7) Oishi Tea
I
swear I don't love this stuff JUST because it has One Piece characters
on the front. It's also weirdly addictive. Don't try the Nami
variety--it tastes like dirty liquorice. I bought a pack of that, and
it's definitely staying with the apartment for the next poor fool who
rents it.
6) Pandan cakes.
It
tastes like grass. It is also delicious. No, I can't explain in words
how those two statements manage to both be true. It's worth the taste,
though--Pandan is weird but good. It's like a green, grassy twinkie.
5) Cooling Powder
Okay,
so I grew up in Alberta, land of unpredictable winds, cows, and
perpetual cool weather. The hottest day ever recorded in my hometown a)
happened in 1919, and b) was the temperature of a really average day in
Phuket. So my ability to survive the heat was forged in the crucible of a
tropical paradise, and frankly, that's a difficult thing to survive.
My
favourite discovery for beating the heat (and not looking like
something the cat dragged in as soon as I stepped outside) is cooling
powder! Magic dust, this stuff. Essentially talc (baby powder) mixed
with something that makes your skin feel like it's being licked by a
minty-fresh polar bear when it comes in contact with moisture.
So basically, you sweat, the baby power absorbs it,
and you get to feel amazingly cool. Magic powder!
Thailand
has a billion varieties of this stuff, all of which are sold in your
friendly neighbourhood convenience store. Sure it probably exists in
Canada, but it's one of those things that I definitely didn't need
there!
4) Instant Noodles
Thailand
has amazing noodles. All you need to make them is hot water, and they
taste like...amazing.
Yeah. Tom Yum soup is freaking delicious--it's the
one with the shrimps on the front. Yeah, all of them. It's a popular
flavour. Fair warning, Thailand does not skimp of the spicy--it's 50-50
on whether you're going to get a hot soup or a nuclear wasteland in your
mouth. I like the excitement of finding out, myself.
It's like Russian Roulette with your tongue!
3) Meiji Milk
Of
all the milk I've had in my life, this is the best. It's sweet, creamy
deliciousness, far better than anything I've tasted in North America.
It's like cow nectar, a lactose-filled ambrosia. I don't know what kinds
of cows Japan has, but Canada should seriously look into that and
import some of them in, because clearly we are failing on the delicious
milk front.
2) This Pancake Thing. (Dorayaki)
I
have no idea what it's called, but it's delicious! It's two pancakes
made into a sandwich around an almond custard-cream. It's amazing, and
insanely hard to find. Buy as many as you can and sit in your room
eating them in the dark--I promise that it'll be a better evening than
whatever else you had planned.
We found a cookie and cream variety once! That...was a really good day. One of the best, if I'm going to be totally honest.
1) Thai Energy Drinks
So
I discovered these last week, or there about. The passage of time is
kind of a relative thing under the influence of these, and/or depending
on the speed of the Tuk Tuk. There's TONS of varieties, and they're all
basically sugar syrup laced with...caffeine? Ginseng? I don't know.
Super tasty, though.
They're great! Mix them with coke and
rum/vodka for a great mixed drink that'll have you climbing the walls
until tomorrow morning, or drink it straight for a non-jittery alertness
that might give you heart palpitations! Lol. I'm joking, probably.
There's a warning label, but it's in Thai, so who's to say what it's
warning us of? Maybe mutant piranhas are addicted to the stuff and you
have to be prepared to defend your stash--there's no way to tell.
These
retail for ten baht, or thirty-three cents, so you can have three for a
dollar! I've lost count of how many I've had! Many dollars worth,
though. Lucky, a sugar connoisseur of the highest order, says these are
like sugar comas in a bottle. She loves them. There's a lot to love here
in Thailand!
~Geogirl
