For those like who are either don’t want a car, or too scared drive on ein Bangkok (I fall into both categories), a trip to North / North East Thailand will start at Mo Chit bus station. It’s noisy, crowded, busy, dirty and hardly a word of English is printed on it’s many signs.

Travelers having not-so-many problems at Mo Chit 2

My girlfriend and I were traveling north for the weekend via bus, when we hopped out of our taxi, almost straight away a staff member of the bus station started to call my girlfriend, asking if she could speak English, and then asking her for help.

We followed the girl over the a small crowd of bus station staff members, a taxi driver and a middle aged foreign man. The man who looked to be in his early 50’s, was arguing about his fare with his taxi driver. The following conversation then followed. N is for my girlfriend, A is me, M is the middle aged man, and T is taxi driver. Got it?

N: “So what’s wrong?”
M: “I catch a taxi and ask him to bring me to the bus station to Isaan, and he brings me here. We agree to 300 baht, and then on the way here he says it will cost another 50 baht! I don’t know why, I guess it’s about the highway, but we don’t go, and then he brings me here. I won’t pay!!”
N: “Did you go over the highway? If you did, you would have stopped at a tollway. Did you go there?”
M: “No!! We didn’t, we just drove around, then came here. and now he asks for 350 baht!”
N: “OK, how much was the fare on the taxi?”
M: “He didn’t use the metre, he said it costs 300 baht!!”
N to T: (In Thai) “Hey, why didn’t you use the meter for the fare?”
The crowd of bus station staff members gasp, and admonish the taxi driver.
T: (In Thai, and exasperated) “He said he didn’t want to use the meter, he wanted a set price! We agreed on 300 baht. Then it’s another 50 baht for the airport fee, as I picked him up from the airport.” You could tell he was sick of this conversation about 5 minutes ago. Being told off by everyone else was almost the last straw for him.

N to M: “So he says you agreed to pay 300 baht. Actually, this is about the right price as it is a very long way. “
M (getting testy): “I won’t be cheated! If he’s honest, then I’m happy to pay the real price, even if it’s 1000 baht. But he didn’t take me where I wanted to go!”
N: “Where did you ask him to take you?”
M: “I told him to the bus station to Is-aan.”
N: “But that is here, I promise you this is the right place! and the 50 baht is for the airport taxi fee.”
M: “Really? oh, ok. OK, here’s the money.” He hands over 400 baht to the taxi driver, shakes his hand, then waves him off. Nice last touch.

M: To myself and N, “OK, can you help me to buy a ticket”.
N: “OK, where do you want to go”
M: “I want to go to Is-aan”.
N: Pauses.. “OK, where in Isaan?”
M: “Just to Isaan.” I glance at my watch, thinking this isn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon. Saying you want to catch a bus to Isaan is like standing at a bar and telling the bartender you’d like a glass of alcohol. The man then turned his attention to me. “Hey, where are you from man, I’m from Sweden?”
N: “Ooooh, you want to go to Surin.” A staff member understands this too, and starts to direct him inside to the ticket counter. I imagine him, with a totally bewildered look on his face, on the back of an elephant at the Elephant village. hmmm…

A: “Wait wait, did you say Surin or Sweden?”
M: “Sweden.”
A: “OK, so where in Isaan do you want to go to? Isaan is pretty big. What do you want to do?”
M: “I’ve got a 90 day visa, and I need to go to the border to get a new one. So I need to go to Cambodia or Vietnam.”
A: “OK. What about Nong Khai? That has the border to Laos.”
M: “Where?”
A: “To Laos, it’s next to Nong Khai.”
M: “But I was told to go to Isaan.” uuurgh! I was tempted to send him to cross the border at the Preah Wihan temple and let the Cambodian army sort him out.

We had a bus to catch, and didn’t really want a third amigo for the trip. N told the station attendant what he wanted to do, and she more or less understood. She said she’d put him on a bus to Nong Khai and he can work the rest out. And that’s the last we saw of him.

It got me thinking about a few things. First of all, there’s such a stigma on Thailand about foreigners getting ripped off by the locals that people think they’re getting ripped off, even when they’re not.
It’s just that both parties can’t communicate properly with each other, and probably due to one side not trusting the word of the other.

More importantly though, is what the hell is this guy doing??? He doesn’t know where he’s going, how to get there, and thinks that Vietnam has a land border with Thailand. Is his idea of planning a visa run having a few rounds in a beer bar and then ask for advice from the nearest person who’ll her him out??

I can imagine him today standing in a bus station in Nong Khai arguing with the attendants, saying he wants to go to Isaan. And cursing under his breath the untrustworthy Thai’s who just won’t listen to him.

“This province is home to a revered Buddha image and four of the nation’s most beautiful national parks”

Known to the locals as simply Phi-lok, Phitsanulok is an ideal base for those wishing to explore the North and the western part of Isaan. And that’s what most folk do – just pass through and completely forget to even think of having a look around this amazing province. Situated on the banks of the Nan River, the provincial town is home to arguably the country’s second most revered Buddha image, Phra Buddha Chinnarat (second only to the Emerald Buddha).

The temple housing this Buddha image is located in the middle of town and welcomes literally thousands of devotees a day from all over Thailand.

It was here that King Naresuan the Great was born and Pumpuang Duangjan, the beloved Queen of Thai Country Music, collapsed and died at the tender age of 31 in 1992. Getting out of town, Phitsanulok has four national parks with unique natural endowments such as pristine virgin forest, waterfalls and a diversity of animals and plants, including endangered animals.

Considered one of the most fabulous sites in Thailand, Phu Hin Rong National Park, 125 kilometres from the provincial town and 1,000 metres above sea level, is famed for not only one of the most spectacular views in Thailand but also its extremely odd-looking stone formations. The province is also home to a few unspoilt waterfalls, which most Thai folk have no idea about.

The location of Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park, because of its high terrain, remote mountain location and close proximity to Laos, was chosen as the headquarters of the now-defunct CPT (Communist Party of Thailand) from 1967-1982. For those interested in a bit of Commie history, you can still see remains of living conditions, air-raid shelters and buildings. There is also a CPT museum.

So, the next time you are heading to the North, don’t forget the delights of Phitsanulok. You certainly will not be disappointed!

Playing the "Kaen" and Slide Whistle

During this little gap between posts we; hosted a great short term missions team from Hawaii, purchased a white ‘95 Nissan Sunny, traveled to speak at Thai churches and groups, had a home robbery where we lost a good chunk of our tech stuff (sniff sniff), was asked to move out of our new rental home because of conflict over a “spirit house”, received guests at our home, traveled to a city a few hours south for outreach and reunion with four other families, nearly twenty kids, and two single alumni from our Bible School.  Lastly, I just returned from a week in the country of Laos meeting new contacts, serving with my friend Freddy, and learning about the work happening there.

Little Man w/ a Little Khaen

A few days ago, my oldest son (6) has started second grade homeschool and after only a couple of months of Thai lessons is already reading three syllable words in Thai script and has all of the alphabet and vowels memorized.  (We are so jealous!) Our other son Aslan is growing up seemingly oblivious to all that is going on around him for the most part.  He has started greeting Thai people with the traditional Thai greeting, the “wai”, which is palms places together touching just under the nose.  He will even tell them “Wadeekhap”, which means hello,…when he feels like it.

Before coming to Thailand, many seasoned people told us that it would take awhile for us to transition here, but I never wanted to believe it.  Other have told us that their first year of missions life was the hardest and that they wouldn’t want to relive it again!  Although their words have proven to be true in some respects, we continue to work through all of the highs and lows of this season of life and ministry with a focused diligence and the grace that only God can give.  He is teaching us so much as a family and we are working to embrace all of the lessons that we are learning together.

We have been blessed to have great friends here locally, both Thai and foreigner, to encourage us in our journey.  It has been a joy to partner with them in order to accomplish things together that could not have happened if they were done alone.  These partnerships in the Gospel make life here so much more sweeter.  I believe that the Father is pleased to see “brothers dwelling together in unity.”  We have also been encouraged by our friends who lift us up in prayer on a regular basis.  By their help we bust through all kinds of spiritual barriers and escape many pitfalls where we could easily fall prey.

So, now that we are a little more caught up, I will try to get back on the blogging habit and fill you in on my recent trip to that country just north of Thailand.  We saw and learned so much, so I look forward to sharing with you in my next few posts. Stay tuned.

Most people are surprised to learn that many of the “Thai” dishes they eat in the USA is actually more akin to the cuisine of Laos. Dishes like larp (meat salad, often with duck, buffalo or chicken), som tam (green papaya salad), sticky rice and gai yang (grilled chicken) are staples of the Northeast Region of Thailand, known as Isaan, which borders Laos. The region is know for being the backwater of Thailand and therefore produces hearty-rustic cuisine, unlike the more refined Royal Cuisine of Bangkok. In fact, the cultured Thais make a joke of calling Isaan “Lao”, a dig intended to distance themselves from their country brethren.

For my part, I love Isaan and Laos. I love the people, the food and the culture. They are easy-going, jovial sorts who eat with their hands, drink lots and lots of booze (Lao Lao) and welcome you as family when you visit. When I meet a new Thai person for the first time and they are surprised that I speak some Thai, I often break the ice by saying “phom pen kohn Lao”, which implies ‘I am from Isaan’. Laughter ensues.

I don’t cook Thai food often. Frankly, I leave most Asian food to Asians. There are subtleties that only evolve from submersive practice of a cuisine over a lifetime that I may never master. I can fake it with the best of them, but seeing an old woman huddled over a mortar and pestle banging out some som tam is truly one of the great culinary treasures on this earth. From the way she masterfully slices the papaya, to the exacting measure of garlic, fish sauce, dried shrimp – it’s an artform. I have a much better grasp of diner food, Continental and California techniques.

Still, when I get a hankering to throw down some Thai, I look to Isaan. The dominate flavors all come together in almost every dish: spicy, sour, sweet and salty. Fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and chilies form the foundation. The stuff is pretty easy to make, but wows a crowd because it is at once exotic and damn tasty.

This weekend I was in full 4-year old mode. My wife was in New York and I had my boy solo. With an only child we are hyper-sensitive about arranging for play dates. It gives him companionship and gives us a break. I was all about the play dates this weekend. Sleepover, birthday party, park, kid’s club at the gym – it was exhausting. To make matters worse, on Sunday night I offered to BBQ at my house. It was either that or play chase, hide and seek, puzzles and watch Spongebob all night. I welcomed the hoard of children that would come. The cooking, I can handle.

I grabbed some whole chickens from Avedano’s a female-owned sustainable butcher shop in Bernal. I’ve had mixed opinions about their offerings, but I’m fully on board after these chickens. At $3.79 a pound for pasture-raised birds, it was a great deal and a great bird. The birds got cut up into 8 pieces (minus the back, skin-on, bones-a-plenty) and took a soak in a bath of good fish sauce (not the crap from the Philippines), garlic, palm sugar, a splash of soy, a hint of chilies, white pepper, coriander and black pepper. I tossed and turned them four about three hours. The longer the better.

For sticky rice you need to have a special basket and pot. Look online if you don’t have a Thai grocer nearby (but I mean really, who doesn’t have a Thai grocer nearby? sheesh). The “sweet, glutenous rice” needs to soak in water for about 2-3 hours before cooking. You can find this special kind of rice from, you guessed it, a Thai grocer. Or online. You must use the right tools here – you can’t fake sticky rice. And this is the only rice you can serve with these dishes. Ya hear me? Fill up the cooking pot and put the rice in the basket to steam until it is tender and forms a nice ball when squeezed together.

Back to the chicken. Light a charcoal fire on half of your grill. Put all of the marinated chicken pieces on the other half. Let them cook with indirect heat and smoke, turning occasionally, for about 20-30 minutes. Keep checking for doneness so they don’t dry out. By using indirect heat, it is much harder to dry out the chicken. When you’re just about to pull them off, put them over the coals for a minute to get some sweet char on them.

Serve the whole mess family style. Put the sticky rice in a bowl and cover with a damp warm towel. Toss the chicken in a little bit of Thai sweet chili sauce, just to give it a light glaze. Not too much. Encourage your guests to eat with the hands and tear in. The technique is to scoop some rice and then grab a hunk of meat with the rice. The sounds of chomping and slurping an “oh that’s good” and “give me more” will follow. A true food orgy.

I served this batch with some fiery haricot verts (Dirty Girl Farms: we love you!) made with some simple roasted chili paste, a little fish sauce, ciopllini onions and a splash of soy. Saute them on high heat until slightly tender. I also cheated and grabbed a bucket of Som Tom I had Grand Pu Bah whip up for me. You try and manage a gaggle of kids running around your house for an impromptu BBQ AND make Som Tom!

For dessert, I have to give a shout out to our friend Katja who was able to pull together a honey-yogurt ice cream last minute that rocked! We topped them with the Dirty Girl Farms strawberries for a perfect end to the meal.

This dinner made me think that maybe I could go a little deeper into Thai cuisine. Subtleties be damned, the stuff is just that good. At the least every chef needs to be able to pull out some family-style Thai that shake things up from your standard ho-hum BBQ to something otherworldly.

jetzt war ich schon oft in Thailand, bin aber noch nie näher an den berühmten Mekong gelangt wie nach Khon Kaen im Norden  und Kalasin im Westen

Der größte Teil des Mekong liegt in China, später wird er der Grenzfluß zwischen Myanmar und Laos und bildet am Ende dieser Strecke das berühmt-berüchtigte goldene Dreieck.

Nun, heute eher Touristenattraktion oder Touristenfalle aber immer noch eine Landschaft, die ihren Ursprung bewahrt hat.

Nong Khai liegt an der Grenze auf thailändischem Staatsgebiet, nur ein paar Kilometer von Vientiane entfernt, der Hauptstadt von Laos.

Es herrscht ein reger Handel in dieser Region, allerdings auch mit Drogen. Der Handel floriert, insbesondere auch wegen der “Freundschaftsbrücke”, die Thailand und Laos verbindet.

Ja, ja der Mekong. Bekanntschaft habe ich mit seinem kleinen Bruder schon gemacht, dem “Mekhong”. Den trink ich immer mit einem Schuß Soda und ab und an einem kleinen Schuß Cola. Und Eis dazu, ist schließlich heiss im Isaan.

Review:

If you haven’t been to Laos, then you really should.  It is a beautiful, simple, spiritual place with awesomely hot food, and one particular dish that I will kill for – Laos sausage (the very good ones in Thai Hut in Wanchai, still pale in comparison to the real thing).

If you need some more convincing then the next time you’re in Bangkok go try the food.  There are a few Laotian/Isaan restaurants in BKK, the most well known one being Vientiane Kitchen.  We were put off this one by the concierge and the fact that they have a band and dancing, which isn’t really my bag, so instead we went for Cafe de Laos.

Food: Very tasty food.  Laos sausage-tastic.  These are rustic, garlicky slightly fermented sausages served with fresh coriander leaves, slices of chili and peanuts.  Bloody love them.  The beer marinated pork neck and  jungle curry were also really good. Quite a lot of interesting dishes with more of a bent towards river fish and shellfish rather than seafood as Laos is landlocked, so flavours are quite delicate.  DO tell them that you eat food hot like they do, otherwise they will tone down on the chillis for sure, thinking that you are a useless nancy farang.

Drinks: They serve Beer Lao which is always a bonus.  They even have a wine list, although I’m not really up for pairing Laos food with wine yet.  Beer is perfect for me!

Ambience: Restaurant is in an old colonial house, and it’s pleasant enough, but the main ground floor room where we ate was rather bright and lacked any vibe at all, which is a shame because the food is very good.  There is also a lot of wood and tiles, so very little material that damps down noise.  You do feel a bit like you are in a National Trust tea-room in the UK.

Service: Service was a little slow, and fortunately for us they actually forgot one dish which was fine as we were stuffed.

Price: Very reasonable, can’t remember exactly, but it was very good value for the quality of food.

Location: In Silom, 16 Silom Road Soi 19. Tel +662 6352 3389

There are a few more Laos and Isaan restaurants in Bangkok which I would try over going back to this restaurant, simply because I believe there must be somewhere with better ambience.  Can’t fault the food though.

The Villa has two rooms, two bikes, a full kitchen, bathroom, patio, and a TV that we will never turn on. The front yard is so spacious that Catfish and I mentally map out where the imaginary swimming pool would go.

Rental villa in the village

We ride our bikes to the nearest store—the front room in someone’s house—and buy a couple bottles of Leo Beer. On the ride back, I notice a crushed frog and a flattened green snake on the dirt road.

Our contact T advised us to watch out for scorpions; I wear sandals when on the grass. Catfish is slightly less neurotic than me so he goes barefoot.

Cobras live in a large rice field across the street, and we were advised not to walk around in there. I’ve decided to just stay on the patio and drink beer and eat Thai banana chips until I get a feel for the place.

The rooster next door starts wailing at 02:00 and then gives a repeat performance at 05:30. Not to be upstaged, the crickets begin screaming at 18:00. I cheer on a dark green gecko munching a cricket out on the patio, but I think there’s probably another 500 jing reet on the property. I hope the geckos are hungry.