Time in country: 37 days (10 days in January for diving, then majority of time Feb.- March)
Money spent: approximately $1600 USD each
Currency: Baht
Conversion Rate: 30 Baht to 1 USD
Food:
First off, Thailand is a place with many different, delicious dishes. Overall, we agreed that the country has the best food.....perhaps in the WORLD (at least from where we've been)!
Noodles and rice are everywhere and are usually in some type of fried dish. It should be mentioned that in Thailand fried doesn't mean battered and deep fried, it simply means cooked in a wok with hot oil. There were thin glass noodles, a thicker rice noodle like what's in Pad Thai, and wide, fat noodles like in Pad See Ew. Then, mixed with veggies and/or meat.
Curries are popular as well and are made from pastes which are ground down herbs, spices, peppers, etc with a mortar and pestle. The paste is usually mixed with coconut milk, veggies, and meat in combinations depending on which dish is being cooked. There's red curry, massaman (yellow) curry, panang (peanut) curry, and green curry. The curries have different levels of spice depending on the peppers used in the paste.
There are also various soups, the most abundant and most obvious to us was the Tom Yum soup. Traditionally very spicy and made with shrimp. There was also coconut milk soup (not spicy), and plenty of other soups to choose from.
If you've read any of our Thailand posts you'd have heard about the infamous banana pancakes (also called rotee in certain areas). These are basically a crepe-like dough slapped around on a metal surface, filled with bananas (or sometimes mangoes or even egg if you want), and topped with various choices of toppings- chocolate (our favorite), honey, cinnamon, peanut butter, nutella, vanilla, etc. Delicious.
As in the Philippines and other countries, fruit shakes are abundant and available on every street corner. Great afternoon snacks :-).
Another drink we liked in Thailand was the Thai tea. It's red tea, condensed milk, and sugar. Yup, you guessed it, not healthy. But, a nice treat every so often.
Places Visited (in order): Koh Tao, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, Phuket, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Koh Samui
Random Thoughts:
In just about every city that had sewers and trash sitting out on the streets there were rats. Matt jumped and screeched like a small child any time we'd see a rat, or any time Kristin would mess with him and tell him there was a rat! They were pretty gross.
If you ever wanted a custom tailored suit, shirt, dress, etc; just take a stroll down the street in any touristy Thailand area. There were an abundant amount of tailor shops, usually run by Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese, Burmese, etc, where you could get custom made clothing for pretty cheap prices.
Every town, no matter how big or small, has a Buddhist Temple, known as a Wat. They are very detailed, ornate, and interesting to walk around. The dominant religion in Thailand, 95% of the population, is Buddhism.
Tourism is HUGE in Thailand. At times, it was a little too much with all the tourists, but it's understandable given that the country has so many great things to offer. Luckily, there's pretty good infrastructure to accommodate all the tourists.
If you don't pass by a restaurant/bar, custom tailor, or tourist agency, then most likely you're passing by a massage place. They are ALL over and offer great massages for cheap prices. Foot massages for $7/hour or an oil massage or Thai massage for $10/hour. Great addition to any vacation.
The national symbol of Thailand is the elephant. It has become a symbol of fortune, and is widely used for decorative purposes.
Another tid-bit we learned is that before a movie at the movie theaters the national anthem is played with a quick video and everyone stands while it's being played. The national anthem is also played in the morning and in the evening at the bus and train stations and again everyone stops what they're doing and stands while it's played.
Thailand has an extensive train system connecting most of the country. This is a fairly comfortable and affordable way to travel around different parts of the country given how huge it is. A 12 hour overnight train ticket for a sleeper train costs roughly $30 or so.
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