PhayaoPete

Mexican Food Restaurants Update....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all....

So can anyone tell us what is really available for those of us that really miss Mexican Food (good or bad...preferably good) in the CR area? Is Kae's Burritos still around? How about those places up near MFL U? I know the Bamboo Hut in Chiang Khong is still there and very good, I might add....but is way the heck out in the middle of?....somewhere. Handy if you are going to do the river trip to LP, Laos. It sure would be nice to make an hour drive to CR for Mexican food as opposed to the 2 hour drive to CM. Thanks for any and all input...and Feliz Navidad. pe

Have you considered the Thai filtering systems using concrete rings (3 or 4 high) with different sized aggregates, all going into a separate tank of the same construction? We use this and I am very pleased with it, but we do have to clean the first layer of sand at least twice a year...

I would think there would be considerably less maintenance with something like this as opposed to all the challenges of making sure your underground tank is leach proof and leak proof. Besides, if you are only going for rain run off, remember we do have a dry season here...good luck....PP

I live in Phayao, but have never been out to Chun....but it is only 45 km or so from Phayao. It has been on my list of close-in treks to be made, I just haven't done it yet. There's quite a bit of lodging in and around Phayao, but Chun, I don't know. Good luck. PP

I think Harry is probably on to something...you ever see those benches "donated" by the US DEA, up at the Golden Triangle Boat? I'll bet the DOD sold it to them and then the satellites got way better and they decided to scrape it. Hmmm....makes for an interesting....book? It sure does look like a radar foundation, though. PP

Not to get philosophical or anything, but....most jokes need a butt. Something or more usually....someone is the butt of the joke. I find most jokes do not cross borders...anywhere. Some friends and I were sitting around talking about jokes and I asked my German friend...What is the other German word for bra? I replied...stop-em-bof-from-floppin....he wasn't offended, but did not see any humor in it at all. It is difficult to find one size that fits all. A lady walks in a bar with a duck under her arm....bartender says, " That's a nice pig you have there." She said, "Fool, it's a duck!" Bartender says..."I was talking to the duck!" Humorous? As long as you don't ask a lady perhaps. Personally I don't mind if a joke offends someone...I try and have enough sense to not tell it to anyone that it might offend...but, that is the price you pay trying to be funny. Father walks in on his son and says..."Son, if you don't stop that, you will go blind." Son replies, "I'm over here, Dad!"

Humor is probably one of the best medicines in the world....I think cartoons, think visual here....can be the least offending (thanks to PC and the man who originally coined the term....Mao Tse-tung) and perhaps the funnier of any media you can translate humor with. Gary Larson was a genius at this. Example...if you don't know about Calvin and Hobbs...then Watterson's humor would be lost on you.

So, as we say in some parts of the world....Joke' em if they can't take a <deleted>. PP

We had a topic on it in the food section a couple of years back, someone provided a link to a series of pictures of it being done.

Sounds expensive, I doubt the large amount of oil required would be reusable.

A quick google produced this..

http://www.wikihow.c...ep-Fry-a-Turkey

IF....if one can get peanut oil, it is reusable. You just have to strain it good after it cools down and use it up in the next 6 months or so ( it will not go rancid like other oils). We did/do this in TX all the time. However, the bird needs to be injected with a marinate, via a syringe, to give it flavor to compete with roasting one in a baking bag. I personally prefer oven roasted in a baking bag over a deep fried one. I like dressing and deep fried ones can not produce that. D-F cooking is more like monitoring a chemistry project (to get the desired product) than just plain, enjoyable cooking. You have to be right on top of a thermometer at all times, until you get the exact temp and that is according to exact weight....nah....put it in a cooking bag and put it in the oven and chill out for a couple of hours or so...if, IF you have an oven...a real oven...big enough for a turkey. By the way, the perfect, deep fried turkey looks like it was either napalmed or was in a nuclear explosion when it is done. It is charred beyond recognition, but the meat inside....mmmmmm. bon appitet!

Trying to be serious....I have a concrete, ringed water tank that I need to put in a 1" valve and need to find a brass nipple (no rust) as PVC will not do. Already have the ball valve and it is not a PVC valve. It will go to our water pump that has a one inch suction and the 3/4" going to it now is just not enough. It jerks and moans and just doesn't like the restriction. Even with several rolls (exaggeration) of that pipe tape, there is too much head pressure and can not do it with a PVC nipple. Anyone seen any place that might have such an item? I have already asked at that wonderful pump shop near the old bus station and they do not, or didn't back several months ago. Thanks PP

If you get a hand held with the various options, such as AC/DC adaptor and stands and such, you won't be tied to just one place to use it. I have a Garmin hand held that I take on train trips, boat trips and even when walking around Chiang Mai. You still have to get the maps for Thailand to put in it, unless they have changed the way they do it now. Good luck....PP

How about....ingesting some unknown piece of something or other that is in the soup like dish they have served, dissolving it in your mouth and then tactfully take each piece of bone that came with it, out of your mouth and place it either on the very large serving tray or just right on the table. I have gotten to the point where I don't bother trying to tear it apart with my fork/spoon, fingers, etc....just work it around and let the enzymes in the old saliva do its thing. Uh-huh! PP

I saw a farang there once who looked like he had been busted.

He was being put on the Bangkok bus by three senior police officers and seemed to be recovering from a VERY hard night.

They stood there and watched it drive off too, weren't taking a chance on him sneaking back off.

That's how I ended up in Bangkok, that time? :unsure:Holy, moly...I have been wondering about that for so long, now. Thanks for the memory jog! PP

Yes Mistaphenso, it is that place and unfortunately extexthai, and to my chagrin as well, I did not see anything that remotely resembled cut bait at all. I love sushi and sashimi both and guess I will have to whet that part of the old palette when I am on the coast. I did watch a Japanese fellow do most of the cooking, so I would not doubt that he could whip up some tasty sushi, it's just getting FRESH ingredients. And please don't give them any ideas, I can see it now....nam bpoo sushi ...fresh water crab, ell, fish, shrimp and ngoo could probably be done that way , but they would serve it with a dish of nam pla instead of soy sauce ....which might not be so bad either....I guess :jap:. Well, it is Thailand after all, now isn't it. pp

Well, greetings once again, and no, this just would not fit in the Good Restaurants in CR thread, either. There is a really good Japanese Restaurant next to the big market on the north end of Phayao town. It is right off the Super Hwy at the last traffic light going north out of Phayao or the first one coming into Phayao heading south. It is on the lake side of the hwy and is right next to a green and yellow building, just behind the Spirit House for the market area. Coming from the north, take the U-turn right before the light and then an immediate left (go across the N bound hwy lanes). There is a gas station there and if you park in the back, they are cool with that. The restaurant has 8 dishes so far and we tasted 4 of them today. Very reasonably priced (they want Thai customers as well). It was so nice for a change from the usual. I highly recommend it and since it is right off the S hwy, it is reasonably easy to get to. The sign is in Thai, so I won't even bother with trying to find a translation for it. Worth seeking out. By jingy, we just might screw around here long enough and get our own, real hamburger place, right in Phayao....Bon apatite....PP

<br />snake(s) story:  While residing in a bungalo here, there was first a small snake, 18" long.  I threw a towel over it and tossed it outside.  Second time, awhile later, it was about 4' long. I did a 'Discovery Channel' capture, by grabbing its tail and gently jerking it while it was suspended, and tossed it outside.  Third time, awhile after that, it was sizable, about 7 ft. long and over an inch in diameter.  I think it was the same snake each time. It was light tan color and suspect it was not a viper/venemous.  I got a garden hoe and cornered it in the house. I pressed the hoe against it with my weight leaning in to it.  I could feel it breathing, which gave me appreciation for its strength.  A farang friend showed up with a tool for capturing it - 1/2" pvc pipe, 5 ft. long, with a loop of string coming out the business end - used to cinch around the snake's head.  During all those visits, I had mice, so that must have been what attracted the snake with his/her repeated visits.  Since banishing the mice, no more snakes.<br /><br />Incidentally, I used the same pvc tool to catch a particularly bothersome little dog and dispatched it.  Don't tell my neighbor.  When I say 'bothersome', I mean squeaky wake-the-neighbors barking every night for 7 years. Could the Thai neighbor ever effectively discipline his dog?  I'll let those familiar with Thailand answer that.<br />

I sympathize with you...continuous barking with no let-up. However, we have a dog that only barks when he is supposed to? I am guessing it is at real people and not ghosts, so I do let him finish his barking and then he shuts up and goes back to whatever he does at night...sleep? The same dog, when he was a puppy, kept barking one night without let-up, so I got up and investigated, and lo and behold, he had cornered this really big scorpion and was playing with it! I caught the scorpion and put it in a box to photograph it the next day, and he shut right up. I don't know about any snake encounters as of yet...he is still alive, at least. I have had dogs bitten by Rattlesnakes and only swelled up and was fine the next day, back in the states. Don't know what kind of reaction a Cobra would have on a canine. Hopefully he will leave a Cobra alone and not try something stupid. Those are the main snakes that have me really concerned. I have a firefighter/paramedic friend coming to visit from the states in November, and I am going to get him to bring me some of the things they use for severe reactions to stings and bites. Hopefully I will never need to use it, but....might get me to a hospital in time, and hopefully they will have anti-venom. PP

2 fellow Italians in Phayao? Looks like I got breakfast, lunch, and dinner set for my next trip there in February. That is the best news I have heard in a long time. Now got to figure out how to use that stupid microwave I bought 2 years ago with directions written in Thai. Family has never used it.

The OP mentioned "fellow Texans", nothing at all about Italians. You think Italians are the only ones capable of making pizza???? Get a life! PP

Faux pas on my part. I also have lived in Texas for about 15 years and I do not assume everyone there is a "redneck". The "hand tossed" comment made me assume something that is not necessary true.

I do not know where that comment came from-Get a life-I guess you are assuming I do not have one. Thank you for the "kind criticism".

And I quote...."whatever" PP

2 fellow Italians in Phayao? Looks like I got breakfast, lunch, and dinner set for my next trip there in February. That is the best news I have heard in a long time. Now got to figure out how to use that stupid microwave I bought 2 years ago with directions written in Thai. Family has never used it.

The OP mentioned "fellow Texans", nothing at all about Italians. You think Italians are the only ones capable of making pizza???? Get a life! PP

Me: I am going to town. I need to go to ___________and get some_______________.

She: You care be full! Drive slowry...jai yen yen...jai yen yen.

Pizza in my neck of the woods? And you say it is good? Wow! I will have to try it out. Thanks....PP

I just love this...but what exactly is...a hamburgler? Did I spell that right? Is that something they serve at Waldo's Burgers? It should be....yep...just like old hens....PP

Nonja,

If it wasn't for the fact that TIT, your predicament would be really humorous, but....I know it can be more real that what you would what it to be. It reminds me of Homer and Jethros' Heartbreak Motel...a parody on the Kings' Heartbreak Hotel. I wish you luck and quickness in finding a better place. PP

Ok for the non believers. The place is called Teak House and not far past Mae Chan on the way back from Mai Sai on the left.Sorry to the Where's Wally brigade! Now be critical about The Teak House in a objective way.....

I, and probably many others that don't know, thank you. Thank you very much. I am looking forward to the visit and hope I hit it on an up day. PP

Waldo's Burgers? PP

Okay....I got it! It is north of Chiang Rai and south of Mae Sai on the west side of the superhighway near the STEAK sign, kind of in the vicinity of Mah Fah Luang University. I can find it...really. It is all good. Besides, I really do miss Easter. Mind you , I am not that far off from being able to hid my own eggs....been diagnosed with CSR....or was that CRS....hmmmmm.....can't remember. Anyway, There are no such things as problems...only challenges. Now, if I can only remember where I put the car keys......PP

Can someone who knows exactly where this place is, put it on the TV CR map? I know how to get to Mai Sai and all, but I don't really know the area that well, just the highway. I have to make the yearly visa run in September and would love to try it out. Thanks. PP

I happened upon one of these a while back. Can't recall the name that I was told that it was. I almost ended up in a fight for my life though. I had been walking around in the same general area for some time, just looking at different things and not aware that the thing was in the area. When I finally realized it was there, I was within about two feet of it and it was very aware of me. I froze, remembering that you are not supposed to make quick movements, as that can be perceived as a threat. Being so close, I had to decide whether I would be allowed to move away without inviting a strike or if I should actually make the first strike- "a good offense being the best defense", kind of thinking. I kind of tested him out, to see if he would tip his hand, so to speak. I leaned a bit left and then a bit right, but as I did, he moved his head right in time and motion with me, almost imperceptibly, but movement all the same. As near as I could tell, he pretty much had me in his sights and he was as capable as I of striking first. I decided to go first, hoping I could strike hard and fast and then retreat out of reach as he tried to avoid the incoming threat.

Not wanting to telegraph my move, I slowly raise both of my hands, moving them farther away from my body as I raised them. He would have to divide his attention between the two and hopefully, that would give me the advantage I needed. I also started cocking my head from side to side, just to add one more bit of movement for him to inventory. At last, I realized that he was thoroughly involved in trying to monitor my decoy movements and as long as I chose the correct hand to strike with, things would go my way. Wanting to add just a bit more confusion to his situation, I slowly raised my right foot, eventually bringing my knee up almost to my chest. It was time to strike.

Then the tour guide came by and told me to move along to the next cage, which was a turtle display and that was kind of cool to see.

You sure do know how to hold an audience captive. Hook, line, sinker and then some....PP

Hence my ealier post "Mein Gott.....what happened to.....". Has anyone tried one of Ricos burgers? I noticed they were on the menu there. Will have to try out the ones near Ban Du (sp?). But believe me, the next time I am in CM....I will be doing a burger fix, for sure! Hardly ever when I was back stateside, would I ever go to BurgerKing, but here (in Thailand, CR withstanding)....with the scarcity of such culinary delights, they are by far the best tasting ones in the country that I have found to date. bon apatite....PP