Thai Cuisine

Although the morning was a bit slow at work today, the afternoon brought a big assignment for all three of us, so the day sped by.

The most interesting part of my day was lunchtime. We met the fifth intern for the first time (she’s nice!), and went together to a place nearby that serves rice with different toppings. I chose two that looked interesting without having any idea what they were. When the woman gave me my plate, she pointed to her nose and said “Spicy!” I laughed, thinking she was exaggerating since Thai people typically think non-Thais can’t handle spicy foods. My first bites were quite tasty. One dish was fish in a coconut curry sauce and the other was roughly ground pork or beef. However, in a minute or two I realized the woman hadn’t been kidding about the spice—I don’t think I’ve ever had food that was spicier! My face turned red, I cried, I drank all the water in sight, and my tongue still burned. Even though I hadn’t had much breakfast and was hungry, I couldn’t finish my food. Instead, I got a scoop of mango sorbet next door to cool off my poor tongue.

After work, the other interns showed me the second firm building up the street, where the other two interns who aren’t in the IP department work. Then we parted ways for the evening. Hungry after my lack of lunch, I found dinner just a block away from my apartment. Although I had thought I was eating at a food stall, I was taken to a table behind the cooking area and given an extensive menu. I decided to go with the flow, even though sit-down restaurants are typically several times more expensive than food stalls. However, the menu was quite reasonable, with many items priced at only 30-50 Baht, about the same cost as a meal from a food stand. “Fancier” items did cost up to several hundred Baht, but I decided to stick with the dishes around 100 Baht or less. I ended up ordering a traditional favorite—tom yum soup. I was served a huge bowl of soup with a small bowl of steamed rice and a bottle of water. A guy there had another of those great Thai jobs: pouring water from my water bottle into my glass. If Thailand was a tipping country, I would have been tempted to give him a huge tip, just to see his reaction.

Dinner was 98 Baht, or around 2 or 3 dollars. My pocketbook loves Thailand!