[Free Full Article] Here's what I eat and drink during the last day of my hometown boat racing festival : First Session of the EvolGarlic's Chew 30 series.

HI EvolGarlic here and welcome to the newest article series on the EvolGarlic's Article Pelican Newsletter on Substack: EvolGarlic's Chew 30, the series where I go to the places that sell foods, ranging from vendors to luxury restaurants (if I had a chance to go to one) from hidden gems in my provinces to the franchise of your favorites fast food, not only that, I'll also cook my food too in the series, all of this while trying to chewing it 30 times to see if it delicious or just downright nasty.

Did you know that between September and October, my town has a certain festival that is held every year? If you don't know, I'll reveal it to you, that festival was the Boat Racing Festival, a festival where two boats race in the river of Mekong to see who is superior, the festival also has a small size amusement park, food and drinks, and tons of goodies to shop.

The time of the festival to start (the amusement park will held on the venue weeks or months before the race days) is nothing but a healing sight to see this year since the town was hit by a flood weeks before the amusement park arrived and install, so us in the town has something to heal our mental health after the flood.

And since I was walking around the venue of the boat racing festival in recent years, I figured out that I would blog about what I eat at this year's festival, since I didn't do that years ago, I planned and surveyed the venue days before to see what's good to eat, and I planned that in the final days of the race, I'll go there and eating something and document it.

The date was set: Sunday 6 October, The time was set: somewhere between 4-5 pm, that's the hotspot for walking in the festival, And the budget was 140 baht for the savory sweets in one, so I ride my motorcycle to the venue, spending almost 10 minutes to finding a parking spot, since the time I go there was already crowded and most of the good parking spot is now occupied by cars and motorcycle, and walking around to find what I need to eat, here's what I eat in the boat racing festival :

Thai Rice Noodles in Fish and Anchovy Curry Sauce.

The first spot on the trip to the festival was a somewhat big Thai Rice Noodles vendor with a lot of sauces to choose from, ranging from 40-50 baht, so I went in there and ordered Thai Rice Noodles in Fish and Anchovy Curry Sauce, the salty and spicy Thai Rice Noodles that I knew and eaten before.

After sitting in the long seat, the Noodles appeared in front of me so quickly; I thought I had to wait for it in 10 minutes range, but the waiter just placed it right in front of me as soon as I was sitting.

Then I realized that it wasn't crowded at all, so I went ahead and prepared to taste it till the noodles and soup ran out of the plate.

The look of it was not that great, and the number of noodles might be smaller than what I prefer, but the taste of it is really what I am after, the soup spicy and the fish sauce salty, the fish meatballs might be small, but it does taste good in the mid-range, the noodles go well with the soup, but at that moment, I mostly drink soup, since I was a salty taste food lover (but my liver hate it)

To make it more interesting, I decided to add a handful of cucumbers to add the crunch to the dish (there are a lot of vegetables to choose from, they're on the plastic tray on the table, and there are also a iledeggs too, which if I remember correctly, cost 10 baht per egg, but the egg bowl are not on the table I dining) which do balance the salty and spicy taste with a cool crunch taste.

After cleaning the noodles and the soup, leaving the leaf (see in the photo) I got up from the table and checked out, the cost of this dish was 40 baht, which to be fair seems expensive and unfair for the amount of the noodles, I do feeling satisfied with the amount of it, so it is good, but do beware, if the salty content is not your type, don't go in there or at least order something else.

Two boneless spicy chickens.

After walking all over the venue to see the boat racing which is crowded and trying to find something savory to eat, I decided to get myself something crunchy to hit my taste buds, so I walked to the vendor that sells fried chicken and ordered myself 2 spicy boneless chicken (I can't remember what spicy flavor is, it might be bbq or paprika).

After the first bite and many bites later, the taste of it was not that spicy at all, it was not burning my tongue, but a little spicy, the chicken was crispy outside, but chewy a little bit on the inside, although it was not warm, it is still fine to eat while watching the race.

The cost of it is 20 baht (1 piece of chicken costs just 10 baht)

A sample of Waiwai Japanese style noodles stir fry with pad kapao sauce.

This one was free because this dish is a sample from the Waiwai booth that is there during the race, the taste depended on how you like your Pad Kapao (Basil stir fry) because the sauce gives it a restaurant Pad Kapao, and the noodles was a little bit of melt-in-your-mouth style, soft and tasty, although it is small, it is tasty, although I do prefer it warm, it is good despite cooked for a long time.

The cost of it is Free!

3 Egg tarts.

After the savory foods sessions that do leave me in need of something sweet and nice to clean the taste buds, so after walking around the venue for another five minutes, I finally found the sweet treat: Egg tarts.

After buying it, I wanted to say that those three egg tarts are not warm, which is what I prefer in the egg tart, the texture of it is some kind of guilty pleasure, it is soft, feeling very egg in each bite and the crust does crumble a little, so it is still good, although I do want it warm.

The cost of the 3 egg tarts is 30 baht (10 baht each.)

Strawberry Frappe.

The last thing I eat before I head home is a sweet drink Strawberry Frappe, but not the kind of Strawberry Frappe you expected, it is very sweet and does lean into syrup, but it still has some strawberry inside (the small seeds on the strawberry) and do still taste like strawberry, and do freeze my brain a lot.

The cost of 1 glass of Strawberry Frappe is 30 Baht.

The total of all of this is 120 baht, which leaves me with just 20 baht left.

To sum it up, those foods are expensive, but since it was a healing session for my mind after the floods that happened weeks ago, it is worth it to pay, but next year I do have to change the menus a bit, and maybe decide it fast.

Until then, see you next year, when I might be in the venue and find something interesting to eat and drink!

Thank you very much for reading the Chew 30 series, I hope you enjoy this new series of articles where I review food from restaurants and my own cooked food; see you next time, and remember: Chew 30 is the way to digest!

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