Saturday 26th August

Thursday 24th August 

Thailand is a land of very diverse cuisines, without looking outside of it own borders. But we all have our favourites and, the polar opposite, foods we really dislike. 

Coriander, a staple ingredient in Thai cuisine, is one of those tastes/flavours that polarises people.

It's difficult, and relatively expensive, to get a dish here in Thailand that doesn't have coriander, in one form or other, in it. 

Much the same goes for chili (พริก - phrik, pronounced as pri). There is a term in Thai (ไม่พริก -mâi phrík pronounce mai pri) which translated literally means "no chili" and is often used by farangs (westerners) that feel they have learnt a little Thai and can get a message across to the Thai wait staff or street vendor they are ordering food from. 

From our experience this term is most often simply ignored or the meal you are eventually given  is taken down a notch, from 10 - being "It's going to blow your head off AND set your arse on fire as it exits"- to a 7 - being a "It might hurt, a bit, if you're a weak gutted farang, but we need to give it some flavour." 

Following is something that we came across a few soi (streets) from us

Take a look at the menu below and you will understand that no is definitely
NO

It looks really cute and, I think, it belies the nationality it is intended to, and does, serve

Just like real food, with the interesting parts missing.
A lady we met later on described Russian cuisine, perhaps a little harshly, as "meat and potatoes". 
You really needed to see the look on her face to understand the level of  disdain in which this was said.

At this point I should mention that it looks and feels like the Chinese have well and truly retreated as the major tourist force here in Hua Hin and they have been replaced by what appear to be even greater numbers of Russians. 

There are a lot of Russians and an ever increasing number of Thai websites and store signs have a lot of Cyrillic and very little, or no, Cāngjié (aka kanji / Chinese characters). 

I think the Russians stand out more than other European because they were seldom seen 

or heard in the more popular tourist/travellers place I hade been to in the past. 

Having said that though I remember the Russians making their presence felt in Bali,

 in no shy way, a far back as 2010.

I imagine that now they are both wealthier and have good reason to get out of Russia so why, not go to places that are warm, cheap and will welcome their rubles, as long as they're converted into useable funds.

Many of us long for the foods of our home so let's not be "beating on" anyone as many Aussies are known to become feral without the occasional feed of Vegemite toast.

The Italians though have influenced taste buds globally.

Take a look below .... 

 The people of Puglia would have a good chuckle over this, I'm sure.

This is our local pizza shop and this guy is looking at which type of pizza he is going to have.
Seems reasonable until you take into account that it's 34°C, 85% humidity
and he's standing next to an oven that is cooking pizzas at 400°C.
To each their own.

I have friends that have travelled to Japan and told me they disliked Japanese food but they had thankfully found a great Italian restaurant that served them up the best Italian pasta they had ever had.
I have other friends that seem to always look for Italian eateries as their staple "go to" wherever they travel to. 

Italian food seems to be the most sought cuisine by non-Italians when traveling to any country, aside from Italy, than any other.. I have no idea why, as it's not that good. 😉

 

Friday 25th August

We've been here nearly two weeks and Tiz decided we should get really adventurous and eat out, as in at a local Thai eatery. By way of explanation I should point out that the "adventurous" part comes from us having established well and truly, in our 3 month visit in 2019, that Tiz's gut and typical Thai food and/or typical Thai eateries, and I refer to both of those being in Thailand, are very unlikely to provide an overall pleasant experience.

However, she suggested it and, although reluctant, I agreed. 

We chose Lung Ja Seafood , located in the road which the Hua Hin Night Market is run.

Pad thai with prawns and morning glory

Black pepper crab

Rock lobster
 🎶Everybody's rockin' , Everybody's fruggin',
 ...... Rock lobster, Rock lobster🎶
Sorry, I couldn't resist 🤣

The fruit, which always means
"OK, you've finished you meal and now it's time for you pay the bill and get out."
Except that we hadn't finished. Where's my scallops?!  

Scallops, as a post dessert treat 😒

Despite Lung Ja's getting the best overall score from various review sources it's reputation is not really backed up by the reality.

It's a typical seafood eatery for Hua Hin but nothing about it is outstanding.

The seafood is all fresh, which it should be, so nothing special there.

The beer was cold, which I guess is sort of special for Thailand.

The staff are quick at getting your order but we didn't get all the dishes we ordered until we reminded them of it. No apology offered.

The food was nice enough but all the delicate flavours of scallops, prawns and rock lobster are lost amongst all the typically strong Thai spices. That's not the fault of the cooks, who are, without argument, great at what they do and hard working, but you should know that "delicate" or "subtly spiced" this food is not.

Maybe a whole fish with strong flavour is the best choice here.

Prices are  reasonable for the quantities, by Australian standards.

Put them on your list of places to try but don't set your expectations too high.

Tiz was happier with her choice - the pad thai and rock lobster - than I was with mine - black pepper crab and scallops - AND she also had a longneck Leo beer! 

Overall, it wasn't bad.

On the way down to the bus we came across a stall, because the night market was running, that sells a  peanut brittle and coriander ice-cream crepe

and it comes with a crispy thin biscuit, called a tako,

with a sprinkle of chili on it

The idea of wrapping plain (not vanilla, simply plain) ice-cream into a crepe with crushed peanut brittle and coriander and pairing it with a thin very well toasted chili sprinkled biscuit seems very odd, but it works. 

After that very interesting dessert we hopped onto a songthaew (50 cent bus)

And here we have a big ad for cannabis. 

They deliver!