Finally, a stomach’s heaven!

The traveling bug–the actual bacteria–that seems to be implanted on all passengers as they embark on their foreign tours has finally left us. I hope. After four weeks of slugging our way through family style meals, roadside stands, street market food, western restaurants and trying to get ‘accustomed,’ I cross my fingers that this bug has left the building.

So we start our day in super touristy Koh Samui, Thailand, at 8 a.m. longing for some real Thai food. Tired of the “American Breakfast” as advertised, we stumbled on a sweet lady that had a Thai-only menu, but prices to our liking. Brooke nods her head at whatever she points to, and we get two of these. Turns out we get duck breast, deep fried pork belly, and sausage and one hard boiled egg over rice. Note that besides the egg, we are unsure what we have in front of us.  A nice galangal broth soup, fresh orange juice and hibiscus juice complete the meal. While we are not sure what we ate, we know what we ate worthies a return visit the next day for lunch!

Lounging on the beach in Mae Na (north central beach in Koh Samui), we turn to our bungalow’s restaurant for lunch. In Luang Prabang, we met Rayko, a Bulgarian-turned-Thai. He gave us  seven Thai phrases that we needed to implement to order quality Thai food. With my phonetic cheat sheet and total disregard for its English menu, I order “plah toad prick thai cat-tee yem” and “yammm taa-lay”.

The server stares at me.

I try again.

Now she responds with exuberance, “Ahh, pla toad prick thai cat-tee yem and yammm taa-lay.”

Proud of my undeveloped Thai accent, I think, “Exactly,” but she looks at me with the expression of “why didn’t you just tell me so before?” So much for phonetics.

But we get our tuna with garlic and pepper and seafood salad. It was as delicious as Rayko informed us it would be. Maybe my Thai is not so bad.

Renting a motor scooter, we chase the evening sunset to the west coast of Koh Samui. [Brooke remarks, “Does this mean we are riding off into the sunset?”]. Finding a hand-painted sign that says “Beryl’s Bar (drinks, sunset, view),” we turn down the muddy path. At the end of the road, the bay unfolds with Beryl meeting us as we get off our scooter.

“A Chang beer, banana shake, and small seafood salad,” we request for our watch of the evening sun falling into the Gulf of Thailand.

Brooke enjoying her Chang. And YOU thought I got the Chang!

Sunset looking towards Angthong Marine Park while dining on a Chang, Banana Shake and Seafood Salad

With several hours left in the day, more eating, drinking and desserting is to be done. We ride to Fisherman’s Village, which turns out to be uber touristy. While Brooke can find a Magner’s Cider in the U.S. once every two/three years, no problem finding it here on the islands. Checking the first Irish pub we found, Brooke was delighted to drink one there, but not equally delighted to pay the $9 USD for it!! With the rest of the food joints there equally expensive, we head back to the traditional, local huts.

We found it. Glancing at the menu, we are unsure of our pick of the restaurant after looking at the third listed menu option.

Rotten Meat

If they blatantly advertise ‘rotten meat’, it has to be a good restaurant, right? The savory ‘standard pork leg rice’ and ‘beef noodle, dry’ were solid picks for us.

Pork Leg Rice

And who can go to bed without a little dessert? On a specific search for a banana pancake, we luckily stumbled on the man himself: Mr. Pancake Man. Yes, that is his name or his shop. But in the four weeks of traveling, no one has named their shops in English; one would just advertise ‘roti’ or ‘banana pancake’. Except for Mr. Pancake Man. Judging from his shop, he has made himself a celebrity through awards, newspaper clippings, and honors. His production of a chocolate banana pancake (very French crepe-like) topped with sugar and sweeten condensed milk earned him the right for me to head back to Mr. Pancake Man again tonight!

With a solid 16 hours eating and no problems, my stomach is back. Finally a day that I have looked forward to: one in which I am thinking about the next meal before I finish my current meal.

And, hey, traveler’s bug, bring your rotten meat, we will handle it.

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2 Responses to Finally, a stomach’s heaven!

  1. Charley N-S says:

    Good thing you ran into a Bulgarian! Better yet that you are bug-free! (are your relatives the only Bulgarians you have ever met?)
    Your adventures are dizzying, and the photos amazing. Keep up the good fun!

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