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Published: April 26th 2009
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My 12 year old chauffeur...
...sadly, he's already a better driver then I'll ever be Southern Paradise
After the craziness of the past few days, we were all excited to be heading South to enjoy some of Thailand’s infamous beaches. Our overnight bus pulled into Chumphon at the sleepy hour of 5am. The hotel staff stumbled out in their robes and slippers to let us into the guesthouse. After the chaos of assigning rooms and roommates had been sorted out, we all collapsed into sleep. I woke up, hours later, to grey and steady rainfall. It was ironic that we never saw a cloudy day while in the bustling cities of Central Thailand, but as soon as we hit the beach the skies opened up and proceeded to rain on our parade. I spent the day sleeping, reading, and generally recharging my batteries.
Our second day in Chumphon dawned as sunny as the previous day had been grey. I woke up feeling rested, refreshed, and hungry! Though our guesthouse was strategically located near the beach, we still managed to be quite far from town. The beachfront restaurants were all as pricey as they were limited, and since I didn’t want pizza for breakfast, I let Satang talk me into jumping on the back of
The beach in Chumphon
Lazing away the afternoon his scooter for a 7-Eleven run downtown.
Satang is 12 years old.
I had my doubts. Particularly when Tracey decided to come along for the ride, which meant that I was relegated to the very back of the bike (seniority rules). Never have I more keenly felt every bump in the road then I did that morning as we raced through the winding streets of Chumphon. And never have I more keenly wished for full protective gear - or at least a helmet - then I did as Satang eagerly demonstrated his driving skills by whipping around corners, passing cars, and ducking into obscure shortcuts. To be fair though, he did get us there and back again alive and unscathed. I probably couldn’t have accomplished the same feat had it been me behind the wheel.
That afternoon we had a Thai cooking class at one of the nearby beachfront restaurants. They walked us through 4 traditional Thai dishes and gave us the opportunity to cook and sample our creations. My favourite dishes were the red curry and the sweet and sour chicken. I’ve decided to post the recipes for posterity…if you try these at home then please let me
Our Thai cooking lesson
All prepped and ready to go know how they turn out:
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Red Curry:
Place wok on medium heat with a sprinkle of oil and add the following:
2 cups of sliced pork
½ ladle of coconut milk
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 pinches of rigamont
1 pinch of sliced chili
Sweet and Sour Chicken:
Place wok on medium heat with a sprinkle of oil and add the following:
Chopped garlic
½ cup of sliced chicken
stir until chicken is cooked, then add:
¾ cup each of diced white onion, tomatos, pineapple, and cucumber
1 teaspoon of soya sauce
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
Squirt of sweet chili sauce
Stir with a bit of water
Green Curry:
Pour 3 large ladles of coconut milk and 2 scoops of green curry paste into a pot and put the heat on high until it starts to boil. Put 2 chicken breasts, cut into slices, into the pot until the meat is done. Add the following:
2 cups each of eggplant, onion, and cucumber
3 teaspoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
Pinch of basil leaves and sliced chili peppers for colour
Fried Rice
Place Collecting coconuts
They also had trained monkeys who would go up and knock coconuts down from the tree...craziness wok on medium heat with a sprinkling of oil and add the following:
Crack 1 egg (per person) into the wok and mix until cooked.
4 scoops of rice
1 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar
Mix in chopped tomato and green onion to taste
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On our third and final day in Chumphon we were scheduled to go visit a local fruit farm. I had romantic visions of climbing mango trees and collecting bananas by hand. The reality was a little less interactive. Our role could more accurately be described as voyeurs versus assistants. The first half of the day was spent trucking through the forest (orchard?) so that the farmers could point out various exotic fruit trees (whose names were undecipherable and were promptly forgotten), and watching the local labourers scurry up the trees like monkeys (wait a moment - some of them actually
were monkeys!) to collect said fruit. After the tour, we were taken to a farmhouse where they gave us a demonstration of live cockfighting. They were vicious little things! I was happy enough to pet the crocodile at the Safari Park, but there was no way that I was
Talk about drinking and driving!
Although at least our driver wasn't drinking...we think going to risk my fingers by going anywhere near these roosters! We ended the day by engaging in a traditional Thai rite of passage - the passing of the Sangsom! It seems as though this tradition is broken out for everything from birthdays, to Monk Initiation Parties, to days ending with a ‘y’. And the rite doesn’t end until the bottle is empty. This rule of thumb was given further credence when the coordinators encouraged us to keep passing around the bottle - even in the back of the pickup truck as we bounced and jostled our way home. I love this country.
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