Notes from Thailand Dec 2021

[shain]

Hi all,

We are back from the vacation, and I'll try and share some photos and notes. I'm afraid I won't have the capacity of posting a full on travel blog. And to be honest, the web is full of those

 

 

[shain]

We had to quarantine for a night in Bangkok. Had a short time in the city before flying to Chiang Mai.

 

It's the cold & dry season, and yet Bangkok is quite unpleasantly humid and hot from around 10am and until 4-5pm. Quite chaotic too  

 

 

 

 

 

Those are photos from a riverside pier. There's a haphazardly built dining beside it, with three vendors selling various foods. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by shain (log)

[liuzhou]

9 minutes ago, shain said:

Quite chaotic too  

 

Bangkok is always chaotic! And long may it stay so.

 

Looking forward to your pictures.

[KennethT]

Yes, chaotic is a good word to describe BKK.  While there may be tons of Thailand travel blogs on the internet, none of them are yours!  So I, for one, would be very happy to see as much as you're willing to post as possible.

[KennethT]

Just looking at the photos above, I can feel the humidity seeping into me... I say as it is currently 25% RH indoors right now....

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

would be very happy to see as much as you're willing to post as possible.

Me too!  I'm excited!

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, shain said:

And to be honest, the web is full of those

But they can’t hold a candle to yours. 

[ElsieD]

I'm looking forward to your posts!

[heidih]

Thanks for whatever you are able to post. Also interested in the beverages (non alc) you enjoyed or craved with that heat/humidity.

[shain]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Thanks for whatever you are able to post. Also interested in the beverages (non alc) you enjoyed or craved with that heat/humidity.

 

A cold drink can be seemingly found behind every street corner in Thailand. Roughly in order of how often we had each: iced Thai tea (strong tea, flavored with spices and other ingredients, with condensed milk) - ideally with some tapioca pearls, iced coffee - with or without condensed milk, green tea slushy (perhaps my personal favorite), fresh coconut water, fruit juices (incl longan, lemongrass), various other bubble/jelly teas.

We also had some beer, mostly with meals, as we prefer. But we gave up on it quite quickly - beer is not Thailand's forte. 

We also had some fruit shakes, and quite a few cold light dessert - Chinese style shaved ice with toppings, bingsu, semi frozen ginger juice with things, etc.

 

[heidih]

Ooh green tea slushy I will store in memory for when it heats up here. That will give me time to find my Ice-o-matic ice crusher. I crush first and then into blender to smooth. Were the drinks served in the biodegradable plastic bags and straws?

[shain]

9 minutes ago, heidih said:

Ooh green tea slushy I will store in memory for when it heats up here. That will give me time to find my Ice-o-matic ice crusher. I crush first and then into blender to smooth. Were the drinks served in the biodegradable plastic bags and straws?

 

Matcha powder might work as well, I'm not sure what they use for the regular green tea stuff, but I enjoy it better than matcha. Condensed milk is also often included.

I'd wish they use less plastic, or anything Bio degradable. But drinks are served in plastic cups, with plastic straws, held within palstic bags.

Everything is provided with plastic bags. Trying to ask for the bag to be skipped will often lead to some miscommunication, after which you will have both a confused vendor infront and a palstic bag at hand.

 

I saw a few people with drinks directly in a bag, but I have no clue where they got it from, because I saw no vendor selling those.

Edited January 14, 2022 by shain (log)

[heidih]

Thanks - I was hoping this sort of thong was catching on. Now we need FOOD!  https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/12/news/thailand-bamboo-cassava-packaging-universal-biopack/index.html

[shain]

17 minutes ago, heidih said:

Thanks - I was hoping this sort of thong was catching on. Now we need FOOD!  https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/12/news/thailand-bamboo-cassava-packaging-universal-biopack/index.html

 

Slowly, it does. The more modern/boutique farmer markets, restaurants, hotels tend to pride themselves with using less plastics, using organic products etc. Larg supermarkets also charge for bags.

[shain]

Lunch!

An awesome restaurant with Isan specialty. Isan food seems quite popular in Thailand, with many specialized restaurants.

 

Epic kitchen.

 

 

Papaya som tam with salted eggs, dried shrimp, peanuts.

Corn salad with the same dried shrimp and peanuts, but a slightly different sauce.

Prawns in "curry powder". A very rich sauce with profile somewhat similar to the common yellow curry paste.

Sticky rice and noodles.

 

 

 

 

 

Officer knows where to grab lunch.

 

[heidih]

Oh for the papaya salad! I love the shorter woman on a crate giving her a better angle, and the "conehead cat". Did they do the papaya somtam in the wooden bucket with the pounding "pestle"? I want to try this Thai corn salad once good corn arrives.  https://www.seriouseats.com/tam-khao-pod-kai-kem-corn-salad-with-salted-duck-egg-5205245  If you are suoer busy having been away I understand if you are not able to answer every query 

[shain]

9 hours ago, heidih said:

Oh for the papaya salad! I love the shorter woman on a crate giving her a better angle, and the "conehead cat". Did they do the papaya somtam in the wooden bucket with the pounding "pestle"? I want to try this Thai corn salad once good corn arrives.  https://www.seriouseats.com/tam-khao-pod-kai-kem-corn-salad-with-salted-duck-egg-5205245  If you are suoer busy having been away I understand if you are not able to answer every query 

 

They did, those huge wooden and sometime stone morters are everywhere.

[shain]

Bangkok

 

 

 

First market photos out of many. Morning markets, night markets, fruit markets, flower markets, flea markets, huge modern malls, less modern but still huge and chaotic markets, random vendors on the street. One may think the Thai people do nothing but shop (or perhaps it's just our own attention bias ).

 

 

Note the prepared packages of what I assume are curry ingredients. And the beautiful clutter - a photographers dream. 

More aromatics.

 

Grilled sausages. I recall those smelled good.

 

Lots of ginger.

 

No idea what's this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful produce all around.

 

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

Incredible.  Thank you.

[shain]

Flower market. Mostly intended as offerings as part of Buddhist worship and ceremonies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to Chiang Mai.

 

[KennethT]

Love it!!!  It's amazing seeing huge bags of such fresh looking galangal...

[heidih]

Wonderful market photos. I think Westerners often wonder how all that produce gets consumed. A different way of eating and also multi family households. The marigold garlands for worship remind me if India,  Thank you!

[shain]

Chiang Mai

 

 

[shain]

First morning in Chiang Mai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish we had 3 times the stomach volume.

 

 

 

A quick breakfast.

 

 

Iced coffee with condensed milk and boba.

 

Transportation (6 usd per day). 

 

 

Wat Pha Lat
 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by shain (log)

[heidih]

Green!  The bag of sauce? next to the fried rice -  is it fish sauce based like Viet nuoc mam? And at top the mango? - crunchy puffy buts are?