Northern Thai Cuisine
Thai food of the north, in some way, is cooked with the sole thought for the taste for the northern people. The recipe consists of vegetable and ingredients available in their immediate vicinity. The common meal includes steamed glutinous rice, chili sauces which come in a host of varieties, such as “namprik noom”, “namprik dang”, “namprik ong” and chili soups (gang) such as gang hangle, gang hoh, gang kae. In addition there are also, local sausages such as sai ua, and nham; steamed meat, roasted pork, pork resin, fried pork, fried chicken and vegetable to go with them.

The northern people have penchant for medium cooked food with a touch of salty tastes almost to the exclusion of sweet and sour tastes. Meat preferred by the northern people is pork followed by beef, chicken, duck, bird etc. Sea food is the least known on account of the remoteness of the northern region from the sea.

Thai food of the north does not lack in varieties. These are dishes to be consumed at different times of the day. The northern breakfast known in the local dialect as khao gnai consisting mainly of steamed glutinous rice. Cooked in the early hours of the day, steamed glutinous rice is packed in a wicker basket made from bamboo splints or palmyra palm leaves. The farmer takes the packed basket to the working rice field and eat the glutinous rice as lunch, known in the dialect as “khao ton”. Dinner or “khoa lang” is an familiar affair is served on raised wooden tray or “kan toke”. The tray which is about 15 to 30 inches in diameter is painted in red.

Traditional Method of Serving Northern Food
The northern people are known to follow their traditions in a very strict and faithful manner, in particular the tradition of serving and partaking of the evening meal. Food is placed in small cups placed on “kantoke” which could be an inlaid wooden or brass tray depending on the economic status of the house owner. Served together with “kantoke” is steamed glutinous rice that is the staple food of the northerner packed in a wicker basket. There is also a kendi containing drinking water nearby. Water is poured from the kendi to a silver drinking cup from which water is drunk. After the main course come desserts and local cigars to conclude the evening meal.

Central Thai cuisine
The Thai in the central plain prefer food with smooth and lasting taste with a touch of sweetness. The way the food is served is an art in itself. The dinning table is often decorated with carved vegetable and fruit. Cuisine of the central plain sometimes combines the best of the foods from various regions.

Rice is strictly the staple food for every family in the central region. There are on the average three to five dishes to go with rice. Typical are soup, gang som (chili vegetable soup), gang phed (Thai red curry), tom yam (spiced soup) and so on. Chili fried meat dishes are for instances, pad phed, panaeng, masaman, fried ginger and green pepper, Thai salads or yam are yam tua pu, salad with sliced roasted beef. Dishes that regular feature fin a Thai meal of the central region are vegetable, namprik (chili sauce), platoo (local herring), and perhaps omelet (Thai style), fried beef of roasted pork. On the whole Thai meal should meet protein and vitamin requirements with plenty to spare.

Traditional Methods of Serving Thai Food of the Central Region
The central plain of Thailand has always been known for its progress and advance in all areas of human activity, be it intellectual, technological or cultural.

The Thai in the central region have adopted spoon and fork and a common ditching spoon as the standard cutlery set for Thai meals. For affluent families, napkins simply folded or folded into various geometrical shapes are also to be seen depending also on individual family’s tradition and taste. Dishes, boiled rice and drinking water are laid on the dinning table and for the family which can afford the service of a maid, will be replenished by a waiting maid as the meal progresses. Less well to do families may do without shared spoons together, and family members take food from the dish by their own spoons.

Northeast (Isaan) Cuisine
Like Thai food of the north, Thai food of the northeast has steamed glutinous rice as a staple base to be taken with spiced ground meat with red pork blood, papaya salad or som tom, roasted fish, roasted chicken, jim-jaem, and rotted fish or pla rah. The northeast prefer to have their meat fried and the meat could be frog, lizard, snake, rice field rat, large red ants, insects etc. Pork, beef and chicken are preferred by well to do families.

Traditional Methods of Serving Thai Food in the northeast
Dishes are served in a large enameled food tray which sports a pattern of large and colorful flowers. Food is taken from the dishes is taken with steamed glutinous rice contained in a wicker basket (katib) made in the peculiar style of the northeastern people. Desserts mainly consisting of processed glutinous rice such as, khao niew hua ngog nang led, etc.

Southern Thai Cuisine
Thai food of the south tends to be exceedingly chili hot compared with Thai food from other regions of Thailand. Specially favored dishes of the south are a whole variety of gang (spiced soup or curry) for examples, gang liang, gang tai pla, and budu sauce. Boiled rice mixed in budu sauce known as khao yam is a delicatessen of the southern people. Salty is taste, khao yam is taken with an assortment of vegetable. Considered special ties of the south are sataw, med riang and look niang.

Sataw is a green pod when stripped reveals green berries. Strawberries sometimes chopped into thin slices are cooked with meat and chili or simply added to any gang or maybe boiled with other vegetable in coconut milk, or taken raw with chili sauce. The berries can be preserved by pickling and eaten without further cooking.

Med riang is very much like a bean sprout but much larger in size and dark green in color. It is ready for eating after the outer skin is removed. It can be cooked with vegetable and meat or pickled for eating with gang, chili sauce or lon (ground meat or fish in chili sauce).

Look niang is a round berry in a hard and dark green skin. When the skin is removed it is ready for eaten. The inner layer may or may not be removed depending on individual taste. Look niang may be raw or with chili sauce, lon, gang liang especially gang tai pla. Ripe look niang boiled and mixed with coconut flakes and sugar is served as a dessert.

Information from: “Rice and Thai Ways of Life” published by Office of the National Culture Commission.

Day tour for less than 100 Baht.

Why would anyone go through the trouble of traveling kilometres away for a piece of pottery? It doesn’t make sense, especially if you take a forty Baht skytrain ride to Sapan Taksin for a boat trip to Nonthaburi. That almost half of the sixty or so passengers of the boat you took were all headed for Nonthaburi – and ultimately to Koh Kret, the pottery island – made it all the more mind-boggeling.

But the boat ride itself makes the trip compelling. The fare is a mere ten Baht – too cheap for the one-hour-and-a-half Chao Phraya River cruise. It doesn’t have the trappings of a luxury dinner cruise that usually comes with seafood buffet, a batch of traditional Thai dancers and a live band. But just the same it gives you a great sightseeing opportunity – of picturesque temples, markets, stilted Thai houses on the banks of the majestic river, etc.

Nontaburi is the final stop of the boat. But Koh Kret – fantasy island to the constant trickles of tourists who visit the place daily – is still kilometres away. From Nonthaburi, there are private long-tail boats to take you direct to the island. But they are a little expensive, charging from 600 to 800 Baht per return trip for a group of three to eight people. So why the heck then, for only 15 Bath per passenger, a van can take you to Wat Sanam Nua in nearby Pak Kret town where you cross a river into the island on an aging ferry for just 2 Baht.

What striks you about the island is its community of potters who have lived here for around a century or so. Originally from Myanmar, these ethnic Mon families have dedicated their lives to perfecting their art, the manufacture of terracota ceramics. Over the years they have transformed their sleepy atoll into one of Bangkok‘s hidden treasures.

From the flimsy Koh Kret pier, you pass through a quiet food market to start your island exploration. Turn left for the narrow, winding lanes that take you deep into the Mon village. Souvenir shops burst out of unassuming wooden homes. Redbrick kilns sprout from the earth like hobbit-houses. Old ladies tinker away in their workshops, joyfully ignorant of modern technology, where the ancient tools of string and plank shape their mud-colored raw pots. Not only pots, in all conceivable shapes and sizes, but terracotta turtles, fish, elephants, monkeys – the whole ceramic menageries! Silently they wait for their turn in the ovens, from there to the souvenir stalls, and from there to … who knows … maybe a shelf in your home.

Such is the charm of these pocket-sized and inexpensive creations that few tourists can resist stocking up. You may wish to tour this leafy labyrinth for hours, seeking out that perfect salad bowl or melodious wind-chime, but don’t forget the tongue-tickling delights of the food marked, where the aromas of Thai and Mon cuisine compete for your senses. (Order a glass of nam pao or chai yen in advance as the spices may curdle your taste-buds!)

Turning right at the landing pier will take you up to the steps of the island’s temple, stuffed full with Buddhist antiquities. After that unwind along the shady river banks, where Kho Kret’s notorious landmark, the lop-sided white chedi stands, – totters, to be more precise – proudly over the Chao Phraya River.

When you’ve had your fill of terracotta trinkets, its back to the steamboat and the delights of a modern day Bangkok. Ten minutes back on the mainland and Koh Kret is already slipping into the stuff of daydreams and fairy-tales, and all for less than a hundred baht!

Some time ago I came up with the theory that it would be possible to live comfortably in Pattaya for 1000 Baht per day. In order to test it, since 1 January 2003 I have kept records of every baht I have spent, where I spent it and what I spent it on. Now, after two full years, it is possible to analyze the records to either confirm my theory or put it to rest. If you are a retired millionaire or someone for whom money is no object, don’t read on. What follows will only be of interest to the 99% of us with limited resources.

Accommodation: Clean, comfortable, fully furnished apartments, townhouses or bungalows are available in and around Pattaya for between 4000 and 8000 Baht per month. Of course, the further out of Pattaya you live the cheaper the accommodation, but this is offset by added transportation costs to and from the city or the markets. For argument’s sake, let’ say something reasonably handy can be found for 6000 Baht per month.

Utilities: Your electricity bill depends upon your way of life and the charge imposed by your landlord. The basic amount charged by the electric company is around 3.5 Baht per unit but some serviced apartments have been known to charge up to 8 Baht per unit. This is a rip-off. Paying direct to the electricity provider is the cheapest option. You receive a monthly computer-generated invoice and can pay it at any 7-Eleven.

The use of air-conditioners greatly adds to the bill so it would be wise to choose your accommodation carefully. Make sure you get a breeze and plenty of through-ventilation when you open the windows. Unless you like to freeze, a ceiling fan above the bed is adequate for a comfortable night’s sleep and floor fans work well whenever there is no breeze. I have two air-conditioners in my humble home but never switch them on. Consequently, my electricity bill was rarely more than 750 Baht per month.

Water is usually charged at 20 to 25 Baht per unit but you would have to be a fish to go through more than ten units per month. Many places also charge 100 Baht for garbage collection so, all up, your utility bills should come to no more than 1100 Baht per month.

Food: This is up to each individual so if you are into fine dining at restaurants then you will pay the price. If you are budget minded and like Thai food then eating at inexpensive Thai restaurants and food stalls is very reasonable. In my opinion it is cheaper to eat out in this fashion than preparing your own meals but let’s assume you do both. You will need a gas cooker and bottle, both of which should already be installed in your home. One of those large gas bottles costs less than 300 Baht to refill and lasts a long time. I’ve been using mine daily for over a year and it is nowhere near empty. This will require an initial outlay for some pots, pans, plates, bowls, cups, glasses and utensils but all that is very cheap at the markets. I also have a toaster and a hot water jug.

If you buy some eggs, bacon, sausages, bread and butter, that will cover breakfast. Later, if you bought three Thai dishes at around 30 Baht each, it would be difficult to claim you were still hungry. If we say that will cost 150 Baht per day or 4500 Baht per month. Adding 25 Baht for gas, 100 Baht for cooking oil and condiments, 100 Baht for toiletries and cleaning products then rounding up, it would not be unreasonable to say that, for one person, a monthly grocery bill of 5000 Baht is close to the mark.

Laundry: I’m going to make two totally unjustified assumptions here. Firstly, I’ll assume you are an adult male and secondly, I’ll assume that, like me, the method by which clothes are cleaned and ironed is foreign to you. This being the case, Pattaya has no shortage of laundries. It has been my experience that the best value is from those offering 100 pieces for 600 Baht. Some offer 80 pieces for 500 Baht. You make a one-off payment and from then on they simply deduct the number of items in each load from the total. The following day you pick up the clothes washed, ironed and folded. Be aware though that underpants and each sock count as one piece and that bed sheets and towels may count as two. For this reason (and another reason of which all men will be aware), I wash my own underwear and socks. As a result, 100 pieces of laundry usually covers one month and 600 Baht is reasonable for a laundry bill.

That completes what I call the ‘essential’ expenses and we have reached a total of 12700 Baht. Of course if you want to live at that basic level you may as well move into the mountains, become a hermit and make a good job of it. Therefor, we now come to ‘non-essential’ items.

Medicals: Although not really an expense until you get sick, you had better make sure you have sufficient funds to cover treatment just in case. Medical insurance can cost between 8000 and 20000 Baht per year depending on the company and the benefits. For the sake of easy calculation, let’s take an average of 12000 Baht per year or 1000 Baht per month.

Transport: Very cheap if you have your own motorbike or car. I do not, but even so, my use of Baht Buses and motorcycle taxis costs on average no more than 900 Baht per month.

Telephone/Internet: If you don’t have any relatives or friends, this is not necessary. I have a mobile phone and use two cards per month totaling 600 Baht. I use a cheap Internet cafe at 40 Baht per hour. Assume five hours per month on the Internet and the total for Telephone/Internet is 800 Baht per month.

Television: Without cable, the local free-to-air stations are ‘pass me the razor blades’ stuff. Sophon cable (60 channels of utter rubbish) costs up to 350 Baht per month. Add 1300 Baht if you want UBC as well. I have Sophon cable and spend my ‘television time’ sitting with the remote, starting at Channel 1 and surfing up to Channel 60 then back again before turning the television off. That’s my exercise for the day.

Every foreigner also has visa expenses which can be anywhere between 2000 and 24000 Baht per year depending on the type of visa and how many visa runs are required. Assume the worst-case scenario and add 2000 Baht per month. We’ve now reached a grand total of 17750 Baht leaving 12250 Baht in the kitty for ‘entertainment’ before passing the magical figure of 1000 Baht per day.

Thus I proved my theory. For a man living alone and possessing limited vices, a budget of 1000 Baht a day would provide a comfortable living in Pattaya. It would be a different story back home. Being a little over 400 British Pounds, around 600 Euros, a little over 1000 Australian Dollars, almost 780 US Dollars or 4800 Norwegian Kroner per month, it would be lucky to pay the rent.

The author is ‘A fool in paradise’ who writes for the excellent community magazine ‘Pattaya Trader’. It’s free and provides a lot of information for everyone who want to live in Pattaya for a while. Pick it up from one of the several locations in the city.