Puttering About

I was brought to this morning by the call to prayer from the local mosque, and a little later by the light streaming into the windows of the bedroom. K was already up, finishing off some writing.

The market comes to town tomorrow, so we are waiting until then to stock up on supplies. In the meantime, we are enjoying the small selection of restaurants and cafés in Old Town. We broke off for breakfast at the aptly named Beautiful Restaurant.

The restaurant is a little way along the coast from our apartment, and so the deck looks out over the same stretch of soapy green water. The tide was high and we sat watching the fishermen puttering in and out on their longtail boats.

There is no such thing as a Thai breakfast. Ahan chao (อาหารเช้า) simply means 'morning food' and Thai people think nothing of eating curry and rice at this time of day. Therefore, all the restaurants that do offer breakfast as part of their menu invariably present pancakes, bread and jam, omelette, and bacon and eggs as the only options. However, the remainder of the menu, comprising noodles, rice and soups, is also available should you want it. K cannily ordered a vegetable soup (the dish was described as a clear chicken soup, but the chef happily substituted tofu). I went for a more regular pineapple pancake, which was tasty but K ultimately had the better meal. Lesson for next time.

We discovered that the tuk-tuks here are different to those found in Bangkok, which differ again from the motorbike-and-trailer 'remorques' that we saw in Cambodia. In Ko Lanta the tuk-tuks are essentially a motorbike and sidecar, where the extension is a cage with benches for passengers. We saw a similar set-up in Vietnam, but there the side-car often houses a kitchen, so that the whole thing becomes a mobile restaurant.

Our kitchen is fortunately static and much better equipped than that. So well supplied is it, in fact, that we even have a blender. To celebrate this fact, we bought some fruit and made a smoothie of bananas and a few chunks of pineapple blended with a handful of ice and a splash of coconut milk.

This virgin piña colada we enjoyed out on the deck as the sun went down, throwing pink light onto the clouds.

Venturing out for dinner, we discovered many of the restaurants empty. Tourists from the other side of the island visit during the day, but rarely stay into the evening, and so much of the trade is done at lunchtime. In the evening, we had the place to ourselves. We chanced on a small friendly place called Tongell. There we enjoyed a tofu tom yum soup, which was less spicy-sour than versions I have eaten in UK Thai restaurants, but they mat have toned it down for us. The green curry had a slight bite to it and was a delicious soup of Thai aubergine, tofu, carrots and basil.