Thailand Travel Information, Cooking and Information about Isaan

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So, I woke up today and my body was a bit soaked. I’d only been sleeping under two blankets so I was like… “WTF?”. Last night it was cold, I’d say it was around 21c, and no, please don’t laugh at me guys. You westerners might find 21c warm haha, but this is Thailand where the average temp is around 32-36c, so 21c is considered cold! It gets worse in the summertime, the temperature can reach up to 46c! I suppose I should be used to it really, since I was born and grew up here… but no, NEVER! Still… do I have choice? So I will cope with it the best I can, but I wonder how about my British man?

He is hopefully coming back to see me in Thailand again around April this year, but I don’t want to imagine how hot it will be or how he will cope with it. Hot weather and HOT girlfriend… I doubt it if he could handle both? Actually he was here during the summer last year, but in May instead, and of course the temperatures had cooled down a little by then, so it’ll be interesting to see how he survives in April. I will probably take him to the Songkarn festival in Udon Thani, where hopefully he’ll enjoy himself and be able to forget about the heat, at least for a while.

Kit sexy.

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Isaan, also written as Isan, Issan or Esarn, is the north-eastern region of Thailand and covers 160,000 km² (62,000 sq mi) divided into 20 provinces. I live in Udon Thani, one of the major cities of Isaan. I have been to every province in Isaan in the past, but I’m still in love with Udon Thani my home town. I was born and grew up here in a middle class conservative Thai family and have seen many changes. I have to admit that it has been developed very quickly and many people have relocated to Udon Thani over the years. The traffic jams and pollution have increased as well as facilities like transportation for new business buildings continue to be built. Here in Udon Thani we have more than six shopping centres including most of the western chains.

Phanum Rung Stone Castle

I graduated from the main university here with a BA degree in Marketing although I haven’t really pursued that line of work for along time. I can speak excellent English though, which has led me to teach in the local private school for many years. So yes, I live in the city and have also worked in places in the city, but I have sometimes also visited the countryside which is around 15km from the city. Right now I’m sitting and pondering, thinking about the old days when I spent three years in a high school located on the outskirts of the city… man I had to get up early like 7am argh! nightmare! Every time, whenever I dream about life in that school I usually wake up with tears… it was a big difference with life in the art college in the city centre later in my life. It was brilliant there, I was free like a bird and I’d describe my life at that time to be like this Thai phrase “Eat hot rice and wake up late”. If you guys are curious as to what that phrase means, please check this out.

http://www.expat-visa.com/kitiyasthailand/2011/11/06/10-thai-food-phrases-on-life/

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New year celebrations in Thailand are another two weeks away still, but when the new year occurs, it will be the year 2555 in the Buddhist calendar, or 2012 in the western world (Christian calendar). The funny thing about this particular year is, if you ever come across a public post by a Thai person on an internet forum or say Facebook or Youtube, if you happen to see “555” in there, this is Thai slang for “LOL”.

This new year’s celebrations in Thailand could be interesting, and hopefully one where the Thai people can laugh more often, as unfortunately they haven’t had much to laugh about this year with the terrible flood situation in central Thailand recently.

Here in Thailand, where most people are Buddhists, we may also choose to cleanse Buddha images from household shrines and monasteries by mean of water mixed with a special Thai fragrance (น้ำอบไทย), which is poured gently over them.

Buddha

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Today I’m is proud to present one of my favourite recipes. This is something that I often make it by myself, don’t worry it though, it’s very easy to do.

This dessert is very popular in Thailand as it is easy to make, and everyone, from children to adults, enjoy it. Of course this being Thailand, there are plenty of Coconut trees around, there is even one outside of my house! Which gives us a good excuse to make this particular dessert ourselves whenever we feel like it. Today, I’m going to show you my method for making this particular Thai speciality.

Aromatic Coconut Jelly

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Thai desserts are well known for not only being sweet, they look beautifully colourful, and taste delicious too. They are used in Buddhist rituals and auspicious ceremonies, and are also given as gifts for special occasions.

When we talk about the look of the desserts, and in particular the colours, we always use ingredients from nature and try to avoid using any chemical based colourings. For example; the red colour is from Roselle, yellow is from Pumpkins, green is from pandanus leaf and purple is from the Butterfly Pea.

natural-colour

Some Thai desserts are very rare, and in my opinion this has a lot to do with the newer generation of Thais being more interested in modern convenience foods and in particular western style bakery, most of them probably don’t know what a traditional Thai dessert looks like. I don’t blame them, I like western style bakery food as well, but I won’t forget my traditional Thai desserts. When I ask my foreign friends about Thai desserts, most of the answer with this one; Kao Niaw Ma-Muang (Sweet Sticky Rice with Ripe Mango and Coconut Cream). So, for you guys I’d like to recommend some Thai desserts to try when you visit Thailand, here are my top ten:

1) Red Rubies Tub Tim Grob (Crunchy Mock Pomegranate in Iced Coconut) ทับทิมกรอบ

Red Rubies

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