There is a delightful feeling of reconnection now that our International friends are beginning to return to Thailand. The Covid19 lockdown of borders in March happened during our long end-of-school-year hot-season holidays, so many of our friends were overseas visiting family or just away enjoying the delights of global travel.
Thailand is only just beginning to open after 8 months of hard-core lockdown. We've had only 60 Covid deaths in a country of 70 million IN TOTAL since January, but watching the freefall of Europe, Russia, Brasil and the USA, Thailand has chosen to remain tightly closed. Returning right now is an epic marathon of bureaucracy and endurance. Apart from USD $100,000 covid-specific health insurance, pre-flight testing and 2 weeks of user-pays government quarantine & x 5 more Covid tests, people returning are only accepted if they meet conditions for one of the long-term visas - basically married to a Thai or own property here, own a Thai business or hold a long term student visa with fees paid in advance. No general tourist level entries are allowed yet and the first tightly-controlled Chinese test tour group is still in quarantine in Phuket.
So when one of our friends manages to brave the process, succeeds every step of the way and breezes through quarantine, it is cause for celebration indeed!!
Sang Min 안상민 is about to turn 20 and has just exited quarantine, having finally returned from South Korea. I call him my number 2 son and yes, this young man can EAT!! Generally he breezed through quarantine and had sent me this note in his second week:
Everyone's nice here! It's perfect except wifi and I can hear the sirens a lot here. Hope there is no more violence from the government and hope you have an wonderful day. Thank you for your support! 😊
But when he arrived back he confessed that the FOOD had actually been his biggest challenge and that he'd missed Korean food so very much. So off we went to remedy that!!
Where did we go? Lum Lum Korean Restaurant - a little modest place in Kad Mee Chok on the outskirts of central Chiang Mai here in Northern Thailand. It's an old favourite and it's always filled with Koreans. Good sign!
I had a new dish this time that I've never had before: Janchi Guksu Banquet Noodles. Oh wow - what an amazing, perfectly flavor balanced & delightful healthy feeling, yummy meal! 160 THB (USD $5.23). Think a hot-sour beef broth, korean noodles and an amazing array of steamed & fresh veggies, kimchi, seaweed and half an egg. At the flavourful end of spicy rather than mouth-burning. In Thailand, everyone knows that "korean spicy" is child safe. 🤣
The other dishes on our table? The other all time favourite, Bim Bim Bap done in a sizzling hot-pot style.
Side dishes? LOL... always.
Various raw pickled vegetables (daikon radish, pumpkin, cucumber, carrot) and, OF COURSE wickedly spicy kimchi and bowls of clear seaweed broth.
What was incredibly nice to hear from Sang Min is that the food at Lum Lum is 110% authentic and typically Korean - just like the food he buys in his hometown of Deagu.
We see LOTS of Korean lunch dates in the coming months - Sang Min has only 4 months left to lift his English game and pass his year 12 exams here. I'm the new extra tutor and I know it's much easier and fun to practice English over favourite comfort food than in a classroom "you must perform & it will be difficult" setting.
I LOVE the way food is a leveler, a connector and a joiner of people.
Never tried Korean food? Oh you should! I love that I always feel like it's not only YUMMO but healthy and dripping with great probiotics for digestion and wellbeing.
How lucky are we to have such superb food on our doorstep 15 mins from home? Very!! If you're planning to go to Lum Lum, it is often crowded. Don't be deterred by the apparent lack of tables downstairs - they have upstairs Korean style floor level tables too.
Just washed your hair and worried about it attracting the smell of food? 🤣 HOW ASIAN IS THIS??!! 🤣 They supply a free shower cap to keep your freshly washed hair free from food odours. 🤣
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