Ten Ways You Can Grow Your Creativity Using Thailand Tourism

To order in Thai , ask for yam meng da or yam meng da talay.

The Thais prepare this as a typically spicy salad, made with the eggs of the crab, and serve it in the alien-like shell. For me, the real draw is the horseshoe crab , a prehistoric creature that scientists call a living fossil as it's over 450 million years old. In Thailand there are many places to eat good seafood but, for me, one of the best and cheapest and freshest is a small active fishing village at the foot of Khoa Takieb (Chopstick Mountain) in Hua Hin, with the native macaques looking on. There are many small restaurants along the town's main street, with tanks of live fish, prawns and crabs, shellfish.

And while Thai people love fish, whether from the river or the sea, Thailand's beaches are the prime destinations to sample the best Thai seafood dishes. Southern curries on the other hand, are less spicy, with a greater Malaysian influence, and feature more coconut and turmeric. Thai food from Issarn, in the northeast of Thailand, shares many similarities with cuisine from neighboring Laos, though the Thai versions of the dishes, such as Som Tam, are a lot heavier on the chili.

Each of Thailand's different regions has developed its own style and is responsible for dishes that are quite different from those of other regions. While Thai Top food and drink in Thailand" has gained international recognition, Thai cuisine can actually be broken down by the region from which it originated. As standard in foreign places as chow mein or tacos, almost everyone knows tom yam soup and pad thai, which was named, along with Thailand itself, at the end of World War II.

Showcased internationally as one of the country's leading lures, ‘Aharn Thai' (Thai food) may be the world's biggest small cuisine. That's what you'll experience in every bite, from noodles to hor mok (fish mousse) to laab (spicy ground meat or fish salads). Its speciality is betrayed by this shophouse's name: bamee, or Chinese-style egg noodles, either served with a mix of pork, chicken, squid, fish meatballs and dumplings (bamee asawin), or pan-fried and topped with shredded ham and chicken (ee-mee, available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends).

Although not officially in the Silom/Sathorn area, longtime favourite Bamee Gua (82 Lang Suan Road, +662 251 6020) sits on a popular street at the edge of Lumpini Park, a stone's throw away from the central business district. This self-taught cook specialises in stir-fried noodle dishes, but perhaps her most popular is guay tiew pad kee mow (also known as drunken noodles", or noodles fried with lots of chillies, said to be popular with partygoers out on the town). Although many local gourmets bemoan her sky-high prices, few contest her skill with the wok.

Considered one of Bangkok's best street food cooks, Jay Fai (327 Mahachai Road) is also one of the city's most expensive: her tom yum talay (spicy lemongrass soup with seafood) can cost as much as 1,500 baht (£28).