Rose Apple and Guava

Rose Apple
This is a rose apple, a fruit currently in season in Thailand. It has the texture of a crunchy watermelon and is very juicy but with no real distinctive taste.

You can barely see the core when you cut it in half; basically do not eat the core and the hollow bottom part. I find the Rose Apples refreshing and a very nice alternative to the typical north american apples that I am used to eat. In Thailand they do sell the regular Granny Smith, Red Delicious and other types of apples but they are very expensive as they are imported from the States or Australia.

Guava
The Guava is not a very juicy nor very sweet fruit, you can eat it as an apple but personally, after my first try of this fruit, I prefer juicing it.

Inside the Guava are seeds and a softer and more juicier centre. Apparently, you should be able to eat the seeds but with this one, they were way too hard and small to break with the teeth. I am not sure if the Guava was not ripe enough...will need to test the theory of buying one and leaving it in the fruit basket to see if it will make a difference.

Since we moved into our condo, we bought a juicer and have been having fun juicing various fruits and vegetables at our disposition. I am still exploring the world of green leaves for my green smoothies and juices and so far only the local kale has proven good. Given that a green leaf is a green leaf, a couple of weeks ago, I ventured to try something unknown to me. I bought this green "thing" thinking how bad can it be. Well, once juiced up, this green "thing" turned out to be very thick and gelatinous almost to the point of refusing to mix with the other liquid juiced up in the mixture. I could see the little island of gooey green gathering after being still for a while.

People who know me well, know that I really, really, really....really dislike gelatinous texture (eg. the uncooked white part of sunny side up egg, or the typical Japanese sweet and sour gooey soup). So needless to say that I was not too impressed with this green "thing", which to this day, I still have no idea what it is. I did some research online hoping to find what it was and how Thai people use it but had no luck.

Wat Suan Dok

Wat Suan Dok is located in a fortified square beyond Chiang Mai walls. 

Legends tell that King Ku Na invited the venerable Sumana Thera, a very pious monk from Sukhothia to bring the Buddhism of Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai. 

The King offered him the royal flower garden (Suan Dok) as a place to build a temple. The temple was established in 1371.

When Sumana Thera was living in Sukhothai, he had a vision which showed him where to find a very holy relic that had long been buried near the city. When the relic was unearthed, miraculous illuminations took place confirming its power.

These miracles did not repeat themselves for the King of Sukhothai, who left the relic in the care of the monk.
























Thus when King Ku Na invited Sumana Thera to Chiang Mai, the monk brought the holy relic with him. When the relic was about to be enshrined at the temple, he found that the relic had split into two pieces. One of these pieces was kept at Wat Suan Dok, and the other was buried at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.

On the site there are numerous chedi containing the remains of the royal family of Chiang Mai. These were collected from different sites in Chiang Mai and placed there at the wish of Princess Dararatsmi in 1909.

The main temple is currently being renovated and therefore we could not access everything.

It is not easy to see, but the column at the back (in blue) has been restored compared with the one at the front. When the restoration work is complete the temple will be amazing; similar to some buildings of the Imperial Palace in Bangkok.

Markets

The Bael Fruit

 This is my new found love in terms of cold drinks, the bael fruit drink. Oddly enough, I have yet to come across a restaurant that serves it. I first tasted it at a spa and was able to find it at one grocery store and at a local market. Bael fruits are oranges and are currently not in season. To make the drink you boil for a few minutes dried Bael fruits in hot water. You can drink it hot or cold but I prefer cold. The taste is, obviously, difficult to describe but it kind of reminds me of  a buttery flavor (like the werther's candy) but not quite. Lately I have been drinking this like crazy and I just love it!

Local Market Warorot
In Chiang Mai, when you need something, you are bound to find it at a local market like the Warorot one. It is like a giant Wallmart where you can buy almost anything. For instance, they have kitchen supplies like bowls, plates, glasses, cooking ware, utensils, and empty plastic containers. You need sheets for your bed you will find it here, they also sell soaps, shampoos, clothes, shoes, bags, school supplies, fabric, food (dry and fresh), jewelry, and many, many more stuff. 

The only problem is that it is so jam pack with stuff, that chances are you may miss it or get lost in the process of trying to see everything. The Warorot market is pretty big, spreading on a couple of blocks. When I went there, I had to use my phone GPS a few times to help reorient myself as I kept loosing myself in this maze. Sometimes I had absolutely no idea on which street I had just came out to. Depending where you are in the market (specially the meat and fish section) the smell can be very disturbing. At one point I had to stop and turn back because I could not stand the smell anymore.

These are some of the fruit merchants that we can find next to the Warorot Market. This picture was taken during lunch time, merchants put sheets up to protect fruits from the heat and the sun.


Close by, there is another fruits and vegetables market where restaurant owners go to buy fresh produce. It is once again pretty amazing the quantity of things you can find there. I will put some pictures in a future blog.





Ton Lamyai Flower Market
In the same vicinity of the Warorot market is the flower market, very pretty and colorful. 

In the picture below, you can see the 100 Thai Baht sign in the small floral arrangements, converted in Canadian dollars this is roughly $3.00.