CNX Day 2 - Markets, Churches and The East Gate

Breakfast was had at Chinatown. And at the centre of Chinatown is Warorot Market. The guy at the dried fruit shop told us we'd be able to find some food downstairs... so we headed to a basement food court of sorts. 

Top left - row of stalls

Top right - pork noodles (with pig blood cubes yuck) and chicken soup (complete with feet)

Bottom left and right - the stalls in the market

Connected to Warorot are Ton Lam Yai and Nawarat Markets. We spent quite a bit of time there - according to BIKSS the public toilet in the market was cleaner than a lot of toilets he'd seen in shopping malls and other modern establishments! He was impressed. After walking around and picking up some make-up (we don't get Pond's facial powder where I live but in Thailand it's very popular with the ladies!) and snacks, we stopped for a Thai Milk Tea for me and a Honey Lime Cappucino for him. And yes it's exactly what it sounds like. A cappucino with honey and lime. It was weird! But refreshing, according to BIKSS, who drank all of it up.

The ladies who run the stand were very obliging when I asked if they would smile for a pic!

Bottom - I noticed they were using a lime press that I decided I should get for myself, but they didn't have it in the shops there. Eventually I got one online when I got back home.  

Top left is 3-coloured corn which we imagined would taste awesome but it was so yucky BIKSS (who loves corn of any type and cooked all ways) managed only 1/3 before I convinced him to chuck it out. 

Top right is a pic of one of the many many weed shops around the city (and I guess Breeding is as good as name as any). Since Thailand legalised it these shops have sprung up EVERYWHERE. You can't go 20 steps without seeing a cannabis cafe, cannabis pub or cannabis 'house' being advertised - that's where they just sell the stuff and let u sit there and smoke it without pretending to sell anything else! There are standard "Stoner inside ↩️" signs that the shops put up by the side of the road to let customers know they offer weed.

And speaking of weed...

Left - the shirt my boss DIDN'T want, weed being illegal in my country and him being a doctor 'n all, 

Right - the shirt he agreed to instead.

This was bought at Ton Lam Yai Market where the lady in charge of the store kept making a big X with her arms when she saw me put it on myself. My boss is roughly the same size as me, so if I can wear it, he can wear it. Which is why I was trying it on. She probably figured this crazy tourist can't tell the difference between a man's shirt and a lady's shirt, so she kept alternating between the X arms and pointing at a rack of ladies' dresses. I didn't know how to tell her I was just trying it on for size so I quickly did what I needed to do then took it off and paid her for it. 

After all that shopping (including a tub of worms that I was dying to try) we headed to English tea for lunch. 

While waiting for our tea set to arrive I opened up the tub of worms. I wasn't impressed. Not crispy enough, and not salty enough. They were just sorta hollow and soft. BIKSS was a good sport - he tried some but wasn't a fan either.

So anyway lunch was at a rather fancy resort where we were introduced to very good banana chips (top left in the bowl) - not the sweet hard sticky type that is commonly found in Thailand but a light crispy slightly salted version which we eventually only managed to get our hands on at the airport as we left Chiang Mai. 

Bottom left - Bael (wood apple or stone apple) cake, very refreshing

Bottom right - the richest most dense fudge brownie we'd ever tasted. 

I enjoyed it heaps but it was just too much for BIKSS. 

At the top of our tea tray was a jasmine-fragranced eggy dessert thing that we later found out was called Thong Yip (see number 2 on this page) cos we came across something else the next day that tasted similar but, this time, came in strands - see number 3 - it was written on the menu so I now knew what it was called! One of my friends (they were living vicariously through my Whatsapp fotos and food reports) was keen to try some, so when I saw a packet of it at a bakery in Bangkok I picked it up for her. She also likes the Thai worms - she'd tried them before - so I promised to pass that to her too. 

On every trip I try to visit the Catholic churches if they're reasonably nearby to somewhere else we're going. In Chiang Mai we visited the Cathedral (real bells in the tower!) and the Catholic Mission centre. My boss had given me some money to pop into their donation boxes, as had my cousin, so off we went. 

They were having some peace summit conference thing at the Cathedral so we saw some people in cultural dress pull up for the evening gala and celebrations as we were leaving.

Our next stop was the Anusarn night market. We were feeling peckish along the way so we stopped for dumplings.

I apologise if the bottom pic looks gross - but do you see that pale yellow clump inside? THAT'S CHEESE! PURE MELTY CHEESE. The other dumplings / potstickers - as my American friends might know them - had an Asian taste to them. There was pork, chicken, shrimp even I think. But there was this cheesy one that tasted like a ravioli had fallen in love with a wonton and had a baby together.

At Anusarn we managed to get our hands on some traditional spiced sausage (a Northern Thai specialty) - ok, been there, done that. Not something we would buy again. I felt it had too many bits in it. The spices and herbs are ground up and mixed with the meat but not finely enough for my liking. I didn't like having bits of ginger and galangal between my teeth.

Top right - singing bowls

Bottom right - since I don't drink alcohol anymore, Singha (manufacturer of pale lager in Thailand) soda water is as far as my "drinking" will take me.

These are the two dresses and shirt that we ended up buying in desperation, to beat the stupid heat. Wore them straightaway the next day. Who cares that they hadn't been washed! Incidentally the temperature at home was also crazy hot while we were away... and still is - tho it doesn't feel as bad as Chiang Mai did. I pulled out and wore one of the dresses today... and it felt a little bit like I was on holiday again!

Alright. By now it was night time so we decided to head back. We decided to see if the Michelin Bib Gourmand roti stand was still open - and it was! 

Was it good? NOPE. There's way better roti (aka roti prata or roti canai) where-I-live. We saw a cosy spot in front of a shop that had closed for the day, and sat there to share our supper. Romantic. I loved it. The roti, not so much. Heck. Not at all. 

If you're ever in Chiang Mai, don't bother with this one. 

Eventually we reached Tha Phae Gate (the East Gate) and headed into the Old City, where we picked up our usual supply of drinks for the night and following morning from a nearby 7-11 (chocolate milk, Vit C drinks, latte and coke zero or some other zero soda), and then walked back to our hotel. 

Remember the road works I said I was thankful I didn't have to deal with re: noise? When we walked past BIKSS said "Hey look, light sabers". And they really did look it. 

On day 2 we clocked 14k steps.

CNX Day 1 - The South Gate

First of all, they lied when they said it was cooler in the North of Thailand, where the old Lanna Kingdom (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai etc) was. 

It was hotter than where I live, and I live about an inch above the equator. 

I was not prepared for the amount of sweating I would be doing. Eventually we ended up buying some lighter-weight clothing, but I'll show you those pics in my next post. I'm trying to do this chronologically so I don't miss anything. 

I'll add links if you wanna go look up some extra info, but this post is gonna be mostly just the pics. 

Our quaint hotel. Aka no central AC, a door key on a keychain that had to be stuck into a slot for electricity to flow, and hot as fuck. It was in an alley tho, so that was good cos there were massive roadworks going on at the main road which we didn't have to deal with. It was as quiet as it was hot. At least there was that. The walls were also solid stone, none of that pre-fab modern hotel thin-as-paper wall bullshit. So we got a couple of spanking sessions in. THAT was fun! 

It was time to get some grub. My friend's restaurant wasn't going to be open till 6 so we had to look for other forms of sustenance. We decided to head South.

The walk to the gate was filled with streetfood. Lucky for us too cos we were travelling most of the morning and missed lunch, arriving at the hotel only around 3pm. We had some chicken and corn in the morning which I had brought with me for breakfast... but all that aeroplaning had left us really hungry by the time we'd checked in.

Top left - grilled pork on a stick (aka Mu Ping) / Top right - breaded chicken on a stick

Bottom - the people responsible for our first bites in Chiang Mai - pork and lemongrass sausages

With a little bit of (delicious!) food in our bellies we continued on. 

Here's what's left of the southwest gate.... it was considered an unlucky thoroughfare because this was the gate through which the city's dead were carried out to be buried. You can read about the old city walls and some other places of interest HERE.

Across the moat along the South wall we wandered into an area known as Wua Lai Walking Street. Saw nothing there except lots of silversmiths. And then I discovered after coming home that it was only a walking street on Saturday evenings LOL. 

Still, we chanced upon the Silver Temple on the grounds of Wat Sri Suphan as we were sweating along the streets (Left, top and bottom.)

And then as we were heading back to the Old City to go for dinner we came across a little workshop where a few people were busy doing some aluminium tooling (right). It was impressive! They were really kind too, answered some of our questions and when I asked if I could take a photo they were happy to let me.

Nong Buak Haad Public Park

Along the way to dinner we went for a jaunt in the park - it was so lovely to see it being used by all the locals... and a few foreigners. Blokes playing on the court - different groups playing different games but all sharing the same space harmoniously; kids feeding the gigantic koi in the pond; and joggers and walkers taking advantage of the cool air. I swear it was like someone turned on the AC. The minute we stepped through the main entrance it felt like the temperature dropped by 2 degrees. It was weird, but a welcome change from the muggy heat. 

It made me smile, like I was genuinely happy, to see everyone enjoying this public space the way public parks are meant to be enjoyed. Where I live the restrictions are so stupid - keep off the grass (in a park!!) and no food and drink (they think we won't know how to use the bins?) and guys using the basketball court are extremely territorial so much so that in some popular courts a few of the guys get there early to "book" their spot so other groups can't get to it first. Ridiculous!

And then... DINNER TIME!

Dinner at Madame Koh - Top - Duck confit khao soi

(served with lime and preserved vegetables, fresh chopped onions, & chilli paste)

Bottom left - Buttered sambal prawns, Bottom right - stir fried kai lan with shitake

I happen to know one of the fellas behind this restaurant (I actually know his dad and brother tbh) so it was great fun chatting with him and supporting his latest venture. They had only been open for about a week when we got there, having moved their operation over from Bangkok where I had a chance to dine at a few years ago when I visited - his dad was also there at the time and we all had a lovely evening of drinks and conversation.

Khao soi is a specialty of Northern Thailand and it was the first time both of us got to try it. BIKSS likes it A LOT! We found some Khao Soi seasoning being sold in packets at the market the next day and we both bought some to take home with us. I cooked up a batch the day after I got home! (I also picked up some Mu Ping seasoning!)

At the end of all that walking my phone clocked 18k steps. That's AFTER being on two flights in the first half of the day. We were both exhausted - but that didn't stop us from getting some sexy fun time that night LOL. And it was only Day One. 

Stay tuned for more! 

So Many Things Happened

Mum's tiny bump got rubbed the wrong way and bled. I took her downstairs to our regular (when I can't get to my boss) GP (who was on leave last week) and he cauterised it right off. No blood no fuss all sorted! 

But she developed some strange pee and then had a mild fever and a slightly inflammed big toe. We've been dealing with all of that. And she's fit as a fiddle again now. LOL. Ok not FIT as a fiddle, but back to her normal baseline.

We had dinner at the open space outside a mall last week. Because I decided we would picnic! Yes, again. Bought some roti john and ikan penyet from a food 'corner' - that's what they call it lol. And then enjoyed the quiet evening facing some treetops as we ate and chatted. The best part - NO ANNOYING PEOPLE!

The word Roti is derived from the Sanskrit word (rotikā), meaning "bread", and more generally for any bread-based or bread-like food, including sandwiches and pancakes. The origin of john within the name of the dish has not been definitively proven, but may derive from British use of the first name John to address any male person, especially when that person's first name is unknown, difficult to remember or difficult to pronounce, thus a name that may have been used by British armed forces members to address native vendors in British Malaya or vice versa.

Pic from wiki

Ikan penyet literally translates as flattened fish. The original dish is a chicken version, ayam penyet, which we know exists. But when I got to the shop I saw they had fish and I was curios.

 

The bread isn't something we're used to so by the end of dinner we were both too full for anything else.

That dark red mess is little bits of chopped mutton. Delicious and SOOOOO bad for your arteries. But it wasn't a whole lot so I didn't mind.

And today I decided to cook some shakshouka. I don't know why I don't make it more often!

I've also beeen walking with Godson 1 which is nice, cos he wants to exercise but doesn't have company. So I told him we'd go in the evenings now that he doesn't have school (for the moment).

His mother I think is feeling left out, but she's a git as far as I'm concerned and it's her own fault for not taking her kids out to breakfasts and dinners. If you can't be arsed then don't grumble when Godma bothers to bond with them Godkids. Tsk. 

And now I say goodnight. Hopefully there are fewer adventures this coming week.

NOT A to Z - E is for Exercise

It's Palm Sunday weekend and I managed to get a seat for Mass. So I went and brought home extra palms for the boss and the colleague. 

And I decided that since it wasn't too far from home, I would walk back after church. A slower-than-usual walk means it took me 41 minutes to traverse the 2.8km (1 and 3/4 miles) back. At my usual speed that distance would have taken me under 30 mins. Oh well, I was carrying stuff, didn't have my exercise shoes or clothes and most importantly I didn't want to overdo it since I'm still semi-achey. 

Still, a slow walk is better than no walk. 

How have all of you been keeping up with your exercise regimes? 

Almost Hump Day - Plants, Blogs, Follow

Yes, I *am* trying to post more frequently. 

1. Today my students' mum sent them over with pots in hand. There were two really tiny ones with coleus cuttings (what's the plural of coleus? Coleuses? Coleii?) and another with a just-rooted tradescantia nanouk (Pref, here's another tradescantia for you!).

(Btw, a quick foreign language lesson - in some Malay based languages like those used in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, 'nonok' is a slang word for pussy. So I found the name of this plant rather amusing. I'm sure BIKSS did too.)

 👈 Nanouk 

I transferred it to a new pot I got just this afternoon (yes, I knew a plant would be coming today and  was out of pots) and then stuck a few hoya carnosa cuttings (which I got from my colleague yesterday) in to send back to her.

 👈 Hoya Carnosa

I didn't take a pic of the coleus..es..esii? cos they looked a little ill having been exposed to a little too much sun today. I'll see how they fare in a few days. Those things are pretty hardy, I'm told.

2. I've decided that I really like it when I leave a comment on someone's blog and they bother to reply. It makes me want to check that blog for a reply a day or 2 later, and then if there's another post up by then, I'll leave another comment... and then I'll come back and check a day or 2 later... rinse and repeat. 

When people don't reply I find myself not bothering to head back there cos there probably won't be a reply for me anyway... so ... 

So if I don't head to your blog for an extended period of time or if you think that I'm not there cos I don't comment, it's safe to say that I may still read, I just don't write cos what would be the point? 

Except of course if I don't leave comments ANYWHERE or if I'm not even posting on my own blog - then it's likely I'm just super busy. 

3. You know who replies but I don't think gets a lot of visitors? Cutiebootie. Check her out. She's on vacay at the moment so the replies and posts might be sporadic. But I love that she always replies my comment! (Of course some of you other suspects always do too, and I love you for it. I'm just sayin', she doesn't get a lot of visitors, so I thought I would do a shoutout.)

My mood pic today ~ 

I'm off for a walk with BIKSS. Ciao for now!

Fondles' Day Out and Dim Sum 101

We went mall-walking to get in our 20 mins of exercise. The mall opens early for the breakfast places to open up shop, even tho most of the main stores were still closed. We started at the top and went round each floor, making our way down to the supermarket where I picked up some of my favourite Bluebird potato chips! 

It was a good start to the day! 

Then we went to breakfast at a place known for its award winning barista. I didn't think the coffee was anything special. I mean, the mocha tasted like the mocha at Starbucks. The swan was pretty tho. BIKSS had a shlong cos it was a shlong and he was curious. We looked it up. I think it's an Aussie thing.

He said it was very sour, and very strong. Well, that's what you get for ordering a shlong! And now, moving right along! LOL

Breakfast was some truffle mushroom thing with poached egg and avocado for me, and spicy egg with chorizo for BIKSS. Like shakshouka but with hidden eggs.

It wasn't cheap. But it was very good. 

Next, a train exhibition where we got to walk through the cabins of the Orient Express. 

That typewriter!

BIKSS was the one who noticed the olde calculator. Fascinating!

That's me creeping up into the tiny compartment where I think the driver sat. Are train drivers called drivers? I know very little about trains, clearly. There was a tiny seat up there, and later on BIKSS said to me "If you had given me a blowjob in there I could say I got a blowjob on the Orient Express!" Yeah, no. That seat was filthy. Beyond filthy, even. Yuck. 

They even set up a "dead body" - hat tip to the Agatha Christie novel!

After that we headed back to the peking duck restaurant for dim sum! Lunch was considerably cheaper than the previous night's dinner. Heck, it was cheaper than breakfast! 

Here's a before-and-after. Clockwise from far left - 

• BBQ pork buns aka cha siu bao;  (learn to say it HERE)
• xiao long bao (dumplings filled with meat and broth) - each one sat on a slice of carrot so the skin doesn't stick to the basket it's served in, which is a trick that other restaurants should employ, imo; 

Learn to say it here 👆

• fried prawn and mango beancurd skin rolls (aka fu pi juan - sorry, couldn't find a video)
• har gow  aka shrimp dumpling (or bonnet! - isn't that a cute name?) (learn to say it HERE); 
• fried shrimp wontons / dumplings  (learn to say this HERE);
• and in the middle, steamed dumplings in a red chilli oil which we call hong you 紅油 (red oil) chao shou 抄手 (what these dumplings are called - NOT every dumpling goes by this name fyi) , but some places call them suan la 酸辣 (sour and spicy) chao shou 抄手 (dumplings). You can learn more HERE  

Because Dim Sum is a Cantonese cuisine, a lot of the dishes are known by their Cantonese names. However since many Chinese communities now speak Mandarin (we learn this in schools here) some of the dishes are also known by their Mandarin names. 

For example, har gow, won ton, and cha siu bao are Cantonese, while xiao long bao, fu pi juan and hong you chou shou are Mandarin names.

Anyway, it was awesome and after that we went to catch Venom : Let There Be Carnage. But there was some time before the movie, so we roamed around a bit and found a Daiso. We ended up buying some teabags for his loose leaf teas, a pack of teeny pots for my baby plants, and then it was movie time! We shared a large mixed popcorn and Coke Zero and by the end of the movie I was rather stuffed! I didn't have dinner that evening. 

After the movie it was time to head home. BIKSS made a detour for me to pick up something from a friend's place and then dropped off a very exhausted Fondles back home! 

And that was our mini 'vacation' day! 

It was perfect!

My mood pic today ~ 

What the Heck is a Semi-Buffet?

Turns out it's when the dessert, soups and salad are free flow, but you can only pick ONE main - and only get one serving of that main. 

Which was good enough for us, really, since we're such HUGE eaters LOL. 

BIKSS found a 40% discount code for a semi-buffet dinner at a hotel cafe near where-he-works. And since I had lessons on the other side of town, I met him at his train station and we travelled to dinner together. He didn't have the car, so it was all systems go for imbibing this evening. He had the red wine. Decided it was awful, then asked for a beer. And a cappuccino. I had the peppermint tea. Which ended up too bitter by the end of the meal so I suspect it wasn't an infusion but might have contained actual black or green tea. 

 

I had the turkey goulash which I quite liked (altho' BIKSS thought turkey in goulash was just weird) since I normally prefer not to have red meat, and BIKSS had the seafood tom yum which was a little too spicy for my liking.

And a fruit and vegetable salad...  which we shared, and by the time I had gotten thru that and half my bun and the soup, I was already quite full, I must say. 

Here are this installment's pics in honour of Mrs F - I thought I might share halfway-thru food pics with you today. 

(See that greenish thing that looks like a peeled grape? I'll tell you about that later.)

Seafood tom yum soup

So when BIKSS' main arrived - he wanted to try a Beyond Meat burger; verdict - no... just no - we spotted a thing in his salad that looked like that greenish peeled grape thing which he ate earlier, and I said I wanted to try it, cos we had no idea what it was. It wasn't a grape. It was a local fruit that's not very common whose name he didn't know, it seems. 

I took a bite and said it tasted like a tomato. 

No it doesn't, he replied. 

It does. It even looks like a tomato. See? 

I showed him the inside of the fruit.

Wait - that DOES look like a tomato. 

Maybe we can walk over to the chef there (open kitchen) and ask him what it is! I bet the kitchen staff would know. 

Erm, hang on. Don't do that just yet. 

Why?

He put the half eaten fruit into his mouth and then grinned. 

Cos this IS a tomato. It's NOT the same as the fruit I had from the salad earlier. 

Oh. Well, I'd look a bit silly going up to the chef and asking what this was eh? 

Uh huh. He'll be like, It's a tomato, miss, a tomato. 

Now that THAT was over. We attacked our mains. I had the salmon with risotto and mushroom. There was *something* under the fish. It was creamy and too salty but I wasn't sure if it was the risotto OR mushroom. Or both. The menu didn't imply they were gonna be cooked together. But ok. Whatevs. It was still delish. 

And yes, the pics of our mains were the BEFORE versions. I figured photos of a half eaten burger and fish might prove too unappetising. 

Dessert was maple walnut layered cheesecake thing, and panna cotta. But the panna cotta wasn't just any regular plain cream version, it was made with santan (coconut cream  / coconut milk), and laced with gula melaka (palm sugar syrup).

It was so good I asked for a second helping. Much to BIKSS' amusement. Me, asking for a second helping of dessert. This was NOT typical of me. At all. But it really was SO SO good. 

By the time I got home an hour later I wasn't feeling AS stuffed, but I was still very full so I decided that drastic measures had to be taken. I grabbed my walking shoes, changed into my workout clothes and went for a 30 min brisk walk! 

And after that I felt loads better. 

 
My mood pic today~ is a zz stem I rooted in soil! And they say zz's take forever to root.. tsk. Mine have been pretty prolific so far!