The things we've learned on this trip!

1. We love Thai coffee, either hot or cold

2. Cow beats car, truck beats car, car beats tuk tuk, Pat beats tuk tuk ....

3. Big belly, big money

4. Mosquitos are horrible no matter what country

5. You can get anywhere faster on a scooter.

6. Regular toilets are to be worshipped

7. Toilet paper is a luxury

8. Thai children are beautiful

9. Thai food is our favorite but getting the spiciness level right is hard to convey

10. Humidity is horrible ... See # 4

11. It takes forever to get anywhere in Thailand

 

 

 

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On our way back to Bangkok

We left at 8 am today to head back to Bangkok. It will be an all day adventure. We also crowded 15 people in our van, which was smaller than a regular 15 passenger van. each time we made a stop to pick up more people we just shook our heads and laughed. Pat had a backpack on his lap plus all around him.

Here you can see 8 of the 15 .... well 7, the 8th is behind Pats head.

We made it to Krabi at 10:30 am and just wandered around. Went to an outlet mall ... Right! It was quite funny. We head out from here at 4 pm where we go to Suratthani to catch the night train at midnight. We met a nice young man, Nut, who is an entrepreneur. He has his own photography business plus his own IT business and coffee shop.

Nut was married this past year and hopes to come to the states sometime this year. We, of course, invited him to come stay with us. We'll see if he takes us up on the offer.

Our ride to Suratthai was packed once again. Pat met and talked to a nice young lady from Canada. They talked almost the whole 2 hours but I plugged into my book. So ready to get to the train. We get to the drop off of the 11 people who are taking the night bus but one guy who is by himself is told to get back in the van. There's no room for him. We felt sorry for him, he kept asking if he was catching another bus. They didn't really let him know. We rode a little further and the driver got out and talked to someone and they came and told him, Hugh from Scotland, that he would be riding the night train. This will be better anyway. We go to the train station and find a cute coffee shop and sit for a little bit as we have 4 hours to kill. Hugh is a nice young man, he has a zillion tattoos. His latest one he got hjust last night. It looked like it was of a temple ... He had on a tank top and tried to show us. He "could" have taken it off but I would have lusted so it was a good thing he didn't.

We decided to look around for a bit which was funny because we were in a very run down area. Pat wanted to eat too. He got something from a street vendor which I couldn't eat. I got a healthy bag of chips. He said the food was really good. I had stayed with our bags across the tracks from the main area. Little did I knw there were water bugs like back in Georgia everywhere. I tried not to scream but it just grossed me out so much. When Pat got back from eating he pointed out the big rats scurrying around, they were as big as cats! I just wanted get on the train so bad. Sexy Hugh came back and sat with us some more. He's been traveling for awhile trying to figure out what to do next. He said there is school in Scotland he's planning on going to where he will get a masters in forensic art, I think anyway. This might be something that Zac might be interested in doing. He seems to be be just wandering here and there, getting more tattoos. :)

Our train finally comes and I'm so excited. We have seats across from one another which means we'll have a top and bottom bunk. Pat gets the bottom of course. Our beds are made so we crawl in. It doesn't take long before we both are out. Nighty night!

 

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Last day in Bangkok

We wake up early but find that it's hard to get up but we do anyway. Not as early as we had wanted but oh we'll,we head down for the free breakfast and its really good. Every breakfast we've had here always has some rice soup of some sort. I just can't bring myself to get any when there is fench toast, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. we both eat up and have about 3 cups of coffee.

We o back to our room and pack. The hotel will hold our baggage until 7 p.m. which we're thankful. Our first stop was to the Discovery Mall which was very fancy smancy. We then went to Big C market to try nd find prices. All they had wa their packaged brands which were in Thai so I of course couldn't read it. I knew I should have bought them in Chiang Mai ... Dang it. I ask several people where/if we can find them here in Bangkok. I just had to go to a close grocery store. It's not what I wanted but it'll do. Steve will get some spices from Thailand, just not what I wanted to bring him. Next time Steve!

We head back to the hotel to get our luggage and head to the airport. Is hard leaving Thailand. We've both had such a wonderful time. The weather has been perfect, the people were the friendliest we've ever met, and the country was filled with so much to do and explore. What's our next trip? We're not sure yet but we did pick up a Lonely Planets guide to the best places to see in 2013. We're looking forward to our next adventure - ou're more than welcome to join us!

 

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Last 2 days in Bangkok

We arrive in Bangkok about 11a.m. and get a tuk tuk to take us to our old hotel and then to the new hotel. Pat does a good job haggling with our driver to get a fair price. He takes us there in about 20 minutes.

Our hotel is called The Lit Hotel and its absolutely the most beautiful room I've ever been in. The tub is in the room and is modern and big. I can't wait to take an actual bath. We unpack a little and I crawl in the tub ... luxurious aaaaahhhhhhh. Pat goes and gets a massage. It's a good day!

We meet his friend, Anna, who went to Korea with him this past summer. She takes us to a restaurant that someone suggests. It's good but not as good as some of our other meals. We then just stroll around and look at this and that. Bangkok is huge and has 4-5 humongous shopping malls right around us. They do it a bit different here, each floor is dedicated to a certain area. One whole floor could be just electronics and the next fashion. Anyway, it's a shoppers dream. I've found out that they have little to fit us with too much junk in our trunks. It's sad when they only go to size 9 in shoes as well, now I know how Pat feels when they don't carry his size 15 shoe ... Such discrimination!

We say goodbye to Anna and head back to our room. We both are tired and want to get up as early as we can to spend our last day here. We both hate that we have to leave, this has been a wonderful vacation.

 

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Koh Lanta

We woke up so refreshed, our room was nice and cozy ... We had the air con going full blast. Our hosts told us we probably wouldn't need it since it was so nice. Ha! It's still very muggy here so the air con helps alleviate that. The day was absolutely beautiful. When we got here yesterday it was raining, a warm rain with no sun.

 

We get a cappuccino and then headed to the beach. It is so beautiful.

The tide is out so you see all the rocks ... I couldn't wait to go in. I put my toes in and it was so refreshing. We decide to have breakfast on the beach and then go put our swimsuits on to walk the beach. The sad part is that we only have one full day here. Because of the way the trains/ buses are here you spend a lot of time getting from one place to the next. We have to catch a bus early tomorrow back to Krabi and then another at 4:30 to Suratthani to get back to Bangkok.

Pat finds all kinds of pretty shells on the beach, my pockets are full. :)

This is Stella. We fell in love with her. She is the daughter of Mem and Rob who run the hotel where we stayed, Lanta JustCome Hotel. They were so helpful while we were there. Stella, as you can see, knows how to use the iPad. She just flicked right through picks and even played Gangnam Style on YouTube.

Pat playing with Stella

 

 

Toes in Thailand!

The water was so wonderful and cool. I could have swam in it all day. After our swim we decided to have something cool to to drink. :) We went to little bar on the beach.

Freedom Bar, peace marijuana?? Not sure what they were trying to say or sale.

This is for you Ruthie, didn't know you were here in November?!

 

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Train to Bangkok

We took a truck to the train station - yay, as we had so much stuff and our bags were so heavy. Our plan was to walk the 1.5 miles if needed but Pat saw the pain on my face so he felt sorry for me plus he didn't want to walk that far himself. We got there at about 4 a.m. and waited ... and waited ... and waited. Nothing was open either. I needed coffee but oh we'll. And we waited some more ... And the train was late, over an hour. We finally left at 6:55 a.m. Our accommodations were less than below average. None of my friends would have even sat down. At least we had seats, so many just stood. It was a 15 hour bus ride. We didn't get anything to eat for the trip, not a good idea. People came around selling things but we didn't know what it was and I wasn't going to eat it. It dawned on me we had our chocolate Trivial Pursuit game. Thank you Laurie Gehrett for the food. It was so yummy because that was our breakfast, my lunch and dinner ... But we could only eat a piece after we asked and answered, or tried, the questions. It was fun and it made about an hour go faster. I can't describe how nasty the toilet was. It was a metal squatty potty and just plain gross. I had to go I aimed and hoped for the best. I wanted to cry and then take a shower afterwards. If I ever come to Thailand again, toilet paper will be in my purse at all times. Most places don't have it and those that do sometimes charge for it.

We finally got to Bangkok at 11:15 p.m., we had been up for almost 40 hours. We did sleep some on the bus but not much. We got a ride to our hotel which was the most beautiful hotel room I have ever been in ... Well, on this trip anyway. We put our stuff down and went to the 7-11, yes they have these everywhere, and got something to eat. i had potato chips and peanuts. Our room was ultra modern with an actual real bed with comfy sheets with no worry of bed bugs. I took a long shower and climbed into it with such elation because I knew it was going to be a wonderful night.

A not so very happy Patrick because the train is late.

 

 

 

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Day 6 in Chiang Mai - New Years Eve

New Years Eve in Chiang Mai ... Who would have known that's where we would be this year. We needed to take the motorcycle back so Pat decided he would take it back and I would just meet him at Black Canyon coffee. What was he thinking? I really wasn't worried "too" much because he had shown me on the map how to get there and it really was a straight shot .... He left and I finished getting ready. I went to get our cleaned laundry to bring it back to our room. I wish I could have this service at home for these prices. I brought them back to the room. I then headed out on my own. Pat had said to go left but on the map it looked like it was closer to go right. Why should I walk further? I made it, I had read the map correctly. When I got there I just sat there with a big grin on my face waiting for Pat to say something and he did. I was quite proud of myself.

As we were sitting there the twins walked by. We got their attention and they took us to where Peggy gets her really good knives. I bought a box of twelve for 600 baht = $12. Melissa will contest about how wonderful they are, Peggy gave her one when she was out at Thanksgiving.

We decided to let them go their way as we were tired and thought we would head back to the room after lunch to rest before our cooking class tonight. We had lunch and I bought a few gifts for friends and then we went back to our room, when we got back Pat was going to get a massage but the clerk at our place said the taxi wouldn't be able yo pick us up at 4:50 a.m. tomorrow. How were we going to get to the train? Pat started to worry as we had a lot of crap. My back back was so full ... We had gotten a lot of souvenirs and some were heavy. Oh we'll, ... The Hoekers arrived so we visited with them until the cooking group came to pick us up. I was so excited about doing this and didn't know what to expect. The truck came to get us, there was so much traffic because of the new year.

We had 7 of us plus another couple, Linda and Richard, from Amsterdarn. They were a very nice couple. We first went to the market where Perm, our chef, told us about the different ingredients we were going to use. He told us the difference between small eggs and large eggs. He said a large egg came from an old chicken and the smaller egg came from the younger chicken. It's better to get the smaller eggs. The only difference is the price. The smaller ones are cheaper!

This is Perm ....

This is Perm with some mushrooms.

He also showed us all the spices to use. I learned the hotter peppers are green and the smaller they are the hotter they are also. Perm said the hotter ones grow up, above the leaves and the milder ones grow below the leaves. I'll definitely tell Mom about this. After the market we headed to the kitchen where we were going to cook. From what the Hoekers said, it use to be outside the city more but one of the brothers left the cooking business and started a zip-line business. It was at their home and it had a nice set-up. The classes were held in the back of the house, outdoors of course with the garden in back of that. He had everything we needed except the protein growing in back. There was a large fruit growing which I thought was durian but it was jack fruit. I remember Yacht talking about that. I would like to try it before we leave.

We picked all kinds of ingredients for our meal like basil, ginger, and long beans. We put everything into one basket and took it back to our cooking stations. Each station was equipped with a propane stove, a counter with a chopping block, our own cooking utensils, plus pans.

We got to choose between a green or Penang curry to cook. Pat chose the Penang and I chose the green. We also got to choose what soup we wanted to make. I made the Spicy Sour Soup (Tom Yom, I believe) and Pat chose the Coconut Milk Soup. We then got to make Cashew Chicken and Pad Thai. Perm went through it step by step ... He kept saying, "watch me before you start". It was hard to understand him but we managed to get'r done! The soup was so easy and quite tasty. The one thing we noticed was a lot of the ingredients are used for flavor but aren't eaten. We surmised that when we serve this to guests we should take out the things they aren't supposed to eat. I bit into a chunk of ginger when I had this soup before and it was gross .... The favors here are so wonderful and rich.

What you see here are the ingredients for my sour soup: tomato slice, cilantro, mushroom, a slice of ginger, shallots, and lime. We put a pan on our stove and Perm added water to them. He then added fish sauce to everyone's pan as ll, telling us it added salt to the dish. He then added coconut cream to Pats pan And coconut milk to mine. What is the difference you MIT ask? Well, milk is half cream and half water. Ta-da! Okay, most people would know this but I didn't. We then got to choose what protein we wanted either chicken or prawns. I chose prawns and Pat chose chicken. He would tell us to turn up our flame or don depending on the look of the mixture. We then added the other ingredients and it was done in about 10 minutes tops. I loved it, my prawns were just right. :)

Pats coconut soup ... It had another name but I can't remember it

My sour and spicy soup. One thing I forgot to mention was he told us to pick a pepper to put in our soup. Both Pat and I took two and three green ones ... Aaaahhhhh.

We each got an apron and rag like Perm to use and we also got a cookbook to bring home!

We then made the curries.

This is a picture of our work stations and you can see how it's set up. Those two large testical looking things over Kelli's head are the jack fruit. I tell Pat what I just wrote and he just shakes his head and says, "joy, joy, joy" ... What can I say - I can't help myself.

Chef Pat getting his mortar and pestle on ... Grinding all the herbs for the green curry. Peggy and I decided who needs to do this when we have food processors! :)

 

This Is Linda grinding herbs with Ken in the background waiting his turn. Perm told us that everyone had to grind them 50 times.

Perm explained to us that when we make curry from scratch you can store it for 3 days but if you cook it in oil then it can store it unrefridgerated for 3 months. Here Perm is cooking the Penang curry for us to use tonight.

Here I'm cooking the green curry that we just ground up. We got to cook ours which caused a few of us to choke. The smell was wonderful but very strong and overwhelming.

Both Matt and I chose the green curry to make.

Chef Pat patiently waiting his turn. We both ate very little earlier because we knew we would have a big meal tonight so we were ready to eat!

Pat's Penang curry cooking. I liked the flavor of his better than mine.

Here is my green curry. I've had it a couple times since we've been here and there were green vegetables in it and I didn't know what they were. I found out they are egg sized eggplants and the curry also has a pea sized eggplant in it as well. I wonder if ill be able to find these in the states?

The pink bowls had the sauce in it for the Pad Thai and the white bowls had the sauce for the cashew chicken. The three ingredients in each was palm sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce but of different proportions .... I'll have to check the cookbook to make sure though.

 

This is Perm's nephew who helps him. He is deep frying the banana spring rolls he taught us how to make. Oh my heck were these good, we are so making these for the college ministry group!! We dipped them in sweetened condensed milk. Get ready guys :)

 

Perm is showing us how to make Pad Thai. This was so good and I can't wait it make it at home.

Perm taught us how to do the wall of flame. *** This should not be attempted by an amateur, so if you try this we can't be held responsible if you burn down your house!*** First, we got our pans hot until the oil started smoking. We added the garlic which had been smashed and tilted the pans AWAY from us. We added the chicken and onions which he added a bit of water to. By tilting the pans forward this allowed the oil to cat h on fire. WOW! So cool, of course the guys,liked it but I screamed my head off. Debbie, you should start a cooking school and this could be the hook to get guys cooking! FIRE!

Us getting ready. Half the class did this while the other half took pics.

This is where I screamed ... More than once.

Pat is cooking his Pad Thai.

After we finished our meal, it was back to the market to bring in the New Year. The streets were so crowded and it took our truck awhile to get there. While driving back we saw all the lanterns in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. I want to make one when we get home to let off ... I'll probably get arrested but oh we'll.

This is someone letting their's go. We bought two, 30 baht each, one for us and one for the girls. Linda and Richard were still with us and they bought one too. Peggy and Matt got one as well. It took a bit to get it lit. The ring you see is a slice of a toilet paper roll that has been dipped in gas and wax. You don't smell the gas so it could be another flammable substance. After we got the ring lit, we held it down close to the ground to allow for allow the heat to stay in. This took a few minutes. Once we let it go, off it went. Some weren't as lucky as theirs went into the canal and quite a few went into the trees. People weren't a lot smart as they saw others going into the trees but they still let theirs go near them. Silly people.

Now picture the night sky with hundreds of these floating through the air. It was just so wonderful. This went on for hours. There were heart shaped ones, angry bird shaped ones, one with long tails, some attached firecrackers to them or sparklers to ... Just amazing.

We did a bit more shoppng as the walking street was opn late tonight for New Years. Pat went back to the room, this was the beginning of him ot feeling well. not a great time to be sick. We realized that we hadnt picked up our drawing. pat called us to see who was closer to the place. we would meet there. Pat got there first but it had just closed but another gentleman called the owner to let him know we were there.

After we rang in the new year we went shopping a bit more and then decided to head back to the rom as we knew we were going to be up early. Once we got back to the room and got packed it was 2:30am, why go to bed when we need to get up at 3:30 to make sure we can get to the train station so we didn't. Uuugggggg

 

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