Sri Racha
Having no one to make an itinerary, for this trip, I let a magazine decide where I’d go. This is a slice of Sri Racha, a sleepy coastal town north of Thailand.
I was going to Bangkok for work and decided to extend my stay for a few days. However, as the travel dates drew closer, I realized I was too lazy to do this ‘solo’ travel thing. Where am I gonna go? Who am I gonna talk to while traveling alone? Most importantly: who will talk to other people when they start talking to me??! 😂 I wasn't sure my introverted self will survive it.
On the other hand, I didn't want to pay for the rebooking fee, so I really had to do it. I had to do everything by myself this time, and I refused to just spend the remaining 3-4 days in Bangkok. I was set on going to Khao Yai, the one we decided to forego last year because we stayed in Ayutthaya instead. However, the place looked like something I’d enjoy more with companions. Then I remembered this image I saw in an inflight magazine. It is an image of a sunset engulfing an entire coastal town with its dark orange hue. It almost looked like a painting.
I quickly went through my shelf to find that magazine. And indeed, that image exists, and it really is in Thailand! The photo was taken in a town called Sri Racha. I read the article again and decided that that would be the destination.
Sri Racha. Doesn't it ring a bell? It's because this is where the world’s favorite hot sauce originated. I wanted to find the original sriracha sauce, but couldn’t find any lead online. Maybe no one’s left in town producing their version of this hot sauce.
I read from blogs that Sri Racha is unlike any other place in Thailand. It is not frequented by tourists and very few locals understand and speak English. It is "raw Thailand", as one traveler describes. But I never thought of these as challenges. Thailand is an easy trip. Being one of the most visited countries in the world, locals are already used to tourists. Plus I've been to Thailand a few times already so how hard can it be? My friend and I managed to go to Ayutthaya (after being left by the last bus from Suphan Buri), just by "talking" with a bus driver using only the word "Ayutthaya", both used as a question and answer. 😂 This is peanuts, I said.
It was hard. 😂 Just finding the apartment I rented took us over an hour. Even the tuktuk driver quipped (to the landlord, when we finally found it) that we've already been through the entire city just searching for the apartment. He does not speak English and was not familiar with the exact location of the apartment I rented so he just drove me around hoping I'd recognize the apartment as we passed by it. He even took me to a restaurant where the owner's daughter speaks English. I asked to be connected to their wifi and saw that we’re VERY, VERY near the apartment, but none of them could figure out where it is. A day before I left, I'd find myself again in the same street where the restaurant is (while looking for a store that sells postcards) and discover that that area is just in my neighborhood.
Silly me. I thought the map I had–a screenshot from google–would be enough. I did not buy a local sim card, because, I’ll just ask for directions. The tuktuk driver and most of the locals do not speak and understand English, but still tried to communicate with me. While driving around, the driver talks to me in Thai language and I respond in English and the occasional, “chai” (Thai word for yes). He and his friend assured me that they will help me find the apartment no matter what. He asked for the phone number of the owner of the apartment, but I said we'll manage. I can be stupid sometimes. After an hour of going through the city, I'd ask him to call the owner, and eventually, we'll find the place. After I recognized the location I saw on google. It wasn't the apartment itself that I recognized, but the house across the street. I asked the driver to stop the vehicle. I asked an old lady in the house: "Is this Ban Rao apartment?" She pointed at the house infront of us. Later on, I'd realize that "ban rao" translates to "marina house" in Thai, which is why the driver first took me to this establishment named Marina. I paid the driver 200 Thai baht. The fare costs much less, but we drove for an hour or so, so I had to pay extra. Exhausted and unwilling to risk getting lost since it was already dark, I decided to just stay at the apartment that night. And just eat my baon, which are cookies, crackers, nuts, and sweets.
While it is true that there are few tourists visiting Sri Racha (while I was there, it felt like I was the only foreign tourist, until the second day when I saw two white girls while I was walking back to my apartment), there are a number of big hotels in the city. I saw some of them because the tuktuk driver took me there in search of my hotel. I laughed when he drove me to Centara, at the back of my mind I was saying, "Kuya, kung alam mo lang, cheap lang ako. Airbnb lang ako." 😂 At night, I could see the blinking colorful lights of a hotel from the glass door of my room.
But even if Sri Racha is not totally rural, it is a very quiet town. From my apartment, all I ever hear are the noise from the neighbors preparing for their day and the faint gust of wind from the sea. In the morning, when the seawater recedes from the shore, locals are seen digging around the dried-up seabed for clams.
The apartment I rented faces the sea. I'd spent some time at the balcony while having my breakfast or dinner or just sitting there, watching the calm waters slowly recede in the morning and grow back late in the afternoon and listening to the sounds the neighborhood makes as they prepare for the day and prepare to retire at night. I've been living in the city most of my life, but Sri Racha made me re-think of moving back to the rural. And by that, I meant in Sri Racha itself. 😄 My dream to be based in Thailand still lives.
I was going back to the apartment from a quick tambay at the park when I saw this food stall in a corner selling barbecued chicken. I remembered that Sri Racha has this famous roasted chicken dish. I couldn't remember what it's called but I thought this was probably it or a version of that dish. I bought a couple to try.
Thai instant coffee + sweet sticky rice stick from Myanmar. While we were taking down our booth and packing up our exhibit materials during the MKLF 2019, our 'neighbor' Myanmar, gave us a plateful of these sweet goodies which is among the food they brought for their exhibit. Neither my colleague nor I was hungry so I planned to give it back or give it to another person so it'll not go to waste, but my colleague said to just take it back with us at the hotel. Thank goodness, I did because this food saved me when I was in Sri Racha and too lazy to go out to find food. These are sticks made of sticky rice and sweetened with brown sugar, a perfect coffee partner.
I was going to Bangkok for work and decided to extend my stay for a few days. However, as the travel dates drew closer, I realized I was too lazy to do this ‘solo’ travel thing. Where am I gonna go? Who am I gonna talk to while traveling alone? Most importantly: who will talk to other people when they start talking to me??! 😂 I wasn't sure my introverted self will survive it.
On the other hand, I didn't want to pay for the rebooking fee, so I really had to do it. I had to do everything by myself this time, and I refused to just spend the remaining 3-4 days in Bangkok. I was set on going to Khao Yai, the one we decided to forego last year because we stayed in Ayutthaya instead. However, the place looked like something I’d enjoy more with companions. Then I remembered this image I saw in an inflight magazine. It is an image of a sunset engulfing an entire coastal town with its dark orange hue. It almost looked like a painting.
I quickly went through my shelf to find that magazine. And indeed, that image exists, and it really is in Thailand! The photo was taken in a town called Sri Racha. I read the article again and decided that that would be the destination.
Sri Racha. Doesn't it ring a bell? It's because this is where the world’s favorite hot sauce originated. I wanted to find the original sriracha sauce, but couldn’t find any lead online. Maybe no one’s left in town producing their version of this hot sauce.
I read from blogs that Sri Racha is unlike any other place in Thailand. It is not frequented by tourists and very few locals understand and speak English. It is "raw Thailand", as one traveler describes. But I never thought of these as challenges. Thailand is an easy trip. Being one of the most visited countries in the world, locals are already used to tourists. Plus I've been to Thailand a few times already so how hard can it be? My friend and I managed to go to Ayutthaya (after being left by the last bus from Suphan Buri), just by "talking" with a bus driver using only the word "Ayutthaya", both used as a question and answer. 😂 This is peanuts, I said.
It was hard. 😂 Just finding the apartment I rented took us over an hour. Even the tuktuk driver quipped (to the landlord, when we finally found it) that we've already been through the entire city just searching for the apartment. He does not speak English and was not familiar with the exact location of the apartment I rented so he just drove me around hoping I'd recognize the apartment as we passed by it. He even took me to a restaurant where the owner's daughter speaks English. I asked to be connected to their wifi and saw that we’re VERY, VERY near the apartment, but none of them could figure out where it is. A day before I left, I'd find myself again in the same street where the restaurant is (while looking for a store that sells postcards) and discover that that area is just in my neighborhood.
Silly me. I thought the map I had–a screenshot from google–would be enough. I did not buy a local sim card, because, I’ll just ask for directions. The tuktuk driver and most of the locals do not speak and understand English, but still tried to communicate with me. While driving around, the driver talks to me in Thai language and I respond in English and the occasional, “chai” (Thai word for yes). He and his friend assured me that they will help me find the apartment no matter what. He asked for the phone number of the owner of the apartment, but I said we'll manage. I can be stupid sometimes. After an hour of going through the city, I'd ask him to call the owner, and eventually, we'll find the place. After I recognized the location I saw on google. It wasn't the apartment itself that I recognized, but the house across the street. I asked the driver to stop the vehicle. I asked an old lady in the house: "Is this Ban Rao apartment?" She pointed at the house infront of us. Later on, I'd realize that "ban rao" translates to "marina house" in Thai, which is why the driver first took me to this establishment named Marina. I paid the driver 200 Thai baht. The fare costs much less, but we drove for an hour or so, so I had to pay extra. Exhausted and unwilling to risk getting lost since it was already dark, I decided to just stay at the apartment that night. And just eat my baon, which are cookies, crackers, nuts, and sweets.
While it is true that there are few tourists visiting Sri Racha (while I was there, it felt like I was the only foreign tourist, until the second day when I saw two white girls while I was walking back to my apartment), there are a number of big hotels in the city. I saw some of them because the tuktuk driver took me there in search of my hotel. I laughed when he drove me to Centara, at the back of my mind I was saying, "Kuya, kung alam mo lang, cheap lang ako. Airbnb lang ako." 😂 At night, I could see the blinking colorful lights of a hotel from the glass door of my room.
But even if Sri Racha is not totally rural, it is a very quiet town. From my apartment, all I ever hear are the noise from the neighbors preparing for their day and the faint gust of wind from the sea. In the morning, when the seawater recedes from the shore, locals are seen digging around the dried-up seabed for clams.
This scene reminds me of the time my siblings and I would go with our father in the nearby irrigation canal when it dries up, looking for clams washed from the river, the source of water irrigating the rice fields.
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| Pretty plants in front of another apartment |
Food
It was not the dish I was looking for. That was gai op oang, chicken roasted in earthenware jugs. But this one wasn't bad. It tastes a little bit like the chicken in Mang Inasal, but softer and sweeter. Dalawa yan na petso size, di na umabot sa picture-an yung isa.
Thai instant coffee + sweet sticky rice stick from Myanmar. While we were taking down our booth and packing up our exhibit materials during the MKLF 2019, our 'neighbor' Myanmar, gave us a plateful of these sweet goodies which is among the food they brought for their exhibit. Neither my colleague nor I was hungry so I planned to give it back or give it to another person so it'll not go to waste, but my colleague said to just take it back with us at the hotel. Thank goodness, I did because this food saved me when I was in Sri Racha and too lazy to go out to find food. These are sticks made of sticky rice and sweetened with brown sugar, a perfect coffee partner.
