Yesterday was another relaxing day here in Krabi.  I did a lot of reading as I was trying to keep my foot dry.  I was treated to another new local meal for lunch.  We had rice salad with chicken and chicken soup.



Pictured above is the rice salad.  You just mix all the stuff and eat.  It is kind of like fried rice except the rice if not fried.  It is just steamed rice that is mixed with anchovy sauce giving it the brownish color like fried rice.  It was okay.  I am not a huge fan of anchovy flavor.  That night I learned how to make Phad Si Eiw (my favorite noodle dish).  I learned that phad means fried and si eiw means soy sauce.  So Phad Si Eiw literally means fried soy sauce.  Anyways, my friend and favorite cook in Thailand, Pa Oy, taught me how to make it.  It is actually very easy (although let's see how good I can duplicate what she did).



Basically you just pan fry meat, an egg, noodles, and soy sauce.  I learned that the secret to the flavor comes from the soy sauce.  I never knew this, but apparently there is more than one kind of soy sauce.



These are 3 of the more commonly used types.  White, black, and regular soy sauce.  I also learned that they number the different types of soy sauce to make it easier to distinguish between them.  So if I like you or you are nice to me then maybe I will make Phad Si Eiw for you when I get home.  For dessert I tryed a local delicacy.



It wasn't as bad as it looked.  It is a cooked bee.  It tasted kind of like a nut.  The only bad part was feeling all the legs as you ate it.  I am just glad they didn't pull out a bag of roaches.  I think that would have been too much for me.  Thankfully I was able to wash the bee down with another local treat.



Homemade Thai style ice cream.  It was very good.  There was some kind of nut inbedded in the ice cream and you could tell from the texture that it was hand made.  This morning after breakfast the owner invited me to go shopping with her and the front restaurant cook (the same 2 ladies that took me to the market the other day).  This time we were going to what I would call a regular grocery store (for us in the USA at least).  I helped the ladies shop for food for the hotel restaurants.  They were also showing me all the things I would need for Phad Si Eiw and Lad Na (which I am going to be taught tonight - Lad Na is like Phad Si Eiw, but with a gravy on it).  While helping carry a heavy box of local beer to the cart I accidently kicked my toe into the wheel of the cart.  Of course I hit the exact spot that I cut the other day.  I just about fell on the floor in pain.  It felt like I hit the bone against the wheel.  I was in so much pain I could barely stand and when I look up at the ladies I see them laughing their heads off.  They thought it was the funniest thing ever.  So as I walked around the store limping I would look back to see the cook imitating me and limping too.  I have learned that she is a joker and has a great sense of humor.  I couldn't help, but laugh.  So even though we can't talk (she doesn't know English and I obviously don't know Thai) we still communicate through food and humor.  After shopping we went and had a traditional Chinese lunch of beef soups, roast duck, and roast pork.



The owner is on the right and the lady on the left is Pa Oy, the best cook in Thailand.  We always joke that I am going to bring her back to America as my souvenir so she can keep cooking me good meals.  She always tells me okay, but I need to match her salary that she gets now.  In all seriousness though, the owner takes such good care of her and her husband that I know she would never leave.  I know I wouldn't.  When we got back to the hotel I helped them carry all the groceries in and then I took the box of beer and starting walking towards the beach.  They all just stopped what they were doing and started laughing.  I really feel like I am truly getting to experience the local life here as much as an outsider can.  For that I will always be thankful.  Oh yeah and I almost forgot to my surprise the store we went to actually carried a small supply of Mexican food.  It was very expensive as it is all imported, but I was very surprised to see any Mexican food items at all.  On a sad note, my camera is having more problems now.  The camera keeps saying it is low on power even after I put in a freshly charged battery.  So either the camera is having some major problems or the battery is bad.  I just hope the camera will last me a few more weeks till I get home.  Luckily I don't think I will need to take to many more pictures.