My favorite thing about Thailand is the food. It’s delicious, freshly prepared, and unbelievably cheap. Before coming here I thought I was going to be lost without my own kitchen. Eating out a lot sounded fun, but every single meal? I thought I was going to find myself poor and hungry, boy was I wrong. Eating out for every meal is great. It frees up a lot of time in my day because I never have to grocery shop, prepare food or clean up the kitchen. I never go hungry because instead of wondering what to eat or rummaging through the fridge I just order something at a roadside cart. Thus far I’m not sick of the food and I haven’t even tried all the options yet. The past two weekends I liked the first restaurant I tried so much that I ate there for every meal. I already raved about the vegetarian place in Chiang Rai, but I have yet to tell you about Sun, Moon, and Star restaurant. When I walked in I immediately thought it was a place my Aunt Ruthie would like. Beautiful paintings, quirky decorations and dark wood furniture and flooring that tied it all together. There was a selection of used books and various games you could play. There was also free wireless and a hammock hanging in the shade. There was a house dog named Panda and a friendly cat named Rocket. There was also a little puppy running around from time to time.
We sat on floor cushions at a low table on the back platform. There was a great view of the mountainside and the blue water below. The menu was in English; it’s always nice to be able to pick from a bunch of options instead of just ordering things you know how to say the names of. I ordered a pineapple smoothie and curry, fish, vegetables and rice. While I waited for my food, I played checkers with a little girl, presumably the daughter of the husband and wife who owned the restaurant. She was about seven and had the most infectious smile I have seen here. We laid out the checkers, which was actually a mix between chess, checkers and scrabble pieces. In the beginning it seemed like she knew what she was doing, but then she started missing jumps left and right. Saleem kept telling her how to beat me, but sometimes she wouldn’t even listen to his advice. Then she started moving her pieces around like they where chess pieces. I was letting her do whatever she wanted, but the game seemed like it was taking forever so finally I had to beat her. I really didn’t want to, but it would have never ended. I was kind of ruthless about it and double jumped her on the last move. She laughed and buried her head in her hands and then she skipped away with the board and game pieces. A minute or two later my food came out. A yummy mix of veggies and small pieces of fish over rice, smothered in curry. It was the perfect amount of spice, enough that I was sweating a little bit and my nose was running, but I could still taste the flavors of everything. After being pleasantly stuffed for about $3, I headed back down the hill and took a walk and a little nap on the beach.
A little while later my friends Alice and Kara arrived. They are teaching in Trang, a province in the southern peninsula. We all showered and got ready for the full moon party and went in search of dinner. On our way up the hill Saleem and I raved about the Sun, Moon and Star restaurant so we all decided to keep it simple and eat there again. While we were waiting for our food to arrive we chatted about our schools and the different experiences we’ve had thus far in the classroom and in our towns. Two guys at another table must have overheard us and they asked if we lived here in Thailand. We told them about how we were teachers and we were just here for the weekend. We invited them over to our table and we all began talking about where we were from and what we were up to in life. They were from Israel and they were on a long vacation in Thailand. Saleem and I saw them at the restaurant earlier when we had lunch, they must have loved the food too.
The next day we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then lounged on beach chairs for a few hours. We wanted to go explore the island, but we really didn’t know what to do or where to start, so we went to the Sun, Moon and Star restaurant to ponder just that while we ate lunch. After about five minutes in walks Shai and Guy, the two Israelis we met the day before. It was so odd that we happened to eat at the same place and time three times in a row. We invited them over and they ate lunch with us. We looked at the island map and decided we wanted to walk via sandbar to another nearby island. After lunch we headed back down the hill and we all rented a Jeep together because it was cheaper than paying for taxis. We ended up having a blast with them for the rest of the night. They were down to earth, funny and laidback. We were all able to share different aspects of our lives and culture and it made for great conversation. We made it to the other island, those pictures will be in the next post, and we actually stopped somewhere new for dinner. We were the only ones at the outdoor restaurant and for the life of me I don’t know why. It was delicious and the atmosphere was just as good as Sun, Moon and Star. The restaurant had different colored lights, a few hammocks, plants everywhere and bottles of bug spray at the table. I ordered a coconut curry soup with vegetables and rice. It was really spicy and flavorful. The coconut really came through in the broth making it really tasty. I wished there was a restaurant like this back in Chonburi, but I guess you can’t have it all.
I have a lot more to say about eating in Thailand, but I want to wait until I have the right footage to pair with it. I’m working on a little video right now that I think will be able to tell and show more than my writing can. One thing I will say is that food is something we all need. Somehow there is understanding between humans because of this great need for food. People come together over meals. They share not only food, but also discussion and fulfillment. Mealtime is something to be cherished and not taken for granted. It should be a time when we are thankful that there is food to be bought and eaten. Think about how happy you feel when you’re eating a good meal and appreciate it because not everyone has that simple liberty.
