Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe the year is over! I haven’t decided yet if I will do a 2014 re-cap this year, as I see so many people are doing, but in the meantime, I will continue with my new monthly recaps: Nov 28 – Dec 10: Koh Chang, Thailand Over the past several months of travel, I’ve fallen in love with many places. When that happens, it’s sad to have to leave, but for the most part, I’ve been…
A shitty argument
I had speculated that Southeast Asia may cause a fair bit of culture shock. There’s the heat, the food, the markets, the more conservative way of dress, the language barrier, and of course my fears of giant cockroaches and squat toilets. Turns out, I didn’t have much to fear. Most people speak a little English to communicate, I’ve only come across a handful of cockroaches, and I have not had to use one single squat toilet. I was even surprised…
[Thailand] A porky obsession: khao kha moo
Never before on this blog have I devoted an entire post to only one single dish. But the following is completely deserving of this special treatment. After 2 months of traveling through Thailand, this is the single best Thai dish I have ever had. On our first full day in Koh Chang, our AirBnB host, Jum, came around to our cottage to take us on a grocery run in her car. Along the way, we briefly got to know each other…
Temples, monkeys, and needles: a Lopburi misadventure
I should have known better. I should have known that beneath the cuddliness, is danger. During our 2nd full day in Ayutthaya, we took a day trip out to Lopburi, a little town about an hour’s train ride north of Ayutthaya. Up until a couple of days before, I’ve never even heard of it. But a couple of people we’d just met told us to go there to see monkeys. Any mention of potential animal encounters, and I’m in! After an…
November 2014 travel re-cap: criss-crossing through Thailand
Sometimes when blogging gets tough, when I sit and stare at a blank screen for hours, I often ask myself why I blog. “It’s for our memories. It’s the best souvenir I can get,” I’d tell myself. Otherwise, I’d forget. But then I realize that if it really is to document my memories, then I’m doing the world’s crappiest job at that. When I started this blog, I really thought I was going to write about everything we do and…
Unplugged
It’s been almost a week since I’ve accessed my email, social media accounts, blog stuff, or the internet in general. 6 days of being completely disconnected from the outside world (except for the occasional Facebook update from D, who has a data plan on his phone). But I swear I have a good reason! Here is where I have been: Okay, not actually in the ocean, but on the island of Koh Chang. We chose Koh Chang for our Thai island experience based…
Visiting the beautiful Karen Long Neck people
The Long Neck people was something I’ve only vaguely heard about. They were like a strange, beautiful legend that only existed within the pages of a National Geographic magazine or from behind the TV screen of a documentary about an ancient faraway culture. Is it possible that they still exist in this modern society? So when I learned that they have a name (Karen Long Necks) and lived in Thailand, and that their village was accessible from Chiang Mai, I…
Chefs for a day with A Lot of Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai
For someone who likes to eat so much, I’m not a cook. Whenever anyone asks me whether I cook, I’d say “I make food, but I don’t cook.” I can whip up a delicious bowl of fried rice and make praise-worthy guacamole, but real cooking? Nah. I don’t have the patience nor a particularly developed palate to know when something needs just an extra pinch of salt or whatever. Of the two of us, D is the chef. He grew his own…
A day in the life: Nimmanhaemin, Chiang Mai
aka. how much do we eat in one day? aka. how much does it all cost? Days in Chiang Mai begin slow and lazy. Because D ends us working in the middle of a night a lot (and me with him), we don’t set the alarm and let ourselves naturally come out of slumber. But some days, the day begins early. Sometimes much too early, like today. I stir, reach for my phone, and groan at the hour: 8 am…
Dreams come true: floating lights in Chiang Mai
I remember the moment when a dream was born. It was in a movie theater 4 years ago, as I sat wearing ridiculous 3D glasses in a showing of Disney’s Tangled. Instantly, it became one of my favorite movies of all time (let’s establish that I have the mental development of a 12 year old, ok?). Later when the Blu-ray release came out, I immediately purchased it and watched it again and again in the privacy of my own apartment…