"Fish Spa", Chiang Mai, Thailand

Sit with your legs in a bath and use the internet while little fish nibble away your dead skin tissue. There are estimate to be around 3000 of these establishments operating in Thailand. However the practice has been banned in the US and recently the UK Health Protection Agency warned that it could potentially lead to transmission of blood-borne viruses. Is that just the nanny state in action, or a real health risk?

Sweet corn roti, Chiang Mai

Bought this at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, being sold by a woman I presume was from southern Thailand.. It's like a Malaysian-style roti chanai but filled with sweet corn and a beaten egg, and then topped with sweetened condensed milk.

I'm not sure whether that combination of flavours really made sense, but it wasn't bad. I'd order it again.

Cat, Sompet Market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Warorot Market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Things Asians are freakily good at, #214: Scrabble

Here's something you probably never thought or cared about: There are World Scrabble Championships. And national championships. And youth championships, and so on. Just like any other ... er, sport. And given that Scrabble is an English-language game, you would probably expect it to be dominated by nations where the English and their descendants live - the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
And traditionally you would be right. Except in recent years, people from Asian countries are making serious pushes for the crown. And actually winning. Here are the winners of the world championships since the late 90s:

Doesn't convince you of anything? (Other that Asians seem to do better in Asia?) Take a look at last year's placings at the World Youth Scrabble Championships:

Count 'em: that's two Sri Lankans, two Thais, a Singaporean and a Filipino in the top ten. And yes, it was won by an Australian, but an Australian named Anand Bharadwaj. It's not just 2011 either; you can look at the last few years of the youth tournament and it's pretty much a story of unremitting Asian dominance. In fairness, most of the tournaments take place in Malaysia for some reason, so maybe that dissuades some northern hemisphere Scrabble aficionados from travelling. But 2006 took place in Australia, and even though it was won by an Australian, 8 out of the top 10 were from Asian countries that year.

It's not that surprising really. If you've seen the way kids of South Asian origin completely dominate  the American national spelling bee championships, or the way that East Asian's seem to dominate any academic pursuit they apply themselves to, it stands to reason that some of them are going to take to Scrabble with a passion.

The other country that pops up in these lists which you might not have expected: Nigeria.

What is really surprising though is how Thailand has come to be one of the pre-eminent nations in world Scrabble. All the other countries on these lists have English as at least one of the official languages. Thailand does not. Thais do take to learning English with aplomb though, probably due to the huge tourist presence there, and apparently the popularity of Scrabble in Thailand comes from its usefulness as a tool for learning English.

 

Ant egg omelette, Chiang Mai

Found these amongst the food stalls that appear each evening outside Huay Kaew Plaza in Chiang Mai. Red-ant eggs are a delicacy in northern Thailand and neighbouring Laos.

These look innocuous enough...

 The finished product...

 Ant attack! So that would be a cooked baby ant amidst the eggs, which are mostly pale in colour. There was greyish stuff in there as well but I couldn't really work out what that was.

Taste-wise, I'll first admit that I'm not the best person to evaluate this kind of food. I don't normally eat meat, and the ant eggs gave the omelette a somewhat meaty flavour. So not to my taste, but I didn't really expect it to be and I bought it mostly out of curiosity. It wasn't terrible though.

Random Thailand thoughts

I write this from an internet cafe in Chiang Mai, while next to me a young Buddhist monk in orange robes is busily updating his Facebook status.

That to me says a lot about the kind of place Thailand is.


Thais are such an easy-going and friendly people that it's hard to imagine how country has been riven with violent political protests of late, or how police corruption is such an enormous problem. But that peaceful nature is clearly a must when dealing with Bangkok's notorious traffic. Apparently it's no longer the worst in SE Asia - Jakarta has claimed first prize there - but that says more about what's wrong with Jakarta rather than Bangkok getting any better. Jakarta's public transport system is still barely a notch above dysfunctional, and Bangkok's is outstanding as developing countries go.

I ducked into a pharmacy in Bangkok's mammoth Mah Boon Krong (MBK) shopping centre the other day as I needed to buy some moisturizing cream. (I like my skin to be baby smooth, okay? Don't judge me.) However, it was almost impossible to find any product that didn't trumpet it's "whitening" property as it's greatest asset. I'm quite white enough already, thank you. It's sad that this sort of thing is endemic throughout Asia. The beauty of Thai women is well-known around the world, and despite what most Thais probably think, I'm guessing that having a slightly tanned complexion is part of the reason.


I've written before about Thai names and how they just happen to sound very rude or funny when written down and read by English speakers. I won't add too much to what I've said before, but I'll just mention a few random place names: Gaysorn Plaza, Chong Nonsi, On Nut, and Udom Suk. Oh and let's not forget Anusarn Market.

One thing you may not know is that Bangkok has one of the largest Sikh communities in the world - they make up the vast majority of the 105,000 Indians resident in this city, and most have dual Thai-Indian citizenship. It was this community that brought me to Thailand to celebrate the 4-day wedding of Punjabi friends (he's from Bangkok, she's from Kuala Lumpur). Ending the celebrations by driving off in a "Just married" tuk-tuk was a brilliant touch.


I'm quite conflicted about the multitude of white guy - Thai girl couples that I see everywhere in Bangkok. On one hand, I try not to judge people too much since I don't know them - if I had a SE Asian girlfriend and we went to Thailand together, I'm sure people would look at us in a certain way, and I don't want to leap to conclusions. On the other hand, something about it just creeps me out. On the other hand (I have a lot of hands), if both parties are getting some mutual benefit out of it, then maybe that's a good thing. Then again, there are a helluva lot of victims of many Western men's view of Bangkok as a place to come and satisfy their less saintly urges, and many don't really have a say in their fate.

What bars (both cool and creepy) are to Bangkok, coffee shops are to Chiang Mai. They are everywhere, all with espresso machines and free wi-fi. While this could imply that northern Thais are a bunch of latte-sipping, facebook status-updating yuppies, it's probably more likely that it reflects the different breed of tourist that arrives in Chiang Mai as opposed to Bangkok. Most of them wear fisherman pants.

Speaking of coffee, order a cappuccino in Chiang Mai and odds are it will be dusted not with chocolate but with cinnamon. Which is actually an improvement, to my tastes. But the real coffee to try is kopi boran, meaning "ancient coffee". It's not that ancient really, but appears to be what Thais call any coffee that's neither espresso-machine-based nor Nescafe instant. Kopi boran is usually filtered through what looks like a large sock, and will probably be served with condensed milk unless you ask otherwise. I really like the muddy brew, but then again I tend to like condensed milk in things.


The Dome hotel in Chiang Mai has a ginger cat that rides the elevators like it ain't no thang. That's not necessarily a reason to stay there, but I just thought it was awesome. Like most cats, it has a major sense of entitlement.

Still more Awesome Asian Ads - Thailand

Thai commercials. Still better than any other country's.







More: here, here and here.

Making pad thai, the vegan black metal way

I wouldn't say this is an authentic version of pad thai, but if you are a vegan black metal type of guy, you probably don't care.

The most awesome Thai names

Thai people have a wonderful culture with much to be proud of. They also have (at least to an English speaker with a puerile sense of humour) the funniest language in all of Asia. In spoken form, it doesn't actually sound all that funny, but when Thai names and words are transcribed into Roman script, it's hard not to crack a smile. I mean, who hasn't read the menu at a Thai restaurant and shared a giggle at dishes such as gang dang and phat prik?

And of course there are place names such as Bang Sue, Baan Sukchoke, Dong Rak and Ban Pornpis. If you don't find those things even a teeny bit funny, you are way too mature for this blog post.

Bear in mind that because Thais have their own alphabet, there is no standard way of spelling Thai words and names in Roman script, so you will have many variations - pad thai can also be written as phat thai, for example.

Of course, a lot of the humour to be derived from Thai names comes from how you think they would or could be pronounced, rather than how they actually sound in real life. Thus names like Pachrapa or Chumphorn can be funny when you read them but not especially so when you hear them said by a Thai.

Other names, like Poonlarp, might require a little bit of cultural and/or pop cultural knowledge to get why they are funny - larp (or laap, or larb) is a kind of salad made from ground meat, so larp made from poon is an interesting concept.

Certain sounds that frequently turn up in Thai names are innately amusing, at least to my infantile mind. One is "-sak", which corresponds nicely to the English word "sack" meaning both a bag to carry things in, and a scrotum. Thus you have names like Choosak, Damrongsak, and my personal favourite of all Thai names, Terdsak. All of which can conjure up some nice mental images.

The other one of course, is "-porn", which is sometimes written as the less amusing "-pon". Which gives rise to names like Jesdaporn and Pornthip. Sometimes there is a convergence of rude-sounding words such as Pornsak. The best of all, however, is undoubtedly Supaporn. You really can't get better than that.

Of course, plenty of Thai names are just awesome without being naughty-sounding. There's something about the name of (politician) Somkid Jatusripitak which I just love. While names like Lada Engchawadechasilp (a former Miss World contestant) or Kejmanee Pichaironnarongsongkram (actress and singer)are admirable just for being so damned difficult to pronounce without considerable practice.


But lest you think I'm singling out Thai names, you can find examples of this sort of thing in pretty much every language and country. India, for example, has wonderful names like Jayant Bhatt, Deepa Dikshit, and Priti Kanthi. And it should be pointed out that while Thai names can seem funny to the English speaker, English names can be just as funny to Thais, depending on how they are pronounced (Thai is a tonal language, so there can be various ways of pronouncing a word). For example, according to this article at least, the name "Jim" sounds a lot like Thai slang for "vagina", while "Johnson" sounds like the term for "small penis".

Got some more names to share? I'd love to hear them.

Above: Terdsak Jandaeng. I dare you to tell him why his name is funny.


See also: Interesting Asian restaurant names

How to pull tea like a champion

Given that I struggle to do properly tarek the tea from 6 inches away without spilling it everywhere, this guy is totally my new hero.



He needs to do a collabo with these roti guys.

Even more Awesome Asian Ads: Thailand

Plenty more where this came from of course... here and here, for a start.

Still more Awesome Asian Ads - Thailand

My love of Thailand's quirky commercials knows no bounds. Particularly the voiceovers.






More here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.