Dave McHaney, the Daily American's roving reporter in the Far East, continues his series from Thailand. The retired West Frankfort educator has discussed every aspect of everyday Thai life and in this segment once again talks about local cuisine.
One thread throughout his narratives is the friendly comparison of the U. S. dollar versus the Baht, or local money. Whatever the travel costs to visit Thailand (formerly Siam), meals will not be a major factor in the budget.
Whatever images one might have, conjuring up exotic dishes, a tourist can really look for a diversified bill of fare. The “maestro” describes such choices:
“As previously written, there are many venues for eating in Thailand. The most obvious is eating at your hotel or restaurants, which offer 'western' or 'European' food, both of which you will find more expensive, but palatable. What I suggest is to find one of the local Thai restaurants and sample some of the local dishes, which you will find are less expensive and just as tasty.
“My favorite little restaurant in Pattaya is about five minutes by motorbike from my hotel and to give you an example of price differences, I love pork-fried rice. At my hotel I pay 160 Baht (approximately $5 U. S.) for one serving. At 'DaDa's,' I pay 60 Baht (approximately $2 U. S.) for the same size serving of the same dish. The same goes for American chain restaurants. You can barely walk two blocks without running into a McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Inn, Pizza Hut, etc.
For more on this story, pick up a print copy of the Monday edition of the Daily American.
