Chiang Mai: Thai cooking = brain damage or diabetes?

While Nolan was still occupied with Thai massage (and doing very well according to his teachers!), my mother, Maureen, and I set out to learn how to cook some Thai meals.  We were picked up late (Thai time) in an open air pick-up truck that made us feel like day laborers heading to a job.  Our first stop was the market where we learned about the different sauces used in Thai cooking - mushroom, oyster, fish, and soy  various seasonings - sugar, salt, MSG, curry pastes, and then walked around to look at the various vegetables and meat.  We were astonished and disturbed to learn that most Thai restaurants use MSG in their food.  Apparently, the only way to avoid it is to claim that you are allergic and if you eat it you will die.  Of course, the owners don’t want their guests dying on the spot, so they’ll substitute sugar for MSG.  Another disturbing sight at the market were the giant toads that I accidentally saw being clobbered to death.  It reminded me of the meat section of a market in Sapa, Vietnam where tables were heaped full of horses legs and other unimaginable items…or the fried bugs (crickets, silk worms, and cockroaches) in Chiang Mai’s night bazaar.

Leaving the market, we headed to the farm where we would be cooking.  We had a walk around and looked at all the fruit trees and vegetables growing before settling down to make our curry pastes in a mortar and pestle.  The pastes - red, green, and yellow - are surprisingly simple to make and what's better than FRESH curry paste?!  After this we set to work making tom yum soup, papaya salad, pad thai, spring rolls, desserts and our curry dishes.  All were made with fresh ingredients, most with coconut milk, and all with palm sugar or regular sugar.  Despite the delicious factor of every dish being near a ten, you have to wonder, with the main flavor enhancers in Thai cooking being MSG or sugar, how come the country isn't brimming with diabetics or worse from MSG chemicals?  Or maybe there is a problem?  Curious, I googled it and came up with this article.

Really, there's no need for all this sugar in their food.  With ingredients like galangal (Thai ginger), garlic, lemongrass, who needs this overload of sugar?!

Health rant aside, the cooking experience was rewarding.  Perhaps overly so.  Most of us only ate a third of our meals, and we took one complete meal home in Thai tupperware (aka a plastic bag).  I was delighted to discover that Thai cooking is much easier than I'd thought, which means anyone coming over for dinner will most likely get a taste of my new skills as it happens to be my favorite food!  You an be sure the take-away in NYC uses MSG!.

We left the farm exhausted from standing around a hot stove all day, but with bellies full, and lungs clear from the fresh countryside air.  

A word about Ladyboys and Buddhism (the recurring thread!)

In Thailand, there's a strong culture of ladyboy's, toms (tomboys), dee's (ladies who prefer ladies), and various other subcultures of which I'm unaware.  It was interesting to observe the ease with which these people of various gender identify themselves as well as their social acceptance.  Clearly, being gay, transexual, transgender, or anything else you might want to be is not an issue...why?  Because it's a Buddhist country!  Or at least this is what we concluded based on conversations with locals and ex-pats.  


Here's an interesting post about the subject: Buddhism and Ladyboys (Transgenders)


In a nutshell, Buddhism addresses the behavior and actions of people, not man or woman.  There's no distinction between heterosexuals and homosexuals.  Another reason is that, according to an expat friend, Buddhism says that as long as you are being true to yourself, you are not in the wrong.  


Wouldn't it be wonderful if this was the case all over the world?  What a stark contrast to this recent, shameful display in Moscow.

Chiang Mai: Religion and Politics

Buddhism:

As one must do when coming to Thailand, we set out to explore the many Buddhist temples in and around Chiang Mai.  The country is 90% Buddhist, so there are temples everywhere.  Even driving through country towns in the middle of nowhere, a richly decorated temples emerges amidst the wooden structures and rice paddies.

Temples that stood out were Doi Suthep, the hill-top temple with beautiful views of the city, and Wat U Mong, aka “Forest Temple,” consisting of underground tunnels that lead to a Buddha and surrounding monastery buildings.  The temples range from old stone structures from the 13th century, to teak Lanna-style buildings with mother-of-pearl inlays, and colorful temples made from gold-leaf and tile mosaics.

To me, the most interesting thing about the temples has always been the various ways in which people pray and give offerings as well as the many Buddhas set to receive these offerings.  From what I can understand, there is a different Buddha figure for every day of the week.  These figures consist of a Buddha sitting cross-legged, a Buddha standing making a peace sign (or om sign with his fingers), a Buddha with one hand out (as if he’s saying “talk to the hand!”) to encourage peace, the fat Buddha, etc.  This website explains them very well and shows you the pictures: http://www.buddha-images.com/seven-days.asp.

In addition to the number of different Buddhas, people pray by kneeling or sitting with their feet facing away (it’s disrespectful to point your feet at a figure of importance) and bowing three times, by offering lotus flowers, by walking around in a circle reciting a prayer, by giving items for blessing by monks, and so forth.  Taxi and tuk-tuk drivers roam the city with mini-shrines on their dashboards, and most households contain a home-made shrine.  Most important is that the Buddha’s head is always above that of people, so we were told by a local that people who bring Buddhas back home for decoration are actually going against Buddhism by putting the Buddha so low.  Oops - silly westerners!

In the midst of all this Buddhism, you have to imagine what the world would be like if everyone was Buddhist.  If everyone practiced mindfulness and strove to be kind to each other on a daily basis, there would be far less war and suffering and greater acceptance for the inherent differences among our many races and cultures.  Hmm…maybe someday!


Politics:

Another day, my mother, Maureen and I ventured out into the highlands to visit the highest peak in Thailand (which was rather disappointing as it was pure jungle - no magnificent views!), two crashing waterfalls, one of the Karen hill tribe villages, and the chedis (essentially temples) built in commemoration of the much-loved king and queen’s 60th birthdays.  The highlight was certainly the hill-top chedis.  The king’s was built in brown and gold and bedecked with wall carvings that told the story of Buddha.  Inside were more stone carvings with a black mosaic ceiling adorned with falling gold leafs.  When anyone spoke, an echo resounded around the room reverberating for seconds.   Once everyone else left, my mom and I experimented with a round of “oms.”  The queen’s chedi was decorated in purple everything because this is her favorite color.  On the inside, the round ceiling displayed a colorful mosaic story of Buddha’s life, the best one showing Buddha being born looking like a small 40-year-old man who can walk and talk…interesting.

Throughout my time in Thailand, it’s been clear that the king, Rama IX and queen and truly loved by their people.  Everywhere you go there are bill-board sized pictures of the royal couple, particularly the King from all stages of his life!  One of the Thai bills has a picture of the king with a camera and maps to show how he would often walk among the people getting to know them and listening to them.  Unfortunately for the country, the king has three daughters and one son.  The son, who is now 60, is apparently a play-boy.  He’s had three wives (that are known) and multiple children but only one “official” son, who is seven.  The poor king is 84 and not doing very well and the country is in uproar at the prospect of his delinquent son taking the throne.  For the first time ever, the people are lobbying for his eldest daughter to take the throne, but this would defy Thai law and tradition, so it’s unlikely.  One of our guides said that he doesn’t “know what will happen to Thailand when Rama IX dies.  Right now everything is good, but in the future it may not be.”  I guess only time will tell…

Perk of being the king of Thailand?  Any white elephants that are born must be offered to the king.  They are taken to Bangkok and apparently live in a nice area (not sure where in the city) and eat a lot!  The king also loves Thai massage and has his own personal therapists.  I’m sure there’s more perks as well judging by his beautiful campus of  a palace and grounds.

The king and queen of Thailand

Chiang Mai: Shopping Extravaganza

Chiang Mai is good for quite a few things: lacquer-ware, silk, jewels, cotton, market goods, and street food.  Since Mamma has a business (one of her many jobs!) importing pashminas from India, she was looking for new items to sell back home.  We set off on a mission with our driver, who we met the previous day at one of the temples, to the handicraft villages and factories just outside of town.  Our first stop was the lacquer-ware factory, where they made beautiful trays, plates, and other doo-das.  The products were made by dipping them in lacquer about ten times before sketching in an intricate design and then covering the design with an colored paint, eggshell, or gold leaf.  We spent an hour trying to accumulate enough goods to satisfy the wholesale price.  The price was so cheap that we collect a whole bunch of items and our sales lady would show us how much money we had left to make-up!  I think my mom and I went back to get more things about three times before we finally reached the limit!

After exhausting ourselves with the laquer-ware, we headed to the jewelry factory/store.  Not planning to buy anything, we still came away with quite a bit!  My mom and Maureen bought some beautiful pearl necklaces as well as some other presents.  I, on my travelers budget, delighted myself with trying on beautiful pieces I could never afford despite them being about half the cost of what they would be at home.  After finally tearing ourselves away from the glitz and glamour of this particular store, we headed on to see the silks.  The silk making process is fascinating!  The first step to making silk is getting silk worms.  Apparently, they’re pretty difficult to keep, but with the right conditions they grow and eventually form a cocoon.  The outer part of the cocoon forms the raw silk.  The Thai silk worms are yellow whereas the Chinese worms are white.  Once the cocoons are fully formed, they are boiled in water and the very fine threads of silk are extracted from the cocoons onto a spool, while the worms inside are discarded (or maybe eaten!).  Afterwards, they spin the wool and dye it before weaving designs into the textile fabrics.  Although we loved everything in the store, it was more expensive than we’d expected, so we left empty-handed.

Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.  After we were rested, we headed back into town to eat a scrumptious meal on the river.  In fact, our first four nights in Chiang Mai, we ate on the river at Riverside Restaurant, La Brasserie, and The Gallery (this one being our favorite!).  We couldn’t get enough of the perfect combination of a cool breeze, tropical surroundings, thirst-quenching beer, and flavorful food (which we later discovered is enhanced by the Thai’s overuse of MSG - yuck! - more to come on that).

Chiang Mai: Massage and Markets

We arrived in Chiang Mai to our hotel, which was a bit farther from central CM than we’d hoped, but beautiful, spacious rooms in a quiet outskirt of town.  Nolan headed to his guesthouse in the city where he’d be picked up daily for his Thai massage course.  My mother rested at the hotel, and Maureen and I headed into town to find some food and explore the Sunday Walking Market.

We met up with Nolan at his digs and found corner restaurant with a single menu item: Khao Soi.  This is mouth-watering dish is specific to northern Thailand.  It’s a slightly spicy yellow curry with noodles, crispy wonton strips and meat (the usual choice of chicken, pork, or prawns).  I think I had it at least 5 times in my short time there!  Afterwards we wandered down the street a bit and found a “spa” (one of the bajillion massage parlors in CM).  Nolan and I desperately needed pedicures as our poor feet were in a sorry state after being jammed into small climbing shoes in hot weather for three weeks (you get the picture…).  Maureen headed off for her first Thai massage while Nolan and I got the works.  The spa we would then return to 5 times that week was called Lila Massage Therapy, and all of the women who work here are former prison inmates.  The director of the prison founded and initiative to teacher inmates how to practice massage therapy so that they would have a means of providing for their families as opposed to returning to crime (many of these women have no choice due to poverty/lack of education).  The women who work there were as sweet as can be and the only give-away to their prison days was Nolan’s rough massage from a heavily-tattooed woman!  Of course, he loved it.  For those of you who have never had a Thai massage, it’s very different from what you’re used to.  It involves a lot of pressing, pushing, and stretching, and is a serious workout for the massage therapist.  It can often be quite painful, but in general it’s wonderful (Shameless marketing: NOLAN PALMER-SMITH now has his Thai massage license!).  Maureen was very happy with hers, however, she discovered a huge bruise on the back of her leg, probably where her girl was kneeling on her!

When we all walked outside in a serene state, the walking market had suddenly popped up out of nowhere.  We wandered around oohing and ahhing at the stalls.  Markets happen to be one of my favorite things about traveling, and this one was out of control.  Unfortunately, I thought we had another night at the market the following week, so I didn’t seize the opportunity to stock up on presents and clothes then (sorry folks back home!).  Instead we ate some more street food and wandered around until our feet were tired.  Maureen and I headed back to check on mammalina and call it a night, and Nolan made his way back to get a good night’s sleep before his first day of massage school.

Architecture, Buddhism, and Condoms

After three weeks in Tonsai, we were ready for a break from climbing (believe it or not!).  We headed to Bangkok on the 20th to meet my mom and Maureen (long-time family friend) who were escaping their busy lives for the shopping, food, sights and culture of Thailand.  After surprising them at the airport for their late night arrival, we went to bed and woke up to a day of sightseeing in the baking, humid heat of BKK.

Our first stop: Jim Thompson’s House.  Jim Thompson was an American architect who started importing high-end Thai silk back in the 40’s or 50’s.  He fell in love with Thailand while there with the military, and never went home!  He celebrated Thai culture by building this beautiful house that was put together from various traditional Thai houses.  He tweaked things here and there to make it more comfortable and Western, but the result was a gorgeous teak wood structure.  He loved the outdoors and on a trek in the Malaysian hills, he disappeared.  No one knows what happened to him, but his house as well as his company still stand as a memorial to his love for Thailand.  The best part of our tour, however, was not the house itself, but our sweet tour guide who made many practiced jokes in English and had the group giggling here and there!

Afterwards, we headed onward to the Grand Palace, which occupies ________.  The Grand Palace encompasses a small city of temples (or so it seems when you wander around this maze of ornate gold leaf, mosaic, and Buddha-oriented structures), a museum showcasing various swords and jewels of the Royal family, and the old palace building itself.  We managed to get through the museum and enough of the temples - especially the emerald Buddha, which is actually tiny and heaped on top of a tall gold structure!  The best part about this tiny green Buddha was its wardrobe which changes with the seasons!

Feeling faint from heat and hunger, we hopped in an air-conditioned taxi and made our way to Cabbages and Condoms, a restaurant that aims to educate people about safe sex and STDs.  ________  As you might imagine, the restaurant itself was decorate with condom-covered mannequins, sex literature, and free condoms instead after-meal mints.  The food was delicious (especially after our diet of cheap street food!), and we felt rejuvenated.   The highlights were my favorite dishes: deep-fried fish with tamarind sauce and green papaya salad (som tum).

We rushed back to our hotel and caught a cab to the train station where we eagerly anticipated a good night’s sleep in our first class cabins.  We were sorely disappointed to find that the bathrooms were disgusting (as in hold your breath until you’re outa there!), the air-conditioning was set at an arctic temperature, we were required to eat in our cabins (I guess first class can’t mingle with the others!), and there was a mixed aroma of cigarette smoke and toilet wafting through our AC ducts.  What’s worse, we woke up and Mamma had come down with a sinus infection, and the train arrived three hours late.

Maureen and mamma decided to fly for their return trip not wanting a repeat experience, and we rushed my mom to the hospital to get her meds before her cold got worse.  The hospital was the opposite experience from the train.  We were in and out in 30 minutes, the building was immaculate, and the doctor thorough.  Oh yeah, and the whole thing cost 1,000 Baht (about US$30!).

Best Route in Minnesota (or Tonsai)

On one of my last few days, I led a route so spectacular, I feel like writing about it!  It is a climb on the Escher wall in Railay west. The Phra-nang peninsula is one of the best climbing areas in South East Asia, especially because of the tropical weather and huge amount of sport climbing routes. The quality of the rock/climbs and the amazing scenery makes this place a rock climbers’ paradise.

I’m not sure why the climb was named “The Best Route in Minnesota.”  I’ve never climbed in Minnesota, but this climb was amazing. It is twenty five meters long and is a beautiful line. It starts on the left side of an epic cave above a beautiful beach. The beginning of the climb started on slopey, SLIPPERY crimpers and side pulls. Once you get past the crux start and get the first two bolts, a traverse heads out left just above an overhang. The traverse is about twenty feet long and is on crimpy pockets, but generally solid holds. After you make the traverse over the overhang it is sustained face climbing on small pockets. You work your way onto a prow-like formation with stalactite "teeth" in the middle. The exposure is amazing as you go through the teeth and over a small roof on slopey dishes. Just above this is the crux at about twenty three meters or seventy feet high. It is so precarious in terms of balance and the holds are thin.  There is no rock that you can see on either side of you, or below you, which makes you feel like you are at the crux in the middle of the universe.  Open space everywhere around you…

After the crux you are at the anchor and life is AWESOME! The view looks out of the cave at that beautiful beach as you get lowered for what seems like forever and very far away from my belayer. I am very happy to have had such an amazing climb and amazing experience.

Dimity tried it on top rope and had two very scary falls that swung her into a rock wall once and another one that stopped her half a foot above the ground and she still hit the rock wall…(but she's ok!).

We decided that it was too sketchy a fall to continue. So a Polish kid came and led it and did it very well. I really wanted Dimity to experience such an amazing climb. Maybe we will do it one more time before we leave and she can give it another go.  (haha, she never did...!).

Cheers to amazing climbing routes all over the world!
Nolan