We’re currently in Chiang Rai, having a relaxing and rather lavish weekend away. It was a spontaneous decision mostly driven by the fact that I’ve been feeling pretty worn out of late and wanted to recharge my batteries a little. If I ever needed proof that I’m about to turn 30 and that my 20s,… Read More The impurity of culture
On Friday morning I caught the red-eye back to Chiang Mai from Kuala Lumpur (KL), returning after a week-long trip there. The trip came about because I had a series of meetings to attend for a huge project I’m currently managing. Funnily enough, this exact same client drew me to KL the very first time,… Read More 7 years later, 7 months later
ข้าวห่อใบบัว (kaow haw bi bua) Sometime last year I decided that I needed to eat less meat and be a fully fledged member of the ‘flexitarian’ club — a mostly vegetarian. One of my greatest discoveries here to enable this new eating consciousness is a top-nosh service here called Vegie Thai — vegetarian lunches delivered… Read More Lilypad rice
“You know you’re Asian if…you don’t like cheese” I thought that was received wisdom but apparently not so anymore. You see a lot more cheese here than you’d expect. It’s mostly mozzarella because other kinds of cheese are imported so they are rather expensive here. I adore cheese, so never have the strength to say… Read More Asian cheesecake
It wasn’t exactly a soft landing in Vietnam; from the airport, I headed straight to my grandmother’s 80th birthday at a fancy hotel. I was actually picked up by my uncle (who I know from back home) and it was great to see a familiar face and catch up. We don’t regularly see each other… Read More Being present
It seems kind of crazy that less than a month after I left Vietnam, I’m heading back. So yes, tomorrow. My life is over-full these days, with all the visitors we’ve had between the two Vietnam trips. Josh’s family came to stay for two weeks, and my friend Mike is hanging with us for a… Read More Back to ‘Nam
That’s what they call them in Thailand, anyway. When I ordered them off the menu last night, I completely glossed over the name. All I knew was that it said ‘egg something horse’. As it turns out, something was the word for urine — but at the time, I didn’t have that word in my… Read More Horse urine eggs
The Travels of Elephant Woman 