Thai Tea Ecstacy, 11 Jan 2008

After falling blissfully asleep at 7 PM on our first night in Chiang Mai (we literally checked in and didn't get up after that--EXHAUSTED) Julia and I ventured from our lovely guest house, Tri Gong, to find breakfast sleepy-eyed.

The open air cafe at the corner of our little cozy neighborhood street seemed plaseant enough for us that morning. I stuck to the fried eggs and toast on display at every place we'd hit so far on our trip (a girl's gotta have her protein) but julia ventured for the local fare: rice soup for breakfast. The traditional Thai soup (served for breakfast) consists of rice, broth, some veggies, choice of meat and lots of good savory spices. And, damn, was it good.

Feeling crampy (me) and generally "bleh" (insert raspberry noise) and having wandered a bit of our little street (all thirty feet of it) Julia and I decided it was mani/pedi time. (Cut to montage of salon scenes from Legally Blonde). Really though, we did get manicures and pedicures--red for my toes, green for julia's--and it was delightfully relaxing. Most notable part: the women used limes on our fingers and toes, presumably as a skin conditioner...??

From there we wandered some more, my favorite part of traveling: getting just a little bit lost in a new city and stumbling upon whatever's around the corner. We needed postcard stamps (that's right, be watching your mailboxes any week now) and got directions to the nearest post office. Never without our trusty Lonely Planet Thailand, we realized we were near a few of LP's top restuarant picks and realized, yes, our bellies were a little hungry now that we'd gotten our stamps with the king's portrait on them. Note: it is rude to lick any stamp (or step on any money) which bears the king's portrait, hence you use the wet pad in the post office (or don't let anyone see you lick it while your friend covers for you.)

Just across the street from the post office was a monument of the Three Kings, and if you turned right there, you could find some delectable shrimp fried rice. And that we did, or should I say, that was where I had my Thai Tea Ecstacy...

Ok, so for some reason I didn't compute that I would be finding my beloved Thai Iced Tea in Thailand. Seriously, it, like, didn't even register. I wasn't even looking for it. I mean, when I looked down at the lunch menu and saw Lemon Iced Tea and julia chose Iced Tea, I was expecting her to receive the iced green tea we'd gotten at the Wiffy Waffle and me to receive my favorite Lipton Lemon Ice tea. Not in a million years, not for a million bucks would I have guessed what we got.

In cute, stout fish-bowlesque glasses we got our drinks. And they were heavenly. More than heavenly, they were delicious and amazing and inspiring--I immediately got out my journal and started writing frantically so I wouldn't forget the experience! Julia's "Iced Tea" was in fact Thai Iced Tea (with half and half mixed in) and mine, well, it was sweetened Thai tea (minus the half and half) with lemon. Gorgeous... Best. Drink. Ever.