Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Dreaming of Shun

After ten years of use, my Henckels knives are worse for the wear. Our nightly cooking has worn them down to the point that they become dull after almost every use. David fears me whenever I wield one as I am always coming so close to cutting myself but the knives have been too dull to break the skin. I think that I am always cutting myself because my knives are so darn dull. I've been eyeing up Shun sets.
I really want the Shun Kaji 19 piece set.
However, the Shun Steel set is much more affordable.

As with any large purchase, I am going to have to noodle this.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Koh Yao Island - Day Five - From Elephants to Snakes

From elephants, we moved on to a local restaurant for lunch. The entire time, I was pretty depressed that it wasn’t street vendor food. I was even more depressed when more white people showed up to eat there. The bathroom, however, thrilled me. The last time we were in Thailand, almost all toilets were like this one...a simple hole that you perch your feet on both sides, do your thing, and then "flush" using a nearby bucket of water. In the past four years, Thailand has westernized most of the toilets. So, yes, finding this toilet was like finding an ancient Thai gem.

From lunch, we went into Ao Nang village for the “shopping” portion of our tour. It wasn’t my speed of shopping so I sat outside with Man while David went on a mankini hunt. Don’t worry, dear readers, it was unsuccessful. Man laughed at David, telling me that it is normally girls who like to shop. We then went on to discuss the finer points of Lady Boys until David came out bearing a new shirt.

It was hot. Hot. HOT. My body temperature quickly rose and steps were taken to cool me down immediately. Once I was good to go, we started to head back to the pier. Passing a long stretch of street vendors, I asked if we could stop. Man was incredulous that we wanted to stop for street food. Never in the history of the Paradise had a guest wanted to eat from street vendors when out on an excursion.

These vendors were awesome! Their carts attached to their motorbikes and they would just cook up food while sitting on their motorbike seat. We walked the length of the vendors and found two that looked delicious. The first was making som tom, green papaya salad. We ordered it “ped ma”, very spicy, and finally experienced some of our first truly spicy food of the trip. Of course, it still wasn’t spicy enough for us. The vendor’s husband was grilling up chicken so I ordered a large piece of that. It was served to me without the traditional spicy chili sauce…Silly Thai’s making assumptions. Man went to ask for some for me, arguing with the vendor that I could handle it. David had ordered tofu pad thai from another vendor and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced in the wonderful world of pad thai. We slurped down every last bit of our spicy second lunch and headed back to the pier.

By the time that we got back to the Paradise, it took all of my strength to stay awake until dinner. We both pulled through with a dip in our pool, a shower, and some reading. Arriving at the beach bar early, we found the general manager sitting alone. We sat down with him, ordered a drink, and enjoyed a cigar with him as he lamented about it being one of his last. The next day was his wife's birthday and it had been a promise a long time coming. He was a delightful individual to speak with, having a sound mind and an impressive business history. Retiring to Thailand to manage a beautiful resort on a small island was his version of paradise. Ours too. I'm convinced that David and I have twenty more years to make bigger names for ourselves so that we, too, can retire fabulously at 50 (or 55, if I want to totally morph into my father's mini-me). Being an orchid fan, I commented on the beautiful orchids growing on every tree. He explained their symbiotic relationship and how the orchid helps prevent a specific type of palm disease. All trees were numbered...David thought that it was so that you could figure out which villa was yours at night when you had a few too many drinks. Instead, they were numbered by the island's environmental police. Michael told us of the strict building laws, the strict nature laws (basically, you cannot remove any plant unless is has fallen), and how they number each palm tree to ensure that none have been removed. If one dies, it must be replaced within a specified time period. Thus, we learned that 40 does not say "turn right! This is your villa, drunkie!" but instead provides a way for the environmental police who randomly jump out of the forest to patrol the land keep track of the trees. In the meantime, nine year old girls in Bangkok are selling themselves.
Soon, the Gokce's showed up and it was drinks all around. Another honeymooning couple, Keith and Brethney (of Dublin), arrived. They had met the Gokce's previously, sat down, and immediately ordered us a round of drink. And another. And then another. Those crazy Irish. Brethney said that I completely looked Irish. If looking at her was any comparison, I totally do. We had the nose, the lips, the hair, the skin, the eyes. We spent the night drinking it up. Every round we tried to buy was refused between the Turks and the Irish. When on vacation, we develop bad health habits. At the same time, we're being active all day. I believe in a counterbalance there.

It was nearing nine when the bunch of us headed off to dinner. The five others walked through the sand directly to the restaurant. I, on the other hand, had to use the facilities so I took the dark path where the beach meets jungle to get to the restroom. While on the path, I noticed something up ahead about five feet.

Slithering, it made it’s way to the path. I hadn’t even completed the mental thought of, “Oh my god! Is that a COBRA?!!!” before three staff members ran up to the path with large sticks and started whacking away. My fear was confirmed. I was watching a five and a half foot long cobra being killed in front of my very eyes. As they picked up what I presumed was a lifeless body, I started to rush toward to ask if I could see it. No one would let me come near and quickly ushered it away behind a fence.

As I rounded the bathroom to the dining table, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone what I had just witnessed. As soon as they saw me, everyone started saying things like, “I’m glad your okay!”, “Good thing you came from that direction! There’s a cobra out here!” I related the cobra killing back to all the guests and got filled in on the parts that I missed. Apparently, right before our group headed from the bar to dinner, a three year old girl saw the cobra and said “snake” to everyone. The cobra went right past the restaurant and onto the path where I was coming up. The three employees that had killed it? Brave restaurant servers. Later on, one proudly came over to me with his cellphone bearing a photo of the dead cobra.

While the official hotel stance on cobras was “deny, deny, deny”, one staff member told us that there was another one that they had been trying to catch. It was currently taking up residence under the spa pavilion. “Don’t worry! Not king cobra! Only ngoo how si nooan! King cobra bites throat. Other cobra bite legs and ankles. You survive leg bites.” For some odd reason, this didn’t make me feel better. From then on, each step we took was a bit more tentative. Upon our return to the states, we discovered that the “ngoo how si nooan” (equatorial spitting cobra) is highly aggressive, straightens up and spits poison into your eyes from up to three meters away. That’s right folks…with three meters being over nine feet, that five foot distance between me and the cobra provided absolutely no safety from possible permanent cornea damage.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Koh Yao Island - Day Five - So Big It Needs Several Posts!

We woke early with big excitement in our hearts. Today was the day we were to see the world from an amazingly large perspective, an Asian elephant. Having ridden elephants once before, we knew that we were in for a great time.

Our guide for the day would be Man, an islander whom we met in 2004 and developed a bond with. The local environmentalist, Man spent a lot of time on our last trip discussing some of the issues plaguing their oceans and forests. Man was responsible for this excursion, knowing that tourist dollars brought to elephant camps save other elephants from a lifetime of abuse.

We hopped onto the long tail boat and set in for a long boat ride over to Krabi province. Knowing full well that my favorite activity in the world is hanging out on the bow of long tails, cruising through the water, listening to my iPod, and gazing at the scenery, Man set up pillows on the bow for me to lounge away on. I popped my headphones into my ears and spent the next 55 minutes with such a huge grin on my face that my cheeks hurt.


We passed fishing operations, both individual efforts and those of hundreds aboard commercial fishing boats. We passed islands jutting straight out of the ocean, sometimes with a lone home perched on the edge. One home was on a cliff so steep that their only tsunami escape paths were huge bamboo rods stretching up the cliffs.

The tsunami…How different the islands were from 2004 when we left just days before the waves hit the sands our toes had just walked through. Back then, we had commented on the lack of tsunami evacuation plans. Used to vacationing in Hawaii where escape routes are on the back of every bathroom door, we had come up with our own plan just in case. This time around, there was no need for an individual one and nowhere was this more apparent than Krabi which was hit the second hardest by the waves. From the second we stepped off the boat, we were greeted by tsunami evacuation signs. Walking past one beach, we passed a stone sign that filled me with sorrow: Krabi Tsunami Memorial. A bronze hand sticking out of water, reaching for safety. As the artist explains, “This tragedy reminds us how fragile our lives are and how little we can do except to hold onto each other. These hands say I will not let you go, but do not abandon me. Keep your grip. Hold me close forever and ever.”

The Thai tourism industry has not recovered. Many tourists are from other Asian countries and hold beliefs that the dead walk the beach. We were often thanked for returning to Thailand despite the tsunami. The baht surely shows that Thailand is struggling…it never gained back momentum.

Using our tourist dollars to help the economy and save elephants, we headed into the jungle to visit the elephant camp. Step one: climb up to a large platform. Step two: remove your shoes because nothing feels as nifty as running your toes over an elephant’s hairy back. Step three: board elephant…hook camera to a safe place.

David got elephant sickness the last time we rode one. I told him to let his body go loosey-goosey and just go with the elephant flow. Pretty soon, he was snapping photos like crazy. When we came across the macaw monkeys, I pulled the video camera out and started to make the Blair Elephant Project…a wobbly film set deep in the jungle with crazy monkey sounds emanating from every direction. The macaws are the third species of monkey that we have run across in our travels. They struck me as more humanlike as they sat there eating bananas off of the trees.

Moving on, we somehow came across a lizard. While the lizard may actually look calm in this photo, not a second later he turned into the devil. Flailing around with his hood up, he securely latched his teeth around David’s finger. I belly laughed while he screamed and tried to shake the lizard off of his index finger. Eventually, the thing let go and went flying through the air. It is a long drop to the ground from the back of an elephant if you are human…imagine that poor lizard. Between my gecko experience and David’s experience, we were starting to get a bad rap in the lizard world.

I enjoyed the rest of the ride from the best vantage point, on top of the elephant’s head. The mahout had changed places with me, leading to my discovery of perfect elephant balance. If I’m ever in need of work, I think I can be Thailand’s first white, female mahout. It would be a great job if it wasn’t for those damned elephant mosquitoes.



[1] Mahout: elephant driver.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Koh Yao - Day Four - The Sunset Trip

With no activities planned until the late afternoon, we actually slept in until eight. We did our usual: rise, go for a swim, eat breakfast. With our backs and shoulders feeling the effects of the sun from the previous day of island hopping, we opted to stay shaded all day. We stretched breakfast out as long as we could before heading back to our villa to dig out books.

Oh, poor us…having to spend our day reading instead of getting out and enjoying it all. Quite the opposite for someone who loves to read! We played a game of “dodge the sun” all day, moving our chairs to different parts of our veranda. David was deep in to James Frey’s My Friend Leonard. I got about 1/3 of the way through Frances Mayes A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller before I had to switch the pace to No Touch Monkey!: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, a compilation of travel’s woes that I could hardly put down.

If one thing can make me put a book down, it is a spa.[1] We headed to the spa for a sunburned back treatment and a facial each.[2] Both of us giggled away in our respective changing rooms while we tried to figure out the complexities of the Thai sarong. David had nothing but a round piece of fabric to work with while mine required moves that would have been better suited for Shiva. We enjoyed tea before heading up through the terraced rice fields, still in tact, to our massage pavilion. With no doors, we were able to hear the frogs croaking nearby, birds singing, waves crashing, and the occasional prayer of a spa attendant as she visited the nearby Buddhist shrine. It was a wonderful way to spend 2.5 hours and avoid the sun.

By four, it was time for our evening adventure, a sunset trip. As the sun sets on the other side of the island, David was excited for the photography opportunities. I was excited to get into a village for some local food.

We were taken by boat, the only accessible way around the island from where we were, to a dock on the south side. From there, our guide grabbed a jeep and drove us to the other side of the island stopping occasionally to peruse a rubber plantation or take photos. Once in the village, David and I headed to the only ATM at the island’s only convenience mart, the 7-11. We couldn’t resist going inside, knowing what wonderful treats awaited us. This was no Snickers and Dorito’s shop, oh no. I immediately headed over to the hard candy section to stockpile the four small bags of Kopiko coffee candy they had and then tore off to the aisle that contained nothing but snacking seaweed, a personal favorite. David procured happy smack and bottles of Thai iced tea.

Loaded up, we proceeded to walk around the village. Comprised of only one street, it was amazing how much we had to look at. Fruit stands abounded and we would stop to try their wares, purchasing additional fruit every now and then. Seafood farmers displayed the morning’s catch. Mainly, we wandered around noticing the subtle differences between this secluded island and Bangkok. The vendors served different wares, focusing on the abundance of food in the ocean instead of land-based animals like ducks and pigs. While dogs are the street roamers of Bangkok, cats are the roamers of Koh Yao.

Of course, all of this really isn’t that subtle if you know a little about Muslim culture. While Bangkok is mainly Buddhist, the southern parts of Thailand are predominantly Muslim with Koh Yao being 98% Muslim. Both pigs and dogs are considered to be unclean. The religious nature of the island also makes it difficult to find alcohol outside of the resorts but we conquered, coming back with a huge bottle of Malibu to enjoy for the rest of the week. Traveling around the island, we came across a section with 25 huts floating over the water. We were informed that they were fish farms, a way to sustainably fish the island by raising babies, keeping them safe, and eventually turning them into our dinner. I loved a sign in front of the fish farm beach: Koh Yao Real Livelihood. Real men are fishermen.

After killing time in the village, we headed down to the dock to watch the sunset. Just as the sky was turning pink, I had the third major experience of my trip…hearing the Muslim call to prayer emanating from the mosque. I’ve heard the call to prayer in movies, on television but have always wanted to experience the real thing. I sat there, happy as a clam, listening to the call while watching the sun set on the horizon.

As nighttime fell, we headed back to the jeep to travel to dinner. Walking back to the car, our guide told me that Koh Yao has no crime. A cat was walking by the car and the guide stooped down to pet it and whisper kind things. As I climbed in the back seat, my foot hit something on the floor. Our guide had set a bag of two fried chicken pieces next to me prior to getting to the dock. I picked up the torn bag to find only one chicken piece inside. Giggling, I said “You said no crime on Koh Yao but the cat stole your chicken!” He shook his finger at the kitty, climbed out of the car and surrendered the remaining piece to the starving animal.

David and I were anxious to get away from resort food and back to true Thai cooking. We headed to a little restaurant built over the wetlands. After seating, I excused myself to the bathroom, passing through the kitchen on the way in. It was this moment that separated us from other tourists. Open to the elements with fish in just about every nook and cranny, most tourists would have preferred to go without dinner than eat here. We knew different…This is where the good stuff would be found!

We started with tom kha goong, a slightly spicy shrimp, lemongrass, and coconut soup before splitting two large fish: pla kapong keemao, a whole fried fish with garlic sauce, and pla rad prick, a whole fish steamed with Thai red chili peppers. We asked for everything “ped ma”, very spicy. Our waitress wasn’t so sure that we could handle it, hesitating as she delivered the food. As the best part of any fish is the head, we fought over who would eat the cheeks and who would eat the eyes with us splitting each fish equally in the end. We seemed to be the dinner entertainment of the night as all the surrounding Thai families watched the two farangs eat like a local. Pretty soon, a familiar and beaming face was coming over to greet us. Apparently, we had been eating at Ma’s family’s restaurant. Ma is one of our favorite locals who also works at the Paradise. She is the best English speaker on the island. Ma was very excited that we were at her restaurant and blushed when we told her that the food was the best we had had on our trip so far. She questioned us, “Even better than Paradise?” “Way better than Paradise. Paradise food too bland”. She laughed and said, “Yes, international food for tourists.” She happily brought over her brother, the chef, and sister, our waitress, so that we could pay our compliments directly to them. Before dinner was over, the call to prayer was once again traveling across the island. I would hear it once more, the final prayer call of the day, while waiting to return to our villa.

By the time we got on the boat, the village was a ghost town. With no lights to dull the heavens, the sky seemed to be hurling stars at us. We felt like a part of the Milky Way, never before so visible to our bare eyes. It was a familiar sky but with its sharp differences, like how the Big Dipper was straight up and down instead of sideways, a reminder of just how far from home we really were. The half hour boat ride back was the highlight of my day…nothing but the sound of the boat cutting through the calm water, guided by the twinkling of stars.

We walked the beach line back to our villa, not stopping to socialize. We had a big day planned the following morning, emphasis on big.





[1] Note to self: life’s ultimate pleasure may just be reading a great book while being pampered at the spa. Oh, and I must be fed dates.
[2] Special shout out to Stephanie and Nyron: If it wasn’t for you dressing David up in girl’s clothes and giving him a girl name as a child, my husband might have just been a different man. A man who doesn’t enjoy the spa or spa nights and that would be a damn shame.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Koh Yao Island - Day Five - From Elephants to Snakes

From elephants, we moved on to a local restaurant for lunch. The entire time, I was pretty depressed that it wasn’t street vendor food. I was even more depressed when more white people showed up to eat there. The bathroom, however, thrilled me. The last time we were in Thailand, almost all toilets were like this one...a simple hole that you perch your feet on both sides, do your thing, and then "flush" using a nearby bucket of water. In the past four years, Thailand has westernized most of the toilets. So, yes, finding this toilet was like finding an ancient Thai gem.

From lunch, we went into Ao Nang village for the “shopping” portion of our tour. It wasn’t my speed of shopping so I sat outside with Man while David went on a mankini hunt. Don’t worry, dear readers, it was unsuccessful. Man laughed at David, telling me that it is normally girls who like to shop. We then went on to discuss the finer points of Lady Boys until David came out bearing a new shirt.

It was hot. Hot. HOT. My body temperature quickly rose and steps were taken to cool me down immediately. Once I was good to go, we started to head back to the pier. Passing a long stretch of street vendors, I asked if we could stop. Man was incredulous that we wanted to stop for street food. Never in the history of the Paradise had a guest wanted to eat from street vendors when out on an excursion.

These vendors were awesome! Their carts attached to their motorbikes and they would just cook up food while sitting on their motorbike seat. We walked the length of the vendors and found two that looked delicious. The first was making som tom, green papaya salad. We ordered it “ped ma”, very spicy, and finally experienced some of our first truly spicy food of the trip. Of course, it still wasn’t spicy enough for us. The vendor’s husband was grilling up chicken so I ordered a large piece of that. It was served to me without the traditional spicy chili sauce…Silly Thai’s making assumptions. Man went to ask for some for me, arguing with the vendor that I could handle it. David had ordered tofu pad thai from another vendor and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced in the wonderful world of pad thai. We slurped down every last bit of our spicy second lunch and headed back to the pier.

By the time that we got back to the Paradise, it took all of my strength to stay awake until dinner. We both pulled through with a dip in our pool, a shower, and some reading. Arriving at the beach bar early, we found the general manager sitting alone. We sat down with him, ordered a drink, and enjoyed a cigar with him as he lamented about it being one of his last. The next day was his wife's birthday and it had been a promise a long time coming. He was a delightful individual to speak with, having a sound mind and an impressive business history. Retiring to Thailand to manage a beautiful resort on a small island was his version of paradise. Ours too. I'm convinced that David and I have twenty more years to make bigger names for ourselves so that we, too, can retire fabulously at 50 (or 55, if I want to totally morph into my father's mini-me). Being an orchid fan, I commented on the beautiful orchids growing on every tree. He explained their symbiotic relationship and how the orchid helps prevent a specific type of palm disease. All trees were numbered...David thought that it was so that you could figure out which villa was yours at night when you had a few too many drinks. Instead, they were numbered by the island's environmental police. Michael told us of the strict building laws, the strict nature laws (basically, you cannot remove any plant unless is has fallen), and how they number each palm tree to ensure that none have been removed. If one dies, it must be replaced within a specified time period. Thus, we learned that 40 does not say "turn right! This is your villa, drunkie!" but instead provides a way for the environmental police who randomly jump out of the forest to patrol the land keep track of the trees. In the meantime, nine year old girls in Bangkok are selling themselves.
Soon, the Gokce's showed up and it was drinks all around. Another honeymooning couple, Keith and Brethney (of Dublin), arrived. They had met the Gokce's previously, sat down, and immediately ordered us a round of drink. And another. And then another. Those crazy Irish. Brethney said that I completely looked Irish. If looking at her was any comparison, I totally do. We had the nose, the lips, the hair, the skin, the eyes. We spent the night drinking it up. Every round we tried to buy was refused between the Turks and the Irish. When on vacation, we develop bad health habits. At the same time, we're being active all day. I believe in a counterbalance there.

It was nearing nine when the bunch of us headed off to dinner. The five others walked through the sand directly to the restaurant. I, on the other hand, had to use the facilities so I took the dark path where the beach meets jungle to get to the restroom. While on the path, I noticed something up ahead about five feet.

Slithering, it made it’s way to the path. I hadn’t even completed the mental thought of, “Oh my god! Is that a COBRA?!!!” before three staff members ran up to the path with large sticks and started whacking away. My fear was confirmed. I was watching a five and a half foot long cobra being killed in front of my very eyes. As they picked up what I presumed was a lifeless body, I started to rush toward to ask if I could see it. No one would let me come near and quickly ushered it away behind a fence.

As I rounded the bathroom to the dining table, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone what I had just witnessed. As soon as they saw me, everyone started saying things like, “I’m glad your okay!”, “Good thing you came from that direction! There’s a cobra out here!” I related the cobra killing back to all the guests and got filled in on the parts that I missed. Apparently, right before our group headed from the bar to dinner, a three year old girl saw the cobra and said “snake” to everyone. The cobra went right past the restaurant and onto the path where I was coming up. The three employees that had killed it? Brave restaurant servers. Later on, one proudly came over to me with his cellphone bearing a photo of the dead cobra.

While the official hotel stance on cobras was “deny, deny, deny”, one staff member told us that there was another one that they had been trying to catch. It was currently taking up residence under the spa pavilion. “Don’t worry! Not king cobra! Only ngoo how si nooan! King cobra bites throat. Other cobra bite legs and ankles. You survive leg bites.” For some odd reason, this didn’t make me feel better. From then on, each step we took was a bit more tentative. Upon our return to the states, we discovered that the “ngoo how si nooan” (equatorial spitting cobra) is highly aggressive, straightens up and spits poison into your eyes from up to three meters away. That’s right folks…with three meters being over nine feet, that five foot distance between me and the cobra provided absolutely no safety from possible permanent cornea damage.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Dinner Snapshot - Vegetable Soup

Vegetable Soup
This recipe is the result of me chopping a whole bunch of vegetables on Tuesday for veggie kabobs, getting bored of it, and having something else for dinner. By Thursday, I really wanted to use the vegetables before they went to waste but knew they were a little past their prime. I revived them in this tasty soup. As I didn't measure anything, all amounts are estimates.
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
1 lb eggplant, cut into large chunks
1 large red bell pepper, cut into large chunks
16 mushrooms, trimmed
1 large can of tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
3 sprigs of fresh oregano
2 sprigs of fresh tarragon
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 bag whole wheat pasta shells, cooked
1. Put all ingredients into a crockpot and add as much water as will fit. Cook on high for about 5 hours or until the eggplant and other vegetables are no longer floating but have cooked down and sunk down.
2. When cooked, cool soup until room temperature or cooler. I cooled it overnight in the refrigerator.
3. In small batches, blend the cooled soup just until it has some large chunks left. Pour each batch into a saucepan and start to heat.
4. When heated, stir in the cooked pasta shells and warm several more minutes.
5. Serve with warm crusty bread. Idea, add a dash of cream when serving or during the blending process if you would like a creamier soup.