Leaving Vietnam

After 3 weeks in Vietnam, we are leaving for Southern Thailand. I admit I’m a bit reluctant. I love the country so much. The people are so nice & welcoming, it has so much variety to offer from buzzing vibrant cities to gorgeous isolated beaches to lush mountainous rice paddies, & the food is on another level. We spoke with locals who noted they don’t get many American tourists beyond younger backpacker types & based on their prior conversations, they wondered aloud if it was due to Americans having a single track mind when it comes to Vietnam… All they think about is the war. It’s still recent history so perhaps that’s true. Thailand far surpasses Vietnam in tourism each year & after spending 3 weeks here, it’s baffling to me as IMHO, Vietnam surpasses Thailand in all respects, although my goal is to find some Southern Thailand beaches that are just as isolated as those we found in Vietnam. I think in 5 years, as word continues to spread, they will close that gap bc it’s just a lovely country.

How tan am I?

I know it’s not PC & it’s terrible for you but I constantly slather on SPF 50 sunscreen (I’m spending a small fortune replenishing the supply) so I’m not sure what else I can do bc I’m certainly not staying out of the sun when I’m visiting Vietnam & Thailand beach towns. But doesn’t this tan look damn good? Haha.

For Sara

I got bit by a mf fish today. Super clear water so I watched that little fucker do it. I recalled all the times in the past on family beach vacations where you complained about getting bit by fish & I doubted you. I apologize. It hurt like a bitch.

Monk action series

Throughout Northern Thailand, Laos & Cambodia, I’ve developed a sort of monk obsession. I’m fascinated with them and their lifestyle. But I’m not talking about real deep stuff here. More along the lines of… Why do Bangkok monks have to go barefoot and are too skinny while Chiang Mai monks get to wear shoes (typically flip flops or leather sandals) and appear healthy (i.e. well fed)? Why do Lao monks have to keep their bald head freshly shaved while Thai & Cambodian monks can play it a little looser? However, I admit that my primary interest in them is most likely even more superficial… their bright orange robes really make a picture pop. “Monk alert” is a term we’ve coined when one of us spots their orange robes so we can quickly become camera-ready. Lao monks have turned out to be my favorite, probably due to their daily early morning alms procession (I got up before 6am 3 out of 4 mornings to witness it bc I just couldn’t help myself). I was beyond thrilled when we showed up at the river bank for our Mekong boat day only to find two monks seemingly waiting to board our boat. Dreams of a live monk action series leapt into my head and while that unfortunately didn’t materialize (they instead waved us goodbye), that was the inspiration for this post and a collection of my monk photos, which I’ve largely spared you to-date.

Monk posing after our conversation (he really talked to us)

https://youtu.be/GB01NA4mJi4

Wat’s up

So Wat = Buddhist temple in Thailand, Laos & Cambodia and they are as ubiquitous as cathedrals in Europe or Walgreens in America. We use the word now as a verb on our trip as in “lets go watting today” or “I am so watted out”. When we arrived in Chiang Mai, I admit I was a bit Wat-shy after viewing the Bangkok Wats, due to all of the production involved (lines for tickets, lines for audio guides, lines for dress code review, lines to borrow a cheesy starched white button down shirt bc they won’t allow wraps to cover your shoulders despite the fact they’re fully accepted in all mosques throughout the Middle East, lines to return awful button down shirt, massive crowds and massive time commitment). I powered through and thankfully so bc since, Watting has been much more accessible and enjoyable… You simply buy a ticket at the entrance, flip your shoes off and head in to visit for as long (or as little) as you like and crowds are minimal. Some of them are simply breathtaking they are so ornate. So onward we Wat.

Thai cooking class

The farm on which the cooking class was held was a gorgeous setting with beautiful facilities including covered outdoor cooking stations, allowing for a lovely breeze to blow through. Gun first gave us a tour of the farm from which many of the day’s ingredients were sourced from. We then selected the dishes we’d be making that day. I selected the following:

1 – pad see uw

2 – papaya salad

3 – spring roll

4 – coconut soup w chicken

5 – green curry paste

6 – green curry w chicken

7 – mango w sweet sticky rice
We cooked 1 first and promptly ate it (& everyone commented on my great knife skills as I had the best sliced carrots in our group of 6… I apparently brought my A game). We then cooked 2 & 3 and ate those together as course 2 and after, took a 1 hour break on the lovely grounds. Amy & I played cards and chatted while the cooking school staff prepped for the afternoon’s meals.
Amy & I made the green curry paste – she diced the veggie/flavor additions & I crushed peppers and then her ingredients in a massive mortar & pestle. I hadn’t realized I’d get a good arm workout in cooking class as this was hard work to crush everything into a fine paste… Prob took 20+ minutes, all the while Gun continually demanding “stronger, faster, not ready yet” w a devious smile. We each made our own soups and then I volunteered (yes! In a cooking class!) to cook the coconut sticky rice for everyone and knocked it out like a pro. Haha
Everything tasted incredible (compliments to the chef) but there was far too much to eat. Our instructor Gun was amazing… great chef (he learned from his grandma and said that all Thai people are good cooks), great teacher (amazing how he keeps track of all different dishes for each person in group and where everyone is in cooking process, what to add/when, when to increase/reduce heat, etc) and great sense of humor. Returned to Chiang Mai with a full belly by 5:30.

Ingredients for Thai welcome snack, meang kum (sweet syrup, roasted peanuts, toasted coconut, ginger, shallots, chili peppers, sliced lime w skin, lettuce)

Eat by wrapping a pinch of everything in lettuce. Delicious!

Curry ingredients (green, red, massaman)

Local Chiang Mai food market

We signed up for a full day Thai cooking class at Asia Scenic out on their farm. After an 8:30am pickup, we stopped by a local Thai food market. Our instructor for the day, Gun, led us through the market to familiarize us with the main ingredients we’d be using that day… Very helpful for future shopping in a Chicago Asian market. Then had 15 minutes to explore. That’s when we stumbled upon the “back room”… Essentially the meat/protein room where they sell the typical stuff plus pigs heads/feet as well as fresh live eels, fish & frogs (yes, jumping around). Pretty amazing (if you’re into eating animals, sorry Sar). Pics and video links follow.

Chicken blood… the secret ingredient to their pad thai

https://youtu.be/1o75caCgdgk
https://youtu.be/961j_o2FR9A

The truth about elephants

Many tourists visit Thailand with a hope to ride an elephant. It’s pretty typical and the Thai government and local cities promote it due to its popularity within the tourism industry. After some pre-trip research, we found this is actually quite cruel to the elephants. Despite their enormous size, their spines aren’t meant to carry such weight (between the mahout, a couple tourists & the seating apparatus… the weight can easily exceed half a ton). Additionally, baby elephants are captured in the wild, separated from their parents, and go through a brutal tortuous domestication process that can take up to two weeks in which they’re tied in place by ropes, starved & severely beaten and must be watched at all times so they don’t purposefully step on the trunks to suffocate themselves and end their misery. This breaks their spirit to make them docile and amenable to learning stupid circus tricks. So it’s a rotten industry, one that we refused to support and one that Americans can’t act as if they’re above given all of the stories of atrocities about the circus industry’s treatment of animals. So instead, Amy and I found this awesome Elephant Nature Park, a couple hours outside Chiang Mai, that’s a charitable sanctuary for elephants rescued from not only the tourism industry, but also the logging industry (Thailand has outlawed use of elephants in logging but it’s still done deep in the jungle by local villages) and those injured by accidents (including land mines still very prevalent in Laos thanks to the secret American war). The large parcel of land containing river access was donated to the reserve, which happens to be right down the road from one of these elephant riding parks (we jokingly imagined bar fights erupting between the locals at night), and further donations go towards buying elephants out of the tourism industry and upkeep of course. It’s a lovely place and you can pay to visit, tour the facility and interact with the elephants. It was remarkable to be so close to and touching, feeding and washing these very gentle, sweet, intelligent giant beasts. It was remarkably life changing and I urge anyone who’s visiting the area to schedule a visit.
I’m off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.

Each elephant has a mahout, a personal caretaker, & the bond between elephant & mahout seems undeniable

This little guy in front is the youngest baby at the farm (2yo). Mama is very protective so we had to keep a bit of distance. Obviously the park is not breeding elephants but sometimes a rescued female will later reveal a pregnancy. In order to prevent pregnancies at the park, the young, virile, aggressive and large males are kept isolated in their own habitat. We saw them from quite a distance as they’re known to throw rocks at people. Perhaps unhappy about something?

Below are a bunch of links to YouTube videos, primarily for my niece & nephews but also for any elephant loving adult. They’re pretty sweet. (Fam – I have a few more vids of elephants eating; lemme know if you want those too).

https://youtu.be/io5iGu5-ewM
https://youtu.be/A7f1UtPHBiI
https://youtu.be/zB50fEM8ntg
https://youtu.be/zuJ6HQZA8rw
https://youtu.be/f3-M_ZiEHLI
https://youtu.be/127z008qdTc
https://youtu.be/j0xtV4W-X24

Chiang Mai, a welcome change

While we really enjoyed Bangkok, Chiang Mai, a lovely city in the mountains of Northern Thailand, was a really nice break from the craziness. The city is surrounded by hills, seems much more accessible, has an adorable old town surrounded by a moat with remnants of the brick walls still visible, and is famous for its food. Chiang Mai also introduced a new form of transportation – the songtheaw – red trucks that serve as shared taxis so you just hail them down, tell/show the driver where you’re headed and it’s a flat 20 TB. They still have the tuk tuks but the songtheaws are our fave as they’re everywhere & super cheap.