Sandy Does Southeast Asia

Since you’re probably dying of curiosity to know what I had for dinner after I left you hanging on that last entry, here’s the story…

I knew that eventually I’d have to visit the main night market, since it’s Chiang Mai’s biggest tourist draw. But since it involves two of my least favorite things in the world: sightseeing and shopping (more wandering around looking at things, ugh), I figured the only way I could lure myself there was with promises of food.

Markets usually have lots of food vendors so it was a sure thing. Unfortunately, I only lasted about half a block into the million block market before I got bored; so I turned off onto a soi (side street) and wandered down it until I came across a busy mosque with lots of restaurants around. I stopped to watch a Muslim street vendor preparing crepe-like snacks, and ordered one with chicken and chili sauce. I asked her twice what they were called and twice I couldn’t understand. We smiled a lot at each other instead.

Even with food in hand, I couldn’t bear going back to wandering around looking at stuff, so I started off back in the general direction of my guesthouse. As I wandered down the street, I felt that particular sense of well-being I get while strolling at night in an exotic city I am familiar enough with to usually know where I am in proximity to my hotel (it happens more rarely than one might imagine, which is why you should always carry a business card from them). The sky was cobalt blue, the lights of the street twinkling, and I was still hungry.

On the way back, I ran across Jerusalem Falafel, and in the interests of world peace, decided to make that the second act of dinner.

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Expect to be hearing from me often since I have seemingly trick-or-treated my way into free Internet. It remains to be seen how long I can keep this up while avoiding accepting invitations to hang out. Although going on a date might be important cross-cultural research. We’ll see.

I take vitamin supplements every day while I’m at home but I never take them with me when I travel. That’s not because I hope to get worn down and eventually succumb to a tropical malady. If you know me even a little, you probably wouldn’t put it past me, but honestly that’s not why. I don’t take supplements while I’m travelling because that way I have to think more closely about what I eat. And since I hate sightseeing, there’s precious little for me to actually do while travelling (other than watching cable or staring into space of course) so I have plenty of time to think about nutrition. (Yes, smarty pants I know I could be writing, and as a matter of fact I did start working this morning – so there!)

When I say “think about nutrition”, I just mean I make sure that I get the best variety and balance of foods each day. I eat at regular intervals, I include fruit and/or vegetables in every meal, and I rarely if ever consume empty calories (like alcohol or soda). OK I seriously just realized that this is probably why I feel so much healthier and happier when I’m travelling. Anway.

The reason why I was thinking about this is because I love Chiang Mai. And the reason I love Chiang Mai is because it, like the best cities in the world, is totally obsessed with food. I have this theory that you can quickly judge the liveability of city by the emphasis it places on eating. San Francisco: VERY liveable. Los Angeles: don’t even bother, unless you plan on doing a lot of research, a lot of driving, and spending a lot of money.

Not only are there signs everywhere for cooking classes, but it’s pretty much impossible to throw a rock without hitting a good, cheap restaurant here. There is an incredible variety including all the foreigner standards (Greek, Italian, French, about three German hofbraus, English, etc…oh, and of course Mike’s Original hamburger/hot dog/chili place down the street). But even at my own guesthouse, they seem to take food very seriously. Today for lunch I had a green curry with chicken and vegetables over rice, with a papaya juice. I wasn’t expecting much but…I applauded at the end of the meal. I’m not kidding. I literally sat there clapping to myself.

Speaking of my guesthouse, I figured out that it’s not meant to be an American diner, it’s meant to be a French diner. Or bistro or whatever. In fact, the entire guesthouse is French themed. It took me a while to figure this out because I am nothing if not incredibly self-involved. What finally tipped me off was not the French name (Rendesvous), the huge aerial photo of Paris in the dining room, the Eiffel Tower shaped bottle of liquor in same, or even the fact that the Thai owner sits for hours working with his French tutor every afternoon…no, what finally tipped me off was sitting on my balcony looking at the little round gray granite-topped table with the elegant iron base. Hey, that looks quite French, I said to myself. Then I started looking around – oh wait, everything looks French in here. Admire the incredible powers of observation that allowed me to notice this after only two whole days. (Side note: In the spirit of things I have taken up reading Lettres d’un Voyageur by George Sand.)

OK must run – I’ve got to start planning what to have for dinner!

The new interim Prime Minister of Thailand was just sworn in. He made a statement saying during his administration (only until the election next October, in theory) that they would work on increasing the happiness of the people rather ... [Continue reading this entry]