Advertisement
Published: January 8th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Thailand Market food
Sausages, bbq'd chicken, noodles and many other food to choose from in the markets. After the peaceful routine of our Issan village, it was quite a change to join the crowds at some of Thailand's major tourist attractions. But our brief introduction to ordinary life certainly enriched our tourist experience, making us more attentive to detail and more appreciative of Thai culture. Our few words and phrases helped make the Thais we met even friendlier, and we even got a few positive comments on our blessing strings.
Our first stop was Sukothai Historical Park, one of Thailand's best preserved historic capitals. Acres of park like grounds surround a varied collection of temples and stupas, creating plenty of quiet areas for reflection. Many of the stupas have holy relics buried inside them, ranging in importance from part of Buddha to something blessing during one of his incarnations. The following day we rented a motorcycle to explore some of the more outlying temples, where crumbling walls and overhanging trees were more reminiscent of Indiana Jones.
From Sukothai we continued west to Mae Sot, a Thai-Burmese border town where we joined a package tour of the surrounding countryside. The tour started with raft trip down a mist shrouded river, passing several small waterfalls and dripping limestone
cliffs draped with ferns. We were a little bit worried when we saw that the foreign tourists had rubber rafts while the Thai tourists had bamboo ones (!) but there were only few small rapids, and we quickly came to admire how maneuverable the narrow bamboo craft were. From our landing site on the river bank, a challenging afternoon hike took us through a forest of bamboo, hardwoods and twisting vines. Our destination was Nam Tok Thilawasu, the largest waterfall in Thailand. The falls were crowded with Thai tourists, but even with lots of company the interconnecting pools on multiple levels were spectacular.
After visiting the waterfall, we also got to stay overnight in a village of the Karen people, one of the hill tribe groups living in the border region. The houses are built on stilts in the traditional style, and their only source of electric power is solar panels provided by the Thai government. In the past the Karen used elephants to help with both farm work and logging, but Thailand has now banned all logging for export so most of the elephants are giving rides to tourists like us. Each elephant has a trainer who sits
cross-legged right behind their head, then behind that goes a basket shaped saddle for holding both luggage and passengers. The saddle sways a bit from side to side, but the elephants are always perfectly sure footed no matter how rough the terrain. The best part of our entire ride was right at the very end, when the elephants swam across a small river with us on their backs. Definitely the most unusual ferry I've ever been on!
We returned to Mae Sot in time for the King’s Birthday, continuing to appreciate the reverence of the Thai people for their monarch. The 79 year old king has devoted his entire career to addressing Thailand’s social problems, from deforestation to sustainable agriculture. For his birthday nearly the entire population of the town was dressed in identical yellow shirts, and displays in front of shops and homes offered ceremonial gifts before royal portraits. In the evening we followed the crowds to the official party, where the entire crowd lit yellow candles and sang favorite royal songs. Just as fireworks exploded to spell the monarch’s name, we made a quick exit to catch the night bus for Bangkok.
Bangkok is expensive, immense,
humid and magical. A cartographer’s nightmare, it has grown over several centuries into a hodgepodge of overlapping neighborhoods. One way to avoid the legendary traffic is the river ferries, which quickly became our favorite mode of transportation. Crowded with Thai commuters of all ages, these brightly painted motorboats provide easy access to everything from ancient temples to downtown shopping areas.
The Grand Palace has not housed the royal family for several generations, but it remains the ceremonial heart of Bangkok. The sprawling complex is overwhelming in both proportion and decoration, with detailed murals, brightly colored mosaics and immense painted statues. Next door is Wat Pho, which houses the largest Buddha in Thailand. This immense golden figure reclines in a shed barely big enough to contain it. We joined dozens of Thai tourists taking off their shoes to pay their respects, including and entire class of saffron robed novices.
After touring historic Bangkok, we also browsed through a few of the glitzy downtown shopping complexes, where prices on everything from electronics to clothing lure customers from the entire world. It may have been 80 degrees outside but there was no escaping the Christmas muzac! In the food court we
discovered the perfect blend of old and new—every imaginable kind of Thai street food, accompanied by English translations and air conditioning.
Two stops away on the elevated sky train, we found Lumphini park, a green oasis surrounded by sky scrapers. After a quiet hour watching the early evening joggers, we were off to a performance of the Thai National Puppet Theater. Elaborately decorated puppets are manipulated by teams of three puppeteers trained in classical dance. Rather than “disappearing” like the puppeteers in Bunraku, these performers reinforce and emphasize the puppets actions with their own movements.
Most people visit Kanchanaburi to the Bridge on the River Kwai, but our primary motivation was cooking. We did take a look at the famous but rather ordinary looking railway bridge, most notable today for the huge variety of international tourists who make the pilgrimage to see it. The accompanying Death Railway Museum clearly depicts the atrocities associated with bridge construction, while at the same time avoiding vilification of the Japanese army. The curator of the museum is continuing to collect artifacts and stories from survivors, who all emphasize the importance of preventing similar atrocities in the future.
Our four hours at
Apple’s Cooking School were well worth the trip from Bangkok, introducing us to everything from the correct way of soaking pad thai noodles (cold water NOT boiling) to the importance of frying curry past (intensifies the flavor) before adding the coconut milk. Encouraged to taste as we went along, we were impressed at how much a simple addition of fresh basil could change a dish of green curry. Our down to earth instructor emphasized the fact that she likes eating better than cooking, and many of her recipes are simple enough for a basic weeknight meal. It may be a while before we return to Thailand, but until then we will definitely have the tastes of Thailand in our kitchen!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 17; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0756s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Robin
non-member comment
These are your most amazing pix yet! :)