Friday, January 16, 2009

Change of plans...

The other day we spent some time wandering around the fanciest mall in the city and came across this awesome Treasure-Island themed display, made entirely out of balloons. Kids were super excited about this!
Outside the mall there were a bunch of displays about recycling, including a giant pyramid made out of Coke cans, and this tree made out of CDs:
This city is so much fun. I can understand why some tourists hate it because the air pollution is horrendous and it's just so crowded, but I thrive on chaos so I feel right at home!
One thing I love about the city is that you are never more than a few steps away from a food cart. They are everywhere, and they offer a huge variety of foods - served to you in a plastic bag.
Grilled chicken? Off the grill, into the bag. And the chili sauce comes in it's own little bag too!


Fresh pineapple? Cut into chunks, put into a bag, with a skewer to eat the pieces.


Soup to go? Into a plastic bag! I need to get a picture of this one - but it's quite a common occurrence.


This is my favorite soup ever. I could eat it every day, and that is actually my plan. I haven't had it out of a bag yet, but there's time! It's rice noodles in a rich, meaty broth, with thin pieces of pork and pork balls. I'm not sure what the green vegetable is, but I'm guessing it's something like choy sum.
When they hand the bowl to you, you top it with a handful of Thai basil, a spoon full of sugar, a spoon full of some sort of soaking liquid full of fresh red chilis, red pepper flakes, and a little fish sauce. It's HEAVEN!


And now for our change of plans: We have decided to take a stab at living in Chiang Mai! It's our favorite city in Thailand (that we've seen so far), and Mike talked to the guy in charge of the TEFL course at Chiang Mai University. With my American credential and the fact that I'm female (apparently there's a shortage of female teachers here), he said it should be pretty easy for me to find a job while Mike takes the course. We are really excited about this! We're taking the train up early next week to scope out a place to live.


6 comments:

gaga said...

Looks like you guys are really enjoying yourselves! I love Thailand too, and all of SE asia actually. I know lots of people who go out there for vacation and never come back!

Enjoy your stay!

That Girl said...

The longer you're there, the more jealous I get!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Have you run into Coke or any kind of soda/juice in a bag? That's common in SE asia, especially in the Philippines. They pour the drink in a bag, cinch it with their fingers and hand you a straw! lol :)

Anonymous said...

I would love to go there some day! That soup looks AMAZING!
Have you come across a fried omelet with a sweet-ketchup dipping sauce? My husband ate that from a food cart when he was there and said it was one of the best things he tried.

Anonymous said...

That soup looks amazing! Your pictures and stories are making me want to visit Thailand someday, which is something I had really never thought of.

Steph said...

Cate, you are so adventurous! I would be so scared to move and go to a whole new country. It looks like you are having lots of fun. Good luck with the job!