Tom Yom Koung
The last few weeks have been filled with Thai food, fun, and family. Cheesy I know but I thought it had a nice ring to it. I visited Cha Am few weeks ago. with a teacher (Yui) only two years older then me who lives below me. She invited me to meet her sister and relax on the local Thai beach that was only a few hours away. We relaxed, rode horses, and the best part of the trip- ate famous Cha Am seafood. Yui failed to mention her sister was a local chef. Saturday morning we rose early and headed to the market. Her sister walked down the aisles like she knew them by heart and picked out fresh squid, crabs, oysters, clams, and shrimps the size of my hand. Back at her house, she grabbed a propane stove…no not a stove….a propane tank, placed it on the front porch and started heating the water. She threw some vegetables and limes in front of me to start chopping up on the giant wooden platform used for multiple functions…this time for preparing food and eating. Within 15 minutes, she prepared the best tom yom koung (seafood soup) I have had here. We boiled the crabs, oysters, and clams, and enjoyed our seafood feast at 10 in the morning.
The weekend was relaxing…I brought my dictionary and Yui and I enjoyed school gossip and boy talk. I did resist swimming, however, for multiple reasons…a). Thais love banana boats (giant boats shaped like bananas attached to jet skis that speed through the waves). They are all in good fun…but I witnessed a few people crawling out of the water spewing their lunch among the surf…and b). Since it was primarily a Thai tourist destination…there were only Thais swimming. There was not one in a bathing suit…actually far from it…most swam in full attire- jeans, sweatshirts, tees, pants. I didn’t feel comfortable baring it all or swimming in my jeans so I was content relaxing in the sand.
Tags: Travel
kimmiejean
hay kimmie,
i check for new postings from you every weekend. sure enough, there they were-not one, but three new ones [posted on your gma’s birthday, no less]! i passed it on to others in case they hadn’t noticed. gma tells me you’ll be returning before too long. guess you’ve become used to ‘standing out’ in a crowd, since you go to so many places that most fair-skinned farangs don’t visit often. the fact you visit and participate in the local activties says a lot to the locals in a positive way. it speaks highly of your character as well as helping to put americans in a positive light, too.
i heard there has been a problem getting water lately. you don’t seem to have trouble getting food to eat, tho!
keep up the good work, and be safe.
u.p.