For the 3rd consecutive year, I traveled to the city of Nan in Northern Thailand. Perhaps the biggest change in this very pleasant city has been the proliferation of coffee shops.

When I first visited Nan in November 2008 and there were only 3-4 coffee shops in the city center - now there are at least 15. This is an indicator of the increasing number of tourists visiting Nan - mostly Thais from Bangkok.

One of the newer (and best) coffee shops to open up in the last two years is Khao Tha Lu Chumporn Coffee with two outlets - one in the heart of the city and another one on the road leading out of town. I had the opportunity to get to know Paula (Walaiporn Suriyos) the owner of the downtown shop.

Originally Paula is from Surat Thani Province in Southern Thailand. Her family moved to Bangkok in 1972, where Paula received a degree in liberal arts and masters in Education Administration from a major University. Shortly after graduation, she worked as a volunteer in Nan in 1983, where she taught Mien hilltribe students and developed some fluency with their language as well.

After meeting her husband in Nan, Paula started a family and began her teaching full time at the nearby Baan Numkrokmai Middle School - her students are 12-15 years old. A very congenial lady who enjoys dealing with the public and a self-professed coffee lover, she opened up the coffee shop only two years ago after her friend from Chumpon indoctrinated her into the coffee business.

Her friend has connections with a big lowland coffee plantation in Chumpon Province and orders the premium Robusta coffee beans for her - the process of making the ground coffee is in Bangkok. Robusta coffee is different than the highland Arabica coffee from Northern Thailand - both brews are featured at her shop. A family business, her daughter-in-law works at the shop almost every day while Paula is teaching at school.
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In my opinion, the coffee from Thailand - both the Robusta and Arabica grades - are far better than the coffee offered at Starbucks and Black Canyon, the two largest coffee retailers in Thailand. A cup of coffee at any of the coffee shops in NAN is about ½ the price of cup at a Starbucks store.

Shirly Li, the young and remarkable proprietor of Our Inn located in historic Xingping - has had quite a life story.

Born and raised in China’s Guangxi Province, she graduated with a degree in Foreign Trade at Geosciences University in Wuhan. During her years at the University, she became fairly proficient in English. After graduation„ she propelled herself into the tourism industry when she started working for a Chinese Travel Company based in Shanghai. The company specializes in tours for oversea student groups (teenagers) - mostly from the United Kingdom, Korea and Africa. Shirly was groomed as a tour leader/coordinator, and with her new job, Shirly traveled all over China

She worked for 5 years for the travel company, and during his time period she made many visits to Yangshou County– including Xingping - and Guilin in Guangxi Province. On one of her many excursions to Yangshou, she met Afu, her future husband and a man of many talents.

Shortly thereafter, Afu and Shirly were married and in early 2009, Shirly and Afu decided to buy a somewhat rundown guesthouse located on the banks of the Li River in the historic town of Xingping.

They closed the guesthouse, and after extensive renovation and the constriction of a proper restaurant, they had their grand reopening 6 months later in October 2009.

As a travel professional, I must admit that, Shirly and Afu have done a quite a remarkable job and have turned Our Inn to a first class guesthouse/hostel. Although nothing fancy, the rooms are configured like proper hotel rooms with flashes of color and simple decorations.

More importantly, Shirly, drawing on her experience as Tour leader, really excels in her people skills - she’s very personable, her facility with English is very good and she knows the area very well. Together with her husband and Lammie, her pet Golden Retriever, Our Inn exudes warmth, personality and ambiance.

During my four nights stay there in December 2010, Shirly took some time out from her busy schedule and hiked with me to the famous lookout point overlooking the Li River and the spectacular Karst mountains. Shirly didn’t think I could complete the hike with my bad leg, but I proved her wrong. What a remarkable lady and a real sweetie!

The following tale is about special chickens in Thailand which lay yolkless eggs. Strange but true!

It was my first full day on Koh Libong, a relatively remote island in Southern Thailand. As I had signed up for a sightseeing tour which was scheduled for 8:30AM, I decided to have an early morning breakfast in the hotel’s outdoor restaurant.

It was 7:40AM, when I walked up to the young man by the hotel kitchen to order my breakfast. I knew the young man’s understanding of English was minimal, so using the menu which had the entrees in both Thai and English, I pointed to the items which I wanted – toast and jam and scrambled eggs. There was one small wrinkle to my order - I wanted scrambled eggs without the egg yolk (in other words, an egg white scramble).

With the aid of Thai-English dictionary and by drawing a picture, I believe that I was finally able to get the message across – it took about 5-6 minutes.

While sipping on some hot tea at my table, I waited for my breakfast as other hotel guests gradually filtered in; the regular waitress took their orders. About 30 minutes elapsed and still no food; in the meantime, other hotel guests were getting their breakfast - some with scrambled eggs. I remarked to a fellow guest who had just been served, “I guess they’re still waiting for my chicken to lay her eggs.”

Finally 8:30AM rolled around and still no breakfast; I had run out of patience and confronted the young man who took my order – In broken English, he said “We are still trying to find a chicken that lays eggs without the yellow (egg yolk).” Just kidding… Actually with a look of complete shock in his face, he said “I forgot. I’m sorry, sir.”

Because I was so upset, I decided not to go on the tour. Finally my breakfast with the egg white scramble arrived about 10 minutes later. Another hour later, my bad feelings dissipated and it turned out to be another sabai sabai day in paradise.

While I was in Guilin, a medium sized city in Guangxi province, I befriended a middle-aged tourist from Singapore by the name of John. Ethnically Chinese, John spoke Mandarin fluently and had traveled extensively throughout China.

After a day of sightseeing with John in Guilin, he took me to a relatively upscale Chinese restaurant located in the heart of the tourist quarter. When John found out that I was a strict vegetarian, we began a conversation about the exoticism of Chinese cuisine - in particular, the diverse dishes normally offered at most Chinese restaurants.

Tongue in Cheek, John said “Chinese people eat anything moves.” Although this is a popular stereotype about Chinese people, it does have some basis in reality. Traditionally, Chinese people have a considerably more diverse and exotic diet than Westerners; the diet includes a greater variety of protein matter – including fried insects and grub, turtles, snakes, sharks, civets as well other mammals and wild animals – in addition to aphrodisiacs which often consist of the sexual organs and body parts of certain animals.

Usually you will have to go to a Gourmet Chinese restaurant in order to have the some of the more exotic dishes.

Rather than being critical about the Culinary Culture of Chinese people, let’s just say there are significant cultural differences between the West and the East.

Back to the story at hand – I had some delicious vegetarian food at the restaurant while John and the taxi driver devoured some very exotic seafood dishes. After making his selection from the menu, John was invited into the back room of the restaurant to choose which fish would be killed for his meal.

After finishing our dinner, we walked outside the restaurant where we saw a variety of animals in cages – civets, turtles, snakes and some rather exotic and large fishes in an aquarium. All these creatures were waiting to be selected and carved up for someone’s meal. Fortunately, I didn’t see any dogs, monkeys or bats in cages, otherwise I may have gotten sick.

It should be noted that most Chinese restaurants do not normally supply napkins to their customers. Upon request, they will provide a set of napkins for 5 yuan (75 cents USD).

If you have been following Calypso Island Chronicles, you know how much I detest cigarette smoke. Fortunately in California where I currently reside, all restaurants and bars prohibit cigarette smoking. Hooray!

However in many other countries, the laws pertaining to smoking in public places are either nonexistent or less restrictive, so as a traveler, a lot of times, I just have to grin and bear it because let’s face it, many of my fellow travelers - especially from Europe - are dyed-in-the wool smokers.

To illustrate my resolve against cigarette smoke (and smokers), I would like to share a recent experience at the Canton Airport in CHINA. I had a long layover for my continuing flight to Guilin, so I decided to hang out at one of the airport cafes at that offered free WIFI. Sitting myself down at a table in the nonsmoking section, I observed much to chagrin that there were a number of patrons smoking including middle aged Indian couple two tables away.

When I told the couple that this section of the café was nonsmoking – pointing to the nonsmoking sign on the far wall - and that out of consideration they should either stop smoking or to move to the smoking section of the café, the lady got very upset. She told me a very angry tone – it’s not her problem but the management’s as she continued to smoke away.

After digesting her response, I called the young waitress over, and explained to her that this was a nonsmoking section and suggested that she should either enforce the rules or take down the sign. Although her understanding of English was not 100%, she definitely understood me. After some considerable hesitation, she went to all the smoking patrons – including the Indian couple - and advised them to either stop smoking or go to the café’s smoking section

Shortly thereafter, there was a mass exodus of all the smokers – about 7 people in all including the Indian lady. As she left, she gave me a very nasty look as if I was the villain in this situation. Smiling, I responded by saying “Have a Good Day”, satisfied with my triumph!

The following opinion is deemed not to be prejudicial but emphasizes the cultural differences between Chinese and American cultures as seen by a westerner

I learned a lot about Chinese Culture during my brief visit to Mainland China. My education started on the flight between Bangkok and Guangzhou.

Several Chinese people were having a conversation on the plane, however they were a couple of rows apart and their voices were very loud. Unfortunately I was caught in the crossfire so to speak.

Needless to say, their loud, booming voices gave me a headache. On my subsequent flights within China, the same scenario happened.

Lesson 1: Chinese people have very loud voices and having a conversation with someone several rows away on a plane is considered acceptable

My education continued at Guangzhou Airport. I walked inside an airport café and while looking for an empty table, I observed three Chinese men smoking cigarettes at a table by the window. One of the gentlemen had a hacking cough and proceeded to spit on the floor of the café not only once but three times.

As proof this was not an aberration, later on during my trip while traveling on a public bus, the same thing happened. Several men had hacking coughs - I presume they were smokers- and they proceeded to spit on the floor of the bus.

Lesson 2: Spitting in public places is acceptable in Chinese culture

During my 9 days in China, I observed that over 50% of the men smoke cigarettes and most of them are heavy smokers with a couple of packs a day habit. Due to their heavy smoking, many of the men have a hacking cough – symptoms of bronchitis.

Lesson 3: Smoking among men in China is the norm - In Chinese culture, smoking is considered a good way to make friends

Despite the obvious cultural differences and language difficulties, I found that Chinese people are very friendly and hospitable to Western visitors.