The Experience, part 2.

FOOD. If it weren't for the fantastic people, this would be my favorite part of the trip. Wait, it probably was the most incredible part of the trip. I ate Thai food twice a day for a month and wanted more after I left. The unfortunate part is, that as good as the American version of Thai food is, it can't compete with the real thing. I am left wanting.

Thai food is everywhere. That may sound strange but have you ever tried to take a foreign visitor out for typical American food? Where do you go after you have a hamburger? When my friends and I decide on food, we generally narrow down by ethnicity; Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, Thai. Maybe this is mostly a California problem but it sure made me think while we were in Thailand. The alternative to Thai food throughout Thailand is "Western Food" which includes burgers and Italian mostly and from what I hear, if I had looked closer at the menu there would be specialties to Australia, New Zealand and Germany. However, they all looked like impostors and were always found where the tourists were, not as a part of the everyday cuisine of the Thai people. No, if you wanted good food, you went for the local food.

The local food was everywhere. In restaurants that out numbered all other businesses 2 to 1, on the streets in carts, attached to motorcycles, by sellers that board the train and then get off at the next stop and in kitchens that most of us would consider primitive. On a raft with no electricity, two wonderful women cooked us an amazing lunch and dinner while sitting on the floor in the corner of the boat. We ate from a food cart in Ayuthaya, ordering from a young man that I hoped understood my request for no eggs. (He did.) We ate in a restaurant with a tattoo parlor in back and a proprietor that ran next door to get our beers. A family we stayed with made delicious pad thai and wrapped it in banana leaves for us to take for lunch on our trek. Kim and I sat at a small table in a park, where a husband and wife paired up to served us a delicious lunch.

Though the food is delicious, just like any other ethnic food, there are certain dishes that you will always find. Pad Thai and fried rice were everywhere, in street carts and in restaurants. Another popular street food was papaya salad, made from green papayas, chilies, green beans, garlic, tomatoes and dried shrimp. Chicken and fried basil, garlic and chicken, green, yellow and red curries. Tom yam goon was my personal favorite, spicy and sour soup with shrimp, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, mushrooms, tomatoes and, of course, chilies. These are but a few of the many dishes that were always available and delicious no matter where you enjoyed them.

We were lucky enough to have many meals cooked outside of restaurants. During the homestays we experienced typical family meals. There was always rice, and usually 3 other dishes that we ate family style. In the north they used a lot of cabbage and eggs and very little meat. In the south there was more vegetables, more fish and somewhat less spicy. Though that may have been them catering to the delicate western palette. They always cooked us so much more food then we could ever eat, we were always torn between stuffing ourselves to be polite or saving ourselves for dessert, which was always the most wonderful pineapple and watermelon.

So now I am home, to the vast array of foods, and I keep wishing for REAL Thai food again. One of these days I will use the the info I learned in our Chiang Mai cooking class and make something the might actually taste like Thailand.

Thanks for reading.

The Experience, part 1.

I often wonder why certain people travel. They (the certain people) are often traveling behind the lens of a camera or with a check off list in their hand. I know that these folks, at the end of their "trips of a life time," are only asking whether they took the perfect picture of Denali, made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower or visited Ma Ya Beach. I have the philosophy that these "tourist" events are important or they wouldn't be on the to do list. However, there is so much more to traveling and exploring the world. To me the best way to learn about any place is to do three things...talk to the locals, eat the local food and drink the local drink. I know most of you (well the couple that read this) are with me on the first two but the last sounds a bit suspicious. However, I believe that all three are terribly important.

On this trip I had the fortunate opportunity to spend time with a few of the amazing people of Thailand. Our first experience was part of an adventure that everyone warned against...taking the set price Tuk Tuk ride. K and I were wandering the neighborhood near our hotel and were approached by a nice gentleman offering to help us with our adventure. In the end he said that we shouldn't pay more then 10 Baht for a tuk tuk tour and just at that point we were approached by a tuk tuk driver offering to give us a tour for 10 Baht. Shocking. Well since we knew what we were getting into we decided to go for it and we had a very enjoyable 4 hours. PK, our driver, told us about his life as her drove us to a couple of smaller temples and then on to the obligatory jewelry store and clothes maker. He was originally from Phuket and moved up to Bangkok at 17 to work and go to school. He was at the university but was a bit ostracized since he was a tuk tuk driver as well as a student. He talked about his sacrifice of not having an IPhone and having to work all weekend instead of having fun. Though we were much older, he was he was very interested in knowing about our lives in the U.S and would ask us questions or answer ours at every stoplight. Not only did we not mind our 4 dollar right we enjoyed getting to know a nice young man trying to make his way in Bangkok.

Our next big experience with a local was our guide, Sam. His name wasn't really Sam but he said it was too hard and long to pronounce in Thai. He was from the northern city of Chiang Mai, had 3 siblings, his mom owned a restaurant and he went to a prestigious high school and specialized University. Throughout our 4 weeks together we got to know Sam but he was careful not to be too involved in our adventure, just being a facilitator. We learned about the political situation that is threatening to rend the country in two, discovered that he has many dreams for after leading tours but that his love of food will guide his next step and uncovered the fact that a Thai's favorite pastime is sleeping. Sam has little interest in traveling beyond his region of the world but he has a first timers joy when he shows off Thailand.

Kim and I were also very lucky to have a small interaction with some young Thai kids. While we were eating lunch in Ao Nang we observed a large group of high school age kids divided into two groups trying to talk to passing tourist. Kim and I, not known for easily approaching people decided we would go up and talk to these kids and see if we could help them. Kim approached the shiest looking girl and went to the other. They were competing with each other by filling out an English questionnaire by asking questions of tourists. These kids spoke very good English and could read it just as well; there understanding was a little weak but we were incredibly impressed by their skills. We spent about 15 minutes filling out the form and another ten just talking to them and getting our pictures taken. They were very enthusiastic and excited to talk to us beyond the questions. Later we were walking down the beach and from up above at street level we could hear someone calling at us, it was the students and they came running down to the beach to talk to us again. Four of them swarmed us to get a couple more pictures and our email addresses. We were flattered but we meant more to them since we took the time to talk to them and showed a genuine interest in their lives.

There were so many more...our 65 year old hill trek guide named Homey, that could out hike all of us and Frank, our charming Lady Boy attendant on the overnight train that wanted to play dominoes, cards and listen to Madonna with us. Getting to experience another culture through the words and stories of a native is the true gift of travel.

Stay tuned to hear about the food culture of Thailand. To see the pictures from the trip, click here.

Thanks for reading.