I can remember the time what seems like so many years ago when I first came to Thailand. Jetlag was not an issue when I was 21. It didn’t seem to matter if I was up for 24 hours or 12 hours out of my normal time zone. I just slept when it was time and played when I wanted.
Well at the age of 61 those days are gone. Myron and I are still fighting to adjust to our new time zone, especially with regards to sleeping. I am now more or less adjusted to the 14 time zone shift. More, in that I am no longer wandering about the house or country in a mental fog. Less, in that I am dead tired at 6:00 PM and falling asleep only to wake up 7 hours later around 1:00 AM and unable to go back to sleep. It is now 2:00 AM as I write this blog. I am sitting at the kitchen table eating left over fried bananas and “Salted Crispy Rice” along with fresh bananas and coffee. So I am still at least 5 hours out of synch with Thailand. The low battery warning just came on the Notebook so I had to wander into the bedroom and get the charger and camera without waking Tiptida who is fully adjusted to the time zone changes and sleeping at normal times.
Here are the snacks I am eating while writing this blog. Thailand has more varieties of bananas than any other country I have ever visited. I find these are the best for eating. They are very small and I refer to them as “thumb” bananas as they are so small. The skin is a little difficult to get off as it is very thin and stringy, but the banana is sweet with a strong odor of banana. I can sit down and eat 10 at a time.
The snack below is made from bananas. I am guessing that ripe bananas are smashed into a mash and then rolled back out flat and then baked or semi dried. They are very sweet and have a strong odor of banana. They have the consistency of a fruit rollup.
These are the “Salted Crispy Rice” rounds I am snacking on. The rice is slightly puffed, lightly salted and then pressed into little round flats and baked. They are very crispy and slightly salty. Thai cooking is the art of balancing sweet, sour and salty. Again this is the main reason why I will be lucky to maintain my weight this trip even with riding as there are so many good things to eat in Thailand. The other reason is just plain lack of will to not snack on different things. Thai people are in general still very fit. There are few overweight people in Thailand and only after getting old do most start to gain weight and then moderately. It is rare to see what is termed morbidly obese people in Thailand. If you do see someone who fits that description they are usually tourist from Europe or the states. I often wonder what the Thai people think when they see someone a hundred pounds or more overweight walking around Thailand. I am aware that in some cultures being overweight is a sign of wealth and status, because only wealthy people can afford to eat so much. Just a few years ago I remember a news story where the king of American Samoa came out and asked the people of his country to start thinking about their weight and what they eat as everyone in the country was grossly overweight and suffering the related health problems. I myself constantly run 20-25 lbs above my ideal weight. If you factor in my age it might be about 15 lbs, but by any standard I am too heavy. I have never seen a young girl in Thailand running around with a “muffin top”. I can only attribute the slimness of the Thailand people to a much more active life style and eating habits. Most people in Thailand do not own a car and many walk a fair bit to get to bus stations or other forms of public transportation. It is not uncommon to see someone walk a mile or more to the market to shop for vegetables and that brings me to the eating habits of Thai people. Thais eat a lot of veggies either raw or cooked. Small amounts of meat is eaten by any Thai with less than 1-2 ounces in any given dish.
Just now I can hear the train passing by the house about a mile away. I can hear the wheels clacking as they pass over the rail joints. Most of the rails in Thailand are of the old style, where 8 men can pick up on rail and move it to the rail bed to be connected together one by one. In Thailand due to termite problems concrete ties are used as in the states, but I have seen men still driving spikes in some places. In the states most rails today come in long sections that are hauled on long trains laid onto the rail beds and then set and spiked to the cross ties by machine. In Thailand this work is still mostly performed by hand as it was years ago in the states. It is possible on the more travelled sections that new and less labor intensive methods are being used, but I have not seen it.
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