July 8th, 2012
Uh oh! Sorry to be late!
As often happens to me here….I am right on top of things at first…then I get lazy and then I miss a day, then it becomes 2!! What I would like to say is that I think I have big busy full day and I am so tired at the end I just flop into bed to go to sleep without time to blog….this sounds better and may be closer to the truth ; )
On Saturday we moved hotels to a small place called de Rachamanka. Named after the road it is on : ) it has around 23 rooms and is run (and owned we believe) by a nice fellow that spent 10 years studying in the USA. 5 years in NY and 5 in LA. Anyway, love the place it is small boutique hotel just like we like, no pool, but that is ok….the beds are actually among the softest we have had ever here, so that makes for happy Troy and Laurie. It is right at the start of the night market so that will make for a perfect situation for shopping on Sunday.
After we got settled in we went up to Ginny Cafe (pretty sure I have been calling it Ginny Place….but that is technically the name of the guesthouse…the cafe is the Cafe). As I continue my tour of the menu, I decide to have Thom Ka gai….yes….got a picture for you Jay!!
As I reflect back on my blogs….there seems to be a lot of pictures of either Troy or I holding a fork/spoon over a Plate of food : )) Hahahahahahahaha! Oh well!
As we were sitting at “our table” (yes I think of it that way), a fellow with a cart of furniture walked by going door to door selling it (I guess) just in case you we sitting in your shop and you saw him and thought to yourself “dang I could actually use a chair”….anyway I didn’t drag out my camera fast enough…but lo and behold I wait a few minutes and a different fellow hauls his cart by in the opposite direction!
While this seems like a tough way to earn a living…I suppose it keeps the overhead costs low if you don’t have to rent a shop…plus good exercise??
After lunch we worked on booking our flight to Laos! Yes yes….that was the final decision. I really do feel like a great adventurer!! After some confusion/clarification we got settled for Wednesday 5pm flight to Luang Prabang…it is a one hour flight for $168 USD (only one airline flies there from Chiang Mai–airlaos) seemed like a better use of resources than floating for 3 days on a wooden boat down the Mekong river with maybe up to 60 other people for $80USD.
Supper was the hilight of the day! Our plan to go to the Thai BBQ with Ian, Tee and Rich came to life! We took a songtao (red truck) to the place…
We find ourselves down this obscure little alley and turn a corner and voila….there is a covered area with easily thousands of seats for people and rows and rows and rows of scooters and cars parked to the side. It was probably 60% full when we got there and totally packed when we left 2+ hours later. The array of food was staggering. I recognized about 15% of it….thank goodness for Tee, she was able to explain most of it to us. The pictures don’t nearly capture the extent of the spread…
And have a look at the pastries for dessert…
I’ll tell you, the Old Country Buffet has nothing on this!!
There were plenty of mysterious things…not the least of were these angry bird characters. They were a jellied like substance…but held their shape etc when grilled…so who really knows! Rich was the only one brave enough to cook and try one…he says once was enough….won’t be doing that again. He is a pretty adventurous eater…
Anyway…I am not a big seafood fan….so thankfully they had chicken wings and French fries already cooked…so I was able to have something…I wasn’t particularly hungry anyway as I think the heat had gotten to me a bit that day…but I did indulge in some ice cream and donuts ; ). The experience was more of interest to me than the food anyway.
Drinks were included (pop and water) unless you did not finish your pop and water….then as this sign says…..you will be fined 10 baht if you leave partly finished drinks!
Good to know…
