of the California, and had never experienced Spam and Eggs, nor play a slot where on a hit Don Ho sang me a Hawaiian song. I was staying at Main Street Station, also owned by Boyd, and the California is only across the street, so it wasn't a big journey. Correct on the 2nd count as well. My favorite meals were at Lotus of Siam, which has an extensive Northeastern Thai cuisine, which was where I spent my year in Thailand with the Army. The Northeastern food is rustic and Hot, Hot, Hot. Charactizing the region is Som Tum, a spicy salad of shredded green (unripe) paypaya, Thai bird chilis, garlic, roasted peanuts, cherry tomatoes, palm sugar, lime juice, fish sauce (as in put 500 pounds of small dead fish in a large wooden barrel with equal parts salt, in layers, and whatever drips out is called fish sauce), and chopped dryed fresh-water shrimp. It's a pungent and delicious dish which will burn everywhere throughout the body, beginning with the nostrils, eyes, and outer lips. It is, I think, a man-made form of natural selection. That, plus grilled steak and chicken, an interesting spicy sour sausage, fermented pickled mudfish, stuff wrapped in cabbage leaves, and other fun stuff make up the country-style cuisine. It's yummy. But, when I went to China, the dried bait fish with raw peanuts and the barbecued baby squid were my favorites and curried crocodile were all favorites as well, even though their taste was subtle compared to the Northeastern Thai.
Actually, I had a ball living in Northeast Thailand in 65/66. The people were great and the war was over 30 miles away. We worked 12-on/24-0ff for a whole year without a break or holiday. Some days instead of sleeping (I was younger then, younger than I am now) a few of us would grab a jeep and head out on the dirt roads in the far back country. When you're 19 you have no fear. In retrospect, a road map would have been nice, but was not necessary. The country was undeveloped and sparsely populated. In fact, the Friendship Highway from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the Laotian border on the Mekong, had just been paved two years before. The Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, which I was stationed next to at a small US Army facility, was just 30 miles south of Nong Khai and the fight between the Laotian Royalists and the Pathet Lao communists.
Here's a couple of photos I took on one of my frequent excursions. Wonderful people, but at that time if you wanted a cold beer, you had to add ice. No refrigerators, except for ice makers. Even the sodas were sold hot. The only thing air conditioned was our electronic gear. Our barracks (hooches) had screened sides with fold down thatch awnings in case of storms. The house is on stilts because of the wet season, when the water rose to within inches from the floor. Cool.
Thai Country House – 1965/66
Thai Country Temple – 1965/66
