Western breakfast send-off, my elephant protector

Chef Maiyuu has made me a Western breakfast – a full-on affair with Paris ham, sausage, eggs, fried chips drizzled in farm honey, wholesome looking bread...

He cycled to the market this morning to buy the ingredients. Normally we eat Thai, but as I am about to go away...

Maiyuu cooks me farang food on my last days here so that while I am away, I think of Thailand.

I know...perverse.

I am going overseas to see my parents, which I do every year. On our last night, my parents and I eat Thai at a local restaurant. We eat Thai so that when I go back, I think of the country of my birth.

Yes, as I say...odd.

The last time I was there, I stole a look inside the kitchen of the farang-owned Thai restaurant we visited on our last night.

I saw a young farang man standing before a large pot. He was holding up a Thai cook book, for instructions on what to do next.

The chicken curry which came out was laced with coconut milk. I think they even added banana, to make it more 'exotic'.

Occasionally we visit Thai-owned restaurants. My parents urge me to speak in Thai to staff, but I try to avoid it, as I don’t know how good their Thai will be.

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As a thank-you gift for my parents, Maiyuu has bought a carving in leather of an elephant, gilded in gold. Next, he will get it framed.

It took him days to find anything he liked. ‘I went to Suam Lum night bazaar. It has changed so much...I saw many more clothes sellers, though fewer tourists. But I did find the leather elephant there.'

My parents don’t want too much Thai clutter on their walls, as it reminds them of the country which took their son away.

But the elephant, hand-carved on leather, does look uniquely Thai.

If they have not yet tired of telling newcomers that their eldest son is lost to the wilds of Thailand, then they can point to the elephant and say: ‘He’s probably riding around on one of those.’

Postscript: This blog is taking a two-week break. While I am away, the moderating bar will be in place, to keep out spam. I promise to take it down as soon as I return.