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heat a wok over an open flame until the heat radiates off the inside and in goes fresh coconut cream. the pan crackles as the coconut oil starts to separate and that's the time when you throw in the chilli paste. soon as it hits the pan, the flavors release into the air. the heat of the chillis popping in the oil are enough to burn your nose and make your eyes start to water.
maybe it's masochistic, but i can't get enough spicy.
so the natural next step is to spend some time in one of the chillest cities on the planet, chiang mai, thailand, and learn a little bit about the great cuisine that is thai.
six dishes a day is just about enough to make a food lover like me faint with joy. this is one of the most delicious choices i've made in my trip so far.
the professionalism is high. numerous fully equiped wok stations. fresh ingredients and super smart staff. the teachers crack jokes while chopping garlic at rapidfire speed. then, outfitted in themed aprons (a gimmick, i know, but it does make me feel special...), we go outside to take a shot at replicating it ourselves. afterwards, we sit down with our spoons and eat. three times a day. by the end of the day we're stuffed and happy. i sneak leftovers home to share with new friends. if you're in cm, find out more about the chiang mai thai cookery school.
highlights: red curry with roast duck and pineapple, spicy coconut soup with chicken, rad na, panang curry, tom yum soup, sticky rice with mango... what more can i say?
chiang mai is one of my friend josh's favorite cities, and i start to see why. one of the coolest markets i've been to yet is the sunday walking street. several blocks of the old city shut down every sunday evening for vendors of all kinds of goods-- shoes, lamps, dresses, paintings. lots of handmade stuff. and the place is packed with a mix of locals and thai folks who gravitate towards the market from the surrounding towns. man... you can get yourself some new clothes, a thai massage, eat some good food and listen to local bands rock out, all in one evening.
it's also the place where young thai people come to kick it. friends tease each other and crack up, as they turn to yell chants to the passing crowd for pastries they're selling to fundraise for student groups. chiang mai university hipsters lay out handmade bags and keychains with cute bug eyed figurines, and flocks of fashionable young people crane their necks as they walk by.
not only is the chiang mai vibe really nice, but the people are good folks. via an awesome connection through josh, i get to hang out with his friends here-- really cool people!
there's oo, a foodie like me, and director of a chiang mai preschool. i meet up with her and her friends down the block at the swinging feet restaurant, located on the second story wooden deck, with outward facing seats that let folks enjoy good food while dangling their legs over the side of the building. oo, mam and i eat again, and even MORE at the sunday walking street.
and there's the gorgeous film, chiang mai university student with an awesome vibrant energy. riverside's the spot for live music and a view of the river, and i meet up with her, her brother, his girlfriend and a bunch of their friends.
i meet taa at root rock, where he and his crew are regulars, dancing it up to a live reggae band. we sip on his favorite concoction-- thai whiskey, coke, soda, red bull and lime. later in the eve he, pam and i go over to kick it at an outdoor bar run out of a converted van. the high bar stools, hip people, heart to heart about loves, has me feeling like i'm hanging out on the set of the thai sex in the city.
cm. i love it.
see more of my chiang mai fotos.
check out more of josh's videos on cm and his other travels. they're hilarious-- you will not be disappointed.
[a bonus add...]
we descend into a place without beginning or end. dust rises in clouds from the roads as taxis and donkey driven carts barrel through. in a rush to get somewhere, though where isn't exactly clear in a place where business is slow, and any exit from the city leads you to the middle of flat desert for miles and miles. the young women in veils look like they could be my sisters. hapa children the product of other empires clashing. but we break bread together, and in their language and in mine we have nothing to say. we huddle in a small brick and adobe room around a small round metal stove, sitting on colorful woven blankets, covered in dust. the river freezes at night where they live, there's hardly radio, hardly tv. aside from the scarves on their heads, an outfit out of an earlier century-- a burgundy 1920s jacket and skirt suit with layers of long thick nylons browned from the dirt and closed toed shoes with a strap and a slight heel. they are mothers and wives first and foremost, no confusion of roles. their husbands and uncles make their business by inviting people like us, tourists, into their homes, to eat bread, play with and take pictures of their children. give us a good price for a motorbike ride around a lake that reflects turquoise crystal against the dusted mountains, capped in snow. do we also in america drink milk tea for breakfast? the grandfather asks. he means the kind that they do, salty from yak's milk, sipped out of soup bowls and accompanied by hard bread. do we answer by saying we drink coffee? and in a friendly gesture omit the running water, the dsl, the $80,000 education that grants jobs that let us land in any part of the world we want, with cash ready to burn in the palms of our hands...?
okay, i know, i know. string of inadequate excuses, pitiful groveling... and i'm back again. now for the rest of my trip.
it's kashgar, and jay and i want to see a real market. on tips from travelers we convince a confused taxi driver to drop us off along a desert road. once we shut the door and he drives away, the exhilaration sets in. men wearing green and white square shaped skullcaps and dark colored suits, hands clasped contemplatively behinds their backs, huddle around vendors who talk loudly about the groups of sheep they have tied together in the center of the circle. more wandering reveals cows, horses, yaks, goats. outside the livestock area, there are piles of watermelons by the road and vegetables on the backs of carts. one man gets his head shaved outside while a young boy watches.
turns out though that we're the strange ones. more people are watching us than we are watching them. doing double takes, looking at our clothes, probably wondering what we're doing there. i like to take this as a sign that we're being good travelers.
still, just as we're starting to feel kind of uncomfortable, the amazing happens. out of nowhere, a bus of tourists from japan arrives. not just any tourists, but a full procession of tourists on a photo vacation-- many draped with huge lenses over outfits that appear to be able to protect from the most extreme conditions: khaki fishing vests, cargo pants, bucket hats and surgical masks.
back at the hotel, a rundown former british embassy, jay and i have a few beers with our new friend marcus, a swiss guy in his forties. we recount our stories of the sheep, the yaks, and everything we've seen.'yes, but this place is nothing like it used to be,' he says. 'before, there were no taxis, just horse drawn carts that would drop you off right here in front of the hotel. i walked around town today and i couldn't find a single horseshoe welder.'
the concrete buildings are rising up from the dusty streets of kashgar slowly and steadily like weeds. development a la 'shake and bake.' lined with neon signs, nights are something out of blade runner in the middle of the an empty blazing hot for miles and miles.
even still, it's all new to me. predominantly uigur muslim, xinxiang, in the northwest of china, is nothing like the china that you would imagine. duck into a back alley in the old town and you can lose yourself in a maze of adobe alleyways, ducking under wood beams, turning corners that lead down more alleyways. each humble home exudes pride, bearing an elaborately carved wooden door in bright colors that stand out against the desert streets. women in hijabs, turn down the streets, bringing home groceries, gossiping with friends.
if you think you've never heard of it, xinxiang is featured in several films, including crouching tiger, hidden dragon (jen runs away to the desert of xinxiang, where she meets her love interest), and the kite runner (afghanistan, uh, wasn't an option).
check out the xinxiang pics if you haven't seen them yet.
