Klauren's travel blog
Here’s Lauren about to board our flight to SFO, with Little Vid and a mango we picked up in Chiang Mai this morning. We’ll see the real Vid in about 12 hours!
Due to the magic of time zones, our flight out of Taipei leaves at 11PM tonight, and our connection in SFO also leaves for JFK at 11PM tonight. It’s going to be a long day…night…whatever it is.
Rating: 
A few weeks ago, we discovered another solid purveyor of Easy Thai near the Sunday Market, next to the Toyota dealership. Of the three small rarn ar harn dtarm sang located there, Lon Hoi Thot is the northernmost one (furthest from the market and directly across from the 7-11). They have an English menu available to foreigners, and of course all of the easy Thai classics are available even if they aren’t listed there. One of the family members, Koi, speaks excellent English and has provided my with a lot of pronunciation tips for ordering Thai food.
All of the food at Lon Hoi Thot is fresh and served very quickly from their two cooking stations. My favorite dish of theirs is gai kra tiem prik hay (chicken with garlic and pepper). Lon Hoi Thot adds more garlic and chili to the dish than most places, which makes it the best one I’ve had in Thailand. I also really like their pad prik giang gai (vegetables and chicken in red curry sauce).
When we took Lauren’s family here for lunch a few weeks ago, their comment after the meal was “is this place open for dinner? We want to come back tonight.” Unfortunately Lon Hoi Thot is only open until 4PM, but I took them on a repeat visit for lunch the next day.
While their portions are a little smaller and the dishes are a few baht more than other food stalls in town (though still about $1), the quality is very high and the kra tiem prik hay is addictive. We had some for lunch both yesterday and today, and I may have to stop by tomorrow (our final day in Mae Hong Son) for one more hit.
Look for the big yellow sign, and Koi, your smiling host (in the glasses)
The chef cooking up pad prik giang
Gai kra tiem prik hay kai dao – it’s like crack
Pad prik geang kai dao
Pad thai sen yai jay and pad kra pao gai
Lon Hoi Thot
East side of Khunlumpraphat Road/Hwy 108
Across from the 7-11 and the Sunday Market
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
+66 (0) 5362-0690
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch (8:00AM-4:00PM)
On the first Friday of every month, the ex-pat community in Mae Hong Son organizes a “quiz night,” similar to the trivia nights you find at bars in the US. Janis, the unofficial social coordinator of Mae Hong Son and the driving force behind quiz night, depends on volunteers from the ex-pat community to help run the event.
In an attempt to do our part to help, six weeks ago Lauren and I offered to host a quiz night for our final Friday in Mae Hong Son. There was one condition to our offer – we wanted to have the evening be more puzzle-like, and less pure trivia. Janis said “sure” and we were on the calendar. Of course, although we had almost two months of advance notice, it wasn’t until last weekend that we started writing puzzles, so we spent most of our free time this week preparing material for the event.
We had two 45-minute rounds, separated by a 30-minute intermission. At the beginning of each round we handed out two puzzles, worth 10 points each with a bonus of 2 points for the fastest correct answer. The first round puzzles were:
Intermission was sourced from Peter Sarrett’s puzzle Googolplex used in Microsoft Puzzlehunt 123. The presentation format was an “all play” where Lauren and I would read a movie description and the first team to shout out the correct answer received one point.
Round 2 was slightly more difficult:
The puzzles are posted here. If you want to try them out, note that a few of the clues require local knowledge of Mae Hong Son. The answers are also posted if you get stumped.
Puzzlers at work
Team Blink: Coming from behind to tie for first place
Today was my last official day in the office. As we have done many times over the past three months, one of my colleagues (we’ll call her Q) and I spent a long time lingering after the lunch plates had been cleared and talking about Burma.
Q told me that when she was a high school student in Burma, she knew that her country’s educational system was broken and she wanted it to change, but her dissatisfaction with the government did not reach any further at that point. Later, when she was studying at university, her father told her that she was unlikely to learn anything of value from her regular coursework, and advised her to seek out training from a private tutor on the side. Q’s tutor was a well-informed man, and a former member of the democracy movement. Every day he told humorous stories that kept the students entertained and engaged. Only when Q arrived home after class and had time to reflect did she realize the important lessons that her teacher was relating through these stories.
Through this informal education, Q started to realize that the world outside Burma was likely quite different, and she developed a strong interest in moving to Thailand. J, a high school classmate of hers, had invited her to come to Thailand back when they finished Grade 10. J’s mother was already in Thailand and had founded an organization where they could continue their education and work for the democracy movement. At the time, Q had opted to attend university instead, but when she finished she knew that it was time to accept J’s offer.
When she arrived in Thailand, Q learned things that shook the foundation of her entire educational experience – concepts like human rights, women’s rights, and democracy. It was the first time she had ever been taught that she was afforded basic rights simply by virtue of being human, and that the practices of the Burmese government were not acceptable. She learned that as a woman, she could take an equal role in society and that she need not be subservient to her future husband. And it was her first exposure to the governing systems of other countries, and the idea that people in other parts of the world could speak and live freely.
After completing an internship program at our organization, Q enrolled in an advanced women’s leadership course. She then returned here and took on a leadership role in our organization.
Q values the time that she spent learning with her teacher while she was in university, but she can’t help feeling some jealousy of our organization’s recent crop of interns, none of whom attended university before migrating to Thailand. Q arrived at age 25; some of our interns are only 17 when they get here, including Q’s sister, who came last year. Many of them did not finish high school. These young women have even more time to gain exposure to the world outside Burma and experience working for their community. They also have access to excellent educational programs in Thailand. On the other hand, they have less firsthand experience with life and education inside Burma, and less exposure to veterans of the democracy movement. Either way, their dedication to continuing their education is admirable, and the diversity of perspectives that they bring to our organization is a tremendous asset.
My co-worker just educated me on how immigration works along the Thai/Burma border (if one making a border crossing is pulled over by the Thai police):
Rating:
When we were on our initial conference call with AJWS and the other SE Asia volunteers, one of the questions asked was, “can I get good coffee?” The response was something to the effect of “this volunteering assignment is a good opportunity to kick your coffee habit.”
While Lauren and I certainly appreciate a good cup of coffee, we also have no problem going coffee-less for months on end. Given that we aren’t in an ex-French colony, we were happy to subsist on tea for our occasional morning beverage. Then we sampled Coffee, Tea, Etc. on the main drag of Mae Hong Son, located in P Nik’s building. Who knew that you could find Seattle-quality cappuccinos in our little provincial town?
The coffee beans used at Coffee, Tea, Etc. are grown locally in Mae Hong Son. They also serve a delicious tea made from Mae Hong Son tea leaves. Gwang, the barista/owner, is a friendly young Thai man who speaks excellent English. Gwang has given us a lot of advice and information during our stay, such as where to make key copies, and the name of my favorite Thai food-to-order stall (Rarn P Dam, located across the street). It’s common for P Dam to deliver breakfast to Gwang, and for Gwang to drop off coffee drinks for P Dam and her husband.
For 30 Baht (under $1), you can enjoy a delicious cappuccino at Coffee, Tea, Etc. with friendly service and free wireless. It turns out that rather than being a place to kick your coffee habit, Mae Hong Son may be a place to develop one.
Happy way to start the day
Our very first cappucino at Coffee, Tea, Etc.
Cross-cultural breakfast: our favorite Thai food with our favorite cappuccino
Coffee, Tea, Etc.
NE Corner of Singhanart Bamrung and Phadit Joncume
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Daily: 7:00AM-7:00PM
Rating:
Across the street from P Nik’s, and next to the CP Fresh Mart, is my favorite Thai food vendor in Mae Hong Son. The setting is basic, though on the larger end for a rarn ar harn dtarm sang, and the food is fantastic. It’s run by a friendly Thai lady, P Dam, and her family. She serves all of the Easy Thai dishes at their finest, and the lunchtime the operation is a sight to behold. Customers come up and give a verbal order, and somehow P Dam keeps all of the requests in her head, even when the queue is more than a dozen people long.
I’ve been going to Rarn P Dam for lunch almost every weekday since I discovered it, and I’m usually the only farang eating there. P Dam also knows that I like spicy food, so I can be assured of ample chilies. Unfortunately, Rarn P Dam is not open for dinner, and they are closed on Sundays, so Lauren wasn’t able to try their food for a few weeks (she lunches with her NGO during the week).
Over Songkran I was finally able to introduce Lauren to Rarn P Dam, and since then we’ve been going for Saturday lunches and the occasional weekday breakfast. All of the dishes are 25-30 Baht (less than $1), the vegetables are fresh and generously portioned, and P Dam is an ace with the wok.
Today, in preparation for this writing, I finally found out the name of my “Thai food stall across from Nik’s.” If you are in Mae Hong Son, you should definitely pencil in a lunch or two at Rarn P Dam. Lauren’s family ate here three times while they were visiting, and I’ll be stopping by for my daily fix until we leave next week. Yum!
P Dam frying up pad thai sen yai
The happy family at work on a bulk lunch order of pad kra pao moo
Fresh ingredients on display
The best pad thai (sen yai) I’ve ever had
Pad kra pao jay kai dao (spicy vegetables with chili, basil and a fried egg on top), my favorite dish at P Dam
An assortment of other dishes available for 25 Baht
Lauren enjoying her first P Dam experience
Rarn P Dam
SE Corner of Singhanart Bamrung and Phadit Joncume
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch (7:00AM-4:00PM)
+66 (0)84-3688533
The first few times we tried to find the Mae Hong Son night food market, we ended up at the cheesy tourist night market on Jongkham Lake. We knew this couldn’t be right, as our friends kept telling us that the night market was a great place to go for noodles, but all we found were over-priced T-shirts and woven hill tribe purses. Eventually we realized that we needed to continue south down the main road, past the library, where we found a cluster of food carts set up in front of a municipal building.
On our first visit, we sampled dishes from a few stalls, including pad thai, khao soi, a few different steamed glutinous rice snacks in banana leaves, a sinfully-delicious fried papaya snack called “khaangpong” (translated on the sign as “the papaya fries herbs”), and a savory crepe with chili sauce. Yum!
Khao soi gai
Bundles of joy
Whipping up fresh pad thai jay
Enjoying delicious pad thai on the grass
On later visits we learned that the night market is actually a bit hit-or-miss: on many nights, none of the three noodle stalls are present (it seems to be an all-or-nothing deal), and there is just less selection in general. We haven’t figured out the pattern, as the decreased selection doesn’t seem to be tied to any particular night of the week. But even on nights when the noodles are absent, we find we are able to make do if we look hard enough. At some point, we discovered a lady who makes decent som tam (spicy papaya salad) and vegetarian rice-paper rolls.
We took my family to the night market while they were here, with nearby Fern Restaurant as a backstop in case it was an off night. Unfortunately the noodle carts were indeed absent, but there was good enough selection from among our other favorite carts to scrounge up a decent (if greasy) meal. While we made food selections, Kenny took a quick run to the 7-11 and picked out one of each of the beers on offer (and a bottle opener so we could enjoy them), so our dinner turned into a Thai-snacks-and-Thai-beer sampler platter. Fortunately we still had room for our favorite dessert: mango and sticky rice near home.
Dad considers a fish
Tasty fried papaya snacks, or “Khaangpong”
Thai snacks and Thai beer sampler
Rating:
Fern Restaurant, on the main road of Mae Hong Son near the night market, is a funny place. The main dining area is immense, with a smaller area in the front and a large recessed section in the back that seems targeted to tour groups. However, it’s no longer high season, and we’ve had the restaurant mostly to ourselves on our visits.
The LP describes Fern Restaurant as “Mae Hong Son’s most upscale restaurant, but remember, this is Mae Hong Son.” This doesn’t quite give you the correct impression though. While the prices are higher than most in town, they still average under 150 Baht (<$5), and the setting is much more relaxed and low-key than you might expect. The staff are clearly used to foreigners, speak excellent English, and provide great table service. The tall ceilings, endless pitchers of ice water, and strategically placed fans provide welcome relief from the heat.
The food at the Fern is mixed. Our first meal was a bi-polar experience. We loved the fern salad, a house specialty mix of ferns, carrots, tofu, and peanuts with a chili-lime-coconut dressing. The dressing, reminiscent of that used in the wing bean salad at Bon Kitchen, is so addictive that we used the cabbage garnish and our leftover rice to soak up any remains. On the other extreme, the northern curry was a pungent, sour soup that we couldn’t force ourselves to finish.
Since then, we’ve always included the fern salad in our meal and it’s consistently delicious. Their green curry is also quite tasty, almost at the level of Rom Jinda’s. The red curry was decent but not as good as the green curry. Take a pass on ginger chicken with black mushrooms unless you like very bland dishes.
Overall, Fern Restaurant is worth an occasional visit if you have an extended stay in Mae Hong Son. While Rom Jinda offers a more intimate atmosphere, better food, and generally cheaper prices, the Fern can provide a nice change of scenery along with an enjoyable meal of green curry and fern salad at around 200 Baht.
Tasty fern salad
Green curry
Two dishes not to order: northern curry and ginger chicken with mushrooms
Fern Restauran
Khunlum Praphat, across from the library
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Daily: 10:30AM-midnight (Lunch, Dinner)