Month 9: Thailand — living on $11.25 USD/350 Baht per day (food, utilities, lodging)
Our view from the village
My team of six plus Mam, our translator, lived in three small homes in a rice field village in Mae Ai (three hours north of Chiang Mai near the Burma border). Ashley Sisk and I lived with a couple and their 12-year-old daughter in a two-bedroom home. Jo Linda, Alys, and Mam lived with a single mother and her son, and Mark and Wes lived with a mother and her son. We ate breakfast and lunch at our respective host families’ homes, and ate dinner together as a team at Emmi’s father’s home. (Emmi was the main ministry contact for three of our five teams in Thailand).
Ashley and I lived here!
Alys, me, Jo, and Ashley with our translator and host families!
(Mark and Wes were in the hospital at the time).
Ashley and I ate breakfast and lunch with May Dang and Paw Long at a dinner table, Alys and Jo Linda ate on the living room floor by themselves, and Wes and Mark ate by themselves at a table in the front yard. As a team, we ate dinner at outdoor tables underneath the front porch of Emmi’s Dad’s house.
Breakfast and lunch with May Dang and Paw everyday!
Dinnertime at Emmi's Dad's house!!
Hangin' out after dinner
The “Thai” style of communal eating involves putting the main dishes in the middle of the table and eating straight from them (i.e., everyone double-dips over and over and over). Everyone starts with a bowl of white or sticky rice and then adds food from the main dishes to their bowls (regardless of already using their eating utensil). They mix one to two pieces from the main dish in their rice, eat them, then go back to the main dish to restart the whole process. Interesting, but definitely not my style.
Some of our host families eating dinner after we've eaten
Drinks:
Bottled water
Southeast Asian Fruit:
and I don't know the name of the red ones!
We also ate longan, green mangos, watermelon, custard apples, and sweet tamarinds!!!!
Breakfast:
(baby corn, cauliflower, peas, and pork)
White rice + fried pork + broccoli and tomato stir-fry
snap pea, onion, tomato, and pork stir-fry
squid, octopus, and shrimp soup
(baby corn, peas, cauliflower, onions, and pork)
(they actually aren’t bad … the wings give them a nice crunch!)
Want to see me eat a cricket?!?! … http://vimeo.com/56220361
celery and scrambled eggs + spicy sauce
(photo not available)
White rice + veggie egg omelet + potato and chicken red curry soup
At first, it was not appetizing to eat pork, veggies, and rice for breakfast, but somehow I acclimated, and I actually thoroughly enjoy veggie stir-fry for breakfast!
Lunch:
pepper, lime, sugar, and red pepper seasonings
red curry veggie and chicken soup
(photos not available)
Fried pork + white rice + stir-fry veggies
(broccoli, onions, tomatoes, and pork)
Chicken and noodle soup
Dinner:
scrambled egg with some sort of green veggie
(photos not available)
White rice + fried egg + pork and chopped onions
White rice + red curry chicken and veggie soup + super spicy leaf condiment + snap pea, carrot, cauliflower, and pork stir-fry
White rice + beans sprouts and tofu + cashew chicken stir-fry
White rice + cooked cabbage, tomatoes, and ground pork + tomato, onion, bamboo, red pepper, and chicken soup
White rice + fried, scrambled egg + bamboo, ground pork, water chestnut, onion, and carrot soup
Snacks:
We bought snacks at this local corner store
Roasted acorn-like nuts
Sweetened rice cakes
Fried bananas (reminds me of the fried foods at the State Fair of Texas)
Fried larvae (these aren't bad either!)
P.S. I loved Thai food … flavorful and spicy! Although traditional Thai food is incredibly spicy, we had the option of adding the spicy sauces, if we so desired to burn our digestive tract! Also, we were guaranteed veggies each day … thank you, Lord!
