We need to shop for ingredients for the cooking segments I’ll be filming this afternoon, so after breakfast I meet up with Executive Chef Georg and Chef Kamsin and we head to the local market.

I’m told enroute that because it gets so hot during the day, the market traders actually start setting up around midnight, and by 3am it’s bustling with shoppers. I struggle to wrap my head around shopping at a wet market in the middle of the night. In fact, some of the stalls are already winding down for the day when we get there.

I remember as a kid reading a comic book story where aliens had abducted these earthlings in their sleep. They tried to hide the abduction by recreating the humans’ environments exactly (so they thought), then watched as their subjects woke up and went about their day. The humans gradually realised things weren’t quite right; the experiment failed and the aliens were left wondering where they went wrong.

For decades, I’ve been mistaken for a Thai by Aussies who’ve visited Thailand  (to my vocal chagrin). Wandering around this wet market in the middle of Chiang Mai, it all makes sense – these Aussies = my alien abductors. (I’m kidding.)

The atmosphere evokes memories of shopping at the wet market back in my childhood in neighbouring Malaysia. It’s a bigger market than the one back in my hometown, but the people would not look out of place in Seremban. Some of the offerings are unusual but most of them are the same. The sights and smells are the same. The language is, of course, different. I don’t understand one word being spoken. Same, but different. It’s a strange feeling.

Anytime I travel, I look to film videos of dishes that are location-specific. I’m here with the mindset to highlight Chiang Mai’s cuisine, not just some generic Thai dishes.

This trip to the wet market is invaluable to help us decide what we want to film.

We set out to the market knowing we want to shoot a Khao Soi video – it is, after all, Chiang Mai’s most famous dish. As we wander around the market, we come across some unusual looking local mushrooms and some snail meat; Chef Kamsin suggest using them for a mushroom salad and a snail curry respectively.

 Our shopping done, we head back to the hotel to cook and film the following –

I’ve tried since I arrived to keep an eye out for mango juice and to request for it with no success. Baby Noah is sullen and I continue to monitor his temperature.

 I finally mention it to the Shangri-La marketing team during our filming and in the blink of an eye, Operation Baby Noah is launched. The China Kitchen team mobilise to get freshly-blended mango drink for Noah. The hotel’s resident nurse is summoned to check on his condition. The hotel offers to take Noah to the hospital but I opt instead for some baby Panadol.

Every food outlet in the hotel is notified about Noah’s mango juice requirement. For the rest of our stay, every time we front up for our meals, there are two glasses of fresh mango juice ready and waiting for baby Noah. I’ll never forget this personalised service by the Shangri-La team.

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Heading to our hotel, I manage to communicate with ease with Shangri-La Chiang Mai’s limousine driver, and my concerns about language barriers is alleviated. We are led on arrival to the Club Lounge, where afternoon tea is being served, and I waste no time filling up my plate with food from the buffet.

I meet with the marketing team and Georg the Executive Chef to discuss tomorrow’s video shoots, and then we head to China Kitchen, the in-house Szechuan restaurant. My only exposure to Szechuan food is Szechuan Chicken which I’ve tried once or twice. I’m not sure what to expect but am ready to give it a try – with my only request (when asked) being that I don’t eat pork. No probs at all – the kitchen is only too happy to substitute with chicken. Here are some of the dishes and the food is so sensational I make a mental note to visit again before my trip is over.

We’ve been travelling all day and baby Noah is out of mango lassi. I’m a little concerned as I haven’t seen any mango juice since our arrival and it’s now night time. I will find out later that mango lassi is unheard of in Chiang Mai, and mango juice is a luxury and rarely available, certainly not at your local 7-Eleven (unlike in Malaysia). We retire to our room and I count on other fruit juices keeping Noah hydrated until this can be sorted in the morning. Noah has other plans and refuses all drinks.  By morning he’s developed a temperature.

(to be continued)

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Over the last 12 months however, I had started to hear good things about Thailand from serious Malaysian foodies.  I began to play with the idea of travelling to Malaysia’s northern neighbour to learn more about the cuisine and culture.

When the opportunity came for me to visit Shangri-La Chiang Mai to highlight their Rooted in Nature campaign of using locally sourced, sustainable ingredients in their menu, I jumped on it.

I knew nothing about Chiang Mai but was intrigued that so many people I spoke to said it was their favourite part of Thailand. It was the land of elephants, long-necked mountain tribes and ancient temples.

It would also be the first time I would be in a country where I knew not one word of the language.

I didn’t even know how to say “Hello” in Thai.

This despite the many occasions over the years when Aussie customers had tried to impress me with their knowledge of what they assumed was my native language (right before they ordered their Pad Thai).

So, after many, many trips to Malaysia over the last couple of years, I would finally be adding Thailand to the mix.

I spent weeks trying to recruit travel companions and project collaborators, and received plenty of enthusiastic responses. Who wouldn’t want a free vacation at a 5-star resort, right?

Then every last person decided to drop out at the last minute, leaving just me, baby Noah and 50kg of luggage full of camera and video equipment for the YouTube content I planned to capture.

At Penang airport, waiting for our flight to Chiang Mai.

How I was going to film all these videos unassisted and with baby in tow?

How hard would it be to get around without a guide and without local knowledge?

Would I struggle to find non-pork food options? (I’m a lifelong pork-averse Chinese. Yes, we do exist. I know at least two others.).

Do they have mango lassi in Chiang Mai? (It’s the only thing Noah will drink.)

These were the questions floating around in my head as we boarded our Air Asia flight from Penang.

(to be continued)

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