Chiang Mai: Good food? Chapter 2

There's healthy food, too. You can have a plastic bag of fruit with a stick as your utensil, or a fresh fruit salad with yogurt and muesli for breakfast. Sushi is easy to find. Even some street vendors sell sushi. An avacado salad is high in fat, but also high in potassium. That's important when, like me, you sweat like a stevedore and worry about dehydration. I've also seen several health food stores and organic vegetarian restaurants.

However, what seems healthy may not be. A few nights ago, hanging out in the Pirate's Cove, I had dinner with a woman who got very sick from drinking too much orange juice. No bacteria were involved. She and several other teachers from her school ended up in Chiang Mai Ram Hospital with pesticide poisoning.These teachers had been making a point of drinking lots of orange juice to make sure they got enough vitamin C. Now, a large glass of orange juice requires about ten oranges. In Thailand that means ten oranges that have been drenched in pesticides. An orange or two a day isn't going to poison you, but a couple of glasses of orange juice will.

At least the hospital visit was probably pleasant. Ex-pats refer to Chiang Rai Ram as the Chiang Mai Ram Hotel, because it is so luxurious. "Oh, I'm feeling a bit tired. Maybe I should check into Chiang Mai Ram and have it checked out," qualifies as wishful thinking around here.