FASTING AND FEASTING

Fasting, Feasting (with due apologies to Anita Desai) was what the Chiang Mai trip was all about.

Karva Chauth, as the name implies, is karva (bitter) indeed! This is a fast that married women, mostly in North India, keep one day in a year for the welfare of their husbands. It's where you don't drink a drop of water, forget a morsel of food till you see the moon up in the sky at night. Traditionally, one is supposed to get up before sunrise and eat the sargee (usually ghee laden paranthas and the like). There are some who after the evening pooja drink some water and have a cup of tea. For me however, coming from a background where married women keep Teej, a 24-hour fast, and for whom feasting in the ungodly hours before sunrise is nausea inducing, Karva Chauth means your last meal is the night before and you continue without even a drop of water until you spot the full moon in the sky. This is the day where I usually keep myself so busy with work that apart from feeling the occasional thirst, one generally forgets about food matters. Here, I also don't want to get into the debate over keeping Karva Chauth. Sure there are those who snigger at the concept, there are those who can't seem to have enough of it- strictly dress wise- dressing up as a new bride, whatever the age, and going around like a star from a saas-bahu Hindi serial. I don't dress up, I don't get at uncivilised hours to feast and I don't participate in any poojas etc. I keep a strict fast and why I do is a private matter!   

And this time I was in Chiang Mai with a group of close friends and naturally drinking and dining (make it binging) was a way of life.  So what was the way out? Nothing, except being stoic and taking it in good stride and of course, hitting the major tourist spots until time flew by. Thankfully, this time the moon was visible, big and bright. Two years ago I was in Singapore on Karva Chauth day and the breaking of the fast turned into quite a farce. There we were - a friend based there and also keeping the fast- being driven almost all over the city-nation by her husband to spot the moon. The farce soon began to turn into an ordeal because the weather played spoilsport. It was raining, dark, gloomy and everything morose. The moon adamantly refused to even peep out  even for a second. End result -it was after 11pm when we gave up and broke the fast, first a few sips of water and then straight on to spirits and divine food at one of the fine dining restaurants at Dempsey Hill.

In Chiang Mai the first place we hit after landing in the city was the eatery called The Whole Earth, simple because it was close to where we were staying (Le Meridien) and most important because it promised a fusion of Thai and Indian food! (Turned out that the owner is of Indian origin). The place did look inviting with its typical Thai architecture structure in the middle a huge green compound redolent with greenery from the ubiquitous frangipani (plumeria) to bright birds of paradise and what-have-you. One had to remove footwear before climbing up to the first floor eatery, which indoors had a very Thai cum colonial feel, with a veranda with outdoor seating wrapped around half of it. I had no quarrels with the decor and ambiance, its the menu that left me a little unsure. I have a lifelong passionate affair going on with Thai food, but the Indian dishes popping up here and there left me a tad unsure if it was a good idea. Of course the vegetarians among us (incidentally by now it has become second nature to us to instinctively create an invisible wall between the vegetarians and the carnivores around the same table. The vegetarian dishes of course know no Lakshman Rekha but with the non-veg stuff one has to be careful). Did I like the food? I loved everything especially the fish cooked in and served in green coconut and , the steamed fish with the really perky sauce. Indian food- I kept away from, one doesn't travel so far to eat what you get best in Delhi!  

 

 

 

 

 

Would I go to The Whole Earth again? I did but then that day I was fasting!

It was in Chiang Mai that I discovered Nam Prik Ong!  It's a dish I know that I can never ever have enough of. We were at The Riverside Bar @&Restaurant on the west side of River Ping. It's a lively place with multilevel seating, has great music, crowded to the brim and with a fantastic riverside view (Okay fine, I know the name says it all!). We managed to get a big table outdoors and that's where Nam Prik Ong jumped at me from the menu. Anything that says pork is my undoing and the menu description was quite tempting - it had pork mince and tomato dip, vegetables and Mamma Mia it had pork rinds mentioned. When it came I send a prayer upstairs in gratitude, it was that divine. The savoury-sweet-chili dip seemed to have lots of pork mince in a fantastic tomato sauce and there were green beans, cauliflower, prawns, lettuce and pork rinds ringed around the dip in a bowl in the centre. Unless you try it, you don't know what you are missing.  Every dish that followed, especially the Burmese pork curry, was high on the yummy scale but of course, always second place to Nam Prik Ong. After that it was Nam Prik Ong all the way!

The Yummy Nam Prik Ong

 

The Burmese Pork Curry

 

In between of course, one made the by now compulsory trips to the night markets. There's the regular daily night market and there's the Saturday (Wui Lai Market)Night Market. What I liked about the Saturday one is that apart from the usual stalls - food, more food, Thai artifacts, garments and the quintessential stuff one gets in all night markets in Thailand - were the stalls with many young entrepreneurs, local designers (the beginners of course) who had on sale some unusual  accessories, home ware etc. with global flavour. The food stuff as usual were awesome. What particularly caught every body's eyes, those of the tourists variety that is, were the sweets made from bean paste, sweetened infused with bright food colouring and shaped into delightful creations like grapes, baby carrots, chilis and more. If you didn't know better, you would be royally fooled! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best meal hands down was however at the Pong Yang Restaurant (Pong Yang Farm &Resort) near the Mae Sa Waterfall. It was a combination of the best of everything - the stunning environ with dense forests every which way you look, the waterfall cascading down, the outdoor dining sections at different levels with the waterfall always in sight and the food - it was being at the right place, at the right time with the right people. Nam Prik Ong of course! The deep fried bass, the mushroom soup, the fried rice and just every dish tasted good, with that stunning view I guess everybody was too busy gaping and had no time or intention to critic the food. But then as I have always said, to me Thai food is simply delicious. 

            

 

 

Somewhere we have all learned that hēdonē is the Greek word for delight/pleasure and hence hedonism. Somehow the connotation is not very positive so I choose to say it was ethical hedonism ( I didn't coin the phrase, it is an accepted school of thought and it means seeking pleasure without harming others equal rights). It was our last night in Chiang Mai and there was also a happy occasion that called for celebration. So in royal style and keeping the happy-occasion- couple in dark, the indoor pool of a spa resort was booked complete with special dining arrangements made by the poolside. Then, it was just indulgence all the way- frolicking in the pool, downing spirits and feasting on an endless arrays of finger-licking dishes. And yes, the strict segregation between vegetarian and non-vegetarian diners was voluntarily but strictly enforced. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the happy occasion there was a gorgeous cake to celebrate. It goes without saying that the names iced on the cake have been deleted! In a jiffy it went from a gorgeous cake to just bits of decor and candles lying forlornly on the plate picked clean. A very happy ending to a very happy occasion.

This is how it looked 

And this is how to ended! 

For me however, there was no question of leaving a place without checking out its main local market, away from the touristy trails or traps,whatever you call them. Except that initially there was some confusion about what exactly was the name of the market and its location.My initial information was that it was the Worarot Market and the place where you could get the real feel of Chiang Mai. But every time I asked some of the locals for the Worarot Market, the response was a complete blank. I kept consoling myself that it was my pronunciation that was at fault and kept uttering several variations. Felt a total idiot when a sensible soul at the hotel told me that it was locally known as Kad Luang and asking directions to Worarot from the local people including cab drivers wouldn't get me anywhere. 

 Kad Luang is a busy bustling place, quite chaotic at first and seems so familiar after the usually spread out markets at home. It is located on Chiang Moi road alongside the River Ping. This is one place where everything Thai is available from food (naturally!) to household requirements to gold, gem and jewellery. The first thing we did was to drink up some refreshing green coconut water. For me all that mattered was the food section. It was a dose of nostalgia when I spied huge tree beans, something available and eaten only in some places in North East India. Despite the heavy breakfast at the hotel, there was no way one could turn away from the Thai salad being made right there and then by a street hawker. It was the perfect place to pick up the Thai spices and the family's favourite - huge crunchy peanuts spiced up with lemon grass, kaffir leaves etc. It tastes heavenly and is so addictive that a packet once opened becomes a packet instantly demolished. And that on delicious note we had to wrap up our Chiang Mai stay.