[JayBee]

Thai food is awesome. I love it. It is hot. I thought I was immune to hot, because Mexican food is very hot, and I eat it all the time here in California. Thai food in CA is not hot at all. So I was in for a surprise when I first went to LOS. Thai food the way the Isaan girls like it is unbelievably hot, but not just hot, hot and spicy! So I have to be careful. Some of the curries are so hot, I can't eat too much, and same goes for Tom Yum Goong. Actually, I can eat anything, no matter how hot it is. But the trouble is what it does to my insides 2 or 3 hours later! That is why I am careful. I usually tell them "a little bit hot." In Thai, "pet nitnoi."

Rule of thumb is that the pricier the restaurant, the less hot the food is, because it is made for the farangs to eat. The cheaper the restaurant, the spicier the food, because then it is made for Thais to eat. With the street vendors, you can have it either way, because they cook it right in front of you, and usually ask if you want it "pet". If they kow a little English, they may ask you "Want spi-cee?" Say no or nitnoi, unless you are the kind of guy who can throw down a handful of little hot chiles without even blinking, as I have seen many TGs do.

For starters, the safest bets are "Guay teeowl nam gai" which is a very tasty chicken(gai) soup or pork(mu) with rice noodles, which is safe because they give you the spices and you spice it yourself, and "Pad Thai" which is rice noodles with egg, tofu, and many other ingredients and you usually tell them whether you want it with mu, gai, neua(beef), goong(prawns), bpu(crab), hoi maeng poo(mussels) or talay(mixed seafood). They will usually ask you if you want it hot, or give you the hot sauce on the side.

Avg. age of BGs - I estimate 25 as avg., but the typical range is 19 to 35.

I don't smoke.