Bangkok

On the trip to Bangkok last year with Mum, we stayed at the Vista Residence Bangkok. This is kind of a boutique hotel, small, great food and extremely friendly. The receptionist is the hotel owner's daughter who had been studied hospitality in Switzerland so she's fluent in English and basically she knows how to manage a hotel very well. After the political problems last year, the hotel gave a great promotion for accommodation such as stay 1 night get 1 night free and Internet and breakfast which was great for us as we were staying in Bangkok for 4 nights. The hotel is located about 200 meters away from the National Stadium and the sky train station is nearby which was pretty convenient. We used the skytrain everyday to go to the shopping centres and different places around Bangkok. One of the other highlight of the hotel was the food as the chef served delicious food with nice presentation.

Following the recommendation of the hotel staff, we took the skytrain to Chit Lom, one of the biggest shopping centers in Bangkok which seemed to be having lots of sales. We wandered around the center for about 2 hours and I bought a tennis bag, tennis shoes and my family bought too much stuff to mention. There were so many sales but unfortunately they are still more expensive compared to Hanoi especially sport stuff.

The next day, we hired a taxi to the floating market and on the way back we visited the King's Palace. My family had a great day and a funny thing happened involving my sister trying to pay for a postcard. She wanted to pay for 1 more postcard but her English is limited and they had a very funny argument which we were laughing out loud about on the way back to the hotel. My sister said "More One" instead of "One More" and the seller didn't understand.

During our stay, we also visited some pagodas, markets and night life in Bangkok. We all loved the foot massages and we had one almost every night after the long days discovering Bangkok.

My family enjoyed Bangkok very much especially my mum. She particularly loved the pagodas around Bangkok and the hotel staff. Thanks heaps to the hotel staff and the taxi driver who all treated us so well. Hopefully I'll see Bangkok again in the near future.

Photo Shoot

My friends Anne and Arno are leaving Vietnam for good after nearly 10 years here. They are moving to Bangladesh. I think it must have been truly hard for them to leave though. But life goes on and they are both still quite young and full of energy. I'm kind of sad and happy with their choice as I know it will be good for their careers.

Just before they left Hanoi, Anne mentioned something about doing a photo shoot around Hanoi, like the Vietnamese wedding studios do. For fun. So I offered to help them to make it happen as a gift.

On the Monday before they left, we mapped out a few locations around Hanoi and set off. Being summer, the lotus flowers were out so we thought that could be the theme of the photo shoot. They would look brilliant in the photos. We took shots around the West Lake lotus ponds and on the bamboo boat and in amongst the lotus petals being harvested to flavour tea. I coached Anne a bit to act it up and in the end she was so great. I was really impressed.

After that, we went to the road where many of Hanoi's flower sellers set up shop and we made sure to get the crazy traffic in the background. Because she's been living here so long, Anne wasn't scared at all standing in the middle of the road. She momentarily became a professional super model. We were having such fun!

Before moving on to Hoan Kiem Lake, we stopped at Anne's favorite pagoda in town. Unfortunately it was closed but we spent some time outside the pagoda and the pictures worked out very well. Anyway, we stopped at Hoan Kiem Lake for about 30 minutes to take some shots of the old gate then moved up to the Huc Bridge where most young Vietnamese take their pre- wedding photos.

We had such a great, fun day and the photos turned out very well. We wish you luck in Bangladesh. I very much appreciated your compan over the past years and keep in touch.

Italy

For the 3 weeks in October last year discovering Italy by car, ferry, bus and train, I had just an amazing time. I didn't need to force myself to love anything. My love for the great food, the wine and the people was automatic and unconditional.

You would think it would be a very easy question to answer if someone asked me about my favorite place in Italy but it's very hard to answer indeed. Venice, Milan, Rome, Florence, Bari, Salerno or Naples are all incredible places as they are all really beautiful and each of them offers a different perspective.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of coffee and in Vietnam, I usually drink coffee with lots of condensed milk. One day during our time in Rome, I refused to use the public toilet at the railway station because they were charging 1.5 euro. I walked across the road to use the toilet in a cafe and had the best espresso (and a pee) for only 0.80 euro. From that day, I started to drink espresso every day and sometimes I had quite a few.

A funny story I can recall related to the squid pasta I ordered in Venice. During the meal, my friends were laughing at me and I wondered why. I went to the bathroom and I was shocked to see I had a very black mouth. I decided I would never eat squid pasta anymore even though I actually loved it very much.

In Venice, I couldn't believe the restaurants served prosecco as the house wine. Along with the Spritz, a cocktail popular in the north of Italy, the prosecco was a special experience. I've never really been a sparkling wine drinker but now I'm converted. When we got back from Italy, I vistited the local wine shop and have had at least one in the fridge ever since.

I know it has taken me a long time to start blogging again. I hope I can write a few more posts about Italy while the memories are still fresh.

Greek Experiences

During my second trip to Greece late last year, I went to the north to visit the mountainous parts and the monasteries. For some of the time, we were lucky with the weather while on other days it was rainy and actually quite chilly. But when the country is Greece and everything is new, it doesn't really matter what the weather is like.

The highlight of this part of the trip was the amazing monasteries of Meteora. I couldn't visit all of them mostly due to the fact that they keep differing hours and many of the ones we stopped at were closed. But being on the top of them, looking over the landscape, I felt so great - like I was on top of the world. Beautiful!!! I would recommend this place in greece for anyone travelling there.

The food and wine in the north of Greece was also a highlight. I love to try all different kinds of wine and food as do most people when they travel. I remember we went to have dinner at a local restaurant and the owner was quite a character, singing and dancing traditional music with his other local customers. That was so nice to be there and enjoy the atmosphere. They were so friendly to us and also served delicious local specialties.

He was actually quite drunk and his wife seemed to be rolling her eyes as he danced around singing and taking orders. We ate the longest sausage I've ever seen, along with fantastic lamb and pork chops, rich and delicious dips and bread and the usual Greek salad, which I love.

This night we actually were drinking ouzo and raki instead of wine. It was a really fun two nights in the monastery village of Kastraki.

Ruou Sim Bay Gao

On my last trip to Phu Quoc, I stopped at Bay Gao Sim wine house and work shop. The proprietor is the first man to make Sim wine in Phu Quoc using the traditional central highland style of one of the minority groups. He started making it over 20 years ago but started his own business in just the last 14 years.

This special Sim fruit is grown in Phu Quoc and only bears fruit for a very short season from February to April. To make the wine, Mr Bay Gao needs to buy from the growers in the forest then ferments it for 3 months.

This wine is apparently good for upset stomachs and sleeplessness. It tastes a little bit like red wine and is also said to relieve stress, guard against physical tiredness and prevent bladder infections. Like so many kinds of alcohol in Vietnam, it seems to be a miracle cure.

Address : Sime Wine Bay Gao
124 Duong 30/4, Khu Pho 1. THi Tran Duong Dong, Huyen Phu Quoc - Kien Giang

Finally, I am back!!!!!

Sorry readers that I have been slack at posting new articles. But I am back as I have a bit more time to write about Hanoi and other destinations that I have been to lately, also ocassionally about one of my favorite topics, food.

It's winter now in Hanoi and it's really cold. I don't particularly love winter but Hanoi winter is special as you can see beautiful flowers everywhere along the roads. There are so many yummy winter specialties to try. I'm going to write about some of these delicious dishes and my own experiences of winter.

Steamed Rice with Salt and Sesame/ Com Nam Muoi Vung

I always go to my favorite Cafe Nang for coffee after lunch or sometimes after breakfast with my good friends. Last week, I saw a woman carrying her baskets past the shop. Some women inside the cafe called her in and bought some small packages wrapped in paper. I wondered what was inside the paper.

The owner of the Cafe Nang told me it was called Com Nam Muoi Vung / Steamed Rice with salt and sesame. I've actually eaten these before but most of the time my friends put them on plates and also my mother used to put them into a bowl for me to take to school.

I love this rice cake very much and I ate them all in one go. The lady in the shop told me that this dish was eaten by poor people in the past and that it's also a popular snack to pack on day trips to pagodas in the countryside. I'll definitely be up for another serve at only 4000 dong/serve.

Saigon, July 2010

I'm in Saigon for a few days before taking some members of my family to Bangkok for a short vacation. The weather in Saigon is a bit different to Hanoi but I like Saigon as it always cool from 4pm which is much better. At the moment it's rainy season which helps keep temperatures down a bit.

Yesterday, when I wandering around the market in the afternnon when I realised my Iphone had gone. I'm very upset with myself for not being more careful with my bag. Normally in Hanoi I know exactly what's going an around me and where my phone is. I just lost concentration for a second and it was gone!

I'm trying not to let this incident ruin my holiday but it's hard. After trying to call the phone a few times I gave up and went back to the hotel. Later in the evening I went out for some snacks, including duck eggs and crabs with tamarind sauce. This made me feel better but I'm still thinking about the phone.

I was trying to take few photos of the food but I couldn't get them in focus, which I hate. There must have been something wrong with me at the time. I decided to walk back to the hotel for an early night. The next day I returned and had more success taking photos of the food. I really love eating from this old lady who has quite a striking face. She is quite a character, smoking, swearing and laughing with all of her customers. She rocks everybody who comes to her stall.

I also went to my favorite Hu Tiu vendor for breakfast. It was great to see she remembered me and what I normally order as extras such as fresh beanshoots, a bit more dried onion... The only thing that she doesn't know is that I don't eat lots of meat and noodles now because I am trying to loose some weight and workout on my belly. Anyway, I went back to her shop for every breakfast and the day I left early for Bangkok, I got up extra early for another serve of noodles.

A smile and a wave from her was a great start to my trip.

Traveling

I have been to Bangkok quite a few times and even though it's actually an interesting city, it's not my favourite destination. I'm going back to Bangkok this time to take my mother and sisters for a short trip to fullfill my promise to take my mother to one country in southeast every year. My sister and I took her to Malaysia and Singapore 2 years ago and she loved it very much.

I hope the Thai drama is over as my family are a bit worried and I had to spend hours trying to convince them that is was safe. One of my friends told me, as a joke I think, that we should take some red shirts which may help if the trouble starts again :). Anyway, I hope Mum enjoys our trip to Bangkok.

Miss Wong Bar

In the last trip to Siem Reap, following the hotel staff's recommendation, we went to Miss Wong cocktail bar for a drink after dinner. I was quite impressed about this Chinese - Shanghai old style bar which is inspired by the owner's impression of Miss Wong from China.

It's totally different compared to the rest of the bars in Siem Reap which were all modern and a bit tasteless. Miss Wong is lit with low red lights, chinese style tables and chairs and interesting photos. I do love their menus designed sharplywith Miss Wong photos on the top.

They make very nice cocktails particularly the Mojito and Margarita. I also enjoyed the China white cocktail very much and I think the staff have been trained very well. They speak quite good english and they are very friendly.

Anyway, good to know another place in a small town to hang out next time and have some of the best cocktails in town.
Address : The Lane , Siem Reap behind pub street
Phone : 855/92.428.332

Ta Prohm Temple

So many things have been said about Ta Prohm temple but this is the comment that best sums it up for me:"If Angkor Wat, the Bayon and other temples are testimony to the genius of the ancient Khmers, Ta Prohm reminds us equally of the aweome fecundity and power of the jungle" (Lonely Planet Cambodia)

Siem Reap is the northern city home to the Great Angkor Wat Temple, the most popular destination for tourists in Cambodia. People usually know about Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom which are the well known temples rather than the many smaller gorgeous temples around the area. I was particularly impressed by the temple called Ta Prohm or Tree - Strangled Temple. This temple is 800 years old and has lots of enormous beautiful trees, a great example of nature and manmade structure as one. The tree roots twisting around and on top of these temples look like the tentacles of a giant sleeping octopus. This unique appearance of the temple attracts thousands of tourists every year even though the weather isn't that pleasant throughout the year, averaging 34 degrees. Interesingly, Tom Raider, the 2001 film starring Angelina Jolie helped to spread the world about this amazing feat of architecture.

About a hundred meters walk from the beautiful entrance you can see the first temple with a large front quadrangle surrounded by several tall trees reaching to the sky. Walking through this temple complex is exciting, with trees and roots blending into the temples at every turn. It's like an enormous sculpture. The camera was working overtime!

And I think, in this case, the pictures are better than words...