Well, we made it to Thailand folks. We arrived a little over a week ago, and are now on the island of Koh Lanta, where we’ll be for another week. Jonah got his scuba certification (yay!) and we spent the last two days on a boat for 9 hours, diving and eating and relaxing.
But let’s talk about the food, shall we? We spent our first two days in Bangkok getting over our jet lag and catching up on work after 24 hours “out of the office.” The jet lag hit us both in a way that it never had before – our appetites were all out of whack. We would be hungry, then go find some food, eat a few bites, and then feel ill. And no, it wasn’t the state of the food we were eating. Our bodies were just so confused about the time and the lack of sleep and the heat and humidity, everything was off.
By the time we arrived in Koh Lanta on Saturday we were both starting to feel a little normal again, finally. We had a small lunch, but at dinner we went crazy and stuffed ourselves. Was it the smartest thing we’d done? No. But it tasted damn good.
The street food in Bangkok is so great, and while I didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I’d like, we did have a couple of great snacks/meals on the streets near our hostel. Barbecued pork skewers with some tasty glaze and sticky rice made a great afternoon snack one day. And of course, we knew we had to find the only Thai dish we could actually order in Thai thanks to Nong’s Khao Man Gai back in Portland! While it was hard to drink the broth because it was so hot out, that meal really hit the spot and made us a little less homesick for a little while.
On Koh Lanta, we have a few little favorite spots so far that we visit regularly: there is a stand on the corner by our hotel that has various breakfast selections, packaged up in little bags. My favorite is the sticky rice with some pork in a bright orange sauce, but other highlights have included some gelatinous substance in a banana leaf, stuffed with shredded coconut in a sticky sauce.
On the other side of the street that leads up to our hotel, there is a restaurant where these two women cook out in the front, and they are so lovely. We ate our first dinner there and had some delicious massuman curry – it was rich and spicy, not too thick, and nestled amongst the chicken and potatoes there were these blistered peanuts – as well as some of the best pad see ew I have ever tasted. The noodles were so fresh and almost fudgy. We have also since enjoyed their barbecued chicken that they cook on a grill out front and stir fried morning glory. Plus the other night I was craving mango sticky rice, so we stopped in and got some to go and it was SO GOOD. We are eating more rice than I’ve ever eaten in my life, but with all the saucy curries and spicy dishes, it comes in handy.
We are looking forward to exploring the island of Koh Lanta more now that we have some free days. We rented a moped, so we’d like to drive around the island, hitting up the north end where there’s a little more of a town, and also going over to the old town on the east side of the island.