by Scott Coates

A recent story that runs in a similar form once-per-year in Thailand, quoted Bangkok Deputy Governor Theerachon Manomaipiboon, saying the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is imposing stiff measures against mahouts (elephant handlers) who bring elephants into the capital. This activity is common, with mahouts selling food for people to feed to their elephant. To date the BMA says they have confiscated 10 elephants and returned 80 to the forest this year. Those found violating the law will face a six-month jail term or a 10,000THB fine. This can also potentially be imposed against those buying food for elephants from their handlers.

John hard at work atop an elephant

The plight of elephants in Bangkok and Thai cities is a complicated one. While it might sound easy to relocate an elephant, there are much larger economic issues at stake. These beasts can eat more than 200kg of food per day, putting a large financial burden on a mahout and more importantly, these handlers have often spent their entire lives working with elephants, making it difficult to transition into another career. It’s also not easy to simply return an elephant to the jungle as remaining forests are shrinking dramatically and domestic elephants don’t integrate well back into the wild.

A friend of Smiling Albino (SA), John Roberts, Director of Elephants with the Anantara Resort at the Golden Triangle, was kind enough to treat me to a day with their elephants some time ago and since then we’ve spoken on several occasions about his work and the plight of Thailand’s elephants. This recent story led me to get his opinion on the issue.

Roberts, a native of England, first started working with elephants in Chitwan National Park, Nepal back in 1999 and they’ve been the focus of his work since moving to Thailand in 2003. He helped develop the Anantara’s Mahout Program, which is very unique. Rather than buying elephants and bringing them to the resort, they approach a mahout, pay them a salary, and move them, their elephant and family to the resort, where they live and work. This provides an ongoing steady salary and ensures a good quality of life for everyone.

Back in his early days Roberts spent most of his time working hands-on with pachyderms, but nowadays finds most of his time occupied by administration like promoting ideas on elephant welfare, developing a rescue/rental model and working hard to influence others on the subject. He still thrives on meeting as many guests as possible and is extremely proud of the solid local team that has been assembled who run the day-to-day operations.

Roberts explains how the phenomenon of bringing elephants into cities began, “It started as a way for unemployed mahouts to make money by giving local folks a chance to make merit and while it’s still seen as a desperate measure for a traditional mahout trying to feed his elephant, it’s developed somewhat to suit the tourist trade and the elephants that find themselves in town nowadays are more likely to be babies that are cuter and easier to transport.”

While it seems obvious that cities are not a good place for elephants, he says there are many adverse, long term problems that can result from elephants living and working in such environments, “Elephants end up walking all night on the roads and traffic accidents, while not too common, are a risk. They have to try to rest during the day and are often sleep-deprived and stressed, passed out under underpasses.”

The temptation to bring babies into the city results in them too often being separated from their mothers too early and having to eat fodder that’s not traditional, possibly leading to physical and mental development problems as they grow older. “Making elephants cute is a major problem with long term downsides according,” says Roberts, “to earn a living they often have to do tricks that may end up damaging them later in life. We have two rescued babies who seem to have premature arthritis, possibly coincidentally; they were initially introduced to me by doing a headstand. We have one who is stunted from drinking whisky on the streets. Her mahout used to share a bottle with her so she could do the drunken elephant dance. Both have since given up drinking.”

Using dirt to stay cool

A major challenge with moving elephants out of the city is where to take them and what to do with them. An elephant eats a lot of food, so without a good deal of money and/or access to fodder, one can quickly become financially strained. Roberts mentions that the BMA makes an annual push to move elephants out of the cities, but to date their efforts have not been terribly effective yet remains optimistic that things can improve, “Under the current Chang Yim scheme (Smiling Elephant), the elephants and their mahouts are sent back to their villages in Surin province and paid a small wage per month to stay there, as well as being given one Rai of land to grow elephant fodder.”

Certain organizations including Royal Foundations and Elephant Nature Foundation’s Surin Project are working hard to build tourism according to Roberts, “However, at the moment these schemes have limited capacity so many of the elephants are still playing the old trick of moving to provincial cities while the heat is on in Bangkok and moving back when the heat comes off again. Lets hope the BMA can keep the heat on.”

A major challenge is that working city streets is more lucrative than being a part of any elephant relocation program. Some mahouts talk of making up to 10,000THB/night but more commonly they can take in about 3,000THB/night. The Anantara’s program, while earning less money than working the streets, is a good option with other benefits explains Roberts, “We feel that if we are to persuade our mahouts to bring their elephants from the streets we have to offer them a comfortable lifestyle with their families, a much better rent, plus opportunities for overtime and tips. All the elephant food and other intangible benefits such as human and elephant insurance, permanent veterinary presence, a silk producing business for their wives, as we can’t possibly compete with the streets on purely financial terms.”

Roberts has learned much during his tenure in Thailand and an original scheme of buying elephants from their handlers ended up not working, hence the Anantara’s current program. “Some operators seek to persuade mahouts to sell their elephants and change their lifestyles as this would certainly be the easiest option, but we found early on that a traditional mahout with money in his pocket and no elephant just goes and buys another elephant. Increasingly these days, it seems, one smuggled in from Burma or Laos and goes back to the city streets.” “Buying a street elephant to rescue it almost always immediately puts another elephant in danger, so that’s not an option we encourage.”
“Being a mahout isn’t just a job but a sense of cultural identity for many, following in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers. It’s their skill and career.”

Riding at the Anantara

During his more than 10 years working with elephants, Roberts and his team have tried many different methods for rescuing elephants and caring for their handlers’ and families. While there’s still much to be done, he says the Anantara’s current efforts with 12 working elephants are yielding good results, “Our main activity is Mahout Training where over the course of one hour to three days, we give you a taster of what it’s like to be a mahout. We also have a foundation that looks after the remainder of the elephants, mainly babies, from the streets. While they are with us we work with the mahouts to develop handling methods and welfare regimes that will give the elephants as much freedom as possible and ensure the mahouts don’t resort to some of the crueler traditional methods of control. We feel that if we are to help all of Thailand’s elephants, not just those under our care, the methods we develop here not only have to be acceptable to us and our guests, they must be attractive enough to the mahouts to practice them should we not be around and to tell their friends about to practice elsewhere. In this way we hope we are able to help elephants everywhere and not just those we are directly responsible for.”

Smiling Albino is happy to arrange an elephant experience for you during your adventure that will not only be an amazing experience, but benefit the elephants and their human families. Just send us an email and check out our Customized Experiences and we’ll make it happen.
Another great way to help Thai elephants is to never buy food for them if on the streets. If you spot a rouge elephant in the city you can call the BMA Hotline at 1555 who will then address the problem. We’d like to see how that’s executed – getting an elephant on a truck is no doubt a precarious task!
You can also follow John’s Elephant Tails Blog too.

by Bank Takaeng

Another Thai Noodles Recipe. it’s easy to make and it’s a good appetizer. I have tried this kind of dish so many times and one of the good restaurants that make this dish so delicious (I think) is in Amphawa Floating Market (see more on Smiling Albino Bangkok 1910)

Ingredients:

• Rice Noodles – 150g
• Shrimp 100g.
• Yellow Bean Curd – 2tbsp./30ml.
• Chopped Garlic – 2tbsp./30ml.
• Chopped Shallot – 1tbsp./15ml.
• Fermented Soybean – 1tbsp./15ml.
• Tamarind paste – 1tbsp./15ml.
• Fish sauce – 1tbsp./15ml.
• Palm sugar – 1tbsp/15ml.
• Ground dried chili (option) – 1tsp./5ml.
• Red chili, finely sliced – 1
• Pickle Garlic bulb, finely sliced – 2
• Tomato sauce – 1tbsp.//15ml.
• Bean sprout – 50g.
• Chinese leek – 3
• Cooking oil – 2tbsp./30ml.
• Egg – 1

Preparations:

• Fried the noodle in oil until crisp and golden, then drain.
• Heat cooking oil, fried garlic and shallot until brown. Add shrimps, bean curd, fermented soybeans, tamarind paste, palm sugar, tomato sauce and fish sauce, then balance your own flavor
• Add powder chili for your spicy, reduce the heat, thicken the sauce.
• Add noodles and continue turning them until they are stick together, serve with sprinkle with pickled garlic, and sliced chili.

This serves for 2 people.

After much fanfare during the launch phase of Soneva Kiri, Six Senses group’s latest ultra-luxury resort concept in Ko Kood, I had the pleasure of a visit to check things out with a Smiling Albino fine-tooth comb.

Soneva Kiri viewed on approach from Cessna Caravan

Soneva Kiri is an all pool villa, ultra luxury retreat on one of Thailand’s lesser developed islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Ko Kood. There are only 24 suites plus 3 special concept suites, ranging from approximately $1,000US per night up to a multi-room, utopian family beach retreat for 10x that per night. The eco-wonder structures of the rooms themselves are simply gorgeous. Massive tropical hideaways with world-class service and intelligent luxury.

Part of the science in custom designing Smiling Albino adventures is knowing which resort or room is right for which client. Soneva Kiri isn’t right for everyone. Some may find it too fantastical, too luxurious (possibility exists), or too removed from the outside world. But for those keen on an innovative and memorable luxury beach hideaway, Soneva Kiri is in a world of its own.

The Approach – Part of the Soneva Kiri experience is the private flight on their custom Cessna Caravan from Bangkok. The 1hr flight is a low hop over the Gulf of Thailand, with spectacular aerial views of the island groups between Ko Chang and Ko Kood. There are usually 3 flights each way per day, and the schedules are arranged to provide as minimum a wait as possible for guests arriving. Landing on the private airstrip on an island across the bay from the resort is a fun welcome, followed by a drink and greeting from your personal butler. From here you take a short boat trip to the wooden dock at the resort’s entrance and are escorted to your suite.

Soneva Kiri's private landing strip across the bay

A few nice touches to note: 1 – from check-in at the Bangkok airport you don’t see your bags until you arrive in your room – nor do you feel the need to pay attention. And, like all Six Senses Hideway or Soneva resorts, there is a magical arrival-to-room seamlessness. No questions, no queues, no breaks in rhythm. From the private check-in desk at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, you are smoothly transported into a wonder world of exotic Thai luxury.

At the resort dock you are met by your own personal butler, or “Friday” as they are known, ala Robinson Crusoe. Your Friday takes care of everything from arrival/departure details to packing a breakfast to go for you when you decide on a last-minute snorkeling outing in the morning. Your Friday is at your service and appear to stop at nothing to make sure you gain maximum jollity from this unique resort experience.

The Rooms – From a distance the rooms appear as wood-over-water fantasy structures covered with canvas re-creations of the 1972 Munich Olympic complex. Simply spectacular is just one of hundreds of possible descriptions.

Beach Villa Suite

I stayed in a Beach Villa Suite. With a total size of 403 sqm, you have a feeling of total privacy by way of a wooden footbridge and exterior gate, followed by an enormous outdoor terrace/lounging area, which leads to your private pool villa, and lush garden surroundings with a private footpath down to the beach. The rooms feel like a luxurious private beach house, not a suite in a resort. Your Friday is always a phone call via your complimentary cell phone.

The bedroom is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows, appointed with lovely tropical hardwoods and fine leather furnishings. Cabinets, the TV console and closets are custom-made in the form of vintage steamship trunks, leather-bound with brass buckles and fittings. If you’d rather escape the reality of TV (yes, I did just write that), then simply fold the flat-screen down into its trunk, and it makes a nice end table at the foot of your bed. Every detail in the room was designed within the exoti-sphere concept of the resort.

Great views for breakfast in bed

The dressing room is large indoor/outdoor canopy-topped pavilion (perhaps Olympic Village inspired), attached to the bedroom. Oversize steamship trunks turned on their ends provide double vanity stations with brass and porcelain sinks, wood and leather drawers, stand-up mirrors, hanging racks, etc. There are towels and bottled water stands at various locations in the suite, including tropical lounging beds to rest if the journey between the two of them is too far. The room is enhanced with a Bose sound system with hidden garden speakers, an iPod port, personal wine cellar, free-form pool surrounding your bedroom, multi-level wooden decks, stylish rattan furniture, a designer coffee-machine, and no less than three unique locations to have a shower, ranging from tropical rain shower in your garden to a glass-brick enclosed shower cove, to a poolside shower. These are the kinds of rooms you never need to leave. Large parties could be arranged on your spacious deck, or private dinners or family BBQs. There are chess sets, reading nooks, and inviting lounge chairs nicely placed throughout your super suite. Even a family sharing a suite like this can escape one another and spread out. A family of 3 or 4 could convert the Beach Villa Suite with Library into a two-bedroom Family suite. There is of course the Private Beach Reserve, which is a multiple bedroom tropical resort unto itself.

Out and About at Soneva Kiri – Soneva Kiri is a “buggy resort”, meaning buggies are used to get from dining area to suites, to the tennis courts, spa and gym, etc. I’ve commented before that I’m not a fan of buggy resorts, but unlike most resorts where you need to ring your butler or front desk to call a buggy, at Soneva Kiri you are given the keys to your own golf cart for the duration of your stay.

go easy in the wine bar

This makes getting around a snap, and there’s even a traffic official making sure incoming carts from the Cliff Villas don’t crash into carts leaving the spa/fitness center or wine bar. Your suite has its own parking lot and the convenience of the personal golf cart is a major plus, not to mention adding to the sensation of total personalization and convenience.

Dining – Like Six Senses Yao Noi and other ultra luxury destinations, the dining experiences at Soneva Kiri are world-class. Starting with the pool bar and futuristic tropical wooden breakfast pavilions, or glass-stool cocktail bar, dishes are top notch, the selection both creative and practical, and service outstanding. Many staff members have worked for other Six Senses properties and there is a genuine Thai warmth in the air.

Recently for some Smiling Albino guests we arrange a private sunset cruise with cocktails and canapés, followed by a fully-serviced gourmet beach BBQ on a lovely nearby island for dinner. Other musts include Khun Benz Restaurant. It is interesting to note that the Six Senses group had been wooing Khun Benz, the chef, for many years to join their properties in the Maldives or Middle East. Finally with the opening of the Soneva Kiri property on Ko Kood she agreed to launch the restaurant in her name a little closer to home. Another fun new addition in 2010 is dining in a tree house “pod” under the high canopy of palm trees.

Dine like a gibbon in style

There are also numerous creative spaces to dine, such as a private BBQ at Cinema Paradiso, the outdoor amphitheatre designed from the resort’s fresh water reservoir, or a customized BBQ of your choice in your villa, or a fantastic beach picnic (Crepes Suzette and omelette’s) for a day out snorkeling.

For my first of many great meals, I had a club sandwich – as is my custom – and it came with enough extras and sides to feed a friend. Gourmet cheese, arugula and other aromatic greens, homemade mustard, etc. As a club sandwich connoisseur I was more than impressed, and sufficiently stuffed. From a sommelier’s choice wine list to steamed sea bass and homemade ice cream, a chocolate station and cooled cheese pavilion, the dining opportunities very much live up to their ambitious price tag.

Spa-Gym-Beach – A pavilion up above the fitness center is an inspiring place for a yoga or Pilates session. The gym, while small, is very well-equipped and well-staffed by people that clearly spend time in fitness rooms outside of just work hours. Soneva Kiri is a spa-lover’s paradise. The tranquil setting, stone footpaths, elevated wooden bridges and expert treatments are world-class. Six Senses is a spa and wellness focused company, and the spa at Soneva Kiri incorporates a variety of Indian, Thai, Western and holistic treatments in their signature SLOW-LIFE Spa Journeys.

There are a couple of beach options for guests at Soneva Kiri. The main suites overlook the Bay, which during high tide is a great swimming hole. The beach is cresent-shaped with fine, manicured sand. The rugged cliffs around the edges of Ko Kood have sprinkled the beachfront with scattered rocks, but this is very much still a fantastic beach lover’s cove. The south beach is operational as of spring 2010. This is a groomed beach oasis ideal for sunsets, BBQs, and family beach fun.

The Den beckons

What to do – Of course there are lots of things to do at Soneva Kiri – ranging from a very nice snorkeling trip with picnic by private boat, etc. to jungle trekking, visits to waterfalls, eco-discoveries with the resort’s own pharmacologist (yes). There are the standard resort experiences – if the term applies to Soneva Kiri – such as wine tasting courses, cooking, Thai language and history, etc. The beach of course is a draw – and I went for a couple of great swims. The November-May time frame makes the beach/swimming experience more enjoyable, and while it is certainly doable in the wet season (June-October), it wouldn’t be as idyllic.

For some upcoming guests Smiling Albino has arranged a deluxe helicopter adventure from Soneva Kiri to nearby Angkor Wat, Cambodia. This trip involves a private meal in a remote Angkor temple, an overnight at Amansara in Siem Reap, and a day-and-a-half expertly hosted discovery of Angkor’s epic monuments.

For kids, as if the rooms weren’t enough fun, The Den is a giant bamboo and rattan wonder-cove full of educational discovery. There are astronomy classes at the resort’s observatory, or PADI dive instruction, or private movie nights, or trips to honey and pearl farms. Once you’ve done all that you might just have time to open your book and remember the real reason you came to the resort: to take a vacation.

a swing in an eco villa

Everything appears to work in sync – engineered in part by the resort’s own time zone, set an hour ahead of the outside world. Potential inconveniences could be the flight itself if the proposed times don’t match your international or regional arrival. The resort makes efforts to match their daily flight schedule according to the needs of the guests, but of course it is possible that you may have a wait of a couple of hours. Having checked through various Trip Advisor reviews it seems that most people are genuinely impressed with their experience. For some guests we have recommended other locations, even knowing that budget wasn’t necessarily the issue. Soneva Kiri is a special kind of escape and we’ve had several Smiling Albino guests overjoyed and grateful for our recommendations.

Take-Away – Soneva Kiri is an inspiring, concept-driven destination resort that ranks with the finest luxury properties in the Maldives or Caribbean. The creativity and sense of humour behind a resort like this – fantasyland really – makes staying an absolute pleasure.

Ideal for couples, families, groups of friends, those with golf cart driving experience.

Perfect for anyone who wants the best of the best – mixed with fun and tropical bliss.

by Bank Takaeng

Chili Paste can be cook in various means. Thai will mostly make hot soup, or fry it. This dish is the good example. You can alternatively replace pork with fish, prawn or chicken.

Ingredients:

• Pork, sliced or minced Pork – 250g
• Thai chili paste – 3tbsp / 15ml.
• Soy sauce – 1 1/2tbsp 23ml.
• Fish sauce (optional) or A pinch of salt
• Sugar – 2 tsp / 5ml.
• Garlic, chopped – 3 cloves
• Onion, sliced – 1/2
• Chili, chopped – 3
• Spring onion with leaves, chopped – 3
• Fresh basil (optional)
• Water – 1 tbsp / 15ml.
• Oil – 1tbsp / 15ml.
• Cowpeas

Preparation

• Put oil in the sauce pan, turn on high heat. When it heat, add chopped garlic and sliced onion, stir until they are slightly golden brown
• Add chili paste and mix.
• Add pork, fry until they are almost cooked
• Add soy sauce, fish sauce (or salt), and sugar; keep stirring. The secret is you have to taste it while you add flavor to make your own flavor.
• Add chopped spring onion, chili (or chili pepper), (and fresh basil),and cowpeas. Stir fry for another 2 minutes or until spring onion lightly cooked. Serve with rice.

This is for 2

It is Thai-style fish cakes, packed with aromatic ingredients and hot chilli, make a great snack or main course.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil (for deep fry) – 2 cup / 480ml.
• Fish Fillet-minced – 250g.
• Red curry paste – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Fish sauce – 1/2 tsp. / 2ml.
• Egg-beaten – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Tapioca flour – 1 tbsp. / 15ml.
• Kaffir lime leaf thinly sliced – 1/4 cup / 60ml.
• Sugar – 1/2 tsp. / 2ml.

Ingredients (for red curry paste):

• Dried red chili – 7
• Galangal – 1tsp. / 5ml.
• Garlic – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Lemon grass – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Kaffir lime out side skin – 1tsp. / 5ml.
• Shrimp paste – 1tsp. / 5ml.
• Black pepper  - 5
• Salt  - 1/2

Ingredients (for dipping suce):

• Sweet plum sauce – 2tbsp. / 30ml.
• Vinegar, diluted – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Water – 1/2 cup / 120ml.
• Salt – 1/2 tsp / 2ml.
• Red spur chili, finely chopped – 1/2tbsp. / 8ml.

Preparations:

• Red curry paste: pounded all the ingredients together until ground.
• Dipping sauce: combine ingredients in an pot and boil over medium heat. Simmer for 5-10min, stir and remove from heat when it is done.
• Mix all the ingredients for the dish cakes together in a bowl until they are thoroughly combined.
• To make the sauce, pit the water, sugar, and vinegar into a pan and dissolved bring the water to boil and boil for 2 min. Turn off the heat and add chilies, peanuts, cucumber and shallot, leave to cool and serve garnished wit the coriander leaves.
• Make the fish cake mixture into small, flat cakes about 5cm. in diameter. Put the oil into a wok and when it is hot, add the fish cakes, fry them until they are golden brown (about 3-4 min). When they are cooked take them out and then on the kitchen paper to drain. Serve the fish cakes while they are still hot with the dipping sauce.

This is server for 2.

Some may say this is slightly Vietnam food, but I rather say that is Thais because the ingredients are typically thai. It may a bit difficult to cook, it make take loads of time but  you won’t feel wasting your time making this after your first taste it.

Ingredients:

• Glass noodle – 50g.
• Lean pork, minced – 5og.
• Cooked shrimp, peeled and chopped (option) – 50g.
• Cabbage sliced – 50g.
• Bean sprout – 50g.
• Garlic, finely chopped – 1 clove.
• Shallot, finely chopped – 2 tbsp. / 30ml.
• Egg – 1
• Vegetable oil – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Pepper – 1tsp. / 5ml.
• Carrot, grated – 1
• Spring roll wrapper – 10
• Cooking oil (for deep-fried) – 2 cup. / 480ml.
• Oyster sauce – 1tbsp. / 15ml.
• Soy sauce – 1tbsp. / 15ml.

Preparation:

• To prepare filling, in a wok, stir-fried minced pork, prawn(shrimp) and garlic in oil, until cooked.
• Season with pep, salt, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce. Add bean sprouts, cabbage, glass noodles and carrot, stir briefly, and remove from heat. Place in a bowl.
• Now for the packaging, use a clean damp cloth or towel to keep the spring roll wrapper on the cutting board with a corner towards you. Wet all the edges with egg. Place 1tbsp of filling in the nearest corner to smoothly rolled. Seal the edges with more egg. Repeat with remaining with wrappers and filling.
• Deep-fry spring rolls in hot cooking oil, several at a time, turning then over to brown evenly. Do not over cook, as they become soggy inside. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

This is served for 2 and Enjoy your Songkran Festival!

by Bank Takaeng

It’s easy to cook. You can make either shrimp or pork.

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil – 1 1/2 tbsp. / 22ml.
• Garlic, crushed – 3tbsp. / 45ml.
• White pepper – 1/2 tsp.  / 3ml.
• Shrimp – 200g.
• Salt – 1/4 tsp. / 1ml.
• Sugar – 1/2tsp / 2.5ml.
• Soy sauce – 1tbsp. / 15ml.

Preparation:

• Marinate shrimps, crushed garlic, salt, sugar and soy sauce for 20 min. Separate garlic from shrimps, just before frying.
• In the hot oil, stir fry (low heat) garlic, when it turns brown, add shrimps and don’t let it over cook.
• Garnished with cucumber and tomato slices and sprinkle coriander leaves on the top.

This is for 2

by Bank Takaeng

With this soup, you can either eat with rice or make a noodle.
Ingredients:

• Chicken carcass, bone – 1kg.
• Water – 10 cup / 2,400ml
• Chinese radish, medium size, peeled and cut – 1
• Celery, chopped 3 inches long – 1 stalk
• Bay leaf – 3 leaf
• Salt – 1tsp / 5ml.

Preparation:

• Chopped chicken bone into pieces and place in a pot
• Put in the Chinese radish, celery, salt, and bay leaves, and boil over heat for 1 hour.
• Filter though a clean thin cloth.

This is for 2

by Scott Coates

Thai massage is one of life’s great treats. Generally 1-2 hours in length, you’re poked, prodded, rubbed, bent and sometimes pushed to your limits, but for fans, there’s nothing like it. I’m a fan.

I’d heard of a massage service at the Chiang Mai Women’s Prison for quite some time but had never been. A March 2010 trip to Chiang Mai found me with a couple hours free and feeling a bit sore after six days of biking on the Thailand Trek & Trail – the perfect time to give it a shot.

Opting to walk there through Chiang Mai’s charming old walled city instead of taking a tuk tuk, I passed numerous ancient temples, shop stalls and had only a sense of where the massage was. Turned out I committed the age old man’s fault of not asking for directions first and walked much further than needed, but saw some neat sides to the city that had previously eluded me. My legs were now truly in need of a good rubdown.

Located across the street from the Chiang Mai Woman’s Correctional Institution in the center of town, the massage service is one part of their Skill Development Center.  Started in 2001 by the institution’s director as a means for residents to gain life experience to ease the transition back into society after release, roughly 420 inmates have gone through Thai massage training and are now working as masseuses around the kingdom.

The massage center is not entirely easy to find and set among a group of buildings that are part of the Skill Development Center. There are a few small signs in English and I wasn’t sure until someone said, “massage?”, if I was in the correct place. Opting for a 1-hour Thai massage I was surprised by the very friendly smiles and demeanor of a few women who welcomed and handed me some massage clothing to put on. Surely these weren’t the criminal masseuses? In my new outfit I went into the room with mattresses on the floor and sure enough these pleasant looking women were the masseuses!

Bom was my masseuse and did an excellent job. I’ve had hundreds of massages over the years and her service was quality. While receiving my treatment I gently inquired into the program and her life. Turns out she’s 28-years-old, is serving just under three years for selling Ya Ba (methamphetamines) and very much enjoys her time practicing rather than being in a cell.

Thirty of the prison’s roughly 1,400 inmates study 180 hours of Thai massage training at one time within prison walls before being allowed to serve customers. Only non-violent and low-risk offenders are admitted to the program and the real bonus is the one month students get to spend giving massages outside of the prison at the center. Eight prisoners practice at a time then head back inside after their stint is up. They then wait in a queue to practice again.

Money from massage services goes to support the training initiatives of the center and the masseuses get a bonus the month they work outside prison walls (this amount could not be verified).

While a great experience and neat way to relax while giving inmates a sense of worth, the downside is the total lack of information about the program at the center itself. There is absolutely no information, leaving guests with no sense of what they are partaking in.

A nearby business worth visiting is Lila Thai Massage, whose employees are all ex-inmates who have successfully completed the program and served there time.

The massage center is open from 08:00-16:30, can be found at 100 Rachwithee Rd, in the city center (081-706-1041. Thai massage is 180B/hr and Foot massage is 150B/hr.

Enjoy your experience!

by Bank Takaeng

It’s a stir-fried noodle dish and similar to Pad See Ew but more flavor. The distinctiveness of this dish come from chili and basil.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable – 2tbsp. / 30ml.
• Fresh yellow spur chili pepper – 2tbsp / 30ml.
• Chopped garlic – 2tbsp / 30ml.
• Sliced onion -1/4 cup / 60ml.
• Ground beef, pork or chicken – 150g.
• Rice noodles, soaked and drained – 1 cup
• Fish sauce – 1tbsp / 15ml.
• Granulated sugar – 1/2tsp / 3ml.
• Oyster sauce – 1tbsp / 15ml.
• Sweet basil or hot basil leaf – 1/2 cup / 120ml.

Preparations:

• Pound chili peppers and garlic into paste and fry at high in large frying pan. Add onion before paste brown.
• Add ground meat and the rest of ingredients stirring constantly.
• Add noodles when cooked, add bail leaves and toss.
• Serve immediately.

This is for 2 people.