Thai Dinners in Tha Ton, and Doi Mae Salong, Thailand

Yellow Chinese Noodl s Soup with Beef and Chinese Kale

     Here are our dinners in Tha Ton, and Doi Mae Salong, Thailand, on a trip last week. We lived like Kings, and enjoyed our time traveling so much, in part to the delicious dinners that we had.

Yellow Chinese Noodles,
 in a str-fry, with Chicken.

Dumpling Soup, with Vegetables, and cabbage.

Sticky Rice served in a Banana leaf.

Pork stir-fry in Oyster sauce, with Kale.

Spicy Thai Som Tam Salad, with shrimp.

Pad Thai, wrapped inside an omelette.

Nam Tok, Moo,    Spicy Thai Salad with pork.

Suki Yaki with Chicken! Glass noodles, and kale.

Chinese New Year 2014 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, at the Chinese Walking Market

    I went to the Chinese New Year celebrations last night in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was held on the side of the Ping River, at the Warrorot Market.

    That is where China Town, Chiang Mai is. I wanted to post these pictures right away, so you can enjoy them. I will come back and label the food items soon. It has been a busy week!

 Thank you for looking.

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Mae Hong Son, the Town, the City, it's Temples and Walking Night Market

   
     Ploy and I recently took a road trip from Chiang Mai all the way to Mae Hong Son. The road is famed for having over 1000 hair pin curves. In actuality, the road has over 1,800 sharp corners. It a majestic ride through the northern mountains of Thailand. We ran into some rain along the way, and had two close calls, when the front tire of our bike hit slick spots.    That will wake you up for sure, if you have never experienced it before.  Still, we persevered, and made it the rest of the way to the small city nestled in the mountains.

     Please enjoy this post, and look at all of the pictures. We have detailed everything you will find in Mae Hong Son, from the temples, to the lake and the park, to the walking street, and its food vendors, as well as the guest house scene inside the town.

    Above the city is a most revered "Wat," or temple, which has stood looking down and protecting the city for four hundred years.

     The first evening we arrived, after checking into a nice little hotel along the edge of the lake, we drove up to pay respects to the two Pagodas on top of the mountain at the edge of Mae Hong Son. Here are the two Pagodas, in the dwindling evening sun.

   

I love the Palm tree alongside the temple.

     Here is a guard at the temple's entrance. It is a giant stone lion, in full battle armor. The mountains surround the valley of Mae Hong Son.

How to hand make delicious Thai Spring Rolls. Follow these step-by-step pictures, and be making fabulous Thai Spring Rolls tonight!

     Here is a recipe from our newest cook book, here is a LINK to our book,
Maine Lobster, Thai Style.

     Have you ever tried to make high quality spring rolls at home, and they fell apart while trying to eat them? 
     Well, Not anymore. Follow our simple step by step pictures.

Please take a look at our how-to-roll spring roll recipe, and you will be rolling fabulous Thai Spring Rolls right away.
     If you prefer, chicken or ground pork can be added instead of Lobster, or simply add vegetables only for deliciously fresh vegetarian spring rolls!

        Lobster Spring Rolls

      Delicious Hand Rolled Spring Rolls are sometimes difficult to find, much less to make them at home yourself. Please follow these simple step-by-step instructions and it will be easy for you to wrap them yourself. With the correct rice paper wraps, and by prepping the ingredients as we do, it will be simple to create flawless spring rolls at home. They will be the perfect appetizer for a Lobster Thai Fusion meal, or the right snack and conversation topic when hosting your next cocktail party! Our handmade Thai Spring Rolls have a unique new twist: 
Fresh Maine Lobster.

Ingredients and Preparation:
     1 pack of Rice Spring Roll Wrappers. (They are widely available in all large supermarket chains. You will likely have to look in the Asian food section, or Japanese section.) 1 head of Romaine Lettuce, 1-2 green peppers, fresh Basil leaves, 4-5 white mushrooms, 1 cucumber, 2 eggs, and of course 1 Lobster!

Visiting a Traditional Lisu Village in Mae Hong Son Provence

     Ploy and I just traveled to Mae Hong Son Provence. It was a dangerous 4.5 hour motorcycle ride from Chiang Mai.

    The locals have affectionately called it the road of a thousand hair pin curves. That is not accurate, there are over 1,800 tight turns over the course of 175 miles. The jungle surrounds both sides of the road, and mountains tower over most of the sky. The scenery is spectacular, however the drive is not for anyone who gets motion sickness. I promise.

     One of our very good friends recently had his first child. His wife is from a small Lisu Village, outside Bang Mapra, Thailand in Mae Hong Son Provence. Lisu People are a hill-tribe group most distinguishable because of their traditional clothes, or costumes. They wear very brightly adorned shirts, and with many colors, and make all of their own clothing.

     The village of our friends wife is home to about 200 people, most of whom are related. I was accepted to join the festivities, and talked with both the old and young. Lisu speak their own language, as well as Thai. My friend does not speak Thai, so I was able to talk with his Father in law and translate for him. Lisu are an an extremely kind and hospitable group. It was a special occasion to meet so many of them in their own town and not to feel like a tourist who was just shipped in for a brief photo op.



     Please enjoy these pictures from a Lisu Village we spent some time in, and celebrated one of our close friend's having a new born son. In honour of having a firstborn son, they held a large party for everyone in the village to come.

     A full grown wild boar was killed and cooked for the dinner's feat. It was made into four different meals.

     The raw pig meat was cut into many tine pieces and pounded by the ladies of the village, into a raw pig meat and chili spicy appetizer.

Here is nice girl that we met and talked with a little. She is in 10th grade.
That is traditional Lisu clothing that she is wearing.

Cave Exploration in Northern Thailand, at the Bang Mapra Tham Lot

   
     The cave at Bang Mapra is far more extensive than one would predict before entering it. This cave is close to one mile long, and is only accessible by floating downstream on a tiny rickety bamboo raft, with both a guide and raft-man.

    As we approached the cave, there was a back board set up in all its glory, as a wary hazard for first time spelunkers.

    This is Thailand, so we knew it could be rough, as we climbed aboard out small bamboo craft and drifted into the mouth of the cave.

    The original cavern is about 50-60 feet tall, and filled with both stalactites and stalagmites.

Bamboo rafts awaiting their riders.

Approaching the cave's mouth.

     The main cave has three offshoots, one to the right, which is easily manageable, and two off to the left, both of which are only accessible by climbing up a very tall, very straight ladder set all the way up to the top.

Here I am, on the raft as we entered the large cave.

 Thank you for looking, and please enjoy these pictures of teh Bang Mapra Cave in all its splendor

The Annual Chiang Mai Thailand Food Festival, December 2013

   

     The 26th Annual Chiang Mai Thailand Food Festival was kicked off again this week. The location was outside of the Robinson's Central Department store, in a gigantic parking lot. All types of high quality local and regional Thai food was available.

     It is one spot not to miss if you are traveling through Thailand this winter.

Here is a very tasty steamed fish in curry,
nestled in a banana leaf as a bowl.
This is also environmentally friendly!

These are fish Maw balls.
Eaten with a sweet dipping sauce.

A nice guy selling his Pad Thai.
He was proud to be at the festival. You could tell.

Some of my favorites. Beautiful Andaman Sea Crabs, delicious Thai Scallops,
fresh large mussels, and grilled squid.  I ate some of the mussels, and they were good.
Cooked in a spicy sauce, directly over the fire.

Here are the fixings for fancy Thai Som Tam Salad

Here are the rest of the ingredients to put into Som Tam.
This is one of the most well liked fresh spicy salads in Thailand.

Grilled Breaded Fish!