VIBRANT COLOURS OF CHIANG RAI FLOWER FESTIVAL 2015

Winters are beautiful, cold and white, but without a single flower in sight.

I found myself waking up in Chiang Rai, where Thai people travel to in our cold season to experience something somewhat close to “Winter”.   The “wintery” weather here isn’t so cold but cool enough for certain types of flowers—categorised as winter flowers among the Thais—to blossom.

A van picked me up from the Dusit Island Resort and headed straight down to one of the landmarks of Chiang Rai city, “Tung Garden”.  This was where the vision of varying vibrant colours struck me, and that vision was real.

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COOKING A THAI SEAFOOD FEAST WITH KHAO KOR LOCALS

It was our final night of at Saiphin’s hometown in Khao Kor, and we all knew it was going to be epic.

Nearly 20 people gathered up at Saiphin’s house as we started to prepare ingredients for our cook-up session.  Prawns, squid, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, lemongrass, garlic, chili, basil, galangal and so on–I predicted a Thai seafood feast and I was right.

 

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Saiphin announced that we would be making three dishes that evening: stir-fry prawns with curry power, stir-fry squid with chili & basil, and the famous tom yum prawn.  I can say that these three are common every-day dishes found anywhere in Thailand, whether you are at a fine dining restaurant in Bangkok or at a street vendor with sticky tables by the beach.

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THAI-LAOS CULINARY TIME WITH KHAO KOR LOCALS

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Having arrived at Saiphin’s house in Khao Kor district in Petchabun province, Thailand, I found myself surrounded by the laughter and joyful smiles of Saiphin’s friends and family.  It had been a year since she last visited her hometown, so we all were greeted by over 40 people from her local area.

Being known as the best chef in town, Saiphin took no time to wind down;  she headed straight to her mother’s kitchen at the back of her house.  Excited to get to learn to cook with the locals and for the locals,

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