The Royal Palette

My third day in Thailand brought every blessing that I had been anticipating. That’s right dear readers (reader count=5 and nameless lurkers), finally I was receiving all of the blessings that I had been hoping for here in this lovely country. The bus ride to the Royal Palace brought a more complete view of Bangkok’s smoggy, and congested chaotic tumble of traffic. Our traveling troupe of teachers was met outside the palace gates by a deafening rumble of vendors, tuk-tuks, and basic Bangkok bedlam. The veritable din of noise (notice that I use this phrase a lot, don’t you? I just love how it sounds) outside of Bangkok’s Royal Palace was oddly and suddenly quieted completely as I entered through the palace gates. The sights and sounds that surround the Royal Palace were replaced with the beauty of the lush oriental gardens that spread out before us on our way to the golden pointed spires that illuminated the otherwise dark and dreary day. A brick wall and a sea of tourists and farangs (I have come to find out that this only applies to the white foreigners and therefore is a nicer form of our American “cracker”) separated me from the barely visible bevy of beauty that awaited me through the palace’s true doors.

Entering through the palace’s true doors I was greeted by gorgeous gold leaf engraved murals that spoke of ancient stories of kings who valiantly fought demons for their true loves. Needless to say it was hard not get swept up in the romance of it all. I opened my world wearied heart and eyes to the sights that awaited me. Immediately I was overwhelmed by a series of buildings that sang out in a chorus of gold, red, turquoise, and emerald, and stone statues that were softened by dots of verdant green, well manicured topiary. I was breathless and blown away, and there are not words that would suffice to speak of all I saw and how I felt that day. I found myself waffling between mouth agape awe and busied bulb flashing. However, there is no way that I could possibly have captured on film or now in words this truly once in a lifetime experience. You’ll simply have to add this to your bucket list.

A crowd had gathered around the cluster of beautiful buildings that seemed to gently push me through to the center of the jeweled treasure trove to which I had been transported. The building that awaited me held the famed Emerald Buddha. The country’s greatest treasure is held within a beautifully ornamented wat. This would be one of the many wats around the city that I would see over the next week, but by far the most beautiful (for those of you who have not the time or interest to do the homework yourself a wat is a temple, you’re welcome). As this statue is so sacred to the Thai there are no photographs allowed inside of the wat. This only adds to the sense of sacred inside the building. Incense greets you at the door, and inside there is a hush as people kneel and bow their heads in quiet reverie. It was here that I was overwhelmed by a wave of gratitude. The tears swimming to my eyes obscured the vision of gold that awaited me in the wat. Overwhelmed by emotion in a country that, from what I had read, would not understand or welcome tears spilling from my eyes in such a public manner (even if they were the happy kind). I stepped outside to do my best at blinking it back, and shifted my attention on the vendor’s booth of tourist treats that greedily await the farang pocketbook. I wish I could say that I was that kind of farang, but this little mama has come by every opportunity through a mix of hard work, smarts, and sheer luck. Money lining my pockets? Not so much. Now where’s that gorgeous sugar daddy expat when I need him?

As if this day could have possibly gotten better? Oh, but it did. Following the Royal Palace excursion, our merry band of busied Bangkok bohos headed across the street for the single best meal I have had here so far. Let’s just say kiddies, my palate was more than pleased. According to several travel guides that I consulted about this restaurant (thanks to some help from the team that brought me to Thailand) it seems that this is not the kind of place you can just walk in to, and their menu was impossible to find. However, after consulting a couple of the local teachers I believe the elusive name of the amazing dish that I found myself gravitating towards would be Pla Muk Pad Ped, and I have included the recipe for your dining pleasure below.

Enjoy,

The Epicurious Gypsy

Ingredients

1 lb Cleaned Squid               

Marinade

5    Minced Garlic Cloves          2 tb Fish Sauce (Nam Pla)        

2 tb White Wine                        1 tb Soy Sauce                   

1/8 ts White Pepper                   1 tb Sugar                       

1 tb Cornstarch                          2 tb Oil                         

Garnish

Green Leaf Lettuce Or              Tomato Slices               

Chinese Lettuce                        Carrot Slices               

Cucumber Slices                       Cilantro Leaves             

Slash the mantle/hood of the squid diagonally, then cut diagonal slashes in the opposite direction. Slice into 2 inch pieces.

Mix together all the marinade ingredients, then add the squid and marinate for 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet, add the oil and saute the squid on medium-high heat until all the squid curls.

Garnish with the ingredients listed above, or with any decoratively carved vegetables, and serve.

Busy Bees in Bangkok

First, dear readers (reader count=4, and nameless untold masses) let me begin by apologizing for the extreme tardiness of this post. To say that the last month of my life has been a veritable whirlwind of things to do, people to see, and places to go would be putting it lightly. Rather, it has been utter fucking chaos in every wonderful way imaginable. Will I regale you all with stories of the beautiful, amazing, and wonderful human beings that I am blessed to know? Not a chance. For I know that this is not at all what you came to read. Instead, let’s just say that I am one blessed little mama. What you want to hear, and what I have been craving to give you is news of the sights, sounds, and pleasures of Thailand. So, here we go…

Stepping off the plane in Bangkok was not unlike an emergency flight evacuation. No sillies, there were no fires to put out or people to be taken into custody. Instead the emergency may have been how sore all of the farangs’ (farang is the word the Thai use for foreigners) asses were from untold hours in the air. When stepping off the plane the first things that hit you are the warm, moist air and the smell. I have heard the heat and humidity described as oppressive, but I believe that these may very well be people unfamiliar with a sizzling Atlanta summer. I arrived in the “rainy” season, which typically has some of the country’s mildest (outside of the “winter” season) weather, and consequently found myself mildly surprised at the lack of discomfort. A warm drizzle of rain cooled my skin as I stepped from the plane onto the bus that would carry me to baggage claim, and was greeted immediately with the fragrance of something akin to one of the sweeter curries. This was maybe more surprising, as I had heard tell that Bangkok “stunk”. I am now wondering if the particular individual’s taste buds tend to run a little, well, “white bread”. This would be one of my first lessons here in not believing someone else’s tales of Thailand (and yes I include my own in that, so you’ll just have to come and visit me to see for yourself).

The sweet and somewhat spicy smell of the air would be a bit of a tease for the next 24 hours, but I will get to that in a bit. This will be no long story short post as my first 24 hours in Bangkok was a whirlwind of traveling tales that must be told. Several traveling teachers and I had agreed to meet at the airport since we shared the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. In all, five of us tramped through the city’s gorgeously muraled airport to claim our luggage and our destinies. I know I am so dramatic, but this is why you keep coming back, right? Don’t worry it will be our little secret. I am not sure if it was the lack of sleep, or the 24 hours in flight, but whatever the reason the next hour was quite the adventure. Our small pack of flight wearied wanderers made our way to the airport stand just outside of the hotel. Now, before coming to Thailand I had done quite a bit of research, but this seemed to fly right out of my jet lagged head. Never, ever go to the airport directed “official” taxi stands. Numerous websites, and travel books had said just this, but they had failed to mention that the actual airport signs direct you to these little motorized scams. So, following airport signs, this is exactly where we ended up. We proceeded to negotiate the taxi fare. If you find yourself in Thailand, and about to take a taxi, do not take a flat fee that they will try to offer you, instead insist upon the “meter, please” with a large, and polite smile spread across your face. A little sugar makes the medicine go down, and this is particularly true in Thailand.

After negotiating the taxis for all five of us, we headed out to find our way to the hotel that would be our home for the next week. Let me just say that the next half hour came very close to coloring my view of what is yet to come. However, if you haven’t figured out that I am one tenacious little fire cracker than you haven’t been reading this blog. I’ll give it to you quick and dirty: monsoon like torrential downpour, nitrous in the trunk (no, I am not kidding), breakneck speed of 120 kilometers per hour, almost insurmountable language barrier, two tolls, a couple of stops on the interstate, and a frustrating and screaming taxi driver. In the smog and fog filled morning, when a few hours of sleep had been acquired and new friends were being made, I found that to one extent or another many of the taxi stories went quite a bit like mine (give or take some drama).

This, of course, brings me to my first full day in Bangkok. Planes, trains, and automobiles? Nah! Try trains, tuk-tuks, sky-trains, buses, and finally a taxi. A large group of us wound our way down to central Bangkok by way of train. From the train station we made our way to the outskirts of Bangkok’s central modern shopping district. After we paid a visit to what the Thai call the “happy room” (you’ll just have to look this one up for yourself), we procured our first Thai meal. In all honesty, I should say that this was our second Thai meal, as our first was the breakfast in the hotel. Now, I am no stranger to Thai food, and was greedily anticipating all of the spices and flavors awaiting me on this beautiful journey. However, these meals just continued to disappoint. They were bland, overpriced (in no way am I saying that the prices compare to our cheapest restaurant meal in the states-more like dollar meal prices at a sit down pace), and altogether disappointing. After procuring our measly meal we headed back out and found a tuk-tuk to take us to the nearest market. Imagine five women crammed onto the back of a golf cart and you have the idea. We knew that this wasn’t quite right when even the locals were staring, pointing, and making merry. And then we found ourselves in what looked like a cross between certain neighborhoods in the states where you go for the cheap rims (you know what I’m talking about, don’t try to act like you don’t), and an actual junkyard. Amidst two and three story dingy, decrepit, and otherwise run down dwellings were car parts stacked upon car parts further than the eye could see. Where were we? “Maah-kit” our tuk-tuk driver happily declared to us. Our jaws were on each other’s shoulders (forget the floor, the chins didn’t have room to make it down that far). We stared in disbelief around us. This was not quite what we had in mind. Another negotiation landed us safely in a major shopping center known as Siam Square (think Times Square, the French Quarter, and a major shopping mall and you might get the idea).

After a small bit of gawking, we headed confidently in the direction of the sky-train. The sky-train is certainly one of the pleasures of travel in Thailand. Think of Chicago’s EL, but brand new, shiny, very clean, quiet, and extremely quick paced. Okay so it is nothing like the EL, maybe I should have made a Disney reference here instead? Oh, suddenly you know what I’m talking about, huh? Anyway the end of the line in Bangkok’s sky-train transportation is Mo Chit. This was a very pretty part of Bangkok cleaner than most of the city and fairly green (I’m happy to report that I will be living very close to there very shortly). We hopped the bus that the hotel swore would bring us to Soi 64 which was the large road located just a half block from the hotel. You already know how this story ends don’t you? Needless to say our limited Thai, and the bus driver’s limited English (0=0) left us somewhere north of the city, but not much closer to our hotel. After settling on a taxi being the easiest way to get back to the hotel, we quickly piled into the taxi and headed back to more familiar ground for the first decent meal I had in Thailand.

The day had left us disoriented, wearied, and more than a little hungry. Happily our first course, and my favorite, was a shared portion of Tom Yum soup which I have included for your tasting pleasure below.

Enjoy,

The Epicurious Gypsy

Ingredients

4 cups water

1 stalk of lemon grass (cut into 4" long pieces and bruised slightly to release flavor)

3-4 keffirlime leaves (torn into small 1/2" pieces)

1 package of white button mushrooms (sliced in half)

3-4 whole Thai chili peppers

1 1/2 lbs peeled shrimp

3-4 tbsp fish sauce

2 tablespoons of chili paste in soy bean oil

2 large limes

1/2 cup of cilantro leaves

DirectionsPreparation for Thai Tom Yum

Boil water in a deep pot

Add cut lemon grass, keffirlime leaves, sliced mushrooms and Thai chili peppers

Add shrimp

When shrimp turns pink turn off heat

Season with fish sauce (to suit your taste)

Add chili paste in soy bean oil

squeeze in 2 large limes (roll these on a cutting board or other flat surface before slicing and squeezing-you get twice the juice!)

add ½ cup of cilantro leaves

remove lemon grass stalks and keffir lime leaves (they are too tough to eat-or don’t and watch your guests try to chew on these, too funny!)