Going Domestic

how does one say "happy valentines day" in thai?

Every weekday, as I drop my kiddo off at preschool, I see a long line of street hawkers with their carts, just meters outside of the compound gates. They typically are selling fried chicken, squid, tropical fruit that I have to admit looks fabulous, noodles, and cold drinks. Today, though, several of the enterprising hawkers had expanded their product lines and their carts were sporting bouquets of roses in pinks and reds.

An acquaintance of mine frequently uses the phrase "thai-light zone" for describing things like this, and I'm starting to realize that the expression fits really well.

second city

Departing from our usual habit of exploring Thailand's beach communities, last weekend, we flew to Chiang Mai. Chris and I have wanted to visit Chiang Mai for ages. Well, maybe not ages, but at least ever since we arrived here in BKK eight months ago. Frankly, I hadn't heard of the place before! Anyway, we wanted to see elephants in conservation parks, the large zoo, the famous night market that we imagined full of wonderful crafts from the north of this country. And we wanted to eat lots of khao soi. Chris had been told that Chiang Mai is the place to go for good khao soi.

The khao soi was, indeed, very yummy. It's my new favourite dish in Thai cuisine, though I am sure that the amount of coconut cream in it contains my weekly allotment of fat. The night market didn't live up to our expectations at all. I'm not sure why we expected it to be different than the other markets that we see, hawking t-shirts, counterfeit handbags, and assorted tacky souvenirs. Very busy, but without the huge handicraft section that makes the Chatuchak weekend market here a wee bit appealing. The zoo wasn't the magical place that I had imagined taking our kiddo to. It clearly needed a winfall of new funding for upgrades, and frankly, after seeing that the penguins weren't enjoying an Antarctic climate but a balmy 21 degrees C (the sad birds were literally standing in front of their air conditioner), our party headed for the exit.

There were several thing about our trip that exceeded my expectations. Our hotel was a lovely new place in the city that had a pool as nice, if not nicer than some of the beach resorts we've visited. A good pool is apparently the key to having a happy holiday with my three year-old. At breakfast one morning, Chris noticed that the pretty dishes that our hotel used were from a local celadon factory, so we planned a stop there ourselves, admired much, and made tentative plans to upgrade our current dinnerware.  My parents came to Chiang Mai with us, and it was really swell to hang out with them (I swear I haven't been on a holiday with my parents in about eighteen years), and it was awesome to have so many grown-ups around to keep an eye on M that I could take as many photographs as I wanted to, really, with my new fancy 16-105 mm lens (though apparently, it vignettes at certain distances).

We were in Chiang Mai for three days, and really, we felt that two days would have been enough for us.  On the third day, we really had no idea what to do. The five of us hung around our hotel under check-out time, trying to figure out a plan. It was kind of baffling - we'd heard that spending at least a week in Chiang Mai was the thing to do. I think that some of the usual attactions of Chiang Mai -  massage lessons, cooking classes, hill-tribe trekking, and meditation school - just weren't the right fit for us.  Meditation? Trekking? Not with our kiddo!

for small monkeys, obviously

  wee bananas 
  Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

These wee little bananas are a staple at Thai grocery stores and produce stalls, as far as I can tell. They taste like a regular North American garden variety banana, though I think that their flesh is tad yellower. I love bananas, but I don't buy them as often here as I did in Canada - they ripen faster than I can eat them in this climate!

This week I've been good about freezing what we can't eat - I have one tub of mashed bananas awaiting reincarnation as banana bread, and two more tubs of sliced frozen banana for smoothies (frozen fruit is way to go for smoothies - much better than ice cubes). I've run out of storage containers now ...

showtime

I really look forward to the days when Chris arrives home from his office with a new DVD in his bag. Usually every week, he picks out a new movie for us to watch. They're a steal (pun intended) at about $3 per disc. We've had one DVD that was obviously the result of someone sneaking a handycam into the darkened theatre, but the quality of our other pirated discs is quite good. I am quite impressed at how professional the packaging is - I guess I was expecting pirated discs to have the title scrawled across them with a Sharpie - but instead they have a glossy full-colour cover, complete with tiny print reiterating that the disc is only intended for distribution in North America (ha!) and that copying of the disc is a crime (ha!).

I've heard from Chris that going to the cinema here can be quite the experience - popcorn in a variety of flavours, seats that recline into beds complete with pillows and blankets - but I'm quite happy with our cheap DVDs for the time being!

you can't do that on television ... in Thailand ....

Courtesy of the hard-working censorship folks:

1. Actually smoke on-screen. Culprits will have their faces obscured by the Fuzzy Dot. However, it is acceptable to hold items for smoking, as long one is merely just holding them.
2. Point a gun (or a water gun) at someone. Again, one can hold one, but if it's directed at someone, the Fuzzy Dot will get you.
3. Kiss a man, if one is also a man. Chris and I enjoyed the Gay Witch Hunt episode of The Office last week, and that excruciating smooch between Michael and Oscar was edited right out of the show.  That being said, I'm still tickled that season three is on tv here right now - I don't have to buy the DVDs to catch up!

second, third, and fourth breakfasts

Chris and I have always enjoyed a good brunch buffet. We checked out all of the big ones in Calgary, Banff, and Lake Louise, and a few points in between. Chris's favourite was the one at the Banff Springs Hotel (where I still remember watching some diners at another table transferring food from the buffet to their plates straight into Tupperware containers), but I kind of liked the brunch buffet at the Priddis Greens golf club. Maybe it was the scenery.

This past Sunday, the three of us journeyed into central Bangkok for the brunch buffet at the Shangri-La Hotel in central Bangkok. The hotel was on the river, but we sat indoors, in the kids section (it smelled better, and was air-conditioned). Before we left, we'd read that there would be something like nine different stations at the brunch buffet, and try as we might to figure out what they would be, Chris and I couldn't come up with more than four. It never occured to us that there would be sushi AND dim sum AND a carving station for lamb, ham, and roast beef AND mongolian barbeque AND thai cuisine AND pick a steak have it grilled before your very eyes AND grilled shellfish AND quite a few more that I've forgotten. It was kind of overwhelming, and I think that we'd have to go back a few more times in order to try everything. The things that I thought were really neat were the caramel apples in the dessert section, and miniature food in the children's buffet - tiny hotdogs and hamburgers.

I'm not sure what Chris enjoyed the most, but even a few days later, he was a little baffled that eggs and bacon were no where to be found at the brunch buffet! I'm not sure if he would have had enough room in his stomach, anyway ...

table-opia

May I introduce the newest member of our household?

Chris and I picked this side table out of a catalog at a furniture store this past weekend, and it was delivered this afternoon. $150 isn't bad for a solid wood piece furniture that I didn't have to take out of a cardboard box and assemble myself :)

i thought the moon was made of green cheese

Mooncake. From Starbucks, no less. Starbucks is quite prolific in Bangkok, which surprised me. Chris brought this mooncake home yesterday, and it might meet it's demise later tonight. I've always associated mooncakes with the Chinese culture, so I wasn't really expecting to see them here, but I've read that a large number of Thais are of Chinese ancestry. That might explain the adoption of the tradition.

I never realized that mooncakes sported American corporate logos, though :)

The filling is, appropriately, cappuccino.

Off topic, but I have brownie pan envy. Check out what my sister has!

have you seen a more photogenic pineapple?

  Pretty Drink 
  Originally uploaded by goingdomestic

It must seem a little odd that I haven't posted any photos of BKK yet. The truth is that I haven't done much sight-seeing! The closest I've come is our little drive around the palace area last night. The surrounding neighbourhood was decorated in more lights than I've ever seen aside from Disney World, to commemorate the birthday of the queen (which is today, I think). Of course, I didn't bring my camera ...

A few weekends ago, we did fly to Krabi for a little three-day beach holiday ... The sand wasn't white, but it was super-fine and soft and the beach was sprinkled with seashells, not large rocks like we found in Newfoundland ...