After a quick breakfast of rice porridge with various toppings, we headed West to view the famous ruins of Wat Mahathat and other temples. Once it became too warm to wander in the sun, we pointed our vans North toward Si Satchanalai to dive into the local culture.
Sukhothai Historical Park and So Forth
I’ve visited these ruins before, twice, but their scale still amazes me. From the enormous Buddha images to the expanse of the grounds, even without walls or roofs, you can see that the original buildings were awesome. I should post some photos…
The Road to Si Satchanalai
On today’s itinerary, you need to be at least a little bit interested in weaving done on a traditional wood loom using thread died by hand following ancient practices using natural sources. But first, we must stop for lunch. In a nondescript corner shop, we find delicious bowls of hot and sour Sukhothai style noodles featuring several ingredients specified by a particular shop atop a pile of rice noodles. My first bowl included Asian broccoli and thin slices of red-cooked pork; my second bowl substituted lettuce and roasted pork belly.
We rolled up to the nearby Gold Textile Museum, and visited the woman weaving at the open air loom behind the building. I’m pretty sure she was here in both 2008 and 2010. I bought a few colorful cotton scarves as possible gifts.
Mud-Washed Cotton
At a large national textile fair, Kasma learned about a nearby village where they soak their threads and weavings in the local mud. This gives the finished cotton fabric a softness comparable to wool. Many of the garments that could have fit me appeared to be purely decorative (such as vests that don’t close in the front), and I didn’t really need the larger blanket-size weavings (so $50 was hard to justify). One trip member volunteered to work the loom, and created about half an inch of fabric. Switching between black and white thread, and between right foot down, no feet down, left foot down, no feet down, it didn’t seem mechanically difficult, but for a complex pattern where you need to keep the differently died parts of the thread lined up just right, you would really need to develop a good touch. If one is interested, you can come for a “home stay” and learn all of the steps of the process hands on. I think the price was quite modest, but getting to this remote village would be a challenge.
The last stop of our tour was the home of a man who invented a hand exercise toy. There are two parallel sticks with a wooden spacer about 75% of the way down. When you squeeze the bottoms, an acrobat suspended on a cord at the top performs tricks. It takes several tries to make this work, but then it allows for many variations.
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In addition to weaving and crafts, they showed us a small outdoor kitchen where they make tender rice noodle crepes. Three steamers are fitted with tight muslin tops and placed over a strong fire. On the top of the first steamer, you break an egg, and then cover it so to keep the steam circulating over the egg. On the second, you ladle out a thin rice flour batter that has been seasoned with onions and presumably other less visible ingredients. You spread it over the fabric and then cover to steam. Then you gather some fillings for the crepe — since I was the guinea pig being directed in the kitchen, this was all a bit of a blur so I don’t recall the fillings — and gently place those atop the steaming noodle. Meanwhile, you ladle some broth into a large soup bowl, and add some bean sprouts (I think). To form the crepe, you use a flat wooden stick (which is standing by in a jar of water to keep it moist) and gently lift the edge of noodle from each of its four sides (it’s round, so think of the four compass directions) and flop it toward the center. You scoop the noodle into the soup using a large spatula or wok shovel, and follow that with the steamed egg. Last but not least, seasonings such as white pepper go on top. I think someone might have taken photos or video of this.
Dinner in Town
After a brief stop at the hotel to change into mosquito resistant clothing and don repellent, we headed to an open air restaurant in town. I’ve heard of eating by candlelight, but there really was almost no light, so I had to put on a headlamp (conveniently found in the front flap of my weighty backpack). Although we are nowhere near the sea, the restaurant’s seafood is outstanding. A hot and sour soup with mixed seafood arrived first, followed by a mixed seafood salad with Chinese celery, mixed vegetables stir fried with a light oyster sauce, crabs stir-fried with copious quantities of cracked black peppercorns, a whole crispy fish with a sweet chilli sauce, and squid with Thai basil. In some dishes, cleaning white cloves of garlic looked just like one of the main proteins, so in the dim light, it was quite easy to bite into several of them. Extra deodorant might be needed tomorrow (not to mention extra toothpaste tonight).
There was a birthday in our group tonight, so we surprised him with a card and a cake. Although the cake was very light and spongy and would be considered undersweetened back home, it somehow seemed just right after this spicy, garlicky meal. Happy Birthday!
[PHOTOS COMING]
Tomorrow we check out early and continue North to Mae Rim, where the picturesque Mae Sa Valley resort awaits. And along the way, more temples and more noodles.
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