Cold Snap Hits Thailand

Yes, for all our Canadian friends this must seem like a real oxymoron... but it is true! There is currently a big weather system in the South of Thailand (causing the worst rains in memory apparently) that is hitting our region with some unprecedented cold temperatures. At this time of the year we should be into the hot season, and the temperature should be around 40C fairly often... instead it has been hovering right around 20C!

In their kind Buddhist way, the Thais have sought to alleviate the suffering of some of those less fortunate around us... namely the soi dogs. Somebody (or possibly a group of somebodies) has been putting shirts on the soi dogs.

This little fellow is just one example of the several dogs that we have recently seen sporting shirts... We are pretty sure that it is due to the recent "cold" temperatures. We like his rugby style with the striped shirt and mohawk, so he has now become "Rugby Dog".

Things made in our oven -part 2

Sundays are such excellent days for cooking... This Sunday we decided to make quiche! Well, Shane lay on the couch and moaned (shouldn't have eaten that McDonalds fishburger for lunch) and Hannah made quiche...
After a quick trip to the grocery store we came up with an easy quiche full of leeks, bacon and topped with cheddar cheese and tomato. Yum! We also attempted a rye flour pressed pastry crust, turned out a little soggy (next time will pre-bake the crust first!) and a little grainy (stone-ground rye flour...) but not too bad and a little healthier than the white-flour pastry option.

Adventures in Thailand Part 2...

After a whirlwind trip this weekend, we have returned with the news that we will be moving to Phuket (Thailand's largest island) in April to teach at the schools there! Our weekend was spent touring the schools and checking out the area. We will still be working for the same company, just in a new location. We are excited to explore a new part of the country!

Phuket is in the Southern bit of Thailand, and has lots of beautiful beaches and delicious seafood, and probably lots of tourists wearing speedos and such (hopefully we can avoid these?). We still have about a month in our current place and then it's off to new adventures!

Creme Freche (Creem Freeche for the fans of Stan's Dad)

At home you can go to Zehrs and pick up a bag of perogies for about $2. They may not be the best perogies ever, but man are they easy! In Thailand, you cannot do this. We were craving some delicious perogies so decided to give home-made perogies a try... with surprisingly good results! Shane claims that he makes perogies as well as any old Eastern-European woman. I think this might be an overstatement but they turned out quite tasty!

We served these with a bit of creme freche, as one of the grocery stores around here is from France they have things like goat cheese, creme freche and pate at very reasonable prices.

Bollywood, brides and other everyday events

In previous posts we have mentioned the MANY brides that we see at our condo complex on a daily basis. The European inspired architecture is all the rage for wedding photos, as well as magazine shoots and the actual weddings themselves. Often we have to dodge a photoshoot on our way to the gym or the 7-11 and occasionally they close the pool or gym altogether for a big event!

We have seen commercials and other short film sequences shot at our complex before as well, but never a bollywood movie! Last Monday we came home from work to find the street blocked off for a full song and dance number. We watched them move around the complex shooting in different locations all evening, the stars even had their own trailers near our building.

Getting ready for the shoot... the dancers in the background are wearing clocks on their faces.

We aren't sure why, but they had two buffalo in a truck (mum and baby). They must have used these while we were away at work. They seemed quite happy, munching away in their truck.

Ladyboy Dance Off

This weekend we went to one of the big shopping centres around here to do a little birthday shopping... little did we know that by walking into the mall this Saturday we were walking into a Ladyboy dance off. There was a huge crowd gathered around a stage in the middle of the mall, watching group after group of Thai teenagers dance and lip-sync their little hearts out. Here is a transcript of a conversation we had while watching:
Shane: "This group of girls is really tall, wait, I think that one in the front is a ladyboy"
Hannah: "Um, I think they're all ladyboys... yup definitely ladyboys."
Shane: "Those ladyboys have way more feminine sex appeal than that girl group." 

Unfortunately we did not bring a camera!!!! So no fabulous pictures. Some of the groups had a lot of fabulous teenage attitude and some of them were great dancers, overall a very entertaining way to spend part of our afternoon... eating gelati and watching the dancers. So very Thailand :)

Doreamon Day

The bowl-plate (with the fork and spoon in it) is perfect for Som Tam (Thai Papaya Salad), while the plate with Doreamon shrugging is perfect for dipping sauces. You can put your ketchup in one of his hands and it doesn't touch all of your food, ingenious!

I bet everyone is super jealous...  : )

Just saw these pictures in my photo file and remembered that we forgot to post after getting our 7-11 reward! We mentioned in our Doreamon post that we were collecting stickers as part of a program run by 7-11 here, this is the fabulous reward we have earned! We have also redeemed some stickers for a set of cups and a juice pitcher, but there is some kind of back order situation so we are still waiting on those to come in. These are definitely things we will have to bring home from Thailand... I don't know how we got by without our Doreamon flatware set.