Thanks for the guest spot Ev. One highlight of Chiang Mai for me is the Khao Soi Gai (chicken) at the Khao Soi Mae Sai restaurant down the road from where we are staying. It is a spicy coconut noodle soup with a chicken drumstick and topped with crisps that get soggy as they mix in. Apparently this is a particularly northern Thai dish but not like you can only get it here – I’ve had it at the Queen Mother by City Hall in Toronto and wouldn’t bet I could distinguish one bite blind. It’s kind of like the pizza in Naples, which is incredible, ‘best in the world’, but not that different (that I could tell) than the places in (pick your city) that use the same 3 ingredients, all approved by the Council back in Napoli.

Before we left I watched on recommendation the Parts Unknown episode where Anthony Bourdain comes to Chiang Mai (thanks Ben). He hangs out with the American guy who opened the Pok Pok restaurants in the states after living in northern Thailand and they sort of talk about honouring regional cuisines as they go international and what ‘authentic’ means and stuff. They also drink a lot through the episode and don’t get too too deep into anything. But this soup at this place is delicious. Maybe the coconut milk comes straight from a coconut and not a can. Maybe it’s just the idea of eating it in Thailand. Maybe (likely) it’s that it costs 45 Baht (about $1.80 CAD), and yes I will add a Fanta for 15 B. The four of us ate lunch here for less than $10 and we’re going to need more finds like this if we’re going to make it to Japan. In general, pretty cheap food and transport in Chiang Mai have been a sweet surprise after accommodation seemed to be a bit pricier than expected and many travel forums talked about how this isn’t your father’s Thailand.

Also, they drive on the left here – who knew?