Month: December 2017

James Bond Island

James Bond Island

Day two on the Andaman Sea and our next stop was Khao Phing Kan more popularly known as James Bond island. It was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun made in 1974 and ever since has been a tourist attraction. One of the 

Sailing the Andaman Sea

Sailing the Andaman Sea

The other part of my adventure in Thailand involved a catamaran and the Andaman Sea. Starting from Phuket I spent a week with a fantastic crew and some great companions leisurely exploring this stunningly beautiful area of South East Asia. The map below gives you 

Very last day wandering in Bangkok

Very last day wandering in Bangkok

My last day in Bangkok was mostly spent wandering around. So far I had been to specific places but I think you really get a feel for a place when you just wander and get a little lost. You never know what you might stumble across that you would have never seen otherwise. To illustrate this point perfectly I have added a couple of photos of a creature and its baby that I spotted simply wandering around by the side of the road! Not really what you would expect in the heart of a big city. Other people stopped to look and the general consensus was that this was some kind of Komodo dragon.

After that experience I wandered through China town which always catches ones attention whichever city in the world you are in with all the red signs and vibrant graphics. There seemed to be an awful lot of shark fin soup available.

Next I came to the Wat Traimit temple where the Golden Buddha lives. This temple is very prominent in the view from my hotel so I was glad to make time to pop in and see this buddha. He is made from 5.5 tons of solid gold. His design dates back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries but it is not entirely known when he was made. It is thought that the statue would have been originally cast in parts in India.  At some point he had been entirely encased in plaster with glass inlayed pieces pressed into the surface to disguise it and prevent it from being stollen. This plan worked so well that over the years the golden buddha inside was forgotten about and it wasn’t until 1954 when during an attempt to move the statue it fell badly and some of the plaster cracked off revealing the gold underneath. At this point a program of restoration was started to finally free the buddha. The statue is constructed of nine parts  that seamlessly fit together and a key was found embedded in the plaster that enables the statue to be taken apart so it can be moved about more easily. In the temple you can see old photographs of the plaster and there are some original bits of the plaster on display to.

On my final evening in this interesting city I treated myself to a gin and tonic and sat on the roof terrace to watch the sun go down for one last time over the temple with the golden buddha and the sprawling metropolis that is Bangkok. While sitting there I drew the temple as a lasting memory of this trip and thumbed through my sketchbook remembering some of the amazing places I have been fortunate enough to visit.

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Full circle back to Bangkok

Full circle back to Bangkok

After four weeks of travelling I finally ended up back in Bangkok where it all started. Do you know that feeling when it seems like you were only here yesterday and at the same time you feel like you’ve been away for months? That was 

Beng Mealea

Beng Mealea

About twenty five miles away from the main concentration of temples in Siem Reap is Being Mealea. This temple has been even more enveloped by the jungle and has had no restoration whatsoever or any of the vegetation cut back (which apparently does happen at Ta 

First Asia inspired dinner

First Asia inspired dinner

I’ve been back for four days and I am already missing asian food. So tonight I decided to concoct something inspired by much of the food I have eaten over the last two months. I had to pop out to buy eggs but other than that it was created from what was already in the cupboards.

Vegetable Rice Noodles

First of all pre prepare all of your vegetables. This is another one of those recipes where you could use a number of different things. I had carrots, courgette, mushrooms and broccoli in the house but all sorts of other things would work well too. Be adventurous and try things…what is the worst that can happen?

Next chop an onion, some garlic and some fresh ginger (on this occasion I used a teaspoon full from a jar of ready prepared ginger I had in the fridge). Measure out some chilli flakes and some black pepper, the amount is purely down to your own taste. You could of course use fresh chilli if you have them.

Next you will need to toast some nuts. Traditionally this would be peanuts but I didn’t have any and although I popped out for eggs the shop didn’t have peanuts either so I found some cashew nuts at home and used them instead. Once they have been dry fried to toast them off and increase the intensity of flavour they need to be roughly ground.

Last bit of prep is to get the noodles on. Place some rice noodles in a large saucepan and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for the duration of the cooking time for the veg they should then be about perfect. You really need them to be on the al dente side as they will cook a little more when added to the veg.

Ok so now its time to put it all together. First of all use a large wok on a hot heat add a little tasteless oil and fry the onions until they turn translucent. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli and pepper and stir round for a couple of minutes. Start to add your veg starting with whichever one will take the longest to cook. Keep adding each veg at a couple of minute intervals working down to whatever will cook the quickest.

When you think the vegetables are nearly done push them to one side of your wok and crack a couple of eggs into the space. Quickly move them around to make a scrambled egg consistency and you will need to scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the best bits off and mix in with the veg.

Now for some flavour. Add a good tablespoon of tamarind sauce and some gluten free soya sauce. I would usually use fish sauce instead of the soya sauce but on this occasion I didn’t have any to hand so its up to you which one you use.

Stir it all together taste and check if it needs a little salt (this will be dependant on how much soya sauce you used). Finally drain the noodles and add into the wok with a little of the water they were soaking in.

Mix thoroughly and serve with a wedge of lime and a generous sprinkle of the nuts on top….delicious! Even if I do say so myself.

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Ta Prohm and the jungle takeover

Ta Prohm and the jungle takeover

Less than a mile away from Angkor Thom is Ta Prohm or ‘the tomb raider temple’ as it is more commonly known since featuring the likes of Lara Croft running through it.  It was constructed in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries as a monastery 

The South Gate of Angkor Thom

The South Gate of Angkor Thom

Once you have had your fill at Angkor Wat you could move on to Angkor Thom only about a mile away. If you are approaching from the general Angkor Wat direction you will enter by the South Gate which is one of four gates into 

Colour at Angkor Wat

Colour at Angkor Wat

A few extra images from Angkor Wat that didn’t fit into the other categories but deserve a viewing. Much of the building of Angkor Wat is muted earthy and grey tones with some areas of olive green mould and moss.

So every now and then you turn a corner and get a pop of colour it is really quite striking. The last post about Angkor Wat has a few images of Buddha statues that are adorned with vibrant yellow sashes there were many of these dotted around the area.

Also every now and again you will come across a shrine with flowers and candles placed in front of a statue…

And finally the other striking colour that appeared often is the orange of the monks robes. There were one or two monks actually doing jobs around the temple but also many come purely as visitors.

 

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Beautiful welcome home

Beautiful welcome home

Morning everyone! Well I am back home after the most wonderful adventure over the last couple of months around South East Asia. Coming from 30 degrees to minus one is a little bit of a shock, especially as I only had flip-flops to wear on