My first trip in Thailand Wad-So-Ton

 




Hloung Por  So ton



            I’m back… after 4 weeks, I have been traveling in Thailand and have a lot of stories to tell you.  Unfortunately my internet in Thailand was not that good, that is the reason I couldn’t post the blog, but don’t worry I wrote and kept a very well diary of my events, so let us start with my first trip in Thailand…  This trip my parents brought me to one of our temples that my family respects.  It is “Wad-So-Ton”.  They have a story about the image of Buddha in this holy temple called “Hloung Por  So ton”.  A long time ago people saw three images of Buddha float against the tide, all of the people tried to take it out from the river, but no one can do it until the image of Buddha stopped and set on shore of three temples 1^st  is Bann Ham in Samutsongkram Province, The 2^nd is Bang PreYai Temple in Samutprakan Province, and the 3^rd in this So-Ton Temple Chachangsol, so the monk in the temple invited people with respect into the temple for worship with offerings until now.

            In the present people, still are respectful in this temple.  They still pray, wish and make a vow promising a thank-offering if one’s request is granted.  You can see all of the people bringing boiled eggs, head of a pig, flowers and hiring people to do a Thai style dance after their request is granted.



Thai style dance



After I finish I pray and make a wish.  I went to a market by the temples that have all of the local foods, snack, drink and dessert for sale by venders everywhere.  I started with “Ka-Nom-Jak” which is a snack/dessert made from black sticky flour, sugar, coconut milk and shredded coconuts put it in a palm leave and grilled to make it firm and taste sweet, coconutty and toasty.  The price is about 50 cents per bunch (about 4 pieces per bunch). 

Grilling Ka-Nom-Jak

Ka-Nom-Jak Vender

Ka-Nom-Jak

Dried seafood

 Next the vender had all of the preserves like seafood Ex. Fermented crab “ Poo dong”, fermented shrimp “Kung Jom”, fermented fish “ Pa Rha”, dried shrimp “Kung Hang” the price is determined by kilogram around 10-15 dollars per kilogram. 

The next vender I found had palm flower juice, it’s called “Num Tan Sod” one of my favorite all time drinks.  It’s very hard to find the real one.  My dad told me how to make Num Tan Sod (it’s not easy).  They have to cut the flower of a palm then use bamboo can and put “Pa-Yom wood chip”(Pa-Yom is one kind of tree) to protect the juice from going bad and collect the drip of the juice from a flower a little bit by taking about 3-5 hours to collect the juice, so the color of the juice will become almost black from wood chips.  Then they will boil about 20-30 minutes to make it more concentrated and stay fresher longer.   The taste of this drink is sweet and has a fragrance of it’s own (sooo good) it is a nutty and sweet smell. If you like coconut juice this drink is 10 times better. The real Num Tan Sod has just 1 day life time, because after 1 day the taste will change, so farmers will use that juice to make palm sugar. (We use that often in Thai cuisine). That’s the reason why they make the fake one to have a longer expiration time.  For the technique to find the real Num Tan Sod beside taste it( But you have to be professional like me ha…ha…) or you can see from the color, it will be dark almost black not clear (in the picture) and taste sweet, but not too sweet and have a nutty smell.  After touring the market we got a lot to eat…Fermented crab that my mom will make spicy crab salad for us the next day,  Ka Nom Jak that I finished in the car that day same as Num Tan Sod my favorite drink……. ammm.. yummy yummy in my tommy!!!!

Palm fruit

Num Tan Sod