Mealworms, grasshoppers and another eventful journey

[by Franzi] And again a few days have passed and a lot has happened. Let me start directly after our trip to the jungle.

In the last blog we mentioned that we still had two nights and therefore two days in Chiang Mai. We spent both days walking around Chiang Mai and exploring the city. We ended up in corners that we would never have thought of before and strolled through various side streets and alleys. We found a temple on pretty much every street corner, sometimes old, sometimes new, sometimes more touristy and sometimes less. On the second day, we even walked all the way to the Mae Nam Ping River. As a result, we saw both the old town and its large, old city gates and walls, as well as the slightly newer city with a fairly large shopping center and illuminated billboards.

The highlight for us was visiting the "Night Bazaar", one of the main attractions in Chiang Mai, on Wednesday evening. The stalls lined the streets, there were huge tents offering all sorts of things - pants, skirts, shirts, dresses, jewelry, shoes, backpacks, cups, scarves, souvenirs, ... There were also small clusters of food stalls or small restaurants. But there were also dried fruits, seaweed, nuts, fresh fruits, smoothies, and much more for sale.
After wandering around the oversized bazaar for a while, we decided to go to one of the so-called "Food Markets", sections of the market where only food is offered. There were all sorts of different and exotic things. We took a little tour of the market to see what was available and then made our decision. There was a lot! Fish, crabs, lobsters, mussels, chicken, pork, quail, .. All the sea creatures were still unprocessed and placed on ice to keep them cold, it all looked a bit curious and you probably would never find something like this anywhere in Germany. The quails were skewered and grilled whole, not nice to look at and I probably would never have eaten them. But what caught my eye pretty quickly were fried mealworms, bamboo worms, grasshoppers, and scorpions. I knew that this kind of thing occasionally exists here, but actually seeing them here was something else.

Naturally, we were curious to know if and how something like this tastes. So we got a small mixed bowl (50 Baht = 1.29€) of mealworms, bamboo worms, and grasshoppers. But before we wanted to try them, we needed something else to eat, just to be safe in case we didn't like them. So we got a freshly prepared Pad Thai with chicken (60 Baht = 1.55€) at one of the food stalls.
Now we had something else very tasty to eat, so we could try the mix of worms and grasshoppers. We started with the mealworms, they didn't taste bad at all, more like hardly anything except flour and they were crispy-fried. The bamboo worms, smaller, thicker, and darker compared to the mealworms, were not as good. They were still very soft in the middle and tasted very bitter and disgusting. So, in the end, the grasshoppers: they were something in between, even though I was more hesitant with them than with the worms and only ate them without the head after some hesitation. The odd thing about the grasshoppers was that you could feel their legs in your mouth, you can hardly classify their taste, but it was okay. Definitely tastier than it looks! But still, we were glad to still have our Pad Thai, which tasted very good.

It was a very eventful and interesting evening for us!

[by Jonas] Before heading to the bus station the next evening, as mentioned above, we spent another day walking around both the old and the "new" city. The highlight here was a fresh coconut at a café for lunch. Its taste is also difficult to describe. It was, like many things here, much more intense than ordinary coconut milk in Germany, but it had almost developed its own taste, which neither of us particularly liked.

We quickly grabbed something small to eat at 7-eleven (about 100 Baht = 2.59€) and then we were back at our hostel.
The nice lady from the otherwise not so good hostel had arranged a tuk-tuk to the bus station for us at 7 pm, also for 100 Baht (2.59€). The ride took about 15 minutes and the driver bombarded us with questions about our onward journey. Even though communication was sometimes quite difficult, the conversation was amusing.

We booked the bus for our onward journey to Udon Thani ourselves for the first time, via the internet, to be precise, the website www.12go.asia. It worked extremely well and we were satisfied with the price (875 Baht per person = 22.65€) for the 613km. We were there early and could easily check in with our mobile ticket. After a short wait, we boarded the bus. It was a spacious night bus and we had booked seats in the first row, so we had enough legroom (even for me). The bus left right on time, but to our surprise, it stopped at another bus station after about an hour and here the previously sparsely populated bus filled up. After another stop by the driver at a market and a 7-eleven, we were ready to go: we were on our way to our next destination!

Despite the legroom and the actually really comfortable seats, neither of us could sleep well, probably because the bus driver had missed his calling as a race car driver. Nevertheless, or perhaps exactly because of that, the 10-hour journey went by quickly and pleasantly. The bus stopped a few times, probably for driver changes or breaks or something. The planned arrival was 8:15 am the next day, but when I looked out the window at around 7 am, I saw several minivans with the label "Udonthani - Nong Khai". That seemed very strange to me. So I opened Google Maps and realized that we were already in Udon Thani, but not in the city center, but at a bus station outside. Since there was no announcement or anything, we had booked until a stop in the city center, and no one else had gotten off the upper deck, I assumed that we would now drive further into the city center. However, I woke up Franzi, who had finally managed to fall asleep, so that we could start packing our things.
As we continued driving, a bus employee walked through the rows and asked everyone where they wanted to go. Most replied with "Nong Khai", but I naturally said "Udon Thani". And suddenly there was a big commotion! The bus stopped at the side of a large, busy road and we were harshly asked to immediately get off the bus. Outside, we tried to explain the bus staff the situation, that we had booked until a stop in the city center, but it was futile. No English and only hectic. We got our luggage, which had apparently been sliding around in the bus's luggage compartment, as both pieces of luggage were not where they had been placed at the beginning.
A bus employee made it clear to us that he had called a tuk-tuk and we had no choice but to get in there because before we knew it, the bus had already driven off.
So we got into the tuk-tuk. Interestingly, the tuk-tuks look different everywhere. Here in Udon Thani, you get in from the back, which has not been the case in Bangkok or Chiang Mai.
During the ride, we quickly realized that we had finally arrived in a place that is not geared towards tourists. There are hardly any signs in Latin letters here, and hostels or hotels are also rare. So there are also fewer Western tourists.
When we arrived at the correct bus terminal, we got off. But to our surprise, the tuk-tuk driver demanded 100 Baht (2.59€). At first, we didn't agree, since we had specifically booked a bus directly to the city center within walking distance of our hotel. After a little argument, we gave in and gave the driver the 100 Baht. It's not his fault either... However, we have since complained about this behavior and the bus stopping at the wrong stop on the website.
So now we have arrived at our hotel. So far we are very satisfied and we will relax for the next few days before moving on to the next country.

So stay tuned!

Franzi and Jonas