"Smile" Restaurant Menu, Ubon

Smile restaurant in Ubon…our dining selections. This is a wonderful marinated shrimp dish (an appetizer, I suppose?) that has chayote leaves, as well as onions and other garnishes. The marinade is fantastic.

Marinated Shrimp appetizer.

There are many variations on crispy-fried fish in Ubon, and this “butterflied” version at Smile is excellent. I think there is a light but well-seasoned breading on the fish. And, it was not over-cooked, so the fish was still moist and flavorful.

Butterflied crispy-fried fish.

This is “cotton” fish. The breading mixture is like “panko” (Japanese-style bread crumbs). It has loads of flavor, and amazing texture. Highly recommended.

"Cotton" fish ("cotton" refers to its preparation).

We also had chicken soup with mushrooms. The white color comes from coconut milk. It is wonderful. In fact, the only dish we had that we weren’t absolutely crazy for was the seafood salad—it was okay, but not up to the level of the other selections.

Chicken soup, with coconut milk.

Still, we enjoyed the food, music, drink, service, and companionship immensely while at Smile. Many thanks to Montira for taking us there!

"Smile" Restaurant, Ubon

On Saturday, Montira took us to Smile restaurant in Ubon. It was nighttime, but the restaurant seems to be located in an older, primarily residential area. The main building looks to be modern, and is air conditioned with a small stage inside. A polished, 2 person ensemble was playing Western-style Thai-lyric ballads while we were there.

"Smile" from the streetside, at night.

The weather continues to be excellent, so we were seated outside on the patio. The patio is very pleasant, with lantern lighting. Wooden tables have bench and chair seating. There are also semi-circular sofa-type booths.

Newt and Montien.

The service is good. The menu has traditional Thai food selections, as well as “fusion” dishes that (I think) have a more contemporary feel. Generally, the dishes are delicious—very appetizing; certainly some of the tastiest food we’ve had in Ubon. Also, the food presentation is outstanding—pictures of the food on our next post.

Montira, Sue, and Lawan.

An excellent ambiance, and the excellent 2-person band was loud enough to appreciate, but not overly so.

Wat Pictures?

Sunday, 9 December

If you are so inclined, you are welcomed to navigate over to

http://picasaweb.google.com/NewtSea

There, you should find pictures on our latest Wat adventures. Most of the pictures lack captions, but the album titles will tell you where we were. We hope to add captions to the individual pictures (eventually, if not soon).

This past weekend, Montira has been visiting Ubon from her home in Bangkok. She has been an absolute angel in taking us to see some of the beautiful sights around Ubon. She also introduced us to Smile restaurant, and treated us to an absolutely delicious and lovely dinner there last night. Pictures to follow on this blog, soon.

7 Dec--"Wat" we saw...

Or, rather, Wats we saw.

Wat Pra That Nong Bua. The main structure is a huge, square stupa with another 4-story square gilded (or gold painted) stupa inside. Has a quiet environment due to the many surrounding trees. A monk was available to bless the visitors by sprinkling with water. Also, religious medals and wrist bands can be bought.

This "golden stupa" is inside the main, silver-colored stupa at Wat Nong Bua.

Wat Ban Na Nuang. Pass beneath an immense 3-headed elephant and park on the left in the shade. To the left and forward is a replica of a Thai royal “dragon” barge or boat, complete with a rowing crew, upon which is a temple. The boat is colored or painted to resemble dark wood, and there is a low concrete wall around the boat. The multi-headed dragons atop the wall are very prominent. The gate to “barge wat” was closed when we visited, but there was a Hindu-style multi-headed god on the far side (the bow of the boat) where we could light incense and pay respects.

To the right is a large building—on the second floor are many more Buddha statues. The main (the largest) Buddha statue is on a slightly elevated platform that specifically says “no women.” To the left and front of this Buddha statue is a glass-encased wax mannequin of a monk. To the left and rear of this platform is an alcove-type area that has 3 large monk portraits (women are also prohibited here), and—slightly to the right/rear—an elevated glass-cased coffin that holds the mummified body of one of the monks or holy persons who worked on this Wat. This may be the same person represented by the wax statue on the main platform (not sure). To the right of the main platform are 10 statues…5 of Buddha and 5 smaller statues of monks or holy men.

The wat also has a 3 tiered drum or bell tower—very elaborate. There are drums on the lower level, and a bell on the highest level.

The largest structure on the grounds is a masonry replica of another dragon barge set into a large fish pond. There is another temple set onto the barge, with another huge Buddha statue inside. This temple has a lot of decoration, painted gold and blue. Also, much applied mirror mini-tile is set onto various surfaces. There are two walkways to the boat—on the land side, food is sold to feed the fish. Some of the fish are quite large, and even catfish will come to the surface to feed.

This temple at Wat Ban Na Nuang sits on a replica barge, surrounded by a genuine fish pond.

There is significant construction on-going on the grounds. A new building awaits finishing, and another building site is being prepared.

Wat Pra Nanachat. A beautiful, very serene area—the name roughly translates to “jungle or forest” and “many cultures.” It is heavily forested compared to the surrounding countryside. Much of the signage is in both English and Thai. The public areas seem to be for meditation and contemplation. There is a large open-sided building (a sign on the building mentions a website, watpahnanachat.org), but not much to see inside.

Sitting on a meditation bench, looking toward the granite table, at Wat Pra Nanachat.

There is also a pyramid-shaped metal structure (which I didn’t enter), but--again--there is not much to “see,” as such. A long stone table of polished granite sits in the open—it’s 15 paces long. Strangely, in the restroom area, there are icons and signs which say “remove your shoes before entering the toilets.” The toilets (Asian style) were very clean. Pictures are discouraged (as are cell phones and camcorders), but we took some photos discretely.

Wat Nong Pa Phong. The main structure is modern Asian with 3 levels—it could almost be a government administration building. On the main floor is an altar with an elevated casket—it holds (or once held) the body of a well-known monk. There are also strangely incongruous objects on display in other rooms—a traditional wooden cart, deer antlers, an elephant skull, and wasps nests, along with wooden chests and wheel chairs. While all the signs are in Thai, these items may have belonged to or were gifts to the monks.

Newt prays at the altar on the first floor of the building at Wat Nong Pa Phong.

Several wooden cabinets on the different floors have foreign currency on display—there are also wooden carved panels, and a near-lifesized wooden carved Buddha.

From a central stairway, a multi-story, multi-framed tiled mural depicts the activities of monks—one particular monk wearing distinctive glasses is shown several times. On the second floor is a large, dark bronze standing Buddha, and on the third floor is a wax model of a monk-with-glasses behind a glass wall—he’s seated on rattan settee next to his eyeglass case, with a teapot on his left. It looks to be a life-sized vignette, with him frozen in time.

To see more pictures, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/NewtSea

Liab's Memorial Service, Wat Ban Kam Kueng Keo

Liab’s ashes are in an urn, interred in this stupa-shaped “taut” (in Thai, “taut” has a short, sharp sound). The taut is embedded onto the wall of Wat Ban Kam Kueng Keo. The taut appears to be made of cast concrete, and the decoration is molded or incised. At one time, it was painted pale blue, though that has since faded. Vases hold flowers and incense sticks.

The monk reads from a paper that contains the name of Liab and other family members who have died recently. White string joins the 4 monks to Liab’s taut. After chanting or praying, the paper is burned.

After being burned, the paper is mixed with water. Later, this mixture is poured onto the ground around the trees in the Wat. This signifies that earthly things eventually return to the earth.

The orange pails are commercially-made “offerings” to the monks (they have shrink-wrapped tops, and seem to be standardized by size). The monks were also offered food, fruit, cloth material (robe material), and some money. These offerings were to thank the monks for their help during the ceremony.

Ban Kam Kueng Keo, Welcome & Memories

On arrival in Ban Kam Kueng Kao (90 minutes east of the city Ubon Ratchathani) we found Newt's stepmother making this beautiful centerpiece. Made from banana leaves and some small white flower blooms, candles will be added for the welcoming ceremony.

This is Newt's stepmother. Still farming and keeping busy in her 70s.

Lawan has this "colorized" black & white photo of Liab, the father.

Besides being colorized, it may have been enlarged from a smaller photo (there is little detail to the photo...in fact, the facial image looks almost identical to the the photo below). Both hang in Lawan's living room.

This is Rian, Newt's birth mother, alongside Liab, her father. Unfortunately, Rian died very young, at 48.

Lawan's Farm, Ban Kam Kueng Kao, Sirinthon

On Lawan's farm, Ban Kam Kueng Kao, east of Ubon Ratchathani. The cow seems happily grazing--maybe she knows she's too skinny for the butcher shop.

This fish pond is abandoned due to "fish poaching"--stealing, that is, and not from cooking in liquid.

Lawan's farm has well over 100 of these cashew nut trees.

Bananas on the farm.