Cook Like the Thais

One thing I wanted to accomplish in Thailand is to learn to cook Thai food. It was coming down to my last month in Thailand, so I thought Now or never.



I took a course through Baan Thai in Chiang Mai, Thailand. After a trip to the local Thai market to learn about the produce I would cook with, the course began with a meet and greet accompanied by refreshing Thai snacks.



It was a great course, because I was able to choose exactly what I wanted to make...

Pad Thai


Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup


Penang Curry


Spring Rolls

Red Shirt Frenzy

Right now, there's a lot of political tension in Bangkok from the Red Shirt Party. At Government House yesterday they spilled 1,000,000 cc's of blood, donated by the Red Shirt protesters. They dumped blood again this morning at the Prime Minister's house, begging him to step down.

There were constantly parades going stopping traffic all over Bangkok, and I was interested to see what these rallies were all about. So I headed down to Government House to spend a day in the heat with the Red Shirt Party.

Below are some photos I took...

100,000 protesters at Government House


Carting jugs of blood through the cheering crowd


Showing me where they had blood drawn that morning


Party card-holders

Chiang Rai Excitement

I took a day-trip from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, which is the Northern-most part in Thailand.

First I went to the White Temple, a famous recently-built temple signifying Heaven and Hell. In Hell, people are reaching up trying to get out. Inside the temple there are disturbing paintings with references to modern culture (9/11, etc) on the walls showing Buddha conquering all.




I traveled to what's known as "The Golden Triangle," where Thailand meets Burma and Laos. I got a border pass to Laos where I had to try their famous Laos whiskey. I could choose between some killer "flavors" if you will: tiger fur, lizard or cobra. With options like that, how could I go wrong? I opted not to have a hair ball coughing fit later and stuck with "cobra".



Then I went to a tribal village, where I met the Long Neck Tribe, famous for growing their necks up to a foot long. They were really welcoming to me and let me try on one of their neck braces. In exchange for their kindness, I bought some hand-woven scarves.

Why didn't I teach in Chiang Mai?

Reasons I love Chiang Mai, Thailand:
-It's significantly less sticky than Bangkok
-They actually have a cool season
-The city is easy to navigate and drive
-It closely borders 3 countries: Laos, Burma and China
-The people are totally laid-back

Tiger Kingdom

At Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I got to play with tigers of all sizes for 1,400 baht (about $45). They raise all of their tigers in captivity, so there were even 3 newborn tigers. The facility was kept-up, the staff spoke English- fabulous experience. It was the best day of my life. Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.

  

Khao Yai

This weekend I visited Thailand's second biggest park, Khao Yai. Here are the highlights...



On the way in we were harassed by monkeys who stood outside our taxi begging for food. I think tourists feed the monkeys and their families.


On the way out of the park, we stopped by a pork roast on the side of the road. Two things about this incident: 1) Notice the stuffed gorilla pretending he's roasting the pork 2) I ate my first piglet that day. It was actually pretty good.

Strange Reminder

I've been working on another blog to introduce other foreigners, specifically the next round of Baylor teachers, to Bangkok. I've been consciously walking through the city taking note of anything that used to be "foreign" to me... like these...



Screw napkins, give me a roll of toilet paper! Most street vendors and cheap restaurants in Bangkok offer toilet paper to wipe your mouth (or sweat, I mean, it's Bangkok).



Don't worry. Just because there are crazy wires hanging everywhere doesn't mean you'll get electrocuted. Oh no... it's rainy season.



And now... to the squatter potty. Talk about awkward.

Looming on the Loom

I passed by a store for... looming... the other day. So I, randomly as usual, walked into the store to ask if they had lessons, specifically lessons in English.

They did. So I scheduled a lesson for a couple days later.

What is a loom, you ask? Let me transport you back to 1891 before the Industrial Revolution. (I know you're thinking and why did you do this? I don't really know either.)



The one-on-one lesson was awesome. The lady was an absolute sweetheart. She showed me how to use the pedals and strings to operate the loom. Seriously, it was quite the sight.



I showed up and for the next 2+ hours, I learned how to weave silk into this beautiful masterpiece below...

JJ Weekend Market... Where Everything Goes

JJ Market, or Chatuchak Market, is Bangkok's famous outside weekend market. This market is so massive that it covers 35 acres and has, literally, everything you could ever want: bags, souvenirs, trendy clothes, exotic pets, furniture, art, cutlery, ninja stars (c'mon, like you don't want ninja stars......). You name it- It's there.



It's about 30 minutes away, located at the Mo Chit BTS stop. So if you're going to travel that far, you really have to make a day of it. I know there has to be a map of Chatuchak somewhere out there in the universe, and every time I go I wish I had one. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten lost.

"Outside? Outside? How do I get to the outside?"
...As they laugh at another lost tourist.
"I speak nit-noi Thai. Leo qua or leo sigh?"
...As they laugh even more.

So here are some of the amazing things Chatuchak brings to my life...


At the same stall, you can buy cowboy boots, country flags and hanging sculpted plumber butts.



And here you get some steals on fake fruit. See that- 3 for 100 baht!!!

Social Networking At A Social Place

Bangkok never ceases to amaze me- it's about as ridiculous as you can get.

Take this for example-

A group of us went out to RCA (big complex of clubs) to a club called Route 66. On the way to the bathroom, we passed a bunch of computers logged onto facebook and hi5 (the Thai version of facebook).



So here you are, surrounded by a bunch of friends dancing to great music... and hold up! You've gotta go check to see if you have any updates!!!!

But seriously, I can only imagine the kind of late-night drunk posts from here...