Weekend 1: Living up to Bizarre Foods

Mei (my dad's lovely thai wife) has been really fun - the last time i came, she was pregnant w/ simon (who is crazy adorable!)... she took me for a beer on the beach upon arrival... Mei's admiration of Obama's best qualities only confirms his the reach of his appeal .

Smart, educated, polite, and the cherry: "...he's sexy too!" - Mei's words!

Saturday led to a shopping trip into Pattaya with Mei and Sophia - the highlight of which was a local Thurs-Sun market. Pattaya is about 15 km from my the family flat (which incidently overlooks a nice beach, pool, and garden).

I looked on my left, and there they were: fried worms, grasshoppers, and frogs - just like on Andrew Zimmern's travel channel show, Bizarre Foods. I'd seen the grasshoppers before, but never could bring myself to try them... but on my 8th trip to thailand, i figured it was high time... Mei was totally amused - handing me a fresh sample from the baskets before us...

(didn't have camera at the market, so this is from the bags we brought home...)

Incidently, a bagful of any of these costs about 25 baht - less than a dollar. They all had a pleasant barbeque flavor, but the texture differed: Mei started me out with the thin white worms were also rather light and crispy - not so tough.

Now, the short and fat ones (the silkworms) were a little more difficult to swallow; they were quite chewy and bitter - not sure there's any price at which i'd eat those again! The frogs were like beef jerky, not too bad - best go for the little ones, though; and finally, the grasshoppers - i hesitated here - wasn't sure how that would go down - you end up tearing off the back legs (pretty sharp and saw-like), but you do eat the head... so i just closed my eyes for that one. Turns out, they are rather crispy, but - the bits stick in your throat a little, which leads me to believe that they're best washed down with a beer.

I think it makes for a creative alternative to the usual bowl of nuts on the bar...

(See? i'm eating them...!)

Thais are funny in that they seem to be eating all the time... so i've already gotten to some of my favorite things: an MK restaurant - where you order plates of raw veggies, noodles, and meats, and they all go into a boiling pot in the middle of the table (on a hot plate) - they give you sauce on the side, plus chopped garlic and green chilies; green mango w/ a chili & salt mixture to dip into; spicy tom yam soup; and clear noodle salad (woon sen, also spicy and limey, w/ ground chicken). Snuck in a sweet roti, too - a thin crepe sweetened by condensed milk... soooo yummy!

Sunday, after a jog and a swim and a nap, we went back into pattaya for bowling. The rest of my time has been spent playing big sister (no small challenge!), learning about Emerald's projects and networks, and still getting used to my 12 hour time change... which means getting up between 4 and 6 AM (starving!), feeling nappy around 2 - 3ish... avoiding the nap, only to crash out again around 10ish...