$9.03 beef and sticky rice plate at Cassia Thai restaurant on Nelson Mandela Avenue, in Klein Windhoek. The jasmine tea with honey cost extra, of course, but it was only about a dollar. In East Asia, the ratio of meat to rice wouldn't be like this, but whatever, it was an amazingly good meal, made by a real Thai chef. The owner is a Thai woman married to a Namibian. She's been in Windhoek four years. Cassia opened two years ago.

For lunch today, I counted one Chinese woman, one Malay woman and two white women. As for the staff, there were two Namibians up front, and two Thais in the kitchen. This is seriously great cooking, so I hope they thrive.

The spread of Thai food around the world is facilitated mostly by Thai women marrying foreigners. I've had particularly superb Thai meals in Ajaccio and Edinburgh. In the UK, there are excellent Thai restaurants all over, even in tiny towns.