Bats, Fish and Long-tailed Chickens

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Phitsanulok, Phitsanulok, Thailand
Today we left Kanchanaburi and headed north. It was the longest driving day of the entire trip. However, there were lots of discoveries along the way. Our first stop was at a temple where there were many fruit bats. Unlike most bats, fruit bats navigate by sight rather than sonar, so roost in trees and fly during the day. Some of these bats have wing spans of more than 4 feet and the air was filled with their calls. The temple complex was located on the river and we also spent some time feeding the local fish. The temple library was located in the middle of a small pond and was built from teak. Its location and materials were designed to protect the contents from animals and insects.


Not long after we left the temple we stopped beside the highway where a local woman was selling some local delicacies . Panu explained that after the creatures were caught, they were marinated for several hours and then cooked over charcoal. There was a large mongoose, some very small birds and a large pile of the smaller "long tailed chickens."  Panu bought one so that we could taste it during our lunch.

We stopped in the town of U-Thai Tani for lunch which was served on a rice barge as we cruised down the Saekaekrang River. Anytime we are on the water it seems at least 10 degrees cooler than on land. It also gives you an opportunity to see how many Thai people actually live. In addition to the food prepared on the barge, we also could taste the “long-tailed chickens”. I am usually willing to try most foreign foods, and maybe would have tasted this if I hadn't seen the rats soaking the a bucket on the side of the road. Some of the group actually tasted it, and said it wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t see anyone going back for seconds.

Because today is our longest bus ride we had time for some lessons on the bus. Our first lesson was about the Thai language which consists of 44 consonants, and 32 vowels. I have a lot of trouble with the spoken language and the written version is far beyond my ability to comprehend.   Small marks indicate whether the vowel is placed before, after, above or below a consonant. For example in my name, the “a” is written before the “m”. After that I am totally lost. Pat was able to write her name, but then 3 letters are easier to master than 7.

Tonight we will stay in Phitsanulok, and tomorrow we’ll visit Sukothai, the ancient capitol of Siam.

Comments

kat
2011-03-09

i finally found the blog about long tailed chickens. Ugghhh! I don't mean to sound ethnocentric but eating rats is pretty gross.

2025-02-07

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