Jack Talk Thai

Thailand was the first country on this trip, so far, that I have been to before, however, I was equally as excited as I loved it the first time around and on this trip I was able to see some sites and spots I had not yet been. I arrived at 3rd Street Cafe Guest House in Kata Beach (one of three main beaches of Phuket, on the southwestern coast of Thailand) and felt as though I was staying at The Ritz Carlton (compared to the places I had stayed in Indonesia) with the air conditioning and TV in the room (I realized I hadn't watched TV in over a month). My first day, I checked out Kata - a small / quiet beach and town - followed by the Thai owner of the guest house having me try a fried worm... She told me beforehand that they tasted like french fries... WRONG, at least no french fry I have ever had. It tasted more like a sardine, but an experience nonetheless. That night Jen and Kari arrived and I was more than excited to see friends from home. After just having travelled for over twenty four hours to get to Phuket from San Francisco, they were slightly tired, so we called it an early night after some Thai food for dinner, on the beach.



The next day we took a boat trip to several islands, including the one featured in the movie, "The Beach" with Leonardo Dicaprio. The landscape of the islands was absolutely beautiful - limestone cliffs and jungle set against clear turquoise water and fine white sand. Disappointing, however, was the amount of tourists and the trash thrown into the water surrounding some of the islands and cliffs. It was like a cattle heard down the beach with so many tourists, it made it difficult to even find some space to sit. This being the beginning of the "low season", it made me wonder how intensely crowded it must be in the "high season". With some deceiving photo work, my pictures, like the tour books, don't show the hoards of tourists.




Next we visited Monkey Beach. The guides give the tourists bananas to feed the monkeys so they are waiting for you hanging in the trees and running along the sand waiting to be fed. With the number of tourists visiting the beach, we were told you have to time it right as the monkeys retire into the jungle to sleep off their banana feasts from the tourists, at some points throughout the day.





After some snorkeling, we travelled to Phi Phi Don Island. Miniature winding streets filled with food stalls, bars, cafes, guest houses, shops, and scuba diving offices (diving here is supposed to be amazing), all sandwiched between one beach lined with long tail boats and a ferry dock, and another beach which serves as a launching point for kayaking and scuba diving. We loved it so much we decided we would take the ferry back the next day and spend the night on the island.




That night, however, we took a tuk-tuk (an opened backed truck with a roof and benches in the bed of the truck) to Patong. We were told Patong is the "party" area of Phuket and our visit was definitely entertaining. We ate dinner at a crowded open-air restaurant that offered a view of the main road - perfect for people watching. Many "western" older men walking along with young Thai women and "lady boys" (this is what they're called in Thailand - we would say drag queen or transvestite) making their way through the busy streets. It started to rain (more like a torrential downpour, in my opinion) so we ran across the street for massages. My one hour Thai massage cost $6. Jen and Kari both had one hour foot massages and loved them so much that Jen was prepared to ask the masseuse back to San Francisco.

The streets are always lined with people selling different foods from carts, but late night in Patong there were also a few soup and curry stations set up where you choose your base (either a soup or curry) then sit at benches along the street and add vegetables or whatever else you would like to your own plate. It seemed that only locals were eating at these stations, so the three of us decided to sit down and try it. As we tried to act as though we knew exactly what we were doing, some local girls across from us started laughing and stopped us from eating what was apparently the stem of some form of eggplant. The laughing continued as they watched us dare each other to eat the dried out miniature fish sitting in a bowl in front of us (which we did eat - I preferred the worm from the day before...).



The next day, we took the ferry back to Phi Phi Don Island. Despite this island receiving much of the tsunami, a few years ago (200 people died on this island alone...), much has been rebuilt. We checked into our bungalow and I then introduced Jen to her first Thai pancake (they are similar to what we consider a "crepe" and you can get whatever type of filling you'd like). I am craving one again just writing about it.







After wondering through the shopping stalls and beach bars of the island, we stopped in to watch a movie at an outdoor cafe. This is one of my favorite things about the nightlife of Thailand beach towns - all the open cafes that play movies nightly. You can stop in for dinner or a drink and watch a movie before heading out for the night.




The next day we took the ferry back to Patong (the water was so choppy, as it had been stormy, that Kari and I got so sick on the boat I hope to forget about it forever after writing this) and spent one last night in Phuket before flying up to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai, the next morning.




Chiang Mai is located in the northern, more mountainous area of Thailand and is said to be known as the "spiritual center" of Thailand. Two of Jen's friends from home, Steffanie and Josh, had been living in Chiang Mai for the past four months teaching English, and we met up with them for our first night starting with a dinner of vegetarian Thai food and then to a favorite bar of theirs where Kari, Jen, and I all ate a cricket... They have all of these carts and stalls around Thailand selling various types of bugs to eat, so we gave the crickets a go (the picture below shows us just before we tried them).


















One of the highlights for me on this second trip to Thailand was the Thai cooking class we took in Chiang Mai. Usually, I not only am a horrible cook and dislike cooking as well, but this cooking school was amazing! We first went to the local market with our Thai instructor, Gaye, where she pointed out various foods and explained what they were and what they are used for. She also bought some pink eggs (literally the shells are pink) and bananas wrapped in sticky rice, for us to try for breakfast before cooking class. The pink eggs are soaked in ammonium so when you open them, the egg is black and the yoke is a purple gel. I wasn't a big fan of mine as I could taste the ammonium, but the others in the class (aside from us three girls, we were joined by an Israeli couple) seemed to like theirs. Gaye gave us each a cookbook and had us pick out four Thai dishes she then taught us how to cook. We made: khao soi , papaya salad, tom kah gai soup, and panang curry. We then all sat down together in the open kitchen and patio area outside and enjoyed what we had made.

After cooking school, we took a tuk-tuk to Doi Suthep, a Buddhist temple up in the mountain, regarded as a "must see" if you visit Chiang Mai. Since Kari and I were wearing shorts, they gave us wraps to cover our legs, as it is considered "respectful" to cover your shoulders and legs to your knees when entering the Wats (temples).

After leaving the Wat we made our way back down the mountain to Chiang Mai market for some shopping. Hundreds of stalls line the sidewalks selling everything from bootlegged DVDs, to silk pillowcases, to knives, to pashminas, etc.

We met up with Stephanie and Josh and went to see "Spiderman 3" for our last night in Chiang Mai. Seeing movies at the theater in Thailand is another unique experience. When you purchase your tickets, they show you a digital representation of the theater, showing which seats are taken and which are available so that you can choose where you sit. Your ticket then has your chosen seat number on it so that when you enter the theater you find your seat (as they are all labeled) similar to a concert, play, etc. Before the movie starts, they play the Thailand National Anthem and show images of the King and Royal Family, mixed with images of Thailand, and everyone in the theater must stand. Thankfully, this experience and the Thai subtitles on the bottom of the movie screen, made up for the movie...

The next morning we said goodbye to Stephanie and Josh and then said a few prayers before boarding our Lao Airlines flight into Laos - the airline is notorious for not releasing their flight / safety records and even the Lonely Planet says that the routes between bigger cities are "ok to take" but no guarantee on the trips between smaller cities... Some Lynard Skynard seemed appropriate for the ipod, and we boarded our propeller plane to Luang Prabang, Laos. More to come from Laos!