this is not a food blog

Without a doubt, as I knew it would be, the best part about Asia has been the food. I could eat like this forever. I have already gone on at length about the awesomeness of the street food in Singapore, and I am not honestly sure if Thai food tops it, per se, but it is just as enjoyable.

I certainly have my favorites - Thai iced tea, green curry, mango and sticky rice (and I am here during mango season to boot - it is astounding how good they are), but more than that, the food here is just such fun.

I mean, not all of it looks tasty, and I can certainly do without the more aromatic things, like the dried fish stands with their barrels of little...fish...crisps things that reek to kingdom come. And Thai street food is, a lot of it, still the domain of the locals, so there frequently is no English translation, photos, or handy instruction manual on the carts. I am certain I have missed some of the best foods here because I don't know what the completed meal is like when I walk by the ingredients, so don't know to get it. I know some things, though, so I get to enjoy little gyoza or spring rolls, the always popular meat on a stick (I don't know what the ladies have done to this chicken, but it is SO TASTY), sugar-popped corn (for when I went to see a movie!) and all manner of little sweets or sandwiches. I did learn one valuable lesson, though - never buy a curry from a street vendor or a night market stall. Those things are not meant for westerners - I could take two bites before my mouth was on fire. In a restaurant, you can always get the tourist-level spicy, and that's plenty when you are pansy like me.

The Thais know how to do fruit - cut up fresh fruit on the street, the freshest fruit blended with ice to make a shake that will finally, for a second, let you feel cool(er), the mango on the rice...the fruit here is like the antithesis of Argentina, where produce fears to treat. Vegetables are not easy, but the fruit.... Nothing has equalled Ko Phi Phi in that, though, when there was a Thai pancake and fruit shake stand every 20 feet. I would have been way more full of banana or mango or coconut or pineapple shake if that were the case.

There is, of course, ubiquitous American fast food here as everywhere - McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Subway (though not nearly as many as in NZ or Australia), Pizza Hut, Starbucks, etc. But then there are a lot more, ones that I didn't know aggressively exported, like Swenson's, Dairy Queen, Dunkin' Donuts, Sizzler - some of those places I can't even get at home. Western food is everywhere, and what's sad, thouogh not surprising, is that it is easily 2-3 times more expensive than Thai food, and yet they are all jammed. The model has been aggressively copied, too, and there are all kinds of local chains that look just like the Sizzler, serving Thai or Chinese food like a peking duck Red robin - these places are more expensive, too. I don't know why I find it sad, but I do. The menus are not, unsurprisingly, the same - McDonald's especially seems to have a lot more pork on the menu from what I saw, and I did check - no Diet Coke on fountain. But the best part - the dessert pies (fried, like in the days of our own transfat-filled yore) come in three flavors: pineapple, taro, and corn. Awesome.

Nothing has been more embraced and incorporated to Thai life, though, than the 7-11. They are everywhere - which really isn't an exaggeration. There is one across the street from this internet cafe; there is also one next door. Every couple of blocks in Bangkok, there is a 7-11. I am not knocking it, at all - air conditioned havens of splendor, these are. And the 7-11s sell lots of water (essential so you don't die of dehydration walking from one to the one on the next block) and other minor essentials. But they also sell awesome stuff - Thai iced tea from the little machines that is as tasty as any restaurant in Thai town, and apple mentos, and quick snack foods. They have a lot of hot food, too - chicken burgers that I tried out of curiosity, and a baby clam burger (like, the patty is made out of baby clams...smooshed together) that I wouldn't try if you paid for the doctor bills after, and toasted sandwiches - this month's featured flavor is ham and corn chowder. They have regular slurpees, as well as slushies made from aloe jelly and sugar cane, and candy called "Toe Dust" that looks like either Pop Rocks or Lik-em-aid. I did try try the sushi Lay's, too - they taste like seaweed. So, I mean, if you are into that....

The food, except anything western in style, is affordable and flavorful and wonderful, and I will be so sad to leave it behind. Naturally, this has made me terribly hungry, but on the little soi (side street) where my hostel is located is the neighborhood night market, so I get to go to town for my last dinner in Bangkok. Yay!