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Published: February 10th 2009
Ok this is gonna be a loooong response but I haven't been mentioning it in the posts at all so here goes:
The plane food was better than American and worse than the Korean Air food (I was on Asiana), I chose the Bim Bim bap or whatever its called and the woman I was sitting next to had to explain how exactly it gets eaten (you essentially mix everything together in a bowl and wolf it down that way). The entree also came with a side of those black ride noodles that were the reason that boy went home on top chef early this season. Anyways she suggested I mix it with the wasabi that came out of a tube and I put a couple of dollops on top and managed to eat most of the noodles that way. When I finished I there were literally tears running down my face and my sinuses were clearer than the day I was born, she had squeezed her entire tube of wasabi flat and looked completely serene.
In Seoul I bought mystery meat off a street vendor and dowsed it in what turned out to be soy sauce but it was awful and I only managed to eat a few bites before throwing it away - it tasted like fatty chicken skin. Ew.
In Bangkok I just had toast for breakfast (big mistake, I'll explain later) and a watermelon shake (HEAVEN) - everywhere in Thailand you can get them to make these fruit shakes which are just pureed fresh fruit, ice and sugar dissolved in hot water (sometimes they add condensed milk) it's indescribable. Lunch we got at a street-side vendor in Bangkok next to Lumphini park and it was delicious - fried fish, chicken, some sort of spicy stir-fried chicken dish, rice, and chilis on everything. Dinner was just a boiled rice and chicken soup with chili powder (because the toast made me sick all day - this fact comes up a few times).
Next day, fruit for breakfast, then lunch at a restaurant on khao san which was these crunchy veggie spring rolls and i think hot basil chicken and sticky rice. I'm in heaven but I feel like things in laos were even spicier, I'm such a spice snob now, and then we didn't really do dinner because we were on the train but I did get to try fresh pineapple sprinkled with a mix of chili flakes, sugar and salt and it's really an interesting combo. It made me think of you (traci) because I know you love the savory and sweet combo.
When the train stopped in Surat Thani it was early in the morning so I just got tea (since I was getting a cold) and toast (mistake the second). I was on the bus all day and didn't get food until later that night with the two Chilean girls I met, still feeling kind of sick from the toast, and I got fish fried in tumeric because we were in a beach town so the fish is always going to be the best. It was pretty good but I got like ten really small fish and so there wasn't much meat on them and it was mostly just the fried part.
The next day I don't think we ate until dinner, and I got fried chicken at a street vendor stall and it was the best fried chicken I've had in my entire life - possible because they fry it twice!?!?! Fantastic idea, I'm practically drooling when I write this.
The first morning in Phi Phi I was a little hungover so I went to have breakfast and I got a fruit plate and an omelet....which came with toast! Which I ate, and again made me sick for the rest of the day. The omelet was fantastic (cheese and mushroom), and I think I may finally be over the whole "if I can drink a beer why the fuck would my stomach object to plain, white toast" line of thinking that had been screwing me over for days.
Dinner that night was the best I've had so far, I ordered an entire fish fried in chili sauce and ate the entire thing (it wasn't suuch a big fish) but it was exactly as spicy as I wanted it to be, the meat was tender and tasty the skin was crunchy, YUM.
Ko Lanta -
Still in a beach town so still eating fish - for lunch I had the fish in fresh garlic and it comes out in the pan they cooked it in and it was juicy and garlicky and I practically licked the pan clean for them. Dinner I got steamed rice with chicken soup again because my cold was acting up and I mentioned to the waiter how much I love spicy so he brought me the special thai condiments they don't normally give to farang and I mixed the soup with Chilis and ground peanuts for flavor.
Last day in ko lanta - so far just a veggie omelet that I covered in chili sauce and Ketchup (my american roots and all) I might get dinner but I'm not sure yet. I've been chugging fruit shakes my entire trip and have no idea what I'm going to do when I get back to the US and everything takes bland and boring again.
I'm really interested to see what the food in Malaysia is like - especially Penang since the NY Times named it as one of the top culinary destinations in 2009. I guess tomorrow I'll write everyone about how fantastic ko lanta is and it's definitely going to be a stop on my honeymoon tour of the world. Tomorrow I'm off to Malaysia via Trang - Hat Yai - Butterworth (if I can get a train ticket, and if everything runs on time, which it won't, wish me luck!)
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Traci Haback
non-member comment
Thank you for this
I sincerely appreciated this post, the most interesting yet! These shakes sound delightful, as did the sweet and savory pineapple- yumm! The fish sounds good too, and the twice fried chicken. Thankfully I am eating McDonalds as I read this post or I would have drooled to death. Keep us updated on the food as you go, it helps me categorize your stops. Heard from any more schools? Have fun, it sounds like you are already, and feel better!' Also, I take it this "toast" thing is you and not specifically Asian toast?