RAW thai cuisine

Traveling RAW in asia is full of discoveries and deliciousnesses, the fresh fruit and vegetable markets in every city and village become a main destination and vegetarian and vegan restaurants pop up as wonderful surprises! (recipes below!)

everywhere it is possible to find PAK (greens) and spices to make salads, and enough fruit to boggle the mind... except in dabong, near the jungle in malaysia, where you can only find okra and watermelon if you get there too late for the pick up truck which serves the tiny market there.

the longer i travel and the more seasons i am privy to, the more fruits i discover! (with the help of jimmy, of course, who knows which mango is in season when and where). i had some amazingly rich and creamy, sweet and spicy durian in kota baru, and have yet to try the many many other varieties that are out there like the elusive Red Durian.

new favourite fruits are ~ SALAKs a nutty tangy fruit in a reptile-like skin; CEMPADAH like jackfruit with its green spikey lumpy POD-like shape but inside it is electric orange and the round goeey pod inside tastes like spicy sweet curry; tong dum mangoes with bright orange meaty sweetness (and 4-5 other varieties i've fallen in love with..); ROSE APPLE light and sweet and juicy and travels well...

much to my delight i've found many raw-friendly vegan restaurants!
in Kota Baru, Malaysia, at Muhibah Vegetarian Restaurant, the girls tried to explain to me that the oyster sauce was vegetarian, the duck was vegetarian, the fish ... until i realized they made MOCK meat with tofu and seitan and used mushroom sauce! the mayonaise for the salad was made with coconut milk and pineapple! and their little store sold braggs apple cider, psyllium husk, and a form liquid aminos raw soy sauce!;
Kuala Lumpur's Formosa veg(an) restaurant near chinatown had books on buddhism that you could take away with you after a custom-made meal of fresh veg including shitake mushrooms...
in Sawankhaloke where jimmy lives in Thailand, the local gwitiyu (noodle lady) who speaks NO english confusedly put together a PAK only bowl putting the greens in the hot water for only seconds to make a yummy bright green veg soup (what, no salt? no sugar? so msg? no dried shrimp? huhhh?)
in Pondicherry, the restaurant across from the ashram hostel combined cucumber, coconut, red onion with lime juice and masala and of course on every corner, there was a fresh juice stand...

and now i'm in Bangkok, and my favourite veg restaurant from last time, May Kaidee's, has home stays and cooking classes... sooo.. being the only participant on a sunday, May Kaidee and I experiemented with a RAW thai cuisine class

BANANA LEAF SALAD, Green PAPAYA SALAD, Issan and Peanut SAUCES uses cashews instead, SPRING ROLLS using Cabbage leaves or Nori, Glass noodle dish using bean sprouts as noodles, thai carrot salad, tom yam soup and tom kah soup (lightly warmed), EGGPLANT, COCONUT AND THAI HERB SALAD, Pumpkin Hummous.

Tangy Thai Carrot Salad or Wraps

handful of raw cashews
1 tomato, chopped
1 carrot, grated
coconut, grated (best to have a real coconut and just grate a handful of hard-ish "meat")
1 tblspoon ginger, sliced lengthwise

juice of 1/4 lime, 1 tblsp raw soya sauce (or braggs), sweetener: honey/agave nectar

crush the cashews in a bowl or a morter and pestle (sp?!), add the tomato, lime juice, soya sauce and sweetener and keep crushing/mixing the flavours together
add the carrot, coconut and ginger, mix together

use a cabbage leaf or nori sheet and use this as the filling
you can add coriander, sweet thai basil or mint
and/or a lettuce leaf or leafy green, mung bean sprouts

Rawing it on the Road
an easy raw salad for the road is chopped okra, tomato, red onion, lime juice, sweet basil and pak chii (coriander leaf) smushed into my little tiffin (indian metal tupperware) and eaten happily on buses & boats.

the raw coconut noodle soups that jimmy and have experimented with (and devoured!)are easier to make and eat, when sitting still - using the fresh coconut water as the soup liquid, the soft coconut meat as the noodles, thai basil, chopped greens and veg of the day, mung bean sprouts, lime for tang and maybe chilis for heat

sabai dee in bangkok

from the quiet and chilled vibe of the sea, to the dynamic multicultural, charming and colourful city of penang in malaysia to BANGKOK of all places. ON SONGKRAN, the out of control new years water festival, of all days.

after almost not surviving songkran, i have landed on my feet once again. whatever the warnings from friends and strangers, I DID NOT UNDERSTAND AT ALL WHAT anyone meant about staying away or simply embracing songkran, until i arrived. the taxi driver didn't even want to take me in to khao san road, where i had thought it would be convenient to stay (touristy, but all the travel agencies are there, as well as bookstores etc).

IT WAS MAYHEM. hoards of people on the backs of pickups with BUCKETS of water and HUGE WATER GUNS just ploughing through the streets soaking each other. vendors everywhere selling little hershey-kiss size balls of flour to put in water and the, smush on people's faces and say "kup khun khaa" (thank you). tons of young & hip thais wiggling through the packed streets... i arrive here with no guide book except the map i copied from the lonely planet at the airport bookstore, thinking i would stay in one of the "quiet" places near khao san road. no such thing - music blaring, tourists everywhere, it just didn't even LOOK like thailand. it made me feel lonely and i wondered why i wasn't by the sea. looking like it was about to rain, and me feeling hot and sweaty, i took a room at a place highly recommended in the lonely planet. NOT my scene. i felt shitty. but at least it was a clean room.

to make a long story short, i wondered why on earth i was in bangkok on a day when NONE OF THE TRAVEL agencies were open, there was mayhem noise and chaos everywhere and i just didn't want to be there. mustering up all my energies, i went for a walk to get out of there (it was like a mini-clausterphobic hell), and i walked and walked and walked the city streets and met people, and started to smile and said khap khun khaa (and i meant it) when nice people came and smushed my face gently with muck. i have NEVER seen any thing like this. it was like St. Jean Baptiste Day on st. viateur street but a quadrillion more people, and water, food, vendors and VERY LOUD MUSIC EVERYWHERE. the thais have a penchant for huge sound systems.

as i walked i literally stumbled upon my favourite veg place from the last time i was here - may kaidee 's vegetarian resto - she had moved! and she has a guest house! and she gives cooking lessons! and she's started a health food store! so i took A FABULOUS ROOM at her place - with teak furniture and floor, huge bed, two sides of windows, tons of room for yoga, super clean, quiet... and the next day i stumbled upon the most wonderful travel agency, ate bananas with the Ladies who laughed and did magic on the computer (i have secured a ticket to mexico), i found my 2 favourite bookstores, and finally finally, after nobody being able to tell me where to find a fresh fruit market (where do they buy their fruit?), i FOUND ONE PAR HAZARD and bought durian!

this wild ride in bangkok has given me the chance to make it here on my own - AND ENJOY it, too. i've only ever been here in transit, in a rush with jimmy as my guide. this is quite and incrdible city with all the contrasting dichotomies of big asian cities - pollution and parks, wide expansive busy streets and tiny little sois (alleyways), too many people and lovely friendly strangers....

having negotiated it on my own, finding beauty amid the chaos, i feel Sabai Dee... good, peace.... and ready for traveling alone north to chiang rai for a final chapter on the asian leg of freedom 35!

tripping out

as the speed boat zoomed and crashed over turquoise clear water, i COULD NOT BELIEVE THE COLOURS I WAS SEEING. coming toward D'Lagoon on the small Malay island of perentian, my breath was taken away, or did it quicken in excitement and anticipation? i don't even remember.

a tiny little inlet with a miniature white sand beach, surrounded by smooth sun-kissed bolders, tropical trees and a wide wide sky. the bolders hug a rugged shore which turn into a scottish highlands-like hill of small shrubby trees trimmed by the winds. tucked away behind the beach's coconut trees are a few little bungalows, a dorm and an open-air restaurant. this is where we would spend four days - on a kodachrome-coloured tropical island.

with our 4 boxes of fresh food procured meticulously at the kota baru market, including succulent mangoes and 4 durian, our guitar and bags, we settled into a small bungalow with a balcony just the right size for one of us to do yoga, and both of us to sit and eat, sing or simply look at the water.

it seemed to me that time just melted away. i had an experience floating in the sea that i've never had before - buoyant from the salt, my whole body seemed to be ON the water, and then twisting and turning horizontally i imagined myself a playful sea creature being caressed by the sea. joy! the water was warm and simply enveloped me, i felt surrounded and so calm.

we found the adam and eve beach, after a beautiful quiet barefoot walk through the forest accompanied by spontaneous bird calls, the surprised rustle of a harmless and very large iguana-like creature, and armies of determined black ants in strict rows climbing over roots (david suzuki says the whole world would fall apart if the ants suddenly disappeared, for all the space they take up). again, my breath was taken away! this very private beach looked like a picture - so perfect and still, with brillantly clear greeny turquoise water, white soft sand, bright green trees... yet i was there in person! lunch on the rocks, slipping into the sea, being naked and free....

and the same kind of slipping away seemed to be happening internally. subtle shifts in my body doing yoga, a new ease physically as well as on other levels. some things are just slipping away, certain old patterns and expectations are coming to light and then .. just not there anymore. recognizing parts of me that may have been so tired, dormant, and seeing them again come out - humour, muscles, energy -

one morning after jimmy and i ate mangoes i climbed onto one the big rocks facing sky and sea and just sat looking out, and then closed my eyes, looking in. not much to it, except I FELT I WAS REALLY THERE. no busy mind planning-planning, no heavy heart wondering-hoping, and muscles breathing and happy not stiff and hurting...