Taste Bud Recollection

Bangkok
Saturday, July 17, 2010

Last Saturday was jam packed with culinary delights as we spent the day and night in various parts of BKK. After some much needed sleep Josie, Emily, our Thai friend Aung (nicknamed Panda) and I made our way to JJ weekend market. This giant of a market never fails to overwhelm me with its jam-packed aisles and its seemingly never-ending supply of goods and food. We wandered around and shopped a little bit until 1pm when we went to meet up with Corky and Diane Ochs. These are two of my Aunt Lynn’s friends from home who were spending some time in Bangkok before heading South with their nephew. We met up with them at the clock tower in the middle of the market and went to find some Thai curry for lunch. We ended up eating at a small side ‘restaurant’ where we had a Thai version of spaghetti (spaghetti rice noodles, red or green curry, fish or chicken, etc.) and then made our way to an ice cream stand for some much needed relief from the heat (thanks Corky and Diane!) We all got different combinations of toppings including mango, cranberries, kiwi, apricots, strawberries, etc. It was so nice to meet the Ochs, who are some of the nicest people, and share with them a little bit of what my life is like over here. Talk about a great afternoon.

That evening we all got ready to head out to AMFAH (All My Friends Are Hungry) a party hosted by some friends at a restaurant called Spanish on 4 in the Silom district of BKK. It was a night of culinary feasting followed by some quality DJ’ing from Panda and another friend named Sean. The title of the blog comes from the feeling of nostalgia I got from the food and atmosphere of the restaurant. I felt like I was transported back to my semester in Sevilla and wandering through Loly’s (my senora) kitchen. I’ve been having so much fun getting to know Thai food that I’d forgotten how much I love and miss Spanish comida. Plate after plate of amazing tapas were brought out including croquetas (croquettes), Spanish chorizo on fresh bread, ensalada rusa (Russian salad), fried calamari with aioli sauce, shrimp skewers and tortilla Espanola. The last one was probably the one that sent me back the most as I can’t count the amount of times Loly would whip up this amazingly thick egg/potato omelet and throw it on a loaf of bread for my lunch at school. The feast was brought to fruition when out came steaming hot pans of seafood paella! It was muy muy delcioso and I may have helped myself to seconds and thirds. I can’t say that I thought I would have found good Spanish food in the middle of Thailand, but I guess all you have to do is look a little! The rest of the evening was spent dancing and socializing before heading home with overly full bellies.

New place, New shoes

Hoi An, Coastal Vietnam
April 8-9, 2010

Hoi An was a nice little town nestled along the shore of the famed China Beach where we spent 2 days and one night relaxing and exploring. Day 1 found us checking into our hotel (complete with small lap pool) and heading out to explore the Old Town. On our way we were awed by the amount of clothing/shoe stores—Hoi An is famed for its custom tailoring and these people can whip up anything you want in basically 24 hours.

The old town was a quaint area with brick roads winding about antique architecture and templage. Old ladies with the conical rice paddy hats cooked up some local cuisine as men hocked their wares (we may have bought a few t-shirts along the way.) We found our way through the fish market (gagging and plugging our noses) until we reached the river that separated the older part of town from the new. On our way back to get some dinner the 4 of us stopped in a shoe store and got sized up for some new custom kicks. It was quite the process as you literally walk around this store trying to pick out the style of shoe you want (they have everything) and then they sit you down and give you all these fabric swatches and just let you run free. The shoes I got have a lot of different colors on them, so it took a long time for all of us to sort through and find the best combination. It was hard work, because you can't really visualize how the shoes are going to work just by holding up little squares of fabric up to the shoe (think of going to Home Depot and picking out paint, except in this case Home Depot is a small shop in the middle of Vietnam and the paint is leather and suede samples.) They guaranteed us they would be ready the next evening before we had to leave, so we gave them the $$ and headed out for some food and some people watching.

The next day we rented bicycles for about $1 and rode our way along the river to China Beach. It turned out to be kind of cloudy, but that didn’t stop us from hopping into the Bay of Tonkin or wandering along the endless stretches of sand. It’s crazy to think we were hanging out where the soldiers used to take their R&R back in the day! After swimming we tried our hand at some 2 vs. 2 beach volleyball and, while we were no Misty May-Treanor/Walsh duo, I think Emily and I held our own. We stopped at the shoe store to see how everything was going to find that they still needed some time on the shoes (even though they guaranteed us they’d be ready at 4) and that they had put black soles on my sneakers instead of white causing them to look like a cross between bowling shoes and mat shoes for wrestling. I wasn’t a really happy camper as we had to leave that evening to catch a flight to Hanoi—I told them it was okay, but I wanted my money back and they plead and plead that they would have the shoes fixed, with new soles, by the time we had to leave. Seeing as we had a little bit of time I told them we would see what happened and headed back to the hotel to shower and pack up. I went back when they told me the shoes would be ready and lo and behold: no shoes. They kept saying ‘wait wait, almost finished, don’t worry!’ Well at about 6:58 (we had to leave 7:00) I got a little peeved and demanded my money back, showing them the receipt they gave us saying our shoes would be ready at 4:00, etc. As I’m finally getting through that they didn’t live up to their end of the deal (about a 10 minute process) the lady flies up on her motorbike with my shoes (smelling strongly of bonding glue) and apologizing like crazy. I slipped them on, said they fit, actually liked the way they looked now, said Thank You and BOLTED to the hotel where our car was picking us up. Thankfully we are in SE Asia and the car was late, so, in the end, it all worked out and we made the flight to the next leg of our journey: Hanoi.

A bus ride from...

Dalat--> Hoi An, Vietnam

April 7, 2010

We spent the morning sleeping in and wandering around Dalat before a van came and got us to head to our overnight bus to Hoi An. We should have known something was up when the van called twice saying it was going to be delayed in picking us up, but this is SE Asia and we've learned that getting frustrated over an hour or two just isn't worth it. Well it finally came for us and when we arrived there were passengers and there was a bus, but there were a ton of men under the bus still trying to fix it (this is 2 hrs after the announced leaving time.) So we stood around for a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more until it was dark--we considered leaving, but as we had no idea where we were (we weren't at a bus stop, but some random location outside the city), we just waited. At this point the people from the bus company directed us to someone's house across the street and motioned for us to go sit inside; as we had been standing for a long time and had no way of communicating we just shrugged our shoulders and went. It turned out to be pretty hilarious as everyone was staring at us like we were crazy for taking a bus in Vietnam, but we just smiled and ate the ramen noodles they made for all of us refugees.

At about the 5 hour mark someone came to get us and said we could board the bus. Hooray! We loaded up our things and got on and, to our great surprise, found that the sleeping bus actually meant that instead of chairs that reclined there were 3 rows of bunk beds! The 4 of us made our way to the rear and were further surprised to find a sprawling, 5-person bunk bed across the width of the back. We threw our things on the bed and hopped up, excited that we had so much room and were able to lie down on a bus for a change!

Well, we started getting restless as we waited for 1 more hour until the bus finally began moving. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, the 12 hour bus ride was 6 hours late in leaving! I can't tell which was more irritating, the delay or the concert DVD that was blasting some strange blend of Vietnamese/Salsa music throughout the bus as captives we had no escape. It turned into quite the funny scene as Emily went up to the front of the bus, using sign language to signal that the music was too loud after we decided being in the front row at the concert wasn't too conducive to sleeping. He listened to her, but then this old lady, who we nicknamed bedelnut, (as she was chewing that nut that turns your teeth red like our host mom in the hill tribe) started complaining and the volume went back up again. Thankfully though, some other passengers were trying to get to sleep and the sound turned down again. We made a bathroom stop before sunrise (you know at least a few hours before anyone should wake up) and lo and behold we were right back on stage at the concert! Again a small battle of passengers vs. bedelnut got the volume turned off as we coasted through the rice paddies of Vietnam.

Suddenly I awoke gasping for breath. My hand shot up to the a/c vent above my head as I tasted the sweat beads dripping down my face. NO AIR. I took off my hoodie and waited for a minute praying it was a dream or some prank the bus driver was playing. Then Emily rolled over with hair glued to her forehead as though having just run a marathon and knew this was for real. I hopped down from my bunk and ran forward to the driver to plead with him to turn on the a/c. He motioned at it like he understood and I went back to wait for sweet relief. No dice. Emily went up and did the same thing. Again, no improvement. Meanwhile, I sat back watching a scene from a zombie movie unfold before my eyes as passenger after passenger shot up into the air searching for the a/c as though they had just been buried alive and we were watching their hands come up from beneath the ground.

Salvation finally appeared in the shape of a roadside restaurant where we sprinted off the bus and waited while the a/c was fixed. A honk of the horn and the revving of the engine let us know there was success and we spent the last part of the ride in the cool, watching poorly dubbed B-movies in Vietnamese. Hey, at least we got to stretch out our legs on the bunk beds!

4th of July as a Thai

Kalasin, Isaan, Thailand
July 3-4, 2010

Who says you can’t celebrate the 4th of July without being in America? Definitely not me! 7 of us from the city made the 7 hr night bus trek up to Isaan (the rural NE region of Thailand) to visit our friends who teach in Kalasin for in honor of the good ol’ US of A. It turned out to be a really great weekend full of food, friends and laughs and despite being exhausted after the overnight bus back to BKK (landing us in the city about 5am with school starting at 8) it was worth it.

We got in late Friday night and were taken to Reuven and Dena’s apartment building where we all found some space and got some much desired sleep. Saturday morning we woke up to a sunny day and went on a little tour of the town. Kalasin isn’t big by any means, but it isn’t small either. It’s definitely calmer and simpler than BKK and I really liked the atmosphere. Right by their apartment is a small lake that is bustling with picnickers and joggers and people out and about which is not something you really see by the industrial area I live in. After some coffee from a café by the water we all hopped into a songtaew for a trip out to the dam for a day in the sun.

The dam is basically this big lake where we were able to rent innertubes and lawn chairs (for a total of about $1) and just floated around all day. It was pretty awesome (minus the red gravel ‘beach’ we had to walk on) to hang out with friends in a way that is pretty similar to what we do at home, except where we were had a herd of water buffalo hanging out. For lunch we ordered mounds of fried chicken and sticky rice (a staple of the region) and I treated everyone to a banana leaf filled with fried crickets! They were actually pretty good unless you got some antennae or wings stuck in your teeth :) After all was said and done and eaten and floated we each paid around $4 or $5 total for the day including a very handsome tip to the amazing locals who waited on us…can’t do that in America!

We made our way back through the rice paddies and rested up for a bit before heading out to the birthday party of our friend’s co-worker/a ‘Welcome to Kalasin’ party for us. Arriving at the restaurant we were greeted by Jeannie, Reuven and Dena’s coordinator, who is quite possibly one of the nicest women I’ve ever met. She welcomed us with open arms and was so excited to have us—showed us our table, got us drinks, had food brought out, etc. I think we ate for 2 straight hours as more people kept showing up and dish after dish of pad thai, fish, cashew chicken, som tam, isaan sausage, etc. was put down in front of us! Dinner segued nicely into hours of karaoke singing with rousing renditions of songs by British, American, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai people! A favorite was ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic in which we all sang together complete with a reenactment of Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship pretending they are flying J After karaoke we made our way to a club called MV to watch the football match and listen to the live band; it was amazing to have all these people there to meet us and make us feel welcomed in their home.

Sunday found us up and ready for the actual 4th holiday. We went to Pammy’s house (another of their school coordinators) where we were able to hang out and spend the afternoon grilling. Jeannie was there and brought each of the 7 of us who came to visit a beautiful, handmade blanket from her friends’ shop as a welcome present; can’t wait to go back! Reuven and I were in charge of the grill which was a small half barrel with chunks of wood on fire with a small, movable metal grate about 2 inches from the flames. It was the hottest thing I have ever experienced considering we were standing over the grill in the middle of the day in Thailand—not to mention our first batch of burgers were a little roasty due to the raging fire. It really felt like home being with a group of friends in the middle of summer grilling and then heading to the town pool for a cool off swim before getting on the frigid bus for the journey home. One of the coolest parts of the day was getting to show the teachers from other countries how we celebrate Independence Day back home (I think they had a great time, at least I know I did!)

Wai Kru Day

June 17th, 2053

June 17th (Happy Birthday Pete!) was a really cool day for us as we got to participate in Wai Kru Day (literally translated: Bow to the Teacher.) This was an all day affair (morning for the younger kids and afternoon for the older kids) in which students showed their respect to the teachers and honored us with a traditional ceremony. There was a line of chairs in front of the stage where the teachers sat and then the students lined up in rows on the floor. Row by row the students came up to the teachers on the floor and knelt before us as traditional Thai music was playing over the PA system. They then wai-ed (bowed) at our feet three times before handing us various types of amazing flowers. When we took the flowers we blessed the students/gave them words of luck and advice before they crawled backward and stood up. It may not seem like much, but I can’t really think of anything like this that goes on in the US. It was such a great experience to see how highly Thai culture looks on teachers and then to be a part of it was even better. I didn’t know some of the students, but when one of my kids got placed in front of me it was pretty awesome to see how shy yet how excited they were to be giving me the flowers they worked so hard to make.

A Dalat-ful trip

Dalat, Central Vietnamese Highlands
April 5-7

APRIL 5
We woke up refreshed and ready for the next leg of our journey: Mui Ne-->Dalat. A jam packed mini-van bus showed up and we were clearly more than thrilled when we were all cramped into the very last row. We met some nice Australian girls who kept us entertained as we were jostled around like pinballs for hours on the less than ideal mountain roads…at least the scenery was great!

Our bus pulled up to Binh Yen Hotel which turned out to be the one we were hoping to stay at and for $5 a person we got 2 huge rooms with some of the most comfortable beds I’ve slept on, free breakfast and an Incredible staff. We were pretty hungry so we wandered around the town for a bite to eat before making our way out to the cable car. Dalat is a really beautiful city in the green mountains of central Vietnam. It was probably the coldest place we’ve been in all of Asia and we even had to wear longsleeves and pants at night (what an amazing feeling!) It’s not too big, but is very well maintained and clean with a central lake and many gardens; the lake was actually a big empty pit as they are working to make it bigger, but a little imagination goes a long way! The cable car turned out to be a bust as we hiked our way through town to the top of a peak to find there was a storm a-brewin’ and it wasn’t safe to ride. Oh well, at least we saw the town (including the post office which is a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower—not sure why?).

Evening found us relaxing in our chalet-like hotel watching English movies and finally venturing out for some Vietnamese dinner. The food in Vietnam wasn’t my favorite; it’s good, but doesn’t have the same big flavors. We made our way to this crazy place called 100 Roofs for ice cream. It’s this restaurant that makes you feel like you are inside of a giant tree trunk and has more levels/half levels/staircases/nooks/crannies, etc. than anywhere I’ve seen. It wasn’t the most amazing ice cream in the world, but it was definitely somewhere to experience!

APRIL 6
This was one of my favorite days during our summer break as we rented motorbikes and Phouc, an awesome worker at our hotel, took us on a tour through the mountains/countryside. Emily rode with Phouc, Josie and Mark were together, another guide drove around a woman we dubbed Frenchie (she was French and we couldn’t really pronounce her name) and I rode solo (by choice as I’ve not always had the best luck on motorized vehicles and was really only looking to be responsible for myself this time!)

Stop 1: We motored our way out of the city and up to a spot overlooking the mountains and the valley filled with vibrant green terraces and clear skies.

Stop 2: Flower farm. Here we spent some time wandering the endless rows of bright flowers, taking in the smells and even eating some of the plants. Frenchie, who turned out to be somewhat negative, was not impressed; she kept going on and on about l’chemicals (l’shhhemicaaals) and how ‘zey are destroying zee flowers and zee smells are zee same’ and that in ‘Paree we ‘ave zee zame problem and all over zee world too.’ Then she started going on about l’chemicals in food and how l’corporations are ruining it…etc. We had to laugh, because, although she was nice, she was just so French.

Stop 3: Coffee plantation. This was more of a stop on the side of the road, but it was really cool to see that they grow/harvest coffee in Vietnam. Phuoc showed us the different ages of the beans and said Vietnam is one of the top exporters of coffee in the world which was really interesting!

Stop 4: Rice wine distillery. Imagine rubbing alcohol mixed with gasoline and flavored with old rice and you get rice wine right out of the still. We spent some time watching the process in action and were lucky (or unlucky) enough to taste it right from the spigot (before it had been diluted/aged). GROSS—it felt like someone was taking fire and just holding it in your throat and then putting a skunk tail on your tongue. Needless to say, we didn’t buy any rice wine J It was cool though to see it up close, because it wasn’t in a factory or brewery it was literally these metal tubs with some pipes connected together in someone’s barn.

Stop 5: Silk farm. Ever wondered how silk is made? Well I can tell you! It starts with the little silk worms which eat an absurd amount of mulberry leaves and begin to spin a cocoon of white fishing line-esque string. Once the cocoon is spun to completion and the worms are dormant the cocoons are put into water where they are separated from their little creators (my guess is that if this doesn’t happen the worm turns into a moth and the silk is ruined.) After separating out the cocoons, they are unwound onto spools and then further spun until we get the thread that is used in clothing. This place is filled with trays and stacks and more trays of cocoons which they use to make silk during the low season for silk worms.

Stop 6: We ate lunch at a roadside ‘restaurant’ and all tried Pho, the national dish of Vietnam, which is basically a broth filled with noodles, some meat and a bunch freshly picked herbs. It’s a little bland and not really my favorite dish, but it was filling! After lunch we made our way to the Elephant waterfall for a bit of climbing and scenery-looking. At the bottom there was a place you could stand on the rocks where you were almost blown over by the combined force of the water and the wind howling through the crevices.

Stop 7: Mushroom farm. Yes, there is such a thing as a mushroom farm and it was kind of gross to see as many mushrooms as there were flowers earlier in the day. They grow them on this plastic punching-bag looking things filled with wood shaving and spores. The bags are slit in various spots and sprayed with water everyday and let to sit and grow. That’s a lot of fungi.

Stop 8: Chicken Village. This place was a bit strange as you would think they would be known for their chicken farms or something, but in reality it is so-named because of the GIANT chicken statue in the town. One of the locals told us the story of the chicken and here it is: Long ago there were 2 tribes and a poor girl from one tribe wanted to marry a man from the other tribe. Now the Chicken village tribe is matriarchal (Ga Oh in their language) meaning the women are the heads of household, the men take their last names and they have to pay a dowry to their husband’s family as opposed to the traditions we know; as a result this poor girl didn’t have the money to give to her husband’s family. The man’s family said if she wanted to marry him she would have to find a chicken with nine spurs on its legs (which is apparently impossible as chickens only have 8?) and in her search for this illusive chicken, she died. Thus, a nine-spurred GIANT chicken statue has been erected in her honor. Now ‘Chicken Village’ makes sense!

Stop 9: Crazy House. No better words can be used to describe this ‘house’ created by a Vietnamese architect. It’s like Dr. Seuss meets Alice in Wonderland meets the Vietnamese highlands. The house is more of a complex with various themed rooms (tiger room, eagle room, bear room, etc) filled with wacky designs and statues scattered amidst a maze of winding staircases and kooky bridges all tied together by the natural design of a house built into the trees. It’s very odd yet very whimsical to have something of this design smack dab in the middle of Vietnam.