Adventures in Thailand: March 2014

Sawadee-ka,

On this past Sunday I had the pleasure of going to the Suphattra Land Fruit Farm located about 14 km outside of my town. I am ALWAYS excited to learn about different and new things and this was a phenomenal experience. I TRULY ate organic that day. We arrived at the farm and were given delicious coconut juice before boarding our tram. Our tram consisted of me, my friend Allison and a family that consisted of 2 cute little boys. The tram that left right before ours was filled to the max and I was kinda bummed that we did not get on that one. After we started our tour though, I was grateful that we had such a small group, it allowed us to stop and explore longer. I was amazed at ALL of the different fruit that is grown on this farm. We saw Rose Apples, Pineapples, Grapes, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Durian, Jack Fruit, Orchids, Mango, Starfruit and Mangosteen. The highlight of the tour for me was seeing the rubber trees!!! The tour guide showed us how the rubber is collected and it was truly an eye opening experience. All in all, I had a great experience, learned some new facts and also was amazed at how much fruit is grown in this HOT climate of Thailand. We also indulged in a fruit buffet halfway through our trip and then some homemade papaya salad, fresh lettuce and fresh grapes. I hope you all enjoy my photos from the fruit farm!!

Always learning,

Charmel

Sala (looks like rambutan)

Rose Apple

Berry

Rubber tree!!!

Green Mango (very bitter)

Mangosteen

Durian!!

Jackfruit

Banana with BIG seeds

Cucumber straight off of the vine

grapes

tour guide with bitter melon

Bees!!! (look at the honey!!)

Sawadee-ka,

As I was going through my photos trying to decide my next post, I realized I have not done a post about cuisine here in Thailand. Yes, yes, they do eat RICE with EVERY meal. I thought being from Louisiana that we ate a lot of rice BUT they have won this battle. Many people have asked me about the food here in Thailand. It is VASTLY different than the Thai food that we eat in the States. The Thai food here has more flavor and FRESH ingredients. They also use a lot of red chili peppers and also fish sauce like vinegar. Noodle stands, rice stands and fresh fruit stands are part of the norm on the streets here. When I left for my trip, at the health department they told me not to eat from the food stalls BUT that defeats the purpose of having the Thai experience right? Western food here is much more expensive of course and does not taste the same. They do have their share of "french fried" on some of the Thai menus, not bad I must say. At the food stands on the street your meal is going to cost at the MOST $1.50!!! If I pay more than $4.00 for a meal in general, than I am a little perturbed.

For the most part the dishes are very monotonous. If you go to a restaurant you can usually see the following items on the menu: papaya salad, sticky rice, pork, chicken, duck and sometimes beef dishes. They do a lot of stir fry which consists of meat, thai basal, a sauce/gravy and red peppers. Papaya salad is VERY popular and I have acquired a taste for it as well. I have also noticed that they do not season their meat before they cook it. The seasoning is left up to the individual that is eating it. On every table you will see a basket with 4 spices....sugar, vinegar with red peppers, red pepper flakes and fish sauce. I do not have a set list of items that eat daily BUT I try to eat fresh fruit daily and usually eat noodles for dinner. Thai desserts are also popular. There is a stand on my street that sells desserts on the weekends and they wrap them in banana leaves, I love the presentation. Also, coconut milk is used to make the Thai curry and it is delicious!!! Umm, I will probably do another post on food just to make sure that I have everything covered.

My palate is enjoying Thai food and ready to try new things. I am still not ready to try the bugs yet though.

Always learning,

Charmel