Maprow Kaew (Northeastern Coconut Candy) Kaeng Khut Khu, Thailand – Specific to Kaeng Khut Khu, rapids just 5 km north of Chiang Khan, and not even in town, is maprow kaew, chewy, sweet slices of coconut that have been cooked in sugar syrup. At the rapids themselves, vendors are selling the candy, but it’s slightly [...]
Goong Dten (Dancing Shrimp) Kaeng Khut Khun, Thailand – 5 km north of Chiang Khan is the Khut Khun rapids, a relaxing scenic area where the local specialty is goong dten or dancing shrimp. The day I got into Chiang Khan I biked over to the rapids, picked a table and, forgetting the full name [...]
Watermelon Shake Nong Khai, Thailand – I biked through villages, past fields and more fields, by rice mills and mango trees. Kicking up the bike stand at 7 a.m., I was on a 55-km tour of the Thai countryside east of Nong Khai and I managed to make it a 65-km tour by convincing myself [...]
Laab Muu (Minced Pork Salad) Nong Khai, Thailand – Laab, Issan’s famous minced meat salad, can be found all over Thailand. The chopped meat, usually pork or beef, is mixed with lime juice, fish sauce, herbs such as mint, chilies, shallots and roasted rice powder. I’ve always found it to be spicy and almost light, an [...]
Flats of Rice Noodle Sheets Tha Bo, Thailand – After reading that Tha Bo, a small village west of Nong Khai on the Mekong, produced a whole lot of kuay tiaw (rice noodles), I boarded a bus heading to town. Even for Thailand this bus was a bit of a clunker, the floor was a [...]
Kuay Jaap Nong Khai, Thailand – After making my way from Khorat in central Issan to Nong Khai, I found myself gazing at Laos across the Mekong from my guesthouse’s garden. With the smell of bacon in the air, I had to resist getting breakfast there in the garden, where most of the guests were [...]
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 [...]
Inside Khanom Tang Tak Phimai, Thailand – As I was walking through the Phimai evening market, a sugary waft enveloped me. It smelled European. It smelled like waffles. It smelled divine. Soon I found myself standing in front of a woman making a khanom I hadn’t yet seen – a huge fluffy pancake filled with [...]
Phimai Noodles (Kuay Tiaw Phimai) Phimai, Thailand – Sometimes you have a feeling about a place before you’ve ever been there. Or at least I do. I had a feeling about New York before moving there. I had a feeling about Bangkok even though everyone I talked to made it out to be a terrible [...]
Muu Manow Bangkok, Thailand – Today I finally head to Issan, Thailand’s northeast. More on the crazy muu manow above later. When I ordered my lunch, which I did by pointing at someone’s else lunch, the young Thai girl behind the Thai coffee stand started giggling. I wasn’t totally sure why until I got what [...]