In Thailand, to-go drinks are served in little plastic bags with handles and a straw. Here, Lauren and I are drinking some of the best Thai iced tea in Chiang Mai. To go.
I’ve decided Lauren needs to pitch the Food Network a show where she travels around the world sampling different foods. I think the majority of our photos and footage are of the amazing foods we’ve had.
And food is definitely a highlight.
One Thai food we haven’t seen exported to the U.S. (but strongly believe should be) is Kao Soi (pronounced cow-soy). It’s a soup-esque curry, with noodles, vegetables, tofu and crispy fried wontons on top. But the amazing part is the sweet-spicy sauce. It’s unlike any flavor I think I’ve ever tasted. Like a party in your mouth.
My favorite Thai food, pad thai (which Lauren complained was a boring choice in the US, until she tried it here) is even more amazing in Thailand. And I sampled the Indian food, masala tea, pork dumplings, tom ka gai, sushi and BeerLao that Lauren has blogged about before, and I’ll admit, they are worth writing home about. (more…)
A few of you might have heard about the bombings in Thailand on New Years. It’s never a dull moment traveling, we suppose. But we’re 12 hours north of Bangkok and we’re totally okay. Just want to let you know.
Our bus from Bangkok to Krabi was pleasant 14 hour journey with a sketchy tourist company that played “screw-the-falong” all the way down. We were told that we would be going direct to Krabi (even got a map drawn for us to illustrate what “direct” meant), but were dropped off on the side of the road at 5am to wait for a small van to pick us up 2 hours later. All our luggage was piled on our laps as we drove for 3 hours, got lost, got dropped at another tourist office that tried to demand more money, and finally arrived at our destination. Although I have grown somewhat accustomed to these dirty tricks of the trade, Luke was none to pleased upon arrival, and immediately began talk of tourist police.
We settled on Au Nang beach, which Lonely Planet and Frommer’s called “only a jumping off point for the Islands”. However, Lonely Planet fails again (gasp!), and Luke and I ended up dumping our plans for Koh Pee-Pee and Phuket to hang out in Au Nang for our 5 day stay in the south.
After my 80th trip to the Indian Consulate in Chiang Mai, and after spending “1 MILLion Baht” to secure my visa, I grabbed some Tom Ka Gai and Luke and I jumped on a mini bus bound for Pai. A nauseating three hour drive through windy mountain roads led us to a very charming mountain town that was worth the trip.
Our first night was spent in bungalows right on the river over a rickety bamboo bridge. We slept on a spongy mattress on the floor under a large mosquito net after wandering around checking out the town, grabbing dinner, and watching Pirates of the Caribbean II. It felt a lot like camping trips as a kid, hearing whispers and low music coming from surrounding flashlight lit bungalows. We had a great time, but Luke was ready to seriously step it up for the next night.
My friend Luke arrived surprisingly awake after his long journey from Albuquerque, and we immediately set out to explore Chiang Mai, get Luke his first Tom Ka Gai soup, and buy him one of the famed Thai yellow shirts for the King’s birthday celebration the next day. After another meal of Kao Soi (which got rave reviews from Luke), we met up with Abby and her new squeeze, Bronwyn, for drinks and a delicious Italian dinner. So much for sticking to Thai food. Later, we enjoyed the Port Luke so valiantly brought us (getting it through customs was a bit of a gamble), and devouring handfuls of his other offering, Reece’s Pieces, and then all headed off to bed in anticipation of our very exciting and action packed next day.
We woke up and met Abby and Bronwyn downstairs, grabbed a banana pancake breakfast, and boarded a minibus to the Elephant Nature Park (www.elephantnaturefoundation.org). We had an absolutely incredible day feeding, bathing, and hanging out with the elephants. It was an amazing experience, and I strongly encourage anyone coming to this neck of the woods to check this out, especially before (if not in lieu of) trekking and elephant rides.
Returning to Thailand for the 3rd time in 3 months felt oddly like returning home… the sea of yellow shirts, people “wai-ing” me (Thai bow), and tuk-tuks galore. Refusing to take a motorbike in Vietnam was an expensive commitment, since there was hardly any other means of transport. After spending the night in the Bangkok airport, I arrived the next morning after a short flight up to Chiang Mai, and happily climbed into a waiting tuk-tuk at the airport. I checked into my hotel (Daret’s, right in the middle of town), and went straight for the Tom Ka Gai soup, my favorite.
After enjoying the perfect weather and walking around the city, I met Abby and all her friends for a Thanksgiving feast at a fancy falong (foreigner) restaurant called “The Dukes”. We caught up, feasted on all the fixings of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and devoured delicious pumpkin pie. I was a bit concerned about the price, but after realizing that really, for a (very) full meal and desert I was paying less than $10, I stopped complaining.
I arrived for Thailand-Take-Two this morning, and flew up to meet my friend Abby (from college) who I will be traveling with for the next 2 weeks. She’s been living in Chiang Mai for the last year and a half teaching English, so has been dragging me all over town today like a pro. Motor bikes have been whizzing past me all day long, sending post traumatic stress shivers down my spine. Abby and I spent the day plotting our travels, booking flights, getting bus schedules, and building an action packed itinerary. We leave tomorrow morning for Laos, and will take the slow boat down the Mekong River to Luang Probang and onto Vientiene. I, once again, am a walking zombie after a roughly 40 hour journey to Chiang Mai that consisted of 4 plane flights, a car ride, and a bus. I’ve managed to stay up all day today, so hopefully I’ll adjust to the 12 hour time difference by tomorrow.
The last few days have been spent going back and forth to the hospital getting cleaned and scrubbed. My wounds are starting to heal, and despite initial fears that there was a bad infection in my knee, I seem to be recovering fairly well without any major concerns. Beth is doing better now that her leg is immobilized in a cast.
The place we are staying is pretty luxurious by Thai standards ($20/night) and has been a good place to rest up, watch TV, and attempt sponge baths and hair washings without getting several scraped, stitched, and casted areas of the body wet. I have completed fallen in love with a kitten that lives in our hotel named “Kou Mow”. He looks a little like my cat Jackson at home. The strangest thing about this cat is that he is always sitting down on his butt with his legs straight out infront of him like a human just watching things go by. I’m going to steal him and bring him home. More cats for the Georges! (just kidding). (more…)
The next morning, we woke up at 6am. I was sure they were going to send me to the hospital that day, so Lauren started packing our bags. I couldn’t do anything to help, so I just laid there and watched.
After two hours of furious packing, we were mostly ready. I turned to Lauren, who was panting and covered in sweat, and said, “I don’t think I have the energy to go to the hospital today.”
We decided if they said it was okay to rest another day in Koh Tao that we would stay.
We made it to the clinic and they seemed confused as to why we were there. I reminded them about the hospital. They called the doctor on their cell and I talked to him. His broken English, which was hard to understand in person, was even harder to understand on the phone. I asked about going the next day and he said it was fine.
In Thailand, people drive on the left side of the street. At first, it seems like just a curiosity and didn’t bother me until the first time our taxi driver turned left on red. There’s something just wrong about left on red.
In Koh Tao, there’s almost no way to get around the island except by moped. (They call them motorbikes). Our second day on the island, we decided to rent one and see if we could find cheaper accommodations.
The woman we rented it from showed us how the moped worked and Lauren took it out for a test drive. “On the left. Left!” the woman yelled.
Lauren came back and I hopped on the back and off we went.
