Ever since my sandal broke on Cheung Chau, I've had a bit of trouble walking around. Yesterday that trouble culminated with me stepping on glass. We were walking down a soi, which is a small street kind of like an alley, and it had a v-shaped indentation it its middle, serving as a gutter. I was walking and stepped on the incline, which caused my foot to slip out of my sandal. And it just so happened that right there was a soda bottle smashed to bits, so my foot slipped off my shoe and into a pile of glass. Ow!

Luckily we were right next to a 7-11, so I stopped and pulled the glass out of my foot and a nice man came over to make sure I was OK. Jason ran for some band-aids and quickly returned. Luckily too I've been carrying antiseptic wipes in my bag, so with a quick wipe, the foot was cleaned and a bandage was applied. The man proclaimed Jason a hero for getting the band-aids, then he admonished me for wearing bad shoes, and told me to go buy some better ones right away. And like that we were off we went again to see the sights, and I didn't even limp.

Today we visited the Jim Thompson House, a museum in the former home of an American architect who lived in Thailand for twenty-two years before he disappeared in Malaysia in 1967. The house is comprised of six traditional Thai houses that Jim Thompson moved from various parts of Thailand to Bangkok and reassembled in authentic style. It is filled with some incredible antiques that he collected during his time here, including some rare Buddhas from the seventh and eighth centuries.

The 100 baht (US$2.50) entrance fee included a 35 minute tour in English which highlighted the architectural twists Thompson made on his traditional Thai structure. Since Thai houses are built without nails and in panels, they are easy to break down and move by boat (so people could relocate to better farmland as necessary). Thompson reassembled his several small houses into one large Western-style house. He placed some of the panels backwards, so that the innate carving usually seen on the outside of the house could instead be appreciated by those on the inside. He mixed Western elements, such as glass chandeliers, with Asian antiques like temple paintings and Buddha statues. He also took Asian items and reworked them to create Western furniture, for example two mah jong tables pushed together to make a dining room table. (Thais traditionally sat on the floor to eat.) He also took small drums and turned them into lamps.

Alas, no pictures were allowed inside, so you'll just have to imagine it all (and look at the website). The whole place had such a lovely, airy, minimalist, tropical feel. It was gracious and understated, calming, and surrounded by lush gardens. If I were to live in Bangkok, this is the house I would want to live in. And seeing it made me sad that Jim Thompson isn't alive today. It seems like he would be a really interesting person to meet.

As Jason mentioned yesterday, we've been eating a lot of street food in Bangkok. At first I was a bit trepidatious, but with each item my courage increased. Everything was so yummy. So when we saw this man at the Aw Kaw Taw market pouring some liquid into what looked like a giant egg poaching pan, I wanted to try them out.

As I approached he said it was coconut, so we purchased a little container of them and sat down. They were amazing: warm and creamy, sweet but not cloying, and crispy around the edges because of the thin crepe-like shell. We wolfed them down, and returned later for more. Today I wanted them again but didn't see them at any of the street vendors. They are on my list for tomorrow though, and I will find them again.

As a change from all the words, here are three pictures from Bangkok.

From the water taxi in Bangkok, Thailand

In the Aw Kaw Taw market, Bangkok, Thailand

Floral floats, or Krathongs, for purchase on Loy Krathong Day, spotted by the river beneath the Skytrain at Saphan Taksin. You light them on this special day under the full moon and then float them away on the water. The Krathongs carry away your bad luck for the next year.

The best way to learn a new language quickly and for free: ride the subway!! I discovered this trick when I was in Berlin in October, 2001. It was my second trip to Germany but my first in nearly ten years. I didn't speak any German, nor did I have any idea even how to pronounce much. But I took the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn, and as we arrived at every station I listened to the announcement and looked at the corresponding name of the station. It's amazing how much you can learn by riding the public transport in one week. Not only did I learn the words for "exit", "left", and "right" but also how to pronounce a lot of place names in German.

So of course this trip, I've been listening very closely, first on the MTR in Hong Kong, and now on the Skytrain in Bangkok. And it really helps! I still can't speak any Cantonese, and my Thai doesn't even have "left" and "right" yet, but just hearing the way the sounds are strung together, and putting those sounds to a station stop, it really helps me understand the language a little better. Now if only there were a Skytrain station named, "Do you have sticky rice and mango on your menu?" I'd be all set!

Nearly everyone I've ever spoken to who's been to Thailand says, "Oh! When you go, you've got to get a Thai massage, they're AMAZING and like only five dollars!!!" So while we were in Hong Kong, as my feet swelled and hurt from so much walking and my backache strengthened from lugging my camera around all day, I told myself to be patient, to wait for Thai massage in Bangkok. All would be put right. Today we finally found a spot and asked for foot massage and Thai massage – nearly two hours of massage for 300 baht each, or ~US$7. You'd think I would have enjoyed it. You'd think I would be happy now. But no, if there's anyone who's such an over-thinker/worrier that she'd worry during a massage, that would be me!!

First, I've noticed I've been getting lots of little bruises on my arms and legs during the trip, which happens to me whenever I don't pay enough attention to what I'm eating. Plus I just bruise easily no matter what. So when the masseuse went to town on my feet and legs for the foot massage, all I could think was, "Oh no! I'm going to get more bruises!" This concern distracted me for quite some time, until she massaged near my kneecap, which prompted a string of "kneecap dislocation" scenarios in my brain, all ending with me in a strange Thai hospital having my kneecap re-located, while screaming in pain and trying to explain to Jason where I'd saved the electronic receipt for our travel health insurance on my laptop.

Then we moved from foot massage into another room for Thai massage. Again with the pain, again with my worries about bruises, until she started pushing and pulling my limbs. As she pressed the sides of my skull I thought about something I read once about how you can kill someone by pushing on the soft spot near their temple. What if she pushed there, by accident? How qualified was she, really, if they only charged $7?!

As she worked around the vertebrae of my neck, all I could think was: my neck is small! What if it's smaller than she realizes and she accidentally breaks it and I'm dead here on the mat while Jason is happily massaged and relaxed next door?! When she pulled my toe to crack it, I thought it might break. When she bent my back, I thought I'd pulled a stomach muscle. I was certain she'd torn my hamstring when she yanked me forward, but it managed to snap back into place when she released me. I just kept thinking about how I'd never run again, maybe never even walk! All because I was greedy for a Thai massage…

When it was over, she folded her hands and did a wai, a Thai bow, and thanked me. Amazingly I could still move. Even more amazingly, Jason was all smiles. "That was good," he said, as we made our way to the exit. I didn't say anything at all.

Though it was our first day in Bangkok, we dove right into the action by heading to the Baipai Cooking School for a half-day of Thai cooking classes. A friend of Jason's from Minneapolis recommended Baipai and I whole-heartedly second her recommendation! It was simply a wonderful experience.

As you can see on their web site, they offer five different schedules. I picked today because it featured my favorite Thai dish (at least favorite Thai dish eaten in America): fish cakes, or tod man pla, plus the old standby pad thai. The cooking school picked us up at our hotel, and soon we were donning our aprons and headed into the kitchen to learn how to cook Thai food!

Our first item was a dessert (because it had to chill) called tab tim grobb or "water chestnuts in coconut milk". Our translator and guide Mona told us it literally meant "crunchy ruby" in Thai due to the dessert's lovely red color and crispy texture. It was easy to prepare, and we learned how to prepare fresh coconut milk (see this photo of me using a traditional Thai "rabbit" for coconut grating). Grating and milking fresh coconut is very time consuming though, so unless I hire some prep cooks for my home kitchen, I'll be using the canned stuff.

Next we prepared tod man pla, aka Fish Cake or "Deep fried oily fish." The best part of making this was slapping the fish mixture into the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients. In this photo you can see Jason using his hands to mix it all together. No photos of the slapping, it required serious concentration to keep it from flying out of the bowl and splattering around the kitchen!

After we finished each dish, we took a break to sit down and eat it. We ate so much I was very full by the end of class. Here in the photo you can see my tod man pla. It was yummy! Also, I learned you can substitute other meats for the fish, like chicken or pork. I definitely plan to make this when I return home.

After fish cakes, it was on to tom kah gai, or "chicken 'n galangal in coconut milk soup," another one of my favorites! I learned that this soup is all about the galangal, tom kah means "boiling galangal" and then you add gai (chicken) or some other meat or fish to it. Galangal is related to ginger and you can see it with the crazy stalks in this photo of all the ingredients for the soup.

Here's my completed tom kah gai at my station. One of the great things about this class was that we each had our own station. So after Nam and Mona demonstrated how to prepare each dish (and gave us a sample!), we went to our stations and did it ourselves. There's nothing like doing it yourself to really learn how to make something.

Our final dish was the familiar "pad thai" or guay taew pad thai (noodle stir-fry Thai style). It, like everything we learned today, was straight-forward and simple. The complex flavors and depth of Thai food belie the ease with which it can be prepared, at least the dishes we learned today! In this photo you can see chef Nam — having cooked the noodles until they absorbed all the liquid — adding the eggs in the side of the wok. Once they're cooked, you fold the noodles back on top, and then incorporate the remaining ingredients. The result was the best pad thai I've ever tasted!

After we finished cooking our pad thai, we returned upstairs to eat it and to enjoy our now-chilled and ready to consume dessert of "crunchy ruby." And like that, our lovely class was over. 🙁 I didn't even manage to take a single picture of the facilities or our gracious hostess/guide/translator Mona.

It was a great class. Not only did I learn how to prepare some traditional Thai dishes, I also learned about new ingredients and I'm now inspired to incorporate some of the new flavors into the more traditional "American" dishes I like to prepare. And I can't wait to locate and buy Thai ingredients back home and recreate these meals again for dinner. My only wish? That I could go back every day for cooking classes at Baipai!

Details:
Baipai Cooking School
Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.baipai.com/

As of Nov. 15, 2005, half-day class was 1,400 baht, or ~US$34, including transportation to and from hotel

We're off tomorrow morning for Bangkok so two parting photos of buddhas for you from Hong Kong until I post again. First, from yesterday's walk along Hollywood Road in Hong Kong:

Then a self-portrait from today's trip to Lantau Island to visit the Po Lin Monastery and its awesome Big Buddha:

The hotel we're staying at in Kowloon has a lovely pool on its roof with views across the harbor to Hong Kong. And for whatever jet-lag-related reason I don't understand, we've been waking up around 6:30 AM every morning. So we've taken to heading to the pool for a nice morning swim. And it's lovely! I love swimming, and there's something especially nice about starting the morning that way [insert possible crazy explanation here about a new day being a rebirth and pool being like cozy womb, etc. etc. etc.]

Afterwards, we head downstairs for our complimentary morning breakfast buffet which is amazing. I've been eating a huge plate of tropical fruits every morning while I enjoy a nice strong cup of coffee and read the South China Morning Post. Looking across the water at the skyscrapers, watching the boats pass, enjoying my meal and my dining companion's company, it's been the nicest way to start the day of any vacation I can recall.

After yesterday morning's post, I went on a mango splurge day, or as I'll forever remember it, "Day of Five Mango Happiness" (to give it a phony Chinese translation spin). First I had a huge plate of mangos for breakfast. Then at lunch we all shared two mango desserts (more on that meal to come). Then while walking around Soho we stopped at a mishmash snack stand — mishmash because in addition to the Nepalese dumplings we had, they offered fish and chips, hamburgers, pizzas, and assorted other things — where I had a mango lassi. Finally atop the Peak, we enjoyed ice cream cones, and what flavor did I order? MANGO! Mango ice cream rules, and when I get home to the USA and get an ice cream maker and find a good place to buy mangos, I'm going to make mango ice cream! Can I squeeze in six mangos today, our final day in Hong Kong? Is today perhaps "Mango Ultimate Happiness Day"?! We shall see, my friends, we shall see…