After a fun filled day with the elephants we decided to spend our last evening in Chiang Mai on an organized street food tour. We met our guide on the main drag near the mote. Our guide, who originally came from a mountain town near the border of Myanmar, moved to Chiang Mai to work as a guide in 2014. He was able to speak the tribal language of his village, thai and english. He shared stories about his life in the village- members from his community had to climb down the mountain and make long treks into town to purchase delicacies like meat, so most of the time, villagers just ate a diet consisting of rice and tofu. They had no electricity or running water in his village and the winters were very cold. His experiences growing up had been very, very different from ours. We talked with our guide about growing up in the states. He couldn't believe some of our experiences, and before long took to the phrase, "oh my buddha" when something shocked him. It became the tag line for the evening and after a little while, all of us were "oh my buddha"-ing it.
Part of the tour was learning to order the dishes we were eating in thai. Mom, Dad, Candace and I each got a turn. Our first meal consisted of steamed rice in small wicker containers. Each of us got our own container and then we shared the communal plate of meat and vegetables. It was delicious. Dad was so excited to have white rice that he filled up on not one, but two containers. He must've forgotten that we were scheduled to eat for the next two hours straight.
At our next stall we ordered fried frog, which, you guessed it, came with white rice. Dad skipped the frog and instead indulged in another heaping portion of rice.
Our next stop was the cowboy hat lady, a famous street food cooker known for her tender meats and great style. Since we had already eaten from her earlier in the week, our guide decided to order meat from her and her brother (who had a stall next door) and let us compare the two side by side. Again, our dishes came with rice. By now, Stew was starting to get the trend and was realizing he wasn't going to be able to keep eating at this rate.
Our guide decided we needed a change of pace, so we moved on to dessert. Durian sticky rice with ginger tea. Durian is the fruit that is banned from all public transport routes, hotels and stores because of its stench-- it smells exactly like a sewer. Thais swear by it. Maybe mixing it with, you guessed it, rice, and condensed milk would make it more tolerable? We were given cups of ginger tea to wash it down. When I lifted my cup I noticed it was only a quarter full. After taking a big swig, I knew why. Damn, that was potent. Stew's face before and after pretty much says it all.
Next came dessert cups consisting of small jelly pods with different toppings. I didn't love the consistency, but the taste wasn't bad.
We were almost too full to function but our tour wasn't over yet. We hopped in the car with our guide and he drove us to a different part of town. We walked down a street without any tourists that was filled with stall after stall of thai food. Our guide warned us that farang shouldn't consume most of these foods because they are left out on the grills all day long and can make us sick since we're not used to that kind of cooking. He then asked us if we wanted to try anything.... ummm no thanks, i'd prefer not to get sick thank you very much.
He was incredibly excited to bring us by a liquor stall, which consisted of a folding table, shot glasses and multiple bottles of unmarked spirits. Thai whiskey is a local staple, so in order to complete our food tour, we had to try some. Candace, dad and I took shots and damn were they bad. It's a toss up as to whether dad's face was worse after the ginger tea or thai whiskey, but one thing's for certain: Stew wasn't going to be accepting any more liquids on this street food tour.
Last but not least we stopped at a dessert stall that sold miniature dough puffs with different fillings. They were hot and greasy, and filled with things like corn and carrots, but they sure were tasty.
We ended our tour with incredibly full bellies and a newfound appreciation for the thai street food culture.
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