Saturday, October 4, 2008

TBA Day 21: Guns and Another Trip to Sabinglae

Today was our last day in Ko Samui. The original plan was to go to Super Fight in Chaweng, but we soon discovered that it was fairly expensive so we decided to go to brunch and then seek out other activities.

The brunch place we planned to attend was closed, so we ended up at Luna Hut, just across a small pond from Harry’s. This actually turned out to be a brilliant idea. We ordered Deep Fried Prawn Cakes (to compare to the tasty ones we’d had at Sabinglae the day before) and Red Curry Duck.

The prawn cakes had less prawn than the ones at Sabinglae, but also contained lime leaves, which made them really delicious. The curry was also quite nice. The red curry was seasoned with lime leaves and included lychees along with the veggies. I’ve seen pineapple in duck curries in the US, but never lychees. It was interesting and also really tasty.

A little poking around on the internet revealed that the low season isn’t the best time for many of the island’s activities, but we stumbled upon information about Samui Shooting Sports. Apparently Stanley has always wanted to fire a gun, so this seemed like a golden opportunity. We hopped on the scooter and headed down there to give it a go. I’m no expert, but I was quite impressed with Stanley’s accuracy for a first-time gun-shooter… (I opted out of participating, since it was a bit expensive and not something I really have ever had any interest in doing.)

After the shooting we continued down the road to see a bit more of Lamai, before heading back towards Mae Nam (where we’re staying) and stopping at Sabinglae for a late lunch on our way back. We decided to order a completely different set of items this time, testing our theory that almost anything from their menu would end up being delicious. We started with a “Tempura Shrimp” appetizer. The shrimp weren’t actually fried in a tempura batter, but they were so fresh and perfectly cooked that I can’t complain. I love how fresh and delicious the seafood has been so far in Thailand.

Next up was a Fish Soup with Lemongrass. The seasoning in this was much more subtle than in our Spicy Seafood Soup the day before, but in a really pleasant way. It seemed like something that would cure you instantly if you were feeling under the weather.

We also ordered a Crispy Catfish Salad, which I pictured as being friend hunks of catfish mixed with other stuff. What was brought to the table (see picture below) was something completely different. This crazy catfish thingy was served with a julienne of green papaya dressed with chilies, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. It was really unique and delicious. It was definitely unlike anything I’ve tried before, which is always fun.
Our last dish was Red Curry Mackeral. It was beautifully presented, and was a nice curry if not particularly mind-blowing. The curry was nice (although both of us wished for more sauce… probably because we’re Americans) and the fish was really nice, but we’ve had more impressive curries on this trip.
After lunch it was back to the hotel to jump in the pool, then just a bunch of sitting around relaxing with cocktails and enjoying a lazy last evening in Samui (including introducing Stanley to the totally awesome show that is The Amazing Race). We’re on an early flight to Bangkok in the morning. Looking forward to a bit of city time after a few days in paradise.

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