Hot Enough for Ya?

I was thrilled to get a comment from my friend Christine earlier today, and thinking about our time together in Japan reminded me of one of my favourite stories from back then.

The first year we were there, Christine and I and our friend Kim decided to head to Thailand for our spring vacation. After a couple of days in Bangkok (an experience that will provide fodder for many future posts, I'm sure), we headed to Koh Samet to spend the rest of the week lazing around the idyllic island beaches.

We were having lunch one day and Christine ordered some chicken-and-veggie dish that was listed on the menu as “spicy.” Now, I have almost zero tolerance for chili peppers, but Christine often added hot sauce to her food and was a huge fan of wasabi. So even when the waiter warned her that the dish would be too much for someone not used to “Thai spicy,” she insisted she still wanted it.

Not long after she dug in, Christine became rather quiet and little beads of sweat started forming on her forehead.

“How is it?” I asked.

She shrugged. “It's hot.”

Kim and I looked at each other. She picked up a piece of bread, soaked it in the sauce, and popped it into her mouth. At the same time, I took my fork and placed just the very tip of the tines in the sauce and gently touched it to my tongue.

Well.

You've never seen a basket of bread and pitcher of water go down so quickly. I literally could not speak for about a minute. And I seriously thought we might need to find a defibrillator for Kim.

I stared at Christine. “HOW can you possibly eat that?”

She shrugged again. “I said it was hot.”

Besides having a true spirit of adventure, Christine was apparently also born with a gift for understatement.

Comments

[Guide to Bangkok Hotels]

Very funny story and hope this is the great trip in Bangkok for you...