Thai Souvenirs

Our home near Kamala beach, Phuket, for a week.
Electric kettle to the right, off camera.

It's been almost three weeks since our return from vacation in Thailand and we have some precious souvenirs in addition to many point-and-shoot, iPad and Kindle snaps.

First and foremost is our new electric teapot. Our room for the week at our Phuket resort was equipped with a small electric kettle that boiled water for tea or instant coffee. That kettle boiled water faster than I could rip open the coffee packets, and it didn't radiate water particles with microwaves. We had to get one upon our return home. Very excellent.

Seafood curry prepared, served, and devoured
at a beachside shack at Kamala.

Then there is Thai food. Our resort served breakfast buffets with food you would order for a fine dinner at a Thai restaurant: some four or six different stir fries and Thai curries, pork, chicken, Chinese broccoli or cabbage; a couple of different fried rices; relishes and Korean kimchee; and salads and fresh fruit to die for, beginning with mangos, papaya, pineapple and watermelon.

Our urban hotel in Bangkok, our first night in Thailand, had a similar breakfast buffet. Then there was the floating restaurant near Bang Sai where no one bothers with English subtitles. My stepmother Darany served us baby bananas grown in her yard, pineapple, ripe passion fruit, and other tropical treats — fresh and dried — that I can't even begin to remember (or, in some cases, identify). Endless delectables.

Bougainvillea hedge, Bang Sai.

Fortunately for Tucson, we have an Asian mega-supermarket so we can stock up on any number of Thai curry sauces, lemon grass, galangal and, of course, coconut milk. We've dusted off my old Thai cookbook and have been dining on attempted reproductions of red curry shrimp, panang curry shrimp, and panang curry beef. We have been feasting on mangos, pineapple and papaya.

Then there is bougainvillea. Darany has a green thumb and a lush garden in Bang Sai, some sixty kilometers north of Bangkok. We stayed there three nights marveling at the tropical flowers and fruit trees blooming all over her yard. She has orchids everywhere and a bougainvillea hedge by her driveway.

Multi-colored bougainvillea blooms, Ayutthaya.

Driving through Bangkok, we saw tropical blooms by the side of the freeways — unwatered, untended, engulfed in a heavy urban environment, but innocently lush.

If that wasn't inspirational enough, we saw grafted bougainvillea shrubs blooming in various colors from the same root. We saw such shrubs planted in a monastery at Ayutthaya, then at our resort in Phuket.

Orchids are tough to grow in the Sonoran Desert, but bougainvillea is popular because it thrives in heat. We have several of the vine variety by the fish pond. Although they die back with the frost, they are hardy and grow back each spring. I wasn't familiar with the bush variety. We now have three bushes, souvenirs of Thailand.

Shari and Darany about to feast for lunch. Menu on the left.

Fortunately, Darany ordered.

Two pairs of woolen socks complete this list of Thai souvenirs. They were a gift from Darany. I can understand why she wouldn't have much use for them in Thailand. It's hardly cold there. (She has yet to use the hot water heater for her morning shower).

Not so for me. Those socks are warm and comfy. Two February weeks in Thailand and we had forgotten that it was still winter back in the Sonoran Desert. Our bodies had become accustomed to the tropical warmth. Upon our return, I was chilled and those woolen socks were a godsend.