One Sandal

I never imagined that learning to make Red Curry Snakehead could somehow evolve into an experience like this, but life is full of strange surprises.

Photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?showSlide=true&Uc=97qw432f.7ge51zgj&Uy=rmvh4r&Upost_signin=BrowsePhotos.jsp%3FshowSlide%3Dtrue&Ux=0 or click on the posting title.

I enrolled in a course in Thai cooking for yesterday here in Chaing Mai. (More on the details of that a little later.) One of my instructors was a quite sly, amusing Thai woman who goes by the rather appropriate moniker, Boom. After a jam packed day of cooking and eating, a pair of French-Canadian girls in the class decided that they needed to come out for a couple of drinks with Boom, and as these things go, it ended up being a field trip for most of the class. We all went home for a spell, then met back up at the Thai cookery school at the Wok Restaurant here in charming Chiang Mai. It ended up quite a crew, Natalie and Sandra, the aforementioned French Canadians, Guy the Englishman, and a Dutch fellow named Constance were all from that day's class. Boom also invited out a couple from Vermont (Bob and Jamie) as well as James (English), all of whom had recently completed the multi-day course offered by the school. I brought along David (yet another Englishman) whom I'd met the day prior hanging out on a park bench next to the moat that surrounds the Old City.

Our first destination was a rather tiny Thai restaurant that was a bit off the tourist path (it was mostly Thai families eating dinner, and we were the only farang there). A bit of food and a few dozen Singha beers, and Boom told us we needed to leave because of all the evil glares we were getting for our boombastic, boorish Western behavior. We then sauntered over to a more farang-friendly drinking establishment, where we were visited by the squid cart guy. Street vendor food is an art form here in Thailand, and this particular local delicacy is no exception. This vendor operates off a bicycle, to which there is an attached rack (about 4 foot tall) with hanging bags of dried squid. There is also a table surface on this contraption, which has a small stove of hot coals, and a pressing tool that sort of resembles a vice grip. The customer picks out a type of squid, and the vendor pulls it out of the bad and puts it in a rack, and the squid is then toasted over the coals. After that, the roasted squid is then run through the press, and ends up looking a little bit like a potato chip (crisp). It's served with a sweet dipping sauce. Hopefully the photos on this link (that's Boom's demonstration of the squid toasting) will help make clear what I'm talking about.

But the story doesn't end there, no actually far from it. Boom wanted to go dancing, and as both our teacher and band leader, none of us were destined to disagree. All 10 of us jumped into a songthaew (a small pickup truck that has benches in the bed along the sides of the truck, and a hard plastic cover over the benches) to head off to a destination of Boom's choosing. (Songthaews are the least expensive and most convenient way to get around Chiang Mai, and much of Thailand). We end up at some nighclub outside the city center, in which we were not only the only farang on arrival, but also horribly underdressed. No matter, we made it in and that's where the story really gets going.

I know that many of my blog readers have been to a nightclub or two, but for those that haven't, and increasingly common thing in the US is for bars and clubs to have an attendant in the restrooms who provide soap, towels, and usually have an assortment of grooming products, chewing gum, cigarettes, etc. available at you disposal. It is customary to tip these attendants, particularly when you take something from them beyond a hand towel. Evidently, this night club here in Chiang Mai has a simiar policy, except that while you are standing there at the urinal doing your business, the guy walks up an begins giving you a (rather vigorous) neck and shoulder massage. It's really quite startling if you aren't expecting it. Anyway, once you go to the sink and wash your hands and such, the guy picks you up and cracks you back and neck for you (it's actually several guys). All right there, everytime you go to the toilet. I gave the guy 10 Baht (about a quarter), seemed like the decent thing to do.

Bob and Jamie fell out a little early, which is too bad because they missed quite an entertaining little show. On arrival, the soundtrack of the club was mostly Western dance tunes of the typical cheesy sort. But when band came on, well, that was an experience. When I saw them warming up, it was a drummer, keyboardist, two guitar players and a bass guitar player. Seemed prettty standard, really. Until the music started, when 5 guys and a girl came out playing a pop music song, and dancing like the Backstreet Boys, all in elaborate costume (American Ghetto Fabulous-style). Each song had a new assortment of performers, dancing and singing to a variety of Western and Thai pop songs, all in elaborate dress with coreographed dancing. Of course, this is Thailand, and no evening seems to be complete without an appearance of a transvestite, and this night was no exception. Of course, this one was wearing a black leather thong, who proceeded to berate and humiliate some English guy who happened to be sitting right next to the stage. I don't know what the performer was saying, but I have to imagine by his tone, and the laughter of many of the Thais in attendance, that it wasn't very nice, and if his few words of English in the tirade were of any clue, the words were rather profane as well. Quite a bit of good fun at someone else's expense, however.

Our party has whittled down to just a few of the fellows and Boom, when her sister came to pick her up on her motorbike (Boom wisely decided to get rid of it earlier in the evening.) The picture of the two girls sitting down is Boom and Ann, her sister. But the evening continued on, as Dave, Guy, Constance and I crowded into the back of a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled motorbike, which is the second cheapest - and most convenient - way to get around Chiang Mai). The photo of the four guys cramped in a small compartment is from that particular journey. We were going to go to a van bar, which is a VW bus that has been converted into a bar and sits on a street corner while the bartender/driver sits inside and serves drinks, but thought the better of it, and went to the mini-mart, bought a few drinks, and climbed atop Chiang Mai's 700+ year old city walls to enjoy our nightcap. Jolly good fun.

Of course, that made Day 2 of Cookery School a tad on the rough side, but Boom was there to suffer in misery with me, so it wasn't all bad. For more on that, check out: http://www.thaicookeryschool.com/ I learned the menus from Days 3 & 4, so if anything looks tasty, let me know, I'm eager to try out my new skills when I get back to the States! http://www.thaicookeryschool.com/courses_offered.html

I leave tomorrow for a 3 day trek in the Thailand hinterland, so I won't be posting before Sunday. Hope everyone has a good weekend.