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Published: February 24th 2012
Thai pancake
Nutella, peanut butter, and banana : so rich and delicious!Dear family and friends....it has been too long.
This, of course, is due to the lack of internet service, not from laziness:-) And, it is about time that we discuss food from our travels, as it is one of the key ingredients in reminding us that we are in Asia- at least while on Tonsai beach (that, and the assortment of mispelled English words meandering about), as Tonsai and Railay are mostly comprised of climbers, backpackers, and resort go-ers. Then we'll continue to indulge in a quick travel update.
FOOD Let's dive right into the deliciousness:
First of all, it is important to note how food is served: fork and spoon, sans knife. Naturally, we fumble around cutting what needs cutting with our spoon, as it is typically in our knife hand, and use the opposing support of the spoon to mash bites onto our fork. Thai folk think this is quite silly, as the fork is obviously intended to scoop mouthfuls onto one's spoon. This has taken some adjusting, and I personally have yet to pick it up. Either way, we both prefer chopsticks!
Comfort Foods: Regardless of location or situation, we all have our
Pineapple Fried Rice
Best saved for dinner, as it's incredibly filling. comfort foods. Being in Thailand, these foods have become staples and used as a means to ensure you know what is being ordered. For Dean and I, this is Pad Thai (with chicken or squid), or various curries (usually red or green) with steamed rice. Pad Thai is perfect after a physically exhausting day of climbing when you need a stuffed, dense, warm belly. For some Thai heat (spice that is), order a curry: guaranteed runny nose with every order. One cannot really go wrong with fried rice (especially pineapple), or any fried noodle dish. If you like spicy food, you're set...but be prepared for fried EVERYTHING. The 'diamond in the rough' is a fresh, properly made salad.
Sweets: Sticky rice (usually mango, sometimes banana...but really, who would choose banana over mango?) is a Thai, and Laotian, must have. Sticky rice is a 'glutinous' rice (I obviously disregard that ingredient) with a sweet syrup-y goodness (sort of a sugar water) poured over it, adorned by sliced mango. It is unbeatable as a sufficient treat to cure an after dinner sweet tooth. Additionally, about half way through our Tonsai stay, we discoverd Thai Pancakes. These are thin pancakes, similar to
Fruit Stand
The shelled fruit looking rather suspicious up front is Tamarind. Incredible. It's very sweet, and it has the consistancy of jam! crepes, but a little thicker and egg-ier, but the same idea. I doubt these are actually 'Thai', rather, a likely product of western travelers. They are not made with wheat flour (thank goodness!) and are stored as dough balls. When you order, the pancake man/woman tosses and pounds them out like a pizza crust and they are cooked to perfection on a hot griddle. Most are sweet (honey, chocolate, fruit, nutella, etc), however some savory options with meats and cheese (not recommended) were also available. My favorite was the nutella and peanut butter (whose surprised?) One particular pancake stand had crunchy peanut butter...this granola girl was thrilled. Furthermore, anything wrapped in a banana leaf is probably a found treasure, so dig in!
Drinks: Fruit shakes are the only product worth noting here. Blended ice, sugar water, and tropical fruit of your choosing: a refreshing midday snack. A good cup of coffee is to be desired, and we are left with instant NesCafe. Ideally, this would be an opportunity to ween ourselves from caffine, but that has yet to occur. Descent wine has evaded us and is incredibly expensive, and bottled water is not exciting. Dean has found Chang beer
Banana leaf-ed goodie
I honestly have no idea what this is, but you peel the leaf down to the gooey green thing in the middle. We think it is a form of dried banana inside: a sweet treat. leads to 'mission' dreams and sticks to Beer Lao, Singa or Leo (both Thai).
Truly, the best meals and snacks around can be found in the markets. Markets offer the most authentic, spicy, and best priced meals. Yesterday, while attempting to navigate a massive market, our noses twinged and eyes watered from the spice of cooking food in the air!
Also worth a read:
Cabbages and Condoms is a restaurant/social project in the many corners of Thailand. It was started to bring attention to the importance of sexual education in regards to health as well as population concerns. As well as information provided, they have expanded to fund and organize other socio-environmental projects around Thailand. They also claim to 'give condoms instead of after-dinner mints' when you pay the bill; we just got our change.
MOVING ONWARD Eventually, we left Tonsai, the beach, and so many unclimbed routes. It was hard to go, especially knowing that even 1 or 2 years can change the vibe of a place like Tonsai so rapidily it moves to ruin. Hopefully that will not be the case, though repeat visitors are ready to say goodbye because it has already changed
Thai peppers
Mounds of Thai peppers in the market. so much. With scraped and bruised knees (from climbing not run-ins with infamous ex-iceskaters), we reluctantly caught a longtail boat back to Ao Nang to begin our journey to Laos via Bangkok. It ended up being one of my favorite travel days because we took the overnight train to Bangkok. The sleeping compartments were personal nooks! All cozy in my nook, and with the slow rock of the train, I had my best night sleep in Thailand. (Train food, however, not recommended).
From Bangkok we traveled by land and air until we arrived at Nakom Pha Nam (Thailand border town), and much to our dismay were told the border was closed for the day (closes at 4:30, we arrived at 6pm) and we'd have to wait until tomorrow. This is worse than it seems as this particular day was the final day of our tourist visa. So, naturally, we had our first, and hopefully last, run-in with the Thai government. (I'm not going to say that the fact this might occur- and we should plan to be out a day before just in case- was not discussed...) Anyway, it was not a big deal. We had to pay about
Cabbages and Condoms
A social revolution! $33 total, and were allowed to cross safely into Laos.
We never strayed much from the border as our destination was a climbing crag merely 12kms from it in Thakhek. Here we stayed at Green Climbers Home, which is a bungalow and restaurant set up started by a German couple, partnering with an eco-tourism company in Thakhek. It is a brilliant business plan: 80 bolted climbing routes within a 0-5 minute walk and no restaurants around besides their own. It is only 12km into town, but a Tuk-Tuk ride costs up to $18, so definitely not worth it. The food was great and company better (just 20-40 international climbers on any given day). If folks were through climbing or having a rest-day, they were hanging out in the open-aired restaurant/bar equipt with cozy cushions and blankets. Unfortunately, all of the bungalows, and the one dorm, were full when Dean and I arrived, but we were offered a tent with sleeping pads and sleeping bags for only $2.5/night. Done deal. Unfortunately, it is very windy here at night and the flapping of the tent walls reverberated like a hurricane in our ears while sleeping. A few restless nights to say
Tonsai
Last day on the beach, enjoying the sand. the least.
As many of you know, before leaving I finished my Wilderness First Responder course. I actually had a need to use that knowledge this past week. A climber we'd met the previous day was on a route next to us and swung out while being lowered and landed on a sawed off tree root, resulting in a MASSIVE puncture wound. It was impressive. I was first on the scene! It was exciting. Once we got him back to the Bungalows, there was a British nurse there. She and I cleaned, irrigated, and bandaged him enough to go to the hospital. He's doing well and patched up with lots of stitches.
Back-tracking a little, when Dean and I arrived in Nakom Pha Nom (Thai border town), it was the first time I had ever felt uncomfortable in my own skin on this trip. People were openly, jaw-dropping gawking at us. Not many farang (white people) actually stay in this town, it seems. Needless to say, ordering dinner was tricky. A customer who knew a little English was called over to assist. However,
Beach Life
Railay beach walk this was NOTHING compared to what I experienced on our rest day. Dean, a new friend Craig, and I walked a few miles to a swimming hole at a river. It was serene and beautiful. A few Laotian kids (14 or 15 yrs old), followed us down to the water and literally sat behind a bush and took pictures of me (on their smart phone) in my bathing suit. Craig kept saying, "Haley, just jump in. Jump in!" Then I never wanted to get out. It was mortifying. We're all different, and curious, I guess.
The climbing out in Thakhet is new and wonderful. The crag is in the process of being bolted (first routes went up in 2010). This means the rock is still a little dirty, and in some places uncomfortably sharp, but there is a certain brilliance involved. The rock is all limestone with intriguing tunnels, roofs, and stalagtite formations. Dean climbed a route with practically a birth cannal in the middle! He came out smiling, on his belly, arms flailing about! Haha, not really flailing, but humorous nonetheless. It looked too scary for me. This is a definite crag to return too...hopefully with some climbing
friends amongst us!
So that is a taste of some current adventuring! We have arrived back into Thailand and are headed to our final climbing destination: Chang Mai (also said to be the culture capital of Thailand). Dean will fill you in on our ventures here in a bit!
Love and Hugs
Haley and Dean
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