After this a strange urge caught us to indulge in food that we have not had in a while.
This involved eating cheesy chips, which was K's choice, and cake, which was mine. The chips were slightly disappointing as far as indulgences go, as the melted cheese was the odd American style yellow squares. This always tastes as though someone has unintentionally left the plastic wrapping on the Kraft slice.
The cake, however, was a rich slab of dense chocolate sponge with a chocolate and cashew topping. It came with the most lovingly prepared cappuccino I have ever tasted with a bear's face in the creamy foam.
We pottered around Lanta Old Town bumping into people we have got to know. Making deeper relationships with people is the reason we have chosen to stay settled in places for several weeks, but it is also a wrench when it comes to leaving. It is much easier to bid farewell to a town and its people after only a few days' stay.
Our host invited us out to dinner this evening and proposed a restaurant called Red Snapper on the far side of the island. With this suggestion she unwittingly continued the indulgence in western food. The restaurant imports foreign ingredients and creates delicious dishes served tapas style.
While SE Asian cuisine is satisfying and we have taken great pleasure in eating and cooking each nation's food, we have really missed good cheese. In an orgy of ordering hitherto unavailable treats, we splurged on a cheeseboard, tortilla di patatas, quesadilla, jalapeño croquettes, green olives, and bread with aioli. The cheeseboard was a superb trio of hard, soft and blue with salty Manchego, creamy brie, and tangy Gorgonzola. It was a feast for the senses, which we ate with great gusto, and, with a glass of red wine, it scratched the itch for western (largely Mediterranean) flavours.
After a surreal trip to a little beach-side bar, which seemed to be run and populated entirely by Brits, we returned home. The island has absorbed a number of different cultures, all of which coexist harmoniously. However, the rapid increase in tourism, which will only accelerate when a new bridge replaces the local car ferry, has changed the character of the island significantly over the past ten years.
Without checks, Ko Lanta could quickly become the next Phi Phi or Phuket. Rather than being able to absorb a different culture into its identity, I suspect the island will be unable to cope with such an imbalance in its population. With such a large seasonal and transitory shift in culture to a dominant tourist-heavy residence, the local and the visiting cultures inevitably remain separate like oil and water. The desires of the foreign tourists are met with familiar dishes, imported ingredients and tolerance of their customs, but there is little understanding on either side. With a steady trickle of more permanent foreign settlers, such as in Lanta Old Town, both cultures have a chance to mix and to form something new - each learning from the other.
No comments:
Post a Comment