My first Thai Buddhist temple & Ao Nang evening shift

So far on my journey I have not yet ‘templed out’ as I still want to visit Thai and Japanese sites as well and see how the culture is reflected in each one. I was only a 45 min walk from a prominent one southeast of Ao Nang beach. It was set back away from the main Street and immediately felt the serenity as I walked towards this impressive structure which is also an academic place of learning for the Buddhist monks. So peaceful and nice to sit amongst the decorative relics and burning musk incense sticks. You basically have to immerse yourself in these shrines of worship to appreciate them. I always come away quite relaxed and chilled out so much that I was ready for an early afternoon siesta on the beach followed by a swim. Others may prefer a more hands-on therapeutic Thai massage and there’s a lot of venues to choose.

Before returning to the hotel I visited a local nursery and had a great chat with a kindred spirit who owned it. We shared photos of each other’s garden and I told her about Australian plants when I worked in an Adelaide Hills nursery in the early 80’s. Some of the plants here I expect would grow in far North Queensland and possibly down to New South Wales, like avocados and mangos.

Thai nursery

Thai traffic lights

Thai family SUV - no wonder the fatalities are high

Demolition Thai style

So back to the hotel for a shower and cleanup then off in my evening outfit for a meal. I noticed a restaurant the previous day that was a Pad Thai specialist but very cheap at street food prices. Pad Thai is almost a national dish in Thailand so there’s plenty of variation compared to what I learnt to cook back in Canberra. A work colleague’s Thai wife offered 1 to 1 private cooking courses on Saturday mornings and as it happened is my equal top favourite cuisine along with Indian. She was very firm but patient with her guidance and invited her three Thai middle-age women friends for lunch as well - I was the cook - no pressure then? So I learnt how to cook an authentic non-western version of Pad Thai. When I eat spicy, salty or curries I always crave for something dairy-based to balance the palette. A mango or banana yogurt drink always works for me.

Catatonic tourist

Ao Nang

I arrived at the restaurant and was directed to a small table for one you could say and started drinking a complimentary juice. A family of five from Finland on their winter break needed more seats and table space as the restaurant was full. There was no way I would let them move on to another place as they were keen to try a meal here so ai offered up my table and chairs and was happy to come back another night. You’re probably thinking that was a nice gesture or why would should I go elsewhere - well maybe I’m naive or odd but it’s my belief that one should give way for the many. The family kindly invited me to join them and of course I accepted and we moved the tables together. I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with them - one of the their daughters spoke excellent English so translation was covered and we all had a great time exchanging stories as you would. Finland is on my list for the Scandinavian journey later this year so I was able to gather some local knowledge about travelling as a cyclist. Can’t wait. The lovely family even paid for my meal.

Authentic Pad Thai - OMG how yummy!!

Mango goat’s milk smoothie