Indianized state centered in present day Northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries.  

Lan Na has found a stand of elephant grass and goes at it.

Nome encourages the campfire

Nome prepares the banana leaf packet of egg to put into the coals

Dave and I start to eat on our banana leaf table cloth while the elephants graze

 After we stopped at a little sheltered cabin with Nome and Chee to show us how to have a jungle picnic with chicken legs already marinated and rice cooked in bamboo tubes.

Lan Na and his girlfriend

During lunch Lan Na's girlfriend showed up with her mahout and Lan Na came off the hill in an instant to be with her.  All she had to do was bang her trunk on the ground, and he was there. They went off foraging together within sight of us.   

It was a wondrous outing to be so close to the big beasts in a natural looking environment and to coax the elephants home all we needed was a bag of sugar cane pieces.

After that,  we ventured to another large pond in the compound where Nome would scrub down the big guy for his daily bath.  

 Then Dave and I went off to see the babies for a while.

It is a great thrill interacting with these large animals, so gentle and so well cared for in this place.   We were glad we had chosen this chance to be among them.

Would this happen here?

I may be romanticizing it but I found theThai people to be inordinately helpful, unselfish and kind.  One night in Chaing Mai I decided to go off to buy sunglasses at the night bazaar.  Tui gave me a map but I missed the instruction that first I was to turn right onto the road at the corner.  

I walked along a highway, dark and remote for 10 minutes before I realized my mistake.  So I cut over across and did find the Night Bazaar.  But my mistake was that I didn't relocate to the Burger King shown on the map... to find my way home. I thought I could find my own way by instinct.

I was wrong,  I walked down a dark, dark street and used my cell phone flashlight to avoid roots in the sidewalk, until I spied a posh hotel just across the street.  By then I needed to pee but doubted that they would let me use the restroom dressed in shorts and a tee shirt.  The night porter led me in, however. 

 Afterwards, I wandered to the desk to show my hand drawn map to the concierge, a beautiful Thai girl.  I said, " If I could get to the Burger King near the bazaar, I think I could find my way back."

I had no address of Tui's home, no phone number and only a few landmarks to go by.  I had always been so sure of my sense of direction so I went off too confidently.

  I told them that I lived near the Catholic church, and that I knew where the Kentucky fried Chicken was near me, and a coffee shop across from telephone wires where hundreds of Starlings perched every night.   These were all near my home stay.  

"Ah , the birds", said the porter.  I know the noisy birds, and I know a shortcut.  Can I take you on my motorbike?  

So that is how I got home that night before Tui and the family were ready to go to bed.  And the porter wouldn't take any payment for the favor.    These kinds of experiences followed me throughout the trip and probably that is partly why I will stay a fan of Thailand.

Bann Chang Elephant Park

The following day in Chiang Mai we were collected by Chee from the Bann Chang Elephant Park, a small Family run Eco Park with a private owner (not a chain).  

  The home is dedicated to educating the public about the Asian Elephant of Thailand and providing the best life quality to rescued animals.  There are no elephant tricks or rides to be found here....events that exploit the elephant by taking away the normal time that an elephant should be eating.   Elephants eat all day to sustain their bulk and normally only sleep 2-3 hours.  There is a huge acreage at the park for natural foraging for the animals as well as the treats given of sugar cane.

  With a small backpack to stay overnight and spend a few days getting down and dirty with the big beasts, we came in a 4x4 with our driver/ guide Chee.    He had once been a mahout himself but with a knack for languages, studied to become a guide.  A mahout is an elephant trainer or keeper and is a Hindi word.  In Thailand he is known as kwan-chang.

After an introduction about the park and the habits of elephants, we were given uniforms to wear so we didn't have to take back soiled clothes.

    Our first job was feeding stalks of young sugar cane ( less sugar) to the elephants.  It was fascinating to see how each one accepted the food differently .  My first elephant wanted to put three small stalks in her mouth as soon as it was offered.  Lanna, however, wanted at least 9-13 pieces before bringing the bite to his mouth.  He was expert at arranging the pieces with his "trunk fingers" in the crook of his trunk before the next bite.

Dave with his first elephant of the stay

We climb out of the pond after bathing the elephants.

The first elephant I fed and followed the first day was Mai-lee, a female blind from cataracts.  When she wanted some more stalks of sugar cane, she raised her trunk.  When she was happy she flapped her ears. No problem.  I had the goodies so she followed me anywhere.

There were at least 5 babies and moms present kept separate from the others. We were allowed to feed and interact with them.  The babies couldn't digest the banana skins but knew how to squish the end of the fruit to get at the pulp if a whole one landed mistakenly at their feet.

Babies were kept separately with their mothers in pens.

Dave with a tray of medicine balls

 
After a tasty lunch, we were introduced to the idea of "medicine balls". These were concocted by the guests each day to give extra nutrition to the elephants.  Some of the ingredients were bananas and banana peels, sticky rice and several kinds of herbs and leaves that were found on the acreage.    The elephants thought of these as candy and generally accepted them with great enthusiasm... placed directly into their mouths, as many as you could shove in.  There is a resident Vet at Bann Chang and any problems of health are quickly addressed.

Dave and mahout in the bathing pond

Near the end of our day we went along with our two elephants and their trainers for the daily bath.   The mahouts who knew these elephants could coax them to sit and then we all did the scrubbing.  The beasts seemed to enjoy it and we were getting rid of their parasites, it seems.

In the evening we were treated to the second meal at the park and ate under a lovely pavilion, the only guests that day.

  It was a tasty dinner: a curry soup, rice and two other main dishes with chicken and chilies and of course, the wonderful small pineapple from the region which was always served with the meals.  These small pineapples from the region, oh- so- sweet, can be eaten center stalk and flesh.

Chee wishes us "Bon Appetite"

Our evening chef for a lovely Thai meal

Siam Insect Zoo

  Photo from Chiangmaivoyage.com

 We asked Parr if he had ever visited the Insect Zoo  among other tourist business we saw on the way home and no, he hadn't.  The tiger cages yes, the snakes, affirmative but not one party on his tours in Chiang Mai had asked him to stop to see the insects.
It may sound uninspiring to visit a bunch of dead bugs and butterflies under glass cases but in fact that is only part of the display at Siam Insect Zoo.
This is an interactive world insect museum with live insect breeding , a butterfly garden and a few very keen budding biologists working there to anticipate all your questions.    There is a reptile section also.

Its called Siam Insect Zoo in Chiang Mai and here are a few pictures from our visit.
 www.facebook.com/siaminsectzoochiangmai

Dave holds a live walking stick insect.

These huge leaf insects were one of my favorites.  They look like fairies to me.