Little Altars Everywhere

One of the delights of strolling around Chiang Mai is coming across the spirit houses that stand outside many homes and businesses. These little dollhouse-like structures--all different--house guardian spirits who are kept in a good mood (like anybody would be) through frequent offerings of food and fresh flowers. Here are a few Rie and I found:

 I love how the person who made this offering thoughtfully provided straws for the soda and the coconut. (MK)

(MK)

 This one has a spray of fresh orchids among the lit sticks of incense. (KK)

(MK)

(KK)

 

(KK)

Then there are the prayer offerings at spots like the city's north gate:

(KK)

or a banyan tree along the moat:

(KK)

 

(KK)

or my favorite, to these very cheerful figures in front of a clothing store:

(KK)

(KK)

Seemingly Fearless: A Tribute to My Travel Buddy

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

As I write this, Rie is somewhere over the South China Sea, on her way back to the U.S. to visit her daughter, move in with her boyfriend and interview for a new job. I wish she could have stayed on in Chiang Mai so we could share the final weeks of this amazing year of travel. But I understand her reasons for heading home, and 10 ½ months on the road together is pretty darn good.

In fact, it’s been a fantastic time, and it wouldn’t have been half as much fun without my big sister. So here’s a toast to Rie, who helped keep the cheers level high despite flat tires, collapsing ceilings, would-be purse snatchers, and the big hairy rat in Indira Gandhi International Airport. Together, we traveled on all-night buses, crowded colectivos and shaky taxi-brousses. We shared power outages, water outages, a plague of frogs—and several 30 Rock festivals when the challenges of travel temporarily got the better of us. 

Kuélap, Peru

Cataracta Gocta, Peru

 

Machu Picchu, Peru

Rie turned out to be a great spotter of distinctive potato chip flavors—Tomato Mischief in India, Nori Seaweed and Hot Chilli Squid in Thailand—and of distinctive cross-cultural fashions, like the super-cool dude strutting with his posse through the gare routière in Madagascar, wearing dark glasses and an “I [heart] Ben Affleck” t-shirt.

Huayna Picchu, Peru

Mirador de Patagonia, Punta Arenas, Chile

Isla Navarino, Chile

 

Parc national de L'Isalo, Madagascar

I intended to get trip t-shirts made up for us featuring a phrase from an email one of her friends sent early in the trip. He’d been reading the blog and said something about how “seemingly fearless” we were. ‘If only he knew!’ we thought. By then we were all too familiar with our own and each other’s recurring anxieties, from missing planes to getting robbed to running out of toilet paper. But together we managed to get past all those fears and keep the adventure going.

Gaborone, Botswana

Agra, India

Agra, India

We discovered and got past some differences too. One of us considers yogurt and granola a perfectly acceptable supper, one of us doesn’t. One of us thinks going out to hear Thai people sing country music is a great idea, one of us doesn’t. One of us thinks that if the cab is coming at 7:30, we should be out front at 7:25, and the other one doesn’t want to put down her coffee mug until 7:29. But the spats have been few, far between and minor, and after nearly a year of hard travel, there’s no doubt that we’re still friends. 

Varanasi, India

Thanks for believing we could make this incredible journey, Rie. Thanks for making it happen and for making it so much fun. And thanks for identifying all 56,743 species of yellow flower we encountered along the way. Any time you want to do this again, I’m up for it.

I’ll make sure we have lots of T.P.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

 

(KK)

Rie's African Adventure Part Two: Swaziland

Rie continues her account of her solo travels last summer.
 

Saying farewell to Namibia, I flew to the Kingdom of Swaziland, a small country (about the size of Connecticut) surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique. The people are friendly and peaceful with no history of racial tensions. It was the perfect place to unwind, do some hiking, and see the countryside. I based myself in the Ezulini Valley, a beautiful, green valley set between Swaziland's two largest cities -- Manzini and Mbabane.

I first visited Mantenga Village, a living museum with traditional beehive huts, dancing and drumming.

I stopped by House on Fire, a wonderful outdoor theater/gallery/restaurant/art space.

I got to see white rhinos at Mkhaya Game Reserve.

I hiked up ancient Sibebe Rock and in the solitude of Malolotja National Preserve.

And, finally, I was fortunate to attend the Umhlanga Reed Dance. Once a year, young maidens from all over the country come to the royal compound to pay homage to the Queen Mother. This year 80,000 made the journey. During the week-long event, they stay in make-shift camps and cut reeds from nearby fields. On the day of the dance, they gather in groups from their villages and form a long, long line. Led by members of the royal family -- easily identified by the red  feathers in their hair -- they make their way, singing and dancing, to Lobamba to present the reeds to the Queen Mother. The girls are traditionally topless, and don't wear much else -- short skirts, colorful sashes and other acoutrements. Despite the cold drizzle, everyone seemed to be having a most wonderful time.

(MK)

Thai Farm Cooking School

Yesterday we spent the day learning a few simple, fun-to-make Thai dishes. Benni, our instructor at the Thai Farm Cooking School, took us first to the Ruem Chok market in Chiang Mai.

 

 We picked up a few essential ingredients there, including palm sugar 

and chili paste made with tamarind.

Then off we went to the green countryside and the organic farm where the cooking school is. Benni introduced more ingredients as she showed us around the farm.

kaffir lime leaves

holy basil

galangal, or Siamese ginger

Thai parsley

turmeric

and spring onions, which for some reason were hilarious.

Then it was mortar and pestle time. Our classmates--from the U.K., the Netherlands and Brazil--were a friendly and enthusiastic group.

 I made green curry paste and Rie made red.

Green curry paste: green chili, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime peel, hot chilis, garlic, shallot, spring onion bulb, Thai ginseng, roasted cumin seeds, roasted coriander seeds.
Red curry paste is just the same, except that it includes dried red chilis instead of green ones.

Then it was into the kitchen and time to make soup, Tom Yam with shrimp for me, vegetarian coconut milk soup for Rie.

 

Tom yam soup: hot chilies, mushrooms, lemongrass, onion, galangal, tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, Thai fish sauce, brown sugar, Thai chilli paste, shrimp, spring onion, coriander, salt, Thai parsley, water.

 Remember those curry pastes we so strenuously pounded? Now it was time to put them to good use and make (naturally) curry. Mine was green curry with chicken.

 

Green curry with chicken: green curry paste, bitter eggplant, sweet eggplant, onion, chicken, brown sugar, Thai fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, sweet basil, coconut milk, water.

 And Rie's was red curry with tofu.

 

Red curry with tofu: red curry paste, sweet eggplant, bitter eggplant, onion, tofu, brown sugar, Thai fish sauce (or veggie alternative), kaffir lime leaves, sweet basil, coconut milk, water.

Next up, chicken with basil for me and some of the others,

 

Chicken with basil: chicken, soy oil, garlic, long beans, hot chilies, holy basil, Thai fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, onions, water.

tofu with cashew nuts for Rie.

Tofu with cashew nuts: tofu, roasted cashew nuts, carrots, onions, roasted and dried chilis, spring onions, mushrooms, soy oil, salt, brown sugar, water, Thai fish sauce and oyster sauce (or veggie alternatives).

Isn't it time for lunch yet?

Mmmm, yes. We were all quite pleased with our creations. We ate and ate and ate and then lolled about for a while gazing at the lotus.

Then it was back into the kitchen for part II--appetizers and desserts! I figured you shouldn't go to Thai cooking school without learning how to make pad Thai.

Pad Thai: rice noodles, mung bean sprouts, tofu, egg, pickled white radish, roasted peanuts, tamarind juice, brown sugar, Thai fish sauce or soy sauce, spring onion, dried shrimp, chili powder, soy oil, salt, garlic.

Rie opted for another Thai standard, spring rolls.

 

Spring rolls: carrot, cabbage, onion, mung bean sprouts, glass noodles, tofu, salt, pepper, spring roll sheets, soy oil, coriander, brown sugar, soy sauce. Dipping sauce: red chili, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, garlic, flour, water.

And for dessert, we picked two easy but delicious treats--bananas in coconut milk and mango sticky rice.

Bananas in coconut milk: coconut milk, water, palm sugar, bananas, pandanus or vanilla bean.

Mango sticky rice: steamed sticky rice, coconut milk, mango, palm sugar, salt, pandanus or vanilla bean.

When it was time to take the truck back to Chiang Mai, we were all in a well-fed stupor. But we were only too glad to take away some leftovers--and recipe books so we can practice on you all when we get home. (KK)