It’s crazy realizing that today’s already the fifth day (or sixth, officially) I’ve been in Chiang Mai. The work has begun to pile up. We just got split into teams of two to three yesterday to complete one of the many readings about Northern Thailand communities, and were tasked to prepare for a mini presentation on the 20th.
After six days here, I thought I’d dedicate this entry to the one thing I love the most about travelling—the food. We managed to visit the weekend night bazaar along Thapae Gate just yesterday night, and try a few kinds of yummy, exotic stuffs along the way. The sampling began with fried quail eggs, which were shared amongst four of us to minimize the cholesterol intake of course. Ha! Then, we moved on to sushi, for 5-10 baht apiece. It’s amazing that you can find sushi in almost any prominent mall or tourist attraction in Chiang Mai—I never knew that Thailand had such a large pool of Japanese tourists. The sushi wasn’t spectacular though, and tasted nowhere as good as they looked! For one, the rice they used was definitely not Japanese rice, but fluffy, fragrant Thai rice which lacked a touch of rice vinegar. But I’m certainly not complaining about being able to have sushi in Thailand. I love sushi!
I think I got braver along the way, and decided to try some Thai sticky rice pastry with salted bean stuffing. It’s like a miniature version of a rice dumpling, and it was surprisingly slightly spicy when I bit into the filling! Just one baht a piece, so why not. I was left with massively oily fingers after that though. Zzz. We moved on to waffles—obviously thanks to the crazy number of Western tourists visiting Chiang Mai. These waffles were different from Singapore, as the batter was mixed with particular flavours such as banana, corn and coconut before they were placed in the waffle machine to be cooked. The banana waffle, for instance, had fresh pieces of banana added into the waffle batter. Yummy! Plus, the waffle fillings were generously drizzled onto the waffle! Total value for money! We also made our third purchase of mango sticky rice at the night bazaar. Zihui mentioned that we’d probably be thoroughly sick of mango sticky rice by the time we’re back in Singapore… I think I might end up feeling the exact opposite… I’m hooked! Here in Chiang Mai, the portion of mango slices to sticky rice is 6:4 (or even 7:3 sometimes), and the mango slices are really sweet and juicy, and almost melt-in-the-mouth soft.
Highlight of the day: I TRIED A FRIED CRICKET! AHAHAHAHAHA. Nothing much though, tastes just like dried shrimp. Severely disappointed. Thought it would totally make me puke. I was half expecting to spit the thing back out… but I survived and swallowed every last leg. Next one to try—fried cockroach! Ya right.
Besides all the street food, it’s been your regular Thai fare. I’ve had numerous portions of fried omelette with rice (really different from the ones you find in Singapore though), and a few samples of Pad Thai from my friends. I’ve found a new love in Thai fish sauce as well, and burnt my tongue several times with those pesky chilli padi pieces hidden in their papaya and mango salads. The tomyum here trumps Singapore’s in terms of the sourness, but so far not the spiciness. I think the shop owners might have been diluting our stuff thinking we tourists probably don’t match up to the Thais. We also went to one of those local BBQ-Steamboat establishments along the street where most of the Thai people go to eat. For 125 baht (about SGD5), you get to have endless helpings of meat (beef, pork, fish, squid etc), cooked food (fried rice, crab stick, meatballs, seafood tofu squares etc), and dessert! The compromise? Living with sand flies feasting on your bare feet at the same time while you’re digging into your meal. I dare say I have more than 35 bites on my body at this very moment—a mixture of both mosquito and sandfly bites. Kill me now…
What a way to end an entry on food.
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