The Thai Pirate - Thai Blog and Travel Stories

Friend's Wedding in Suphan

Got back from a long day in Bangkok and went to a Thai friends Wedding party.

After a few wai's and a wash, we sat down to good food and some lager and all was right with the world. The happy couple live on the same soi, in directly opposite houses... So a kind of gazebo structure was erected in the middle and all the party guests sat to eat drink and be merry.

The chefs done a really good job, here you have some really spicy noodles, some duck and the dish in the centre is called 'goong ob woonsen,' which are soft, fried noodles with spring onion, and prawns at the bottom of the pan. Really nice. They completely disappeared shortly after this pic was taken.

(bride and groom, standing centre) You rarely get bored at a Thai Wedding party, as there is always some form of stage entertainment. At this party we had some skimpily clad dancers and some bloke in an orange afro singing the night away.

But one of the best bits of the evenings entertainment was this sexy dancer who done quite a ranchy dance routine. Check it out, see what you think...

Is this too much for a Wedding party?

Garden food for Por

Got an unusual phone call during the evening from Por requesting food from the garden.

Turns out that Pors humble upbringing meant that as a kid he would often eat food from the garden. He still likes eating this kind of thin 'tree root' that grows beside some of the trees here. Basically, if you can find a fresh root, they are perfectly good for eating.

The green and yellow inside proves that the root is good. If the root crumbles easily then its rotten through, no good.

All you need to do is simply wash and slice (you can boil). I gave them a good wash, cos I've seen the dogs round that tree fairly often.... :D

Yes, my father in law is a strange guy. He loves his 'tree root chews'. I can't argue, he is in good health, plus his mother is approaching 90, and is fit as a flea.

Karaoke Dinner at Nakhon Nayok

Sutiya and I met some new friends at a province called Nakhon Nayok just 100km from Bangkok. This place is fantastic, more on Nakhon Nayok later, but we stayed at a pretty little resort called the 'Blue Diamond' and were invited out to dinner close by.

Just after we arrived I heard the dreaded 'karaoke' word. I have a terrible singing voice, that's just the way it is and although Sutiya is a good singer, most of the time she prefers to stay out of the limelight, so together we are not massively into karaoke (especially in front of new friends).

The restaurant was an unusual set up, we were lead through to our 'own' dining room; there seemed to be lots of these types of rooms dotted all over, with various parties taking place. I've seen the smaller type rooms stroke booths you get in hotels used for karaoke, but not rooms of this size and not in such an unusual set-up.

We let our friends order the food and all had a great meal, one of the guys brought along a couple of bottles of red wine, that got quickly drained, and then came out the whiskey, and the lager.

Before you knew it everyone was singing along without a care in the world, and it all turned out to be a massive laugh and a great night out.

Food at the Thai Mall

First time you come across a Thai food court in one of the big Bangkok malls is always memorable. Usually within these food courts there are thousands of people sitting, chatting, queueing (Thai version) and scoffing. The food courts are usually organised within a bowl type concept; dozens of different types of food stalls situated on the outskirts, with hundreds of hungry Thais located in the centre, sitting and eating.

My first experience I was given a wad of food tokens (you have to exchange before you eat) and left to wander the outskirts alone and hungry, without a clue.

Various pictures and smells give the inexperienced some clue, but you may find that lots of the food looks slightly alien. That's what happened to me, and that's when I clumsily stumbled across the Korean food stalls.

The dish above is a simple pork, noodle and cabbage dish called yakisoba, although often sold at Korean food stalls it is originally from China and now regularly eaten by the Japanese. The best thing about the yakisoba is the yakisoba sauce the vendors pour over the mixture during cooking, it's delicious (kinda like a Japanese Worcestershire sauce). 

The Korean food stall is always a safe bet for me, being that lots of the dishes are straightforward and based around rice, noodles, veg and pork (we won't mention dog meat here).

The rice dishes are similar in that they are very simple, and really tasty.

If you find yourself in a Thai food court and you don't know what to go for, check out the Korean food stalls. Since my first experience I have become a firm addict.

Thai Cookery Programme at the TEE Coffee Shop

We had a film crew from Channel 5 ask if they can come and do a TV slot about our little coffee shop in Suphanburi (map here). This happens occasionally, as Mare has done a great job of creating a very handsome and picturesque little coffee shop, and so those that stop by are impressed with its appearance (and the great food and coffee, of course).

Making the most of the opportunity, Por jazzed himself up and was given the honour of having to appear on camera, being interviewed by the two main guys. The programmes format is simple enough; two different Thai celebs basically visit a nice place to eat, whilst asking the owner a few questions about the food on offer. Once its all mixed up and edited down you have around 5 minutes or so of film.

Even Sutiya and I got a chance to be in the programme; we starred as two 'customers' (me with my TEE Coffee T-shirt on..... Sssssssssh). Yes, the whole scene was slightly farcical being that 1. We both work there and 2. Por has never taken an order for coffee in his life. So the three of us generally made a huge pigs ear of it. I really hope it makes it into the final cut, just so I can kill myself laughing as Por pretends to write our order on his hand, and with an invisible pen.

These film crew types work hard. They pretty much spent the entire day at the shop, and were a very professional bunch. We put on a bit of a spread for them to say thank you, so I guess travelling to and from nice places to eat does have its perks (you never go hungry). The picture above is a scene where one of the celebs tries out one of our iced coffees. Mmmmmm pure heaven!

And so another fun action packed day down at the TEE Coffee Shop, where I get to hang out with a whole manner of great Thai celebs, whom I don't know.

The irony. The programme will be shown in September, will post details ASAP. PS Prize to anyone who can tell me either of the Thai celebs names...