Notre Jardin: Trat, Thailand |
Just as Candide said, "...mais il faut cultiver notre jardin." The French novella 'Candide' by Voltaire has always been a fun read but the last line has stayed with me as a versatile metaphor. We must cultivate our garden. The garden is such a wonderful way to express ourselves by the simple fact that it is living and growing and needs care at all times. This blog is an expression of how I have seen my time in Thailand through food. Cultivating a relationship with food has brought me friends and insights of Thai culture that I hope to share with my readers. Bon Appétit! |
Our last meal at our favorite vegetarian place. Favorite is a bit weak on expressing how much we adored the foods and the friendships we found at this little place. Needless to say, the colors and smells are greatly missed and the people who worked there are now the best examples of Thai people we know.
Dragon Fruit!
Kanom Jin/Jeen. Thai curry that is distinctively sweet and exceptionally spicy. Our new favorite spot to eat- “The Vegetarian Restaurant” for lack of an actual name. Our friends make two meals a day so there’s little choice and that’s half the pleasure! Recommended by Serge the French book-keeper, it is some of the best food in Trat. I would venture to say the nicest people in Trat, but this city is filled with generous friends so that’s a hard statement to make. In any case, I hope to post more pictures of the art these folks call food.
The School campus is beautiful. My school is officially called Tradsanserwittayakom School but we like to shorten it up a bit Trat San Sern is a host of several elegant orchids amongst almost 800 rowdy students. On Wednesdays all the students dress up in boy and girl scout uniforms and it reminds me of some dystopian novels, however the reality of Thai uniforms lend no resemblance to The Giver or any of those novels. Anyways, hope you enjoy some pictures of my school!
Koh Chang, literally-“island elephant”
and we all spent a good amount of time pondering how did the elephants get here?
Even though its still rainy season, we enjoyed clear and hot days with some amazing sunsets.
Wai Kru Day. Students made flower arrangements to give to teachers and school leaders. This morning, there was a procession of students respectfully handing these beautiful pieces of art to their teachers. A group of Thai students played the traditional instruments and it was all very very different from home.
Rambutan. Known is Thai as “Ngoh” which uses the impossible ng sound. But its the fruit season and rambutans are abundant.
Mangosteen. Sweet with a sly taste of sour. Similar to Kiwi. This Thai fruit is hailed as the The Queen of Fruit. The nodes on the bottom indicate the number of pieces that each Mangosteen will offer. Quite a little spark of nature’s genius.
In the back of our neighborhood there is a beautiful traditional Thai house. It is all wood, which I presume is teak. The edgings are my favorite as well as the little mailbox. The house is new but the style is very Thai and very traditional.
After watching Future of Food, I was curious about organic farms in Thailand. A quick search pointed me to this website which has English descriptions. I’m super excited to search for this brand in the stores.
