dude. another night that started out so ordinary that just exploded in an unseen direction. about 2 weeks ago, spencer and i were shooting a really simple scene on the beach in ao nong (near krabi) and-remember, it is monsoon season-the heavens opened up. we scurried back to our massage parlor trailer (shit, i wish i were that good of a writer to come up with some of this stuff) and played spendy. well, last night, it was the make up. which means a 2 hour drive out to some horrid beach town after an already long, slow day of work. guh. the fun started when on the way out to this joint, we passed through a town called si racha and i, being the wonderful smart/dumb ass that i am, asked if they had any hot sauce here. well, the joke was on me, because, yes, that is actually where that wonderful rooster sauce called si racha comes from. see, i thought it was sri racha and did not know it was thai. well, it is. so eat up!
baen sen beach has a distinct el segundo/dockweiller vibe. factories close behind. lame path with vendors. phalang resorts. but it all changed when the crew, waiting for dark, kind of just dispearsed only to reappear with boxes of food. crazy food. we had just eaten lunch, but these crazy asians love to eat the good shit. that is when i heard half of the grips sucking in air and waving their hands in front of their mouths. i had to get in there and see what was blowing the tongues of the hardest thais i know. and it was hot, sean. really hot. in a creep up on you kind of way. fuck, man. it was just a salad. that damn papaya salad with bits of crab in it. it's like a baited trap-so damn delicious and impossible to stop eating. then, like 5 bites in, the crowd going crazy for me, i feel it. nothing embarrasing happened. i even had a few more bites, but pet maak. pet maak maak. they all laughed and told me i was just super. respect through hot ass food.
as my mouth was surfacing, neung (whom i think i have mentioned before) slapped me on the knee and said, with enthusiasm that is impossible to convey on a blog, "dancing shrimp!!!!"
anyone who is that excited about something means you should immediately grab your camera and go along. we walked over to a guy with a doctored motorbike which had an aquarium balanced on it. i think you see where this is going now. i leaned my head in (and whacked it so fucking hard, by the way, i am too big for this country, you would be in hospital with multiple concussions) to get a good look at his tank. it was filled up with tiny shrimp darting every which way. they looked like a swarm of bees. except clear. neung ordered up a box (she made him make it pet maak for the phalang with the leather tongue) and bank (pronounced "bang," our sound guy) closed it tight and held it up to my ear. the little guys were pinging off the top of the box. it sounded like microwave popcorn about 2 minutes in. bank kept the lid on tight and then opened it just enough for me to get a spoon in there. the first load all escaped into the night air in my confussion. i paused a bit too long on the journey to my mouth. they just danced right off the spoon. my next bite hit the target though. the good news: they stop dancing by the shock of being in your mouth. or the biting through them. not sure which, but you don't actually feel them moving in any way. also good: they taste damn good. damn damn good. i was worried about the shell but the fuckers are so young they have not had any time to get a good shell on. soft and fresh. dancing shrimp. as spencer said, well, i have done that now and don't need to again. dancing shrimp. good old thailand.
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