You want spicy? Sure?

Kho Lanta, Thailand

I had my first proper spicy Thai curry tonight. A red curry with seafood. Why is this worthy of ending up here? Well, it's not actually easy to get spicy food here if you're a foreigner. It seems too many Farang (Thai: foreigner) complain about spicyness or specifically don't want it or want it and then find out they really didn't. Or it's just the Thais believe their food is so spicy that no Farang could possibly take it. However this may be, restaurants that cater for foreigners will not put a single chilly into a papaya salad and leave curries tasting depressingly bland. So, I always ask for spicy. People look at me, then go away and bring back food that still tastes of nothing. In the end, to taste anything, I have to ask for extremely spicy (which of course in Thai term isn't). I order my papaya salad with three or four chillies (still nothing to average Thai people eating it with ten or so) and get shocked looks, hesitation - "Very spicy" - I have to assure people that they don't need to worry, I know what I'm doing. Really. Then, they watch me very closely to see if I'll react. I always quote the sentence heard in a small eatery in Xi'an, China, where the shopkeeper commented to a customer (not me) that noodles without chilly don't taste good (“凉皮没辣椒不好吃“）. But today, I just mentioned I liked spicy and the lady that ran the little restaurant went and brought back a fiery red curry. It's good being taken seriously once in a while. Thanks!