English R Us

Things are (very sadly) coming to a close here in Hangchat. Erin and I are currently completing our last week of teaching! As it turns out, 4 months is more than enough time to be spending with some of the students, but not nearly enough with most. Just when we are starting to connect and become friendly with some of the students, it is time for us to jet off. Enough with the boo hoo, though.
This past weekend was by far the most fun weekend we’ve had in Hangchat! It was the annual English Camp that is held for M4 (10th grade) students, a weekend-long program that is held at nearly all Thai schools. You may recall that we assisted at an English Camp in Chiang Rai back in December . . .please refer to the “Chulabots” entry. Let’s just say that our camp had the same main goal of giving the students an opportunity to study English for an entire weekend, but it was done with true Hangchat flair and style. For starters, the name of this year’s camp was “English R Us.” How was the camp given such a grammatically incorrect name? One afternoon, as the English teachers were gathered around a table planning the camp, Kru Sutham began asking for ideas for the name. “Super English,” “Awesome English Camp,” several ideas were thrown out there. Leave it to me, with my hilariously not funny jokes and puns to throw something completely bizarre on the table. “English R Us!” I shouted, of course laughing at my own joke. Sutham, with his vast knowledge of western culture immediately grasped my joke and humored me with a chuckle. “What?! What?!” Pan exclaimed. Sutham explained to her that it’s a large toy store in America. “Ohhhh! Ok! ‘English R Us!’ It’s good I think!” Despite my efforts to explain that it was a stupid joke, and it only barely makes sense, Pan’s mind was made up. Less than a week later, to my great dismay, she appeared at my desk with a sketch of the camp t-shirts, ‘English R Us’ scrawled across the back. Sigh. When the T-shirts were actually finished, the ‘R’ is not only backwards, but also upside-down. That's so Hangchat.

As Erin has previously stated, Sutham is easing into retirement at Hangchat. He wanted to bring some fresh blood to English Camp this year so he called upon Mr. John, a freelance English teacher in Lampang (from Michigan) to plan nearly every aspect of the camp and help run it. In addition to Mr. John (and his young teenage son) Sutham also got his hands on a couple of high school exchange students from Brazil and Canada, respectively. Not exactly ‘native speakers,’ but still farang! Finally, Sutham called upon a youth group that is run out of Rajabhat University, in Lampang, to organize ice breakers and games for the down time between activities . . . basically to act as babysitters while the teachers showered and took breathers. This youth group ended up killing a lot more of the time than we initially anticipated, and sort of turned the camp into a Thai dance camp rather than an English camp, (the games and songs were all in Thai). Lack of educational value aside, the students loved the silly games and dances. The Rajabhat students brought a ton of energy to the camp and were certainly one of the highlights for the students! Enjoy the examples of some of the silly dances that took place! Each enjoyed very loud drumming and singing and shouting into microphones. The students were required to do ridiculous dances that involved, yup you guessed it, lots of hip thrusting, (a sort of theme here in Thailand).

During the day, Erin and I each manned ‘educational’ stations. Mine was boring so I had to spice it up. John informed me that I was to taking care of the word recognition station, in which I would call a word and a student would circle it. Boring. So I turned it into a racing game. I would make each student walk back about 10 yards from the white board, call a word out, then make the students race to be the first to touch the word on the board. It turned into some pretty intense hand to hand combat, so of course the students loved it. Success. Erin played Pictionary and taught parts of the body.

Let me take a moment to paint a picture of M4. These 96 students are, by far, some of our favorites in the school, (Yea, that’s right. Teachers do have favorites.) 4/1 is made up of students who were in Pan’s Christmas play. We were able to spend a lot of time with them during rehearsals, and Erin teaches them every week. The class consists of a whole slew of the sweetest girls you can imagine, who love learning English, and love talking to us. There are also a few adorable boys including Jame, (who I still think has star quality) and Big and Bell, the twins, both of whom Pan refers to as “Bigbell.” You may remember a video of me dancing with these 3 on Christmas. Donut is also in 4/1. I like his nickname.

4/2 is my class, but Erin became close to a number of them when they became her basketball teammates, (before the hoop broke). Ter is possibly the best English speaker in the school. His friend J is just adorable, sweet, and helpful. And then, there’s Home. Ahhhh, Home. Slightly overweight, walks with a ridiculous strut, always getting picked on by his buddies . . he’s the epitome of “the fat friend.” Home does not like English, nor is he any good at it. I will often ask him to repeat a phrase. “Come here please, teacher.” “Eh Uh Ehhhhh Aee OHHHH.” Not even close, Home, not even close. In frustration, he will often speak to me in Thai, rapid fire, and I just look at him and laugh. And then there is Somsak/Frasai/Sai/Lay/Helen, perhaps the most complex out of all the M 4’s. He is a lady boy, not quite as beautiful as Ram, our M5 lady boy, although perhaps with a bit more charisma. He (she) is very sweet, tries hard at English, and struts around campus with a pink Hello Kitty backpack. I love him (her).
4/3 is the slow class. 4/3, 5/3, and 6/3 are on the ‘language track’ at school, as opposed to the ‘math and science track.’ You would think this would mean that they are good at English, but really it means that they are bad at school, (although usually the most fun and entertaining in the grade). My 4/3 boys are the biggest, burliest, loudest, and possibly funniest group in the school. I used to get insulted when they would mimic my voice or tease me in some other way, but I have grown to love them and appreciate their humor. It’s not unusual to see one of the boys riding on the back of Bank, (well over 6 feet tall), or see one of the boys with his shirt unbuttoned to his stomach. I often feel like I’m in the army when I’m with them (there is only a small handful of girls in the class, who wisely keep their distance from the loud, smelly boys). As you can imagine, spending a weekend with this eclectic group was a trip!

The highlight was most certainly Saturday night, after we had all changed into our “comfy clothes,” (which included boxer shorts for some of the boys . . . shocking and wildly inappropriate!) The students had less than an hour to prepare skits in groups. Sutham distributed plot summaries of actual Korean soap operas, which the students had to base their skits on. Sai of course took the female lead of his group’s skit. One skit involved HIV . . .Ter kept that skit PG by having the narrator announce, “Then, they have a sex.” Here is a video of Ter dying of AIDS. As you can imagine, these plays made little to no sense, but were laugh-out-loud funny.

After the plays, we had a dance party. Yes, that’s right. Sutham cranked Thai hit after Thai hit out of the speakers, Pan turned out the lights and shone a flashlight everywhere, and Erin and I got crunk with our students. Things got a little weird when the boys were taking their shirts off, and at one point Erin yelled in my ear, “Pan needs to turn the lights on or things might start getting really awkward.” We got some interesting looks from the students when we led them in the Macarena, but I was glad they had a chance to see us as the young hip chicks we are. I’m a cool mom. But trust me, it was all harmless. And today I have sore legs. I just don’t have the stamina I used to.

Post dance party, Erin and I escaped to our jungle house, while the rest of the teachers had to sleep at school. Ha, suckers. We were informed that some of the boys were awake until 4 am!!! And they had to wake up at 6:30. This meant that Sunday was a wash. Oh yes, they had to attend our stations, but this didn’t keep them from sleeping. Even the teachers were exhausted from all the fun, and at one point when I caught Kru Ning resting against a post, she replied “Lazy R Us.” My Sunday station involved creating “Save the World” posters, perfect for sleeping. The studious, diligent students made the posters, while the 4 am partiers slept. I had a blast getting pictures of all of them, as you can imagine. Were there any negatives to the weekend? Only three. One: we had to sign every single student’s book after every station. This means that Erin and I signed our names a grand total of 288 times over the course of the weekend. Exhausting. Two: demonstrating the orange under the chin game with Erin in front of the students, ridiculous. Three: Hearing Pan outside my house at 7am, calling my name, because she’s ready for her shower. English R Us proved to be an unforgettable weekend that will make it even harder to say goodbye to these amazing kids.

Enter, PAUL!

Wow, wow, what a fun-filled weekend we had. A friend of mine from college, Paul, came to visit. He is working for an American company in Hong Kong and we decided that since we were both in Asia we had to get together. It’s such a small continent, right? Since this weekend was Chinese New Year, Paul had Monday and Tuesday off, giving him enough time to make the trip worthwhile. We were determined to make sure he had a great time, as he did have to take a ferry and two planes to get here. We had quite the email chain going to make sure the weekend was full of activities to show Paul the greatness that is Thailand. I think we were successful, right Paul?


The weekend began with a delayed flight that Paul couldn’t inform us of because his phone wasn’t working. We were afraid he was lost but finally heard a tuk-tuk coming down our guest house’s alley, saw a bright white VILLANOVA t-shirt glowing in the dark, and knew it had to be him. We wasted no time, going straight out to show him what Chiang Mai nightlife had to offer. We took him to a part of town with a bunch of open-air bars where university students like to hang out, making us just about the only foreigners. Very authentic. Everyone had pitchers of mixed drinks, of which you could pick from a range of colors. We started off with green, which was tasty, but noticed that most other tables had the brown flavor, so we had to try that next. It only took one sip to realize what a bad idea that was, as an aftertaste of irony blood sunk in (our fingers spell blood in the picture above). Must be a Thai thing.

Friday night was also when Paul introduced us to DJ Earworm’s “mash-up” of the 2009 Top 25 Billboard Hits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNzrwh2Z2hQ). This DJ takes the top songs from the year and mixes them altogether to make one song. It sounds really cool, so cool that Paul has memorized it by watching it “at least 8 to 9 times a day,” don’t tell his boss. Throughout the weekend he continually praised the “mash-up” and could be found singing his favorite clips through the streets whenever the mood struck. Emily also got her first taste of Paul’s obsession with Villanova. He’s pretty much the head of its fan club. Therefore it was no surprise when we discovered that Paul writes a blog for the business school about working abroad. He’s not as free to share as we are, though, since his has an editor. The running joke of the weekend centered on trying to guess if the things we did or pictures we took would pass the edit of Paul’s blog. First, we would take a picture holding our drinks, then without to make it blog appropriate. Paul was also introduced to song-taos, the pick-up truck taxis that take you anywhere in town for under $1. He was supposedly told by a friend that had been to Thailand that people often ride on the roofs, although Emily and I have never seen this. We never let him try the roof but he did insist on getting some pictures hanging off the back while Emily yelled, “You better be hanging on tight. You’re making me very nervous!”

Friday night made Saturday morning’s early wake-up a bit painful, but it was time for Flight of the Gibbon. Anyone who has ever been to Chiang Mai, no matter how short their stay, has heard of it. Huge billboards, posters, stickers, and brochures can be found everywhere around the city. It’s Thailand’s longest and highest zip-line course that got its name because you act like a gibbon when you fly from tree to tree. Since we had been bombarded by so many advertisements over the past couple months and this was our last trip to Chiang Mai, we just had to see what all the hype was about. The course is set up in a jungle about an hour outside the city. There were 10 zip-lines and each was different. Some you rode alone, while others you could go in groups (yes, Paul, Emily, and I all went across together); most required you to be caught by an employee at the other side, while one gave you the option to fly into a net and climb your way to the ending platform; and a couple were vertical lines, dropping you down long ropes like a firefighter on a pole. Overall, it was a great day. The staff was extremely friendly and, more importantly, Emily was impressed by how attractive they all were. As she put it, "Happy Valentine's Day to me!" We had to fill out exit surveys and in the suggestion section, as a joke, Emily wrote: “Come to Hang Chat” along with her number. If you are wondering, “Ken” did in fact call. You would think that zip-lining in a Thai jungle would be the highlight of our day, but the van ride home may have won. The three of us sat in the back row and quickly discovered that the seats fully reclined. As we were over-tired, or overexcited from interaction with the Flight of the Gibbon “models” in Emily’s case, we found this extremely exciting. We spent the ride annoying the other passengers by singing songs from our youth, and of course the 2009 mash-up, in full recline position.

Even after some rest, our energy levels were pretty low on Saturday night. Well, maybe not Paul. We went to a nice restaurant on the river for dinner, where a live band played hilariously unexpected American hits. We always hear “I’m Yours” but “Good Girls Go Bad” and “Tik Tok,” really Thailand? We like! We tried again with another mixed drink pitcher, but only to fail once more as this one tasted like mint toothpaste. We decided that this was still better than blood, though. Then, we headed to the farang section of town to go out. We ended up at a reggae bar where we seemed to be crashing a reunion of all the weirdest people alive. Let’s just say we were the most normal people there, BY FAR! We realized we had to get out of there when Emily said, “Guys, we had more fun in the van today than we are having right now.” That and Paul trying to yell over the music, “Can we go somewhere more fun,” just as the song ended, making it so everyone could hear him.

Sunday we got up early to go watting with Paul. As you know, Emily and I are over wats, but luckily we found a street on the map that had 3 wats all within walking distance. Bam, bam, bam, done! Next, we forced Paul to get a Thai massage, which is just as important to a visit to Thailand as the wats, in our opinion (and they cost less than $5). Thai massages are pretty rough, especially if you aren’t very flexible. Little Thai women push your limbs to the limit while climbing all over you, torturing you at every turn. Paul didn’t know what he was in for, but we told him he had to get one…we are so cruel. Then it was off to the Ping River for a boat cruise. At one point we stopped at a farmer’s house to enjoy some Thai fruit. We were told that parts of Rambo 4 were taped there in a weird museum that was attached. We are still trying to decide if it was a good lie since no one has actually seen Rambo 4 or if it had to be true because the place and movie were both too random to make up. After the boat ride we did our quickest chotch buying to date. We “cut to the chotch”. Get it? Not funny? Paul is unfortunately not as big a chotch lover as we are. We encouraged him to buy lots of weird and unnecessary things, but he was able to hold himself back. He did end up with a little painted lamp for his apartment though, because it’s humanly impossible to leave a chotch fair empty-handed. This just in: he has admitted to buying more chotch when he was alone before he went to the airport.

Then, it was off to Hang Chat. Paul got to experience his first ride on a motorbike, with me at the helm, from the bus stop to the Jungle House. On the ride, Mr. Positive had one of his many great quotes saying, “I will never forget this moment…riding on the back of a motorbike through this little town in Thailand as the sun is setting.” You’re so darn appreciative, Paul! We had big plans for Paul’s one night in Hang Chat, but for some weird reason everything was closed. First, our favorite cook, Lung Dang, had to close his shop because his sidewalk was being used for a funeral (long story). Then, both the roti and donut stands were closed. We did have some delicious pat gapow, Oreo shakes, and many laughs instead, though. The Oreo shakes were bigger than usual and may have caused a sugar high because we had quite the amount of energy when we arrived home. We set Paul up in the hallway between our rooms with two big blankets, although its still a hardwood floor, ouch. Then we broke out our Thai dice game, some chips and salsa, and some top 40 tunes and had ourselves one ridiculous slumber party.

Emily awoke at 6:45 the next morning to a cheerful “Good Morning!” coming from the hallway. Paul was obviously already awake and excited for his trip to school. The students were also excited to see him, a boy farang! It seemed to be every student’s goal to figure out whose boyfriend Paul was, even though he is neither of ours. To them it made no sense why he would come all the way to Thailand, on Valentine’s weekend, just to visit friends. Too bad I can’t say “he didn’t come all the way from America and it’s also Chinese New Year weekend” in Thai. “Kru Erin, is Paul your Valentine?” one of the students asked me. “No, we are just friends.” “Ok, then Kru Emily?” Then, a boy in another class kept making eye contact with me and putting his two fingers together, his way of asking “Are you two together?” without having to speak English…how creative! They were very frustrated that they weren’t able to get one of us to admit it, but they still loved Paul. He helped in both of our classes, at one point making a list of the “top 5 things he would bring to a deserted island” to which he included spiced rum, making him an instant hit with grade 12. Aside from teaching, Paul also spent the day breaking our computers by downloading all of his favorite YouTube videos…including the almighty mash-up, obviously. Paul loved his day playing teacher. At one point as he was leaning over the railing taking pictures outside he said, “I’m thinking about changing careers…this is heaven!” As he was taking the pictures the students outside were supposed to be in class but were instead using the fountains to have water fights and practicing muay-thai boxing on each other….what little angels!

Farewell dinner was with Pan and Poon. Pan thought that Paul’s name was Pon and called him that all night. She also told him that he looked Chinese and was “a different farang.” Everything turned out pretty tasty except one dish Paul ordered that was translated on the menu as “fried shrimp with peppers and peanuts.” The translation was definitely iffy as it ended up being an entire plate filled with raw onions, chili peppers, ginger, lemon wedges, herbs, and then in the middle a little pile of mini shrimps that Paul couldn’t even pretend to like. Then, for dessert we asked if they had ice cream and got the response, “No, but we have pineapple cheese.” You have what? And how is that a substitute for ice cream? Of course we ordered it anyway and ended up with 20 pieces of pineapple, each with a little square of American cheese (the kind in the plastic wrap) and a gummy on top, all held together with a little flag toothpick. At the end I had 9 flags on my plate while Paul had only 8…winner! Emily, Pan, and Poon all chocked down 1 each…lame!

As Emily and I have turned into grandmas here in Thailand, with our bedtimes of 9 PM on weekdays, and if we’re feeling really crazy, 11:30 PM on weekends (that is, if we’re traveling), Paul put a real jolt in our considerably calm and restful Thai lives. But in a good way, of course! It was great to see a familiar face, and an always smiling one at that, and to have another to add to our usual two-person weekend honeymoons. I probably haven’t laughed more in one weekend than I did this past one. I will close with what was probably Paul’s best quote: “I keep trying to pick out a highlight from this weekend, but the whole experience has been one big highlight.” Gotta love him!

What’s On The Menu?

Although we have mentioned, here and there, some of the food we have been eating while over here, for example the many banana pancakes and our fried-up dinners, I thought that a whole entry should be devoted to it. I mean, everyone’s interested in food right? Personally, it’s one of my favorite parts about Thailand! We also have a whole cast of Hang Chat characters to more fully introduce you to. As previously mentioned we have tried our best to stay away from Western food and really indulge in the local cuisine. Not that we have a choice while in Hang Chat, as Thai “restaurants” are the only option. These “restaurants” usually consist of tables, sometimes only one or two, set up in front of or inside the residences of the people that own them. Usually one big wok is set up over a transportable one-burner stove just off the sidewalk in front of the owners’ home. As we only have a microwave, Emily and I go to town to eat dinner every night, and it only sets us back about 75 cents for a huge delicious meal. Going out to dinner has also become somewhat of an event for us as we wait in anticipation for the clock to strike 6:15 every night so we can take the motorbike to meet Lan for dinner (she has only missed 2 dinners the entire time we have been here). We have created somewhat of a rotation which consists of about 5 restaurants in downtown Hang Chat that we alternate between. We don’t always know the names of the places, so for some we make up our own.

First is a place called “Lap,” which is the name of a Northern Thai dish of ground pork and herbs served at the restaurant. We have become friendly with the owners: a young Thai couple, Annie and Sak, who are about 25 years old, and Annie’s mother. The couple has been very friendly ever since we first arrived in Hang Chat due to fact that they were previously friends with Nate. They have taken us to Lampang and shown us the nightlife, as we are lacking any other friends our age, and have also brought us to see a Thai boxing match in town. The mother speaks no English, and we understand very little of the Thai she throws at us, but she seems to enjoy our visits, always giving us huge smiles when we arrive. She likes to call herself our second mother, as she always worries about us when we go away on weekend trips, and she even gave us good luck bracelets to keep us safe. The daughter has recently become pregnant (as Emily referred to in a previous post), which is a new exciting event for us to check up on each time we dine there. Although they have an extensive menu, it’s in Thai and Lun says we wouldn’t like most of it (this usually means the dish includes seafood, liver, birds eggs, or congealed animal blood). Therefore, we just order what we can see, which is pork that they cook on their roadside grill that comes with an awesome tangy dipping sauce. We also get kap moo, which is a Northern specialty of fried pork skins, and a couple serving of delicious sticky rice since Lap is the only place in town that has it.

Next, there is Lung Dang (or Uncle Dang). You may remember this character from the post about Mr. and Mrs. D’s visit to Hang Chat, as he was the honored cooker of lunch. Lung Dang may be the cutest man on Earth. He has a baby face which makes him look about 35, while he is actually turning 49 next month (we are brainstorming some great birthday plans, including a Red Sox t-shirt as a gift,) and wears an apron with baggy shorts and little rubber rain boots. Too cute! He and Nate were supposedly the best of friends and he gets sad just thinking about his long lost friend. He often wears a baseball cap that Nate gave him (we are hoping the Red Sox tee will become its replacement) and each time we go he shares a new piece of information revealing just how close him and Nate had become…Nate cried when he said goodbye, used to take him out to clubs in Lampang (can’t picture this), used to come to his house at 1 AM if he couldn’t sleep, and burnt him English CDs (which he loooves to play), just to name a few (this is all translated through Lun, as Lung Dang’s speaks no English). Emily and I feel bad that we can’t get as close with him, since he is such a nice man, because of our lack of Thais-speaking skills. Either way, his food is awesome, especially one dish in particular… LATNA! Chan chop latna (I love latna)! It is not only my favorite dish in Thailand, but very possibly my favorite dish, period (Dad, start learning the recipe). It consists of stir-fried wide noodles in a thin brown gravy-like soup with many fresh vegetables, like pea pods, baby corn, broccoli, pumpkin, etc., which are bought fresh each morning at the local market. Thai pepper, peanuts, and spicy powder can be added on top as you like. It is simply amazing and I have to admit that we have had it 3 times in one week before. We just can’t help ourselves!

Then, there is a place we call “Khow Man Guy,” because every time we go we get the dish by this name, which roughly means “chicken and its oils with rice”. Although the dish seems simple, skinless chicken pieces atop white rice, the oils give the rice a buttery taste and the ginger sauce that it comes with makes it mouth-watering! We want to take some of the sauce home with us but realized it probably won’t last unrefrigerated while we travel around before flying back to America. The sauce is so good in fact, that I pour all of it on top and mix it around until every last piece of rice and chicken is covered in it (enjoy the before and after photo). The meal also comes with a delicious chicken broth soup. The only down-side to this restaurant is that it’s only open for lunch, as are a lot of restaurants in Hang Chat, which is very unfortunate for us. Therefore, every Monday and Friday we take the trek from school at lunch time, since these are the only days we have enough time to: go home, get the motorbike, drive into town, eat, drop the motorbike back off, and get back in time for class. It’s a bit of a production but so worth it (ask Mrs. D, who after trying many different meals throughout her 2 week stay called this her favorite)! It has gotten to a point where when the owners see us we no longer have to say “khow man guy, sauwg (two),” because they just know. Also, do you see those cucumbers and herbs on our plate? Emily would like you to know that we had to fight for those! Originally, we were being served our dish without both but would notice that all the Thai customers would get them. I blame Nate for this, as we assume he didn’t like them and the owners thought we wouldn’t either…those farang are all the same! But one time we asked Lan to order for us and specify that we would like the cucumbers and herbs. Since then we have always gotten them, so we make sure to eat every last bit of each so we don’t lose our privilege!

There are a couple other places we go where we aren’t as friendly with “the management.” One is Baan Thai (The Thai House), where we like to get a dish called pat gapow, which is fried ground pork on rice with garlic and basil…pet nidnoy (just a little spicy), of course. We once ordered pat gapow and forgot to make this request and Emily and I were literally crying and sweating it was so spicy. Another place we call “The Pat Thai Place,” because we usually get pat thai, but have recently branched out to try a dish called pat see ew, which is similar to latna, with wide noodles, but is without the gravy and has egg and canna, which is a green leafy vegetable. Another place we call “The Place Across From Lap,” because it’s directly across the street from Lap Restaurant, and we always get khow pat, aka fried rice. The portions are easily the largest in Hang Chat and possibly the largest we’ve experienced in Thailand, but of course we always clear our plates. Recently we’ve also added a couple new places including “The Soup Place” and “The New Restaurant”.

Some other dishes that we have tried and really like are nam prik aung, which is the Thai version of bolognaise sauce that comes in a small dish surrounded by vegetables for dipping. Green curry is a favorite of ours when traveling since it is unfortunately not served in Hang Chat. It is not curry like one would typically think of, like an Indian curry, as it is much sweeter and without the pungent smell, although we recently discovered it is only made sweeter for foreigners. It is made with green pepper paste and coconut milk, along with chicken pieces and a vegetable similar to zucchini. It is usually served with white rice, which you pour the curry on top of. Desserts are also plentiful in Thailand, lucky for us. Our personal favorites are the Oreo shake, with pieces of cereal, gummies, and chocolate and caramel sauce on top (see below); Thai donuts with dipping sauce; and the Thai version of fried dough, called roti (Emily single-handedly keeps the Hang Chat roti stand in business).

Personally, I am so grateful that we are in a country with such great cuisine. Five months is a long time to be eating food you don’t really like. We aren’t being super adventurous, but we try to sample everything that is offered to us and are often finding new dishes that we enjoy. One of the most helpful phrases we've learned is “arroy ma”, or “very delicious,” because it is important to Thais that people enjoy their cooking. Although we say “arroy ma” every time we eat something, we are almost never lying…almost! I suggest Google-ing the recipe to some of these dishes. You won’t be disappointed! Let us know how they turn out, but don’t blame us if anything goes wrong as improvising may be necessary if some ingredients are not available in the States!