Banana Pancakes, the Rusty Pelican, and a Scooter

During our stay in Khao Lak, we went to check out the Rusty Pelican, proclaimed to the "best Mexican food in Southeast Asia".  Um, I am here to tell you that no, it is not.

 My cheese enchildas smothered in "red sauce" paired with beans and rice.  Edible, passable, but not the best Mexican food in Southeast Asia...their margaritas were good though (strong!).

 I got banana pancakes...twice.

 The woman skillfully made the dough so paper thin - how do they manage to do that with such consistency?

 These pancakes are better characterized as "rotis" because they are fried on a big metal plan with a lot of oil/lard/grease.

 I love the magic of banana rotis.

 Michael rented a scooter.  He was looking very hardcore here (please note the authentic Thai pants tied up and the footwear de rigeur of scooter drivers in Asia: sandals).  As you would no doubt not be surprised to learn, Michael loves renting and driving these scooters on our trips to Southeast Asia.  This may have been one of the highlights of his trip.  He definitely enjoyed it on Koh Yao Noi.

We listened to a local singer at the bar "Smile".  It was a fun atmosphere.

During our few days and nights island hopping in Asia, we came to recognize a phenomenon we dubbed the "gweilo effect"- or maybe in Thailand it would be better dubbed the "pharang effect" -- places would be empty and quiet until one or two white couples or people sat down.  Then the establishment/activity/place would become steadily more full/busy/occupied.  It was very apparent that tourists were gauging whether to stop and participate based on how many other foreigners were doing it.  This happened with the Thai restaurants near the SALA, and also with my banana panckaes... but nowhere was this more obvious than the chicken truck that went by one afternoon.  

When I smelled that honey barbecued chicken (and given that it was chicken grilled on open coals attached to the back of a scooter, we could really smell it from miles away -- it was the best free advertising ever) we hopped off our scooters and purchased an entire delicious lunch of barbecued chicken grilled on a stick and sticky rice (for 65 Baht total!!  That is $2USD!) and ate our fill.  

Before we purchased the meal, however, only one group of local women were ordering the food.  Once we ordered and sat down on the sidewalk to content ourselves with the juicy, succulent, perfectly roasted pieces of meat, suddenly more and more tourists stopped too.  By the time we left, leaving no more than a few scatterings of chicken bones carefully sucked clean, there were at least three other groups of gweilos eating the chicken.  Needless to say, I was very happy to have brought some business to the sweet young couple.