Cha-Am Wrap Up

Although it was pretty hard to top our experience with the monkeys, Kung knew exactly where to go for us to have a very special treat (one of the benefits of traveling with a native Thai!)...

 

Mango & sticky rice is, quite possibly, one of the best desserts in the world.  I know Kevin would beg to differ since it does not contain any chocolate (and, in fact, has - GASP - fruit!) but it IS  amazing.  I wasn't exactly sold the first time I had it but it sort of grew on me and now I love it... if made correctly!    

Kung told us the woman in the first photo above has sold mango & sticky rice from her cart in the beach town of Hua Hin for 24 years.  Sticky rice (also called glutinous rice) is different from ordinary rice as it is shorter and becomes "sticky" when cooked. When sticky rice is cooked, it turns from white to translucent, whereas ordinary (long grain) rice does the reverse.  It is quite a time consuming process to make sticky rice.  The rice is soaked in water for several hours (overnight is best), drained and then steamed for twenty minutes or until it becomes translucent. Served warm with chilled fresh mango and a drizzle of a sweet coconut milk sauce, it is absolutely delicious!  In fact, we told Kung how much we liked it and, after we returned to Bangkok, she brought me mango & sticky rice for my lunch (and breakfast) for two days!   

On our way back to Cha-Am, we stopped at a temple that has the largest Buddha in Thailand.  

A pair of elaborately carved & decorated elephants flanked the steps leading up to the Buddha.

 

The kids walking up to the Buddha.

 

Lighting the incense sticks. 

 Offerings to Buddha.

 

 

 Applying gold leaf to a Buddha.

A full view of the Buddha, partially covered with golf leaf.

Another Buddha covered with gold leaf.

Offerings to Buddha.  These very beautiful and colorful floral strands are similar to leis and are sold throughout Thailand to be used as offerings at temples, spirit homes, etc.

 

 

  The boys.

The boys and the girl.

 

Kung told us good luck comes to those who toss coins into the openings above the elephant's tusks so, obviously, we did that!  

I have to say that for two boys who are very good baseball pitchers, there sure were a lot of coins that did not make it to the elephant!  

 

 

 

Random family photos.

 

 

 

 

 On our drive back to Cha-Am, we passed fields of pineapples...

And tapioca (known as cassava in Thailand).  We thought these were just swamp weeds...

 

We stopped at a floating market for lunch.  These vendors have their entire operation set up on their boat and just move along the canal or the river to where the business is.  Again, no refrigeration (or running water) but, "When in Rome..."

 

  Wherever you go in the world, there is always Coca-Cola!

So, those were the highlights of our trip.  Kevin did get a round of golf in at a very nice course with a friend from the Embassy.  We spent a lot of time reading by the pool and exploring Cha-Am.  As the weekend progressed, Cha-Am became very crowded but we never had to wait for a table or in a line.  Trying to navigate through the traffic in town was a nightmare so we walked or waited until the evening after the beach crowds left.  

Have a great Wednesday!  

Monkey Business

Other than in Thailand, I am not sure where else in the world I would need to get my car washed because the monkey sitting in the tree above where it was parked dropped a can of Coke on it!  How is that for a unique experience?!?  

On our second day in Cha-Am, we went with Kung and Kei to an area a bit south of Cha-Am (close to the town of Hua Hin) to visit a village with two claims to fame.  The first claim is the amazing temple perched high above Hua Hin with fabulous views of the coastline and the sea.  The second claim is that the village is completely overrun by monkeys.  

We had to drive up a very steep mountain to get to the village and then you had to climb about 200 stairs to reach the temple.  The views were incredible from being up so high...

 

Now, about those monkeys...


We pulled into a car park and monkeys were EVERYWHERE!  

At first we were thinking how cute they were...  

The monkey in the photo below seemed to be contemplating something very important.

This little guy loved playing on the telephone and electrical wires.  

 

 

At one point (see the photo below), I thought we might end up with a "fried" monkey but, fortunately, he stopped chewing on the wire before any damage was done.

It was sweet watching the mother monkeys taking care of and watch over their little ones.

 

 

  

As we spent more time walking around the village and watching the monkeys, it became obvious the monkeys could be pretty pesky.  I can't imagine if this is how my neighborhood looked all of the time...

 

Any sort of food or drink not nailed down or hidden well is fair game for the monkeys to steal.  The monkey in the photo below spotted a man eating lunch in his car and kept trying to figure out a way to get into the car.

I bet he is thinking, "Hmm, maybe I can get in this way...".

Somehow, the monkey in the photo below got a hold of someone's water bottle and opened it for a drink.

 

The poor person who owned the pickup truck in the photo below made the horrible mistake of leaving some groceries in the back.  One monkey made the discovery and within minutes the truck was covered with monkeys eager to get a piece of the "pie".

A woman who lives nearby takes care of any orphaned or injured monkeys and arranges vet care if necessary.  She also accepts donations for food and feeds the monkeys whenever she can.  She offered to let Christopher, Kei and Kung feed them and that is when it got a little freaky.  I don't know where all of the monkeys came from but, as soon as she brought out a few buckets of bananas, dozens of monkeys swarmed around them!  A few even tried to climb up Christopher's legs to get at the bucket of banana pieces that he was holding.  

 

By this time, Caitlynne and I had enough of the monkeys so we gathered everyone together and headed for the car, only to find it covered in brown goo.  Fortunately, a monk was nearby and told me about the monkey in the tree dropping the Coke on to our car.  While I was annoyed about the mess, I was very happy to hear it was only Coke as I had imagined the substance to be something entirely different!  

Have a great Sunday!

Trip to Cha-Am - 2nd Post

At the end of my last post, we had just arrived in Cha-Am, unpacked and were heading to the beach to meet up with Kei, a friend of Christopher's from school, and his mom who were also in Cha-Am for the weekend.  

We supported the local economy and let the kids ride for a while on the beach with the horses...

 

 

In talking with Kung (Kei's mother), I realized that both Caitlynne and Christopher have never ridden horses before.  They have ridden camels, elephants and water buffalo but no horses!  

There were a variety of water sport activities available (jet skies, boat rides, etc.).  The kids (and Kevin) loved riding on this while it was pulled by a jet ski.

As is typical in Thailand, there is always someone trying to sell you something - food, souvenirs, trinkets, lottery tickets - the list goes on and on.  While sitting on the beach, we were approached by vendors with wares such as bracelets, beads, kites, and skirts.  If you so much as turn your head in their direction, they are on you like white on rice.  Usually a smile and a firm head shake send them on their way but some can be more persistent than others - especially with Westerners.  Kei's mom is Thai so she spoke to them and made it clear that we were not interested in their items.  

As the evening approached, several vendors selling food and snacks started strolling the beach. We have been pretty careful about where we eat - almost always in a restaurant or cafe - and very rarely from street vendors.  However, Kei's mom thought nothing of stopping the vendors and buying snacks for us to sample.  The woman in the photo below was selling a variety of tropical fruits.  

I was glad Kung was with us because some of the vendors had very interesting items on offer and we were able to ask her what the food was and how it was to be eaten.  I saw a vendor making something for a family sitting near us that looked very interesting so Kung and I wandered over to have a look.  Click on these photos to see a larger image.  

Kung explained to me the snack he was making and, since I can't remember the Thai name for it, I would best describe it to you as "squid jerky".  

First, you select the size (small, medium or large) of dried squid that you want...

Then the vendor pulls the dried squid through a hand-cranked roller to make it very thin...

The dried (and now flattened) squid is put into a basket and held over a small charcoal fire until it is lightly browned and a bit crispy.

After it is grilled, the vendor makes a spicy chili sauce and serves you.

 

Although it took me a few minutes to get over my uneasiness with the conditions in which the dish was prepared, I did have a few pieces and it was very good.  I am glad we bought some because it was certainly something that we never would have tried if we were on our own.  

There were food vendors all over the beach with set ups similar to this man's - a heat source on one side and ingredients/supplies/utensils on the other side.  I saw some vendors making stir fried noodle dishes, some were making grilled meats, fish or vegetables and others were making curries and stews.  Given the lack of refrigeration, I don't know if I would be brave enough to try a dish made with meat or fish but the locals definitely do not mind as the vendors were doing a brisk business as dinner time approached.      

Have a great Saturday!

Happy New Year!

Although a few days late, I wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year!  I have a lot to look forward to in 2012 and am excited about the traveling and activities we have planned for this year.  

Our trip to the beach for the New Year's holiday was, as to be expected, filled with many different experiences and sights.  As with my blog posts about our other travels, I will have to write about this trip in several segments.  There is just too much to tell you about (as evidenced by the fact that I took over 200 photos!).

We went to Cha-Am, a small fishing village on the Western Coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about a two hour drive (southwest) from our home.  Cha-Am is "the" weekend, beach & holiday destination for Thais living in Bangkok.  Before we left, I read in a guidebook that if you want an authentic "Thai" experience, Cha-Am is the place to go for it.  Now that we have been there/ done that, I will agree with that statement!  The beach and the town were very quiet when we arrived early Wednesday afternoon but, because of the four day holiday weekend, our hotel and others in the area filled up rather quickly.  By Saturday morning, tents and camper vans lined the 7 or 8 miles of beachfront between our hotel & the northern edge of the village.  The beach and the town also became quite "lively" with the influx of people.  Kevin and I had to weave our way through the pedestrians, bike riders, food & souvenir vendors and soi dogs while running Sunday morning.  The streets were incredibly crowded, even at 7 am!    

About 30 minutes after we left Bangkok (city proper), we started to see these large square "fields" on either side of the highway.  

 

At first, we thought the empty fields might be harvested rice paddies.  However, we then remembered hearing that this area (Samut Sakhon) is the biggest producer of brine salt in Thailand and we realized we were looking at the salt fields.  Of course, for the rest of our drive to Cha-Am, Kevin and I spent much time discussing how salt might be "grown" and harvested.  Yes, we are exciting!  

After we returned to Bangkok, I did a little research and learned that Thailand's brine salt farms produce about 1,000,000 tons of salt a year and Thailand is the 26th highest producer of salt in the world.  The salt is produced by flooding each field with high salinity sea water (from the Gulf or the Mekong River) that is pumped in using small windmills and a wooden conveyor belt that essentially "paddles" the water into the fields.  

On both of the days that we passed the stretch of salt farms, there was little to no activity in the fields so I couldn't take photos of the salt being harvested.  However, I did find a few photos online that show the process of harvesting as well as a few of the tools used. 

Below is a photo of the conveyor belt used to flood the fields (photography credit to walet.twins).

After the field is fully flooded, the field is damned and the water left to evaporate.  The salt production season in this area is October through April - the sun is hottest during this time and there is very little chance that it will rain.  After the water evaporates and the salt is completely dry, it is ready to be harvested.  

When the salt is ready to be harvested, it is raked into small piles in the field (photography credit to Dale Allyn for the following four photos).

 

After the entire field is raked, the salt is collected and taken away to be cleaned and sold.

 

 

As you can see in these photos, salt production in Thailand is not a very a high tech operation.  The equipment is very rudimentary and there is a great deal of physical labor involved.  Given how unsophisticated the process is, it was very surprising to realize how much salt is actually produced and harvested here!    

There were numerous vendors set up along side the stretch of the road that bordered the salt fields and selling the salt (photography credit to Walet.twins).  

Vendor related... in each village we passed through on our drive to Cha-Am, there were numerous vendors set up along side the road selling whatever "specialty" might be grown or produced in that particular region.  First, we saw the salt vendors, then the pineapple & mango vendors and then palm sugar vendors.  As we got closer to Cha-Am, the vendors began selling prawns, fish and crabs.  It was like we were traveling the agricultural map of Thailand!  

So, on with the trip... Wee stayed five nights at the Grand Pacific Sovereign Resort & Spa.  The hotel was very nice with large (and clean) rooms, three nice pools and a great view of the Gulf.  This was the view from our balcony...

A friend of Christopher's from school, Kei, and his mother were also in Cha-Am for a few days.  After we unpacked and got settled, we met up with them to go to the beach for the afternoon.

I am going to break here as I need to start getting dinner together.  

Have a great Wednesday!