What WHAT? Wat DEE!

June 18, 2010 – Bangkok!

After arriving in at Suvanabhumi Airport, I was welcomed by a CRI (Chulabhorn Research Institute) driver, as well as two Thai students (one working on her Masters, the other her PhD) that I’ll be working with in lab! I’ll have to probably correct myself in the coming posts, but they were speaking a little quickly and not that clearly, so I believe that they introduced themselves as “Tap” and “Guoy?” We drove from the airport to CRI, and then grabbed our rooms in the residence halls here (more like hotel rooms!) to get some shut-eye.

In the morning, I met up with the Thai-based program director, Dr. Poonsakdi, to just ask some general questions about the program, Bangkok, and then grab some lunch with him and a few other professors in the department at a food court in the nearby mall.

And let me tell you… the food courts here are NO joke. They have EVERYTHING here, with the aroma’s stirring in the air and me hoping that I have enough time to try most of the things that they offered!

Anyhow~ I ended up getting Pad Thai w/shrimp, wrapped in egg. I know, I know, you’re probably telling me that I should have gotten some REALLY exotic Thai dish that isn’t offered in the states, but… Dr. Poonsakdi recommended getting the Pad Thai, and I can attest that it definitely tastes BETTER here! Not severely orange in color, not too sweet (unless you add some sugar to it, since they actually do have a jar of sugar next to the other spice condiments for customers to use!!), and actually a tiny bit spicy… good! Add a glass of Thai iced tea, and, ooo.. I was set.

Ooh wait. We weren’t done, yet. That’s right…. Topped it off with dessert!

We all got shaved ice, which, when literally translated, they apparently just call ‘Sweet Cold!’ This consisted of getting 3 or so toppings, putting a scoop of shaved ice on top, then covering it with either the typical colored sweet syrups, condensed milk, or coconut-syrup.

Now, the toppings, though… I was SURPRISED by their selection! While there are some typical Asian sweet toppings, let me just list off some of the choices, shall I?

Red bean, pineapple, cubed yam pieces, Julienned kabocha pumpkin, grass jelly, coconut jelly, corn, sweetened cooked barley, this weird green-dyed flower blossom thing, this clear bean-looking palm-related-shrub fruit, gingko nuts, sliced lotus root, lotus seeds…

I was feeling a bit adventurous, and tried the sliced lotus root, weird green-dyed flower blossom, clear bean-looking palm fruit, and pineapple with the normal syrup.

The blossom ended up being a little bit like the white, not-quite-mochi balls that you find in some Japanese cold, red-bean + syrup desserts (the name is evading me right now, ママ！). The palm fruit was a bit chewy but slightly sweet and yummy – I’ll have to try it again, to taste it without the syrup! And the lotus root was actually fine, since it had a nice crunch to it and had the flavor of the syrup with it, anyway! So, all in all, it was a very good meal… all for 100 baht, which is basically $3!

Now, it’s time for…

LT^3BMD – II

On the way from the airport to CRI, I saw a very bright blue taxi next to us, and asked the 2 students with me if all Thai taxis are blue are not. To which, I got a reply from Tap,

“No! There are many colors! Pink! Red! Orange! Blue! Green! Yellow!...”

LT^3BMD – III

When grabbing lunch, today, and seeing how impressed I was with the food court and surrounding food stalls, Dr. Poonsakdi remarked,

“Yes, in Thailand, eating is a pass-time. We eat all the time just for fun.”

MUSIC TO MY EARS!