Sunshine, Massages, and All Things Thai-Tropical

It's time to say "sawasdee-kah" to Chiang Mai and really get this vacation started. We're headed to Koh Samui, one of the islands that started the beach resort craze in Thailand. Many claim that Thai islands boast beaches among the best in the world, and we can't wait to see for ourselves. 

Our last morning in northern Thailand consisted of one last visit to a temple and an amazing meal - a fitting capstone for our visit to Chiang Mai. We enjoyed a tropical fruit parfait and an out-of-this world omelette served with a kick from Thai chilies and whole, fresh peppercorns. They're green when they're raw, and surprisingly edible. 

The temple featured chandeliers to boost the glitz and glare against all that gold. We tried to do a "monk chat", where tourists sit down with a monk to discuss Buddhism, monk-hood, etc. and help the monk improve his English. Unfortunately, there were no monks available (although temples are always crawling with monks) so Alysa had to deal with my pestering, unanswerable questions instead :)

A quick two-hour flight later and we found ourselves on a palm tree-ridden island among all the blue. I think this is what Hawaii might look like (but again, Alysa can't really answer that question, which I knew before asking it). Because I'm the map girl for this portion of the trip, we've covered ALL of the beaches. My synopsis:

1) Bo Phut beach - fantastic views of the next-door island, few, tourists, lots of reasonably priced restaurants, but coarse sand. Bonus - free beach chairs, super clean public restrooms and awesome tropical smoothies. And puppies who wander under your lounge chair, if they know you're a dog person. 

2) Mae Nam beach - Virtually no visitors, restaurants, or beach chairs. The famous icon is Pancake Man, who serves up delicious chocolate banana pancakes from a stand. Beware, Pancake Man also takes long naps in front of his TV, which may very well prevent you from getting a pancake. 

3) Chaweng beach - the Miami/Cancun/"wooo Spring Break" equivalent. Pretty sand and pretty people. You can score a beach-mattress to go with your beachy cocktail. 

4) Lamai beach - the beach for all shapes and sizes. Teenage girls singing Disney songs, tourists with selfie sticks, visitors speaking twelve different languages. Gorgeous views of the cove but rough surf. 

We've been on a tropical smoothie kick at these beaches. Hydration sounds better to us than any cocktail in this heat. And when the freshest fruit is available (for only a couple dollars), it's been a daily treat. Thai coffee, or "coffee milkshake" is also a regular sugar boost. They just pour in the condensed milk and palm sugar, along with loads of espresso. Yum!! And they say diabetes is on the rise in Thailand...

It may seem like all we do is sunbathe, sleep and eat (maybe because we do) but I have to tell you about an amazing dining experience on the beach. We chose Ying Yang restaurant in Fisherman's Village for dinner, and they asked if we wanted to sit on the porch or beach. I didn't really envision what "beach" meant until we sat down. We were just feet away from the water, and the host dug holes in the sand to fine-tune the levelness of our table and chairs. The food was quite good, but what I will always remember is this sunset. I have never seen such blazing oranges and rich purples in the sky. 

Since we all know that a beach vacation to me isn't just sitting on the beach, Alysa was "dragged" (actually extremely willingly) up a mountain to gaze at the expanse of beauty of this island. Asking our hotel staff for tips on hiking was laughable - I had to explain that we purposely wanted to walk up the mountain, and no not with a motorbike. All while pantomiming walking in place. I used the word "exercise," which sent the staff into peals of laughter. Yes, I'm one of those Americans, okay?! I enjoy exercise (which clearly equated to self-inflicted torture to this audience). We set up the road anyway, not going to be held back, and found the most incredible view of the island and the neighboring island. 

What's more, we sat down at the top, and found ourselves in a field of butterflies. We must've seen eight different kinds and colors, all swirling around us and doing the butterfly dance. We could've sat at the top of this mountain, taking it all in, for hours. 

The villa that we're renting is also a thing of amazement. I found Dreams Villa online, with great reviews, at a splurge for us at $22 per person/night. I warned Alysa as we were pulling up the way that it might be kind of small, as to not get our hopes up. Turns out there was no need for that precaution, because we were received a complimentary upgrade to a two-story, two-bedroom, 3-bathroom, massive villa. It echoes inside. We each have our own balcony; mine looks over the palm tree jungle and Alysa's onto the pool deck outside our front door. I'm not sure how we get so lucky, except that travel in the off-peak season has definitely played to our advantage. 

A certain young man likes to give me a hard time for the quantity of massages that we've treated ourselves to, but when they're world-renowned and cost less than dinner, it's hard to say no. We found a school of massage during our daily wanderings, and Alysa and I had the two instructors/owners as our masseuses. They were that awesome. These aren't spa-pampering massages with lavender aromatherapy; they're more like, let's twist/bang/pull/knead all of your body aches out. The fluorescent overhead lights and awkward linen clothes didn't stop us from fully enjoying our 105-minute (yes, we now think that just an hour isn't enough) massage. Half the fun is trying to compare our experiences afterward with words and motions that we never knew existed. "And then she pulled my ankle and used the ball of her foot to push against my leg..." It goes on and on like this. 

We've eaten veggie food like queens, thanks to the Happy Cow app. Yesterday's lunch of home-baked bread with beet-sweet potato jam, delectable stir fries, and fantastic Thai coffee has us wanting to go back to June's Cafe for more. Indian food was on the menu for dinner last night, and this food blew our tastebuds away. It makes sense, since India is just a hop, skip and a jump across the ocean. Ali Baba rivaled any Indian food that either of us have ever tasted. Today's lunch at the Vikasa Yoga Resort (their bathrooms are marked "Yogi" and "Yogini") was stellar. I'm not sure if we enjoyed the veggie pasta, smoothies, or the stunning view as the best part. We were high above the water on the cliffs looking at turquoise water that could've been a watercolor painting. 

After lunch, we climbed down the rocks (again, "vacation" with Melissa) to see Coral Cove. While we weren't quite prepared with snorkel gear, we did get to take in the sights and sounds of this protected area of wildlife. I'd never really seen coral before, or as many brightly colored fish! 

Just one more day and it's time to say goodbye to this part of the world :( For now, that is. I could easily spend another two weeks!!

Love,
Melissa

Two Ton Friends: A Day with Asian Elephants

Hello!

To finish up our day of Good Mood and Good Food, we took to the streets of Chiang Mai and embraced an evening of wandering.  My colleague's daughter is living in Chiang Mai, and we have an amazing list of recommendations from Mary.  Thanks to her, we uncovered a secret Terracotta Garden that is filled with sculptures and greenery...a nd tucked inconspicuously on an unassuming side street.  We also enjoyed dinner of massaman curry and an insanely spicy "salad" at Morning Glory Restaurant, located on another quiet side street. 

On Sunday the streets fill up with a bigger walking market than Saturday night.  The town shuts down and everyone takes to the streets.  Our bartering skills were tested to full capacity when we encountered a cute-as-a-button young Thai girl who ran a market stall with her mother. This young girl was conversing in carefully chosen English words, and she was doing a fantastic job at it.  We learned that she was 12 years old and loves math and science.  She didn't know the word "engineer," but her mom quickly explained it to her in Thai.  We left paying a higher price than we may have otherwise for our souvenirs, but we were satisfied with the negotiation because it included a picture with her and words of encouragement to keep up her study of math and science!  I happily finished the evening at the market by finding my Thai owl.  It's a bookmark made from a silk screen print.

Shopping was complete, but our evening was not quite done.  Earlier in the day, we dropped off our laundry at a local shop that also offered Thai massages.  Let's just say the seed was planted, and at an average of 15,000+ steps per day, our "dogs were barking" - Melissa's line, not mine.  So yes, we received foot massages at the same place that did our laundry, and I'm really really okay with that.  Our clothes and feet had a much needed freshening!

We were picked up early the next morning for a 60 km bus ride for another day we had been anticipating for weeks, visiting the Elephant Nature Park.  This park is world renowned for rehabilitating elephants; no riding, trekking, or shows occur.  A video was shown during the ride, and we learned a lot about elephant history in greater Thailand.  Even though Thailand is only 75% the size of Texas, it contains 90% of all animal species.  Historically, elephants worked for the logging industry or as begging for tourists' money in the city streets.  Logging was banned in 1989 but it left over 3000 elephants in a dire situation. The park is now home to 44 rescued elephants, 200 cats, and 400 dogs.  Many of the animals were abused or injured by the effects of war in neighboring countries like landmines.  

We spent the day going on small walks across the 300-acre property to spend time with the five herds of elephants.  None are related by blood, but they've created their own protective families on the land.  There's a few individual elephants that haven't been adopted into a herd yet, mostly due to trust issues stemming from previous ownership.  It warmed our hearts when we learned that there are two dogs that always accompany Janpeng, who is the oldest elephant and has a flower as an "earring."  Typically elephants don't like any creatures lower than knees height, but these two dogs were an elephants' best friend! I bet Janpeng would get along with Sophie too. 

Rules for being with the the elephants sounds a lot like the eating and traveling rituals of the Curly Girls:

1.  Don't stand directly in front of one, especially if food is involved.
2.  Elephants don't have peripheral vision, so they get spooked if you approach from behind. 
3.  Do not reach your hand into the mouth of the elephant.
4.  Don't pick up dropped food; they are highly skilled at picking it up within the five second rule.
5.  Do not tease one by waving food around, or you may get smacked.
6.  Feed them watermelon and toss water on them on a scorching day, and their dimples will be out in full force.
7.  One needs to consume 350 to 400 pounds of fruits and vegetables PER DAY in order to stay full.
8.  Friendship and loyalty drive decisions throughout the day; where one goes, the others follow.

Words cannot do justice for how cool this day was for us.  The elephants are truly majestic.  Weighing in at over 1500 kilos, they are able to discreetly appear at your side with no audible notice.  I could go on and on, but I'm going to the let the pictures speak for themselves.... Enjoy!

Beyond the elephants, the volunteers and visitors at the park were especially memorable.  Our tour group had the most and some of the coolest Americans we've met in SE Asia.  Many were spending many months - even up to a year - traveling. We swapped some great stories and added many new destinations to our travel list based on their advice.   Melissa and I also enjoyed our vegetarian-only buffet lunch (no animal products served at the park) with with two awesome Aussie women, pronounced "ozz-ies."  We quickly realized we could swap places with them and not much would change except a couple of decades. These two women were at the Nature Park for a week of volunteering.  They even maintain a blog of the memories they create!  They were still recovering from a case of the giggles earlier in the day that was infectious; the mere thought would throw one into a fit of laughter all over again.  We'll definitely be in touch when we go to Australia.  I'll smell the roses for now, but it sure did feel like a glimpse into our future :-).  

A quiet evening was in order after a blissful day with the elephants.  We took advantage of my Mary's recommendations - again - and headed to Cooking Love.  We still needed to try Kao Soi, a northern Thai specialty.  Northern Thailand is known for milder flavors than the South, and let me tell you, every dish has packed a punch so far.  The North Thai food is supposed to be easier on the heat but increase the tart/tangy-ness.  The Kao Soi was yellow, peanut-y, and had the right bit of tang.  Next to the Tom Kah soup in Bangkok, the Kao Sui is right up there for my favorite dishes.  We also indulged (read: shared) in our first infamous Chang Beer.  Supposedly, this beer is known for its unknown alcohol content, easy drinkability, and terrible hangovers.  We only found the second to be true in that list :-)

A day filled with elephants needed to be topped with a cherry, and there's only one way to do that in Thailand: We made appointments at the number #1 Thai massage spa in Chiang Mai called Green Bamboo.  Following the Vietnamese massage, I thought I knew what I was in for, but boy was I wrong.  I was stretched, twisted, and hit... And it was magical.  Don't worry; Melissa was too.  For a Thai massage, they have you change into a different set of clothes that are like XXXL nurses scrubs.  The masseuse then proceeds to twist your body into yoga positions - the ones I wish I could do but can never pull off - then she pushes them a little bit farther.  There's lots of yanking and bending involved; it's considered a form of acupressure.  I have a pretty good feeling there's going to be a few more of these as our next stop is in a Thai island for some real R&R! 

Love,
Alysa and Melissa

Good Mood, Good Food: Thai Cooking 101

Sawasdee - kah! Hello from Chiang Mai. 

We're really enjoying our new city in Northern Thailand. It's full of veggie food (guess who today's author is), small wandering streets, and bargain-priced massages. At 200,000 people, Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand and a huge tourist destination. We met girls from Cincinnati, OH and Eagan, MN on day one in Chiang Mai. The pace is much more relaxed than Hanoi - and a daily massage helps to relax too :)

We are definitely in the jungle region of the county, and the decor of our family-run hotel and nearby restaurants reflect it. Lunch was at an authentic Burmese restaurant that was shrouded in greenery. The food was delicious - we had a green tea leaf salad, a stir fry, and basil tofu. Reading the menu was a trick ("what is khai poo??"), and just after I'd gotten somewhat decent at identifying key menu items in Vietnamese and Thai. It's all part of the adventure. 

Temples, temples and more temples. I swear there's one on every other block, golden spires poking up into the sky and jeweled walls catching the sun. We toured three of the must-see temples, though I kept asking Alysa, "Are you sure we're not supposed to look at that one? How about that one?" I should trust our designated map girl (Alysa is in charge of Chiang Mai and is doing a wonderful job), but the sparkle of these temples always catches my eye and tempts me to come in. 

We also had to try the coffee that northern Thailand is famous for, which comes from arabica beans. Not weasels, this time. I ordered "coffee jelly", which the barista could not explain to me in English, and I always take that as a good sign. She came back with a half cup of gelatinized coffee, poured milk and sugar on top, and said, "Shake." I shook it and sprayed milk everywhere. The straw worked better to break up the coffee jello into chunks. And of course, it was delicious. The drip coffee that Alysa had was also very tasty, and a single serving had her bouncing off the walls at 11 pm. I now monitor her intake of Thai coffee in the afternoon, mainly for my sanity. Just kidding (but seriously).

We've been a bit more bold with street food in Chiang Mai, and so far (knock on wood) we haven't regretted it. We sampled a black bean bun, durian (which is a fruit that smells awful to about a third of the population, but tastes sweet to me!), a chocolate banana waffle, roasted sweet potatoes, and pad thai (from the most popular street food vendor in town, judging by the line). Our dinner cost less than $3 for the both of us l that evening and it was delicious. The closest comparison that I can make is grabbing food from stands at the State Fair, but in SE Asia, their carts are much more makeshift and their grills or fryers sit on the pavement. It's a cheap eating thrill!

We found these treats at the "Saturday Walking Market", which are stands lining both sides of a street for miles. Vendors sold gifts, jewelry, silk, crafts, those big patterned pants, and lots of unique food. Half of the fun is people watching (and chatting too). Silver work is especially abundant in Chiang Mai, and the carvings made from it are stunning. One of the temples that we visited was covered in silver from tip to toe. We ogled, watched monks who were creating more silver artwork, and rang a huge gong. Not in any particular order. 

The biggest highlight so far in Chiang Mai, and I think that I speak for both of us, was a Thai cooking class. I should really call it a cooking "experience" to adequately describe how awesome it was. We spent 8 hours at a "real" Thai produce market, touring an organic farm, and then cooking six incredible dishes that we couldn't believe were actually our own doing. 

The market was so much fun because Alysa and I thought that we knew our way around with vegetables, after a year of farm-share  boxes and spending a lot of time cooking together with a variety of herbs and spices. Let me tell you, all that knowledge was blown out of the water at this market. We learned about roots that we've eaten but never really understood, like turmeric, galong and ginseng. Three new kinds of basil, two new varieties of eggplant, and countless crazy tropical fruits were added to our repertoire. We were led by Liam, a firecracker of a young woman with a degree from a local culinary school but "all knowledge come from Thai grandma." She was witty with her English (let's just say there were lots of jokes about bananas, and leave it at that). She was our friend, tour guide, and cooking trainer for the day. Everything that she said was followed by a cackle ("You no eat fish? That why you so pretty! Hahahahah!").

After picking up a few necessities from the market, like freshly squeezed coconut milk and tamarind chili paste, Liam led us around the farm. All produce grown is for the cooking school; none is sold and 80% of what we cooked came straight from their land. She taught us that chilies growing up at the sun are hot, while those that point to the ground taste mild. She yanked out lemongrass stalks, kaffir lime leaves, and turmeric root (to name a few) just to show us what they looked like in nature before we cooked them in our food. Seriously, I was in a veggie state of bliss. 

Next came the actual cooking. It was a choose-your-own-adventure style of cooking. We selected a curry (green/red/yellow), soup (tom kha or tom yum), basil or sweet and sour stir fry, etc. Alysa and I teamed up to make one of each option and consumed the entire menu. 

Using a mortar and pestle, we ground our own curry paste - and holy cow, I could eat the green curry that I made every day. 

Woks were key to all cooked dishes, especially the "Asian fast food dishes, just like McDonald" which referred to the stir fries. They only take literally 90 seconds to cook, probably because huge flames are involved. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Drool on. 

Tomorrow, we're getting up close and personal with new friends - rescued elephants!! Hope you're having a fun and delicious week too!

Love,

Melissa