When Kian Leong asked me if I wanna join the Penang team to stay in the village, i jumped into it almost immediately...wa..this is gonna be lotsa fun!! Imagine...staying in a atap house, shower in well, chasing chicken..real kampung style!!! But then I got worried..hmm..toilet outside ah??? how to use if need to 'release' in the middle of the night ah?? Got snake or not??? Got spirit or not??? Wa..cold water ah...I very pampered one..can tahan cold water or not...maklumlah...orang bandar!! Then when Kian Leong assure me that the toilet is inside..I was like 'phew' ..thank God!!!
Our adventure started early in the morning..means 9am la...very early for me OK..we arrived at the village to meet the chief (ketua kampung)..we addressed him as Poo Kam Nan ( Bapak Ketua Kampung)..then off we go to our host's house...my host name is Jip..and since she is 'older' than us, we called her Koon Jip ( Koon is a title to respect those who are older than you..). Then to my delight ( my other team members' disappointmnet), we are staying in a brick house with indoor plumbing ( with hot water and sitting toilet...Someone up there LOVE me!!)...
We started off with plan to visit the longan ( they call it lam yai) farm....how to go leh..that's when Koon Jip said we should go with the bicycles..haha my friends were so excited. They had not been on bicycle for a long time esp Bernard ( our senior!!)..and Rachel AngMo , we have 2 Rachel and since she is white , she is known as Rachel AngMo, took me on a bike...it is quite obvious that she has not ride a bike for a long time...nevertheless we arrived in one piece..we were greeted by a friendly lady, Koon Airre...she become our spoke-person as she speak English..very very useful..
We started to help to prepare the longan with the farmers..although I have to admit,I ate more than I work :) The longan is so big and juicy and sweet and delicious!! Yummy...we sang 'Rasa Sayang' and they sang 'Loy Khra Tong'...what a great day..and suddenly the host's mom announced that we are gonna have party that night..what an impromptu suggestion!!!
We went back and start to prepare...Rachels ( AngMo and Leong) decided to make Bak Kut Teh..and Koon Jip taught us how to make Tom Yum from scratch...she picked all her ingredients from her garden...fresh..hm.....i observed and learn and taste every type of soup, herb, meat...dirty job but someone has to do it...and Bernard our photographer continue to click his cameras...Jeremy his son just fool around...and what a party we had....great great yummy delicious food!!
We were told to wake up the next day at 4.30am to visit the local market which is just in front of the house...WHAT????? 4.30am..mad ah?? All of us smile but in our heart..oh no...so early..but the experience was good...the result lotsa photos and a good breakfast!!
My host also invited few of her good friends to teach us how to make papaya salad....papaya salad pok pok..they called it because they use something like batu lesung to make it...raw material...shreaded raw papaya ( Jeremy helped to shave the papaya), kacang panjang, tomato, chili padi, coconut sugar, lemon and fish sauce and you pound them together...so whatever you like...you just put into the pok pok and pound...when they start to add something that smell really fishy, we all moved away..it's the preserved fish...( they preserved for 1 yr) and it smells...aaaa....but i put up my smiley face and tried some..unpleasant...yuck...terrible..something I dun think I'll try again...
Overall the food and the people are very nice...they villagers treat us well and with lotsa kindness and we are just happy to share their life....it has been a blessing to all of us...we leave with a heavy heart....ahh...there goes my longan supply!!!!!
Another great adventure in Chiang Mai...I wonder what is next!!!
