Tonight, we’re having the Lanna Thai dinner that comes with dance performances, at the Sabun-Nga Khantoke Restaurant, in Chiang Rai. This place has been around for 18 years, & is very well-known throughout the country.

Lanna is the given name of a prosperous self-ruling Kingdom, once the Power base of the whole of Northern Thailand. The title means “Land of a Million Rice Fields”.

The mighty Lanna Thai Kingdom with its rich cuisines, culture & custom, was founded by King Meng Rai in 1262, who made Chiang Rai his hometown, the Capital of Lanna.

Well, modern Khantoke was invented by a well-known businessman & Lanna Thai scholar over 30 years ago – the diners often enjoy the experience of sitting cross legged on the floor, sampling Northern Cuisines from a shared khantoke tray & enhanced with Northern classical dancers.

However tonight, we’ll be sitting on raised-up chairs with colorful back cushions :

Wow, half the hall is already packed with people when we arrive :

We’re seated in the back corner, & here’s our Khantoke dinner – Lanna Thai style wooden tray of numerous Northern Cuisines :

Our Khantoke dinner consists of (from below anti-clockwise) Deep Fried Chicken, Crispy Pork Rinds (called “Kaeb Moo”in Thai, which are actually Crispy Pig Skins), Barbeque Spicy Pork Sausages (called “Sai Ooua” in Thai), bowl of Chili, Chicken & 3-layer Pork Curry, & a plate of fresh boiled vegetables & fruits that include Cabbages, Ladies Fingers, Pumpkins, Long Beans, Chye Sim etc. And in the middle of the plate is a bowl of Thai Green Chili Dip.

And inside the round Rattan containers are Thai Sticky Rice (called “kao Neow” in Thai, which is actually sticky glutinous rice).

See the Silver bowl on the below photo – that’s filled with water & lime slices for cleansing our hands before eating.

Together with our Thai friend (whom family we visited in Phya Meng Rai this afternoon), we’re now very happy to be having dinner with her younger sister too, whom we’re meeting for the first time tonight! This younger sister is currently studying & staying in Chiang Rai City high school!

The khantoke dinner is superb! We all love the Deep Fried Chicken the most cos it’s so crispy & tasty & goes the best with the red Chili sauce!! And the Chicken & Pork Belly (or 3-layer Pork) Curry is delicious!! The BBQ Sausages are simply gorgeous in flavour, & the crispy Pork Grinds (or Kaeb Moo) are not oily at all as you may have thought, but very appetizing, & go so well when dipped in the greeny spicy sauce!!

Even the Vegetables & Pumpkins are all so fresh & crunchy & yummy yummy!! And everything goes so well when eating with Sticky rice (which the Thais normally mould into small balls with hands when they eat). Best of all, each & every items of the Cuisines can be refilled & refilled unlimited times, so long & so much as you can fill your stomachs!!  

And just as we’re enjoying our dinner, we’re served yet another plate of special Thai Spiced Soup; which consists of Chicken, Green Peas, Long Beans, various types of Spices & Herbs etc etc. This soup is really good & I like it very much!

And then we’re served a plate of fresh local Fruits for desserts – Guavas, Water Melons & Pineapples :

And all the time we’re eating, we’re watching live Thai Lanna dancing & Thai singing on the stage infront of the hall where we’re seated! And in between the dancing, there’s a group of Thai musicians playing unique Asian instruments, as well as Thai jokes being cracked by one of the musicians!!

Tonight’s audience is made up of Thais except Mom, Dad, my brother & myself! And the jokes are all in Thai which we don understand at all, but they seem really funny & comical & the audience is laughing & cheering all the time!! The whole atmosphere is really merry & we too enjoy ourselves very much!

The very unique & beautiful ceiling lights made up of paper lanterns under the opened umbrella :

Well, the first Lanna dance is the Thai Candle Dance, which is a guesture of the Thai people to show worship to Buddha, as well as greetings to the Visitors (or audience), in the Lanna way.  

Below is a short Video I took of the Thai Candle Dance :  

Next is the Thai War Dance with Drum performance which traditionally has the purpose of showing support to the war troops in the battle field by its loud exciting drum beats :

A continuation video of the War Dance with Drum performance :

And then there’re the following Northern Thai Hilltribe & Lanna dances which are all very entertaining :

And the following is the last Video of  the Northern Hilltribe Dance I took of the night :

After all the Thai dance & music performances, the audience is asked to join in the traditional Thai Rumwong Dance (with the night’s dancers) on the floor. “Rum” means “Dance” & “Wong” means “In Circle” – thus Rumwong Dance means “Dance in a Circle” Dance – a merry & cheery Thai Folk Dance which originated in the North Eastern Thailand before World War I.

Below is a Slideshow containing photos taken of the Thai Rumwong Dance :

The group of Thai musicians, singer & comedian, with their unique Asian instruments on stage :

My lovely Mom with the Thai dancers :

Afterwards, Mom & Dad & myself waited in the Sabun-Nga lobby while my brother & our Thai friend send her sister home. And actually, Sabun-Nga not only consists of the Khantoke Restaurant, but also a Pub & Motel!!

And after shopping & buying the following lovely Beaded Mother of Pearl Shell Necklace for myself from inside the Sabun-Nga Souvenir shop, we chatted with the Sabun-Nga lady boss & her daughter till my brother & our Thai friend are back :

The following Slideshow contains some photos taken at the Sabun-Nga premises before we leave the place :

Well, tonight’s Thai dinner & dance is very special & interesting with great Thai Lanna culture & I enjoy it tremendously, especially the much delicious yummy Northern cuisines, which I’ve eaten to my fullest & to my heart’s content!!

Hoho, I must be getting real fat now!!