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Droste Cocoa

Dan Kwian, Thailand – Of all the places in the world to get a fantastic iced (hot) chocolate, I found one in Dan Kwian, a small town south of Khorat known for its unglazed pottery.  I was spending a night in Khorat (also known as Nakhon Ratchsima), but as I haven’t heard much good about it, I didn’t want to spend the day there as well so I took a bus down to Dan Kwian for a look around.  The town seems to consist of pottery stores, some with gardens in back, and a few food shops lining the highway.  The only tourist in sight, I wandered around the the pottery stores and gardens, through an outdoor collection of old wooden Thai carts, formerly of agricultural necessity and currently collecting dust.  I finally came to a little coffeehouse featuring shelves of Droste cocoa with no one around.  I pushed the bell and a young boy appeared.  Since chocolate seemed to be their thing, I ordered a cold one to soothe away the dusty heat and within a few minutes it was in front of me.  In general, I find the drinks in Thailand to be incredibly sweet and the chocolate, for the most part, doesn’t taste like chocolate.  This, however, was a completely different entity.  Cold and icy, bitter cocoa flavor with a touch of sweetness, it was absolutely delicious.  And altogether strange.  I was probably the only customer the place had seen in a week and my drink had been made perfectly by a boy at least half my age. He didn’t speak one word of English and I barely speak Thai.  So I just sat there in the coffeehouse garden of the pottery village and enjoyed my drink.  Who knew you had to go to the rural northeast to get a decent iced drink in thailand?  I do now.