Run for the Animals

Market day again this morning. We were careful no to overstock the cupboard, as we will be moving on soon, but bean sprouts were a must for pad thai.

Dat wok, dem sprouts

Owing to a misjudged purchase, we ended up with sweet soy sauce rather than the 'regular' kind. Actually, there are many kinds of soy sauce used in Asian cooking, mostly grouped around dark, light, and sweet, not to mention the all-purpose 'Maggi' seasoning sauce and Japanese shouyu used for sushi. Many dishes call for a mix of soy sauces and sweet soy sauce (siew wan, ซีอิ๊วหวาน) is used in pad siew (ผัดซีอิ๊ว), which uses wide Chinese-style rice noodles fried in soy sauce (as its name literally means). The sauce has a distinct licorice note, which worked well with the handful of aniseedy sweet basil leaves I threw in. The result was an inauthentic blend of pad thai and pad siew, but none the worse for it.

Our confusion when buying the sauce arose from not being able to read the bottle.

Sweet 'red' soy sauce

However, even if we were familiar with the Thai alphabet, we would have still been confused, as the label does not say siew wan ('sweet') it says siew daeng (ซีอิ๊วแดง), meaning 'red' soy sauce. I presume this is to contrast it to light soy sauce - called 'white' siew tao (ซีอิ๊วขาว) - and dark soy sauce - called 'black' siew dam (ซีอิ๊วดำ). However, it might also be a reference to 'red' Chinese cooking, in which meats are braised in soy sauce and sugar until caramelised. In Thailand, sweet soy sauce is used in this cuisine.

We moved the cat and her kittens out today. They were taken in by a couple who have already adopted two stray kittens. All five cats were transported the short distance down the road in a covered cage so that the mother wouldn't be able to find her way back. I didn't think for one minute that she would be fooled by this and, if she so chose, would trot right back with no problem.

Indeed, K was concerned that the cat might well return to familiar surroundings and smells as she has become used to us. I proposed that we impart our scent onto the adopting couple by rubbing ourselves on them. Of course, it would have to be the strongest scented areas of our bodies, such as underarms or groin. This didn't go down too well with anyone, so I left it. Fortunately, this wasn't required as the cat family seems to be settling in with the current residents.

It is fortunate that we found a home for the newborn kittens, as the Lanta Animal Welfare centre has no room without further expansion. Fittingly, today was the first annual charity run for the centre. We had signed up and tackled the 5km in the newly returned warm weather.

Before the run, we scarfed what was probably the least appropriate running food - the Thai equivalent of 'fish and chips'.

Roti and vegetable curry

Roti (โรตี) can be served sweet or savoury. Recently, we had noticed a Muslim café open in town and so, short on time to grab lunch, we took the opportunity to sample their roti with vegetable curry. With no other customers, the three women set to work as we placed our order - one girl stretching out the dough, another frying it into crisp pieces like tortilla chips, and the third preparing the curry. Billed as "Indian curry", the style was massaman - a yellow Thai curry that is heavy on 'Indian' spices.

The charity run started from the animal welfare centre, where runners gathered at the registration point were able to pet the cats or, in the case of one young boy, pick them up by the neck and try to stack them on top of one another. This behaviour didn't go down too well with cats or registrants, and he was lucky to walk away without serious injury from either party.

The route took us from the welfare centre along the road parallel to Long Beach and onto Khlong Dao beach for a sprint along the sand to Time for Lime restaurant - the chief sponsor of the centre.

I'm not sure of exact numbers, but I estimate there were around 70-80 walkers and runners. We all finished on the beach with a beer and a sunset, feeling that sense of elation that comes from a mix of endorphins and charitable giving. The event was a fun way to spend an afternoon/evening whether living here or just visiting on holiday.