Greencaviar Travel

CHIANG MAI FLAVORS, PART 1: G O D FOR A DRINK I feel like a stranger feeling at home at the Brown Rice Organic Bistro. In many ways, BROB feels like a perfect expression of Berkeley, California gourmet ghetto. It's a small place, with no fancy décor, with an open-air patio that faces a busy street. It has 3 medium size tables, and two 'khan toke' (low round tables made of wood to hold a plethora of dishes). It's always filled with tourists who seemed like they just came back from a meditation or yoga class or from walking their dog. It starts being special from the bar chalkboard menu. The smoothie menu on the chalkboard includes catchy labels like GOD (Green Oasis Drink), POT (Pineapple, Orange and Tomato), and CTOP (Carrot, Tomato, Orange and Pineapple). It also describes the type of nutrients that could be found in a serving of a fruit juice. For example, “Gac fruit juice has 12 times the amount of lycopene found in tomatoes or 10x the beta-carotene found in ca...

I am awaken before dawn by the animal concert: the 'tsk tsk tsk' of the house lizard, the howling of the dogs, the chirping cicadas, the 'woot woot woot' - a loud sound that seems to come from a huge animal like the elephant. (My host tells me later that the 'woot woot' sound comes from a red bird the size of a chicken.) Over dinner one evening, my host tells me that she works for the 'administration'. This morning she comes to my cottage with a pot of hot water for my instant coffee and oatmeal. She sets the pot, 2 cups and 2 bowls up on the table outside my cottage. Breakfast is an opportunity for us to get to know each other. In her guarded pleasant demeanor, she tries to explain that she works for the 'administration', and that she loves her job. Then she discreetly pulls out her Thai/English dictionary from her pocket. She does not have to go to work every day, but get called to resolve any issues and problems that come up...

It seems that I have been on this ride forever!  “How long have we been traveling?” I ask SA, a co-volunteer.  SA has a long and wavy light brown hair that gives her a carefree look.   She’s very smart and has a well-thought-of answer to any questions.  “We left the guest house at ten past nine and it’s now 9:55 so we have been traveling for forty-five minutes”, replies SA.  We have just picked up another volunteer, SB whose homestay is on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.  We are traveling in a covered pick-up truck called songthaew .  The four of us are seated on the long benches inside the truck, MM and SA on the side opposite SB and I. When I see the open highway that is separated by the manicured pine trees and the bougainvillea plants in a variety of colors, I stop caring about the time or the name of the road. We are finally outside the city.  All I care about now is that we are heading northwest for our trekking and river rafting adventure. ...

Naked Mango Shake, Banana Pineapple Shake & Blue Magic I'm taking a break from my work assignment at the elephant home and spending the weekend in Chiang Mai.   I get to hangout with other volunteers: S from Canada, M and S from the US, and H from Japan. On our first weekend together we get to exchange notes about our assigned work locations and areas of interest. Over dinner we share photos and stories of our first week of volunteering. M has the most colorful experience by far when it comes to food. She describes how she caught her food (shrimp-shrimp, little crab, sucker fish), and how she popped the whole crab and fish head into her mouth and had maggots for dinner. S from the US talks fondly about her home-stay family. I share a video of H dancing the "Gangnam Style" with the kids from school.  S from Canada and I have our share of getting lost on our first day in Chiang Mai. She reminds me so much of my niece who went to teach in Korea and tra...