Appreciate Singha, Leo or Chang? Read until the end

Appreciate Singha, Leo or Chang? Read until the end. Excuse the low res photo - it was taken in what was Nong Khai (now Beung Kan) in about 2008 during my (Lisa’s) first visit to the village where some of Chef New’s family are from

A 3-4 hour drive from the nearest airport in Udon Thani and a couple more from even the tiniest guesthouse - tourists were nowhere to be seen. Unsurprisingly then, a white face was a bit alien for the village kids who came to have a look at me several times a day whilst buying Aunty Heng’s homemade ice cream and crushed ice coolers (nam kaeng sai) from Chef New’s Mum’s shop-cum-restaurant. Business literally boomed whilst I was there!

Curious as-can-be most giggled or wore huge beaming smiles like in this photo, but one incident was somewhat different when a villager proudly showed me her baby son who on seeing my white face burst into tears for what felt like an eternity. Poor thing had never seen a Farang before!

I love this photo because it reminds me this was the day I experienced every-day rural Thailand for the first time. No mod cons or even a proper shower back then but strong community values, incredible music, great people, breathtaking countryside & mind-blowing food had me hooked

Now, that’s the past - let’s talk about the future. On 1st June 2021 we’re opening our second restaurant in Dubai. It has quite a bit more wall space than our current one, so we need your help. We’d love to have your favourite holiday photos on the walls and hear all about your early Thailand travel experiences

Thank you for reading #SundayStories and we look forward to finally seeing you chug a Singha whilst tucking into the city’s best Thai fare. Let’s face it, if you’ve read this until the end you definitely deserve to be the first to know this exciting news
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