Nom nom, and ahh, in South East Asia

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I'm lucky. No allergies. My big dislikes - horseradish, beetroot, quiche - more british BBQ and family party spread add-ons than south east Asian menu finds. My big food bug bear - overly soggy Shreddies - left behind in my running late to work/weekend plans/any kind of event multi-task-attempting moments. I wouldn't go for the scorpion on a stick, but my mouth doesn't contort nor nose twitch refusingly at new offerings. I can handle a fair amount of spice, and the pulsing mouth and temple sweat spice level is not one that I find unpleasant. I'm lucky.

So, I had an adventure of new food and drink ahead of me in south east Asia.

Coming toward the end of my trip, on a bus to Chiang Rai one humid, still May evening, I thought I'd remember some of those finds.



I going to let me mind settle and see what comes in first.

Mango. Okay, mango it is. I had it today actually, rolled in its richly, creamily, naturally sweet way in a fruit shake alongside limes. Mangoes, just delicious - the golden coins of Thailand that I want to jump on, collect, gobble up and get a level-up with. What a fruit! They've jumped right up from near obscurity to quite possibly my fruit champion. The Leicester city of my fruit bowl? Biting into a juicy palm of squared mango in its skin. Or dipping a green, under ripe, hard, sour slice into a chilli and sugar dip. This was first offered to me by a lovely hostel owner in Satun and I've dipped back in many times since. Then...oof.. Mango with sticky rice. The dream. The dessert of my dreams, my desert island dessert, a last supper dessert. Sorry sticky toffee pudding, sorry mum's rhubarb crumble - there's a new dessert in town. And I feel it already, its going to be hard to find/replicate this perfection back home.. the Chiang Rai night market is noted. The sticky stodgy rice; the moist, pokingly sweet, perfect mango balance of juicy and creamy; all wrapped together and completed with a run of sweet condensed milk dripped over from above. Almost Nigella like there?! Well, its some dessert.

Mangoes (infact whilst teaching in Saigon I learnt that both mangos and mangoes is grammatically correct, and that I've a strangely strong preference for the latter) lead me onto baguettes. A tenuous link? Not for me! A combination of my colour blindness and a hungry tum very often led me to confuse one for the other. From a distance like, upon a stall, in a glass presentation.. 'Baguettes! - oh, no, mangoes..' They'd distort into one another, and when I craved one the other couldn't take my fancy at all. Because yes, they are very different!

Whilst mangoes were so plentiful in Thailand they gratefully also lined the newly unlocked lands (when i crossed the border boss, for my travelling gameboy analogy) of Cambodia and Vietnam and Laos where the breaded treats actually lay. Delicioud bread. More than good enough for a particular Parisian friend! In ascending order, the baguette makers are -

3) Cambodia - simple combinations, egg, cucumber, hams.. A bit of chilli sauce if I could source (pun avoided!). Late night, after a few Angkor's a veggie version would work a treat.

2) Laos - big chunky holds with pates, celery, pork chunks and 'fluff' (an interesting looking and tasting texture, but it worked a treat), herb and chilli pastes, shredded carrot, bosh!

1) Vietnam, the winner! Baguette boss. They had their special name, Banh mi. Yellow eggy, home made mayo sauce in, then rich pork pate, maybe shredded tofu, flavour high and chunky salad of perhaps pickled carrots, onions and radish, then jalapenos, cucumber, fresh Herbs, soy sauce, and chilli sauce squeezed on - and lots more on offer. At this point I was not eating meat very much, and I'd try daily to communicate this better! Each area, each stall, a little variation of the order, ingredients.. The one common was the eggy sauce - from within Hoi An's alleys, up to Da Lat, through to Saigon. Yum.



Rolling with the award theme, I can continue with beers. I like beer.. I'm no connoisseur (I've not the words to articulate the tastes) but I can tell a golden lager from a bitter; and a delicious craft pale ale (a long left behind treat!) from an 'old-school, well its called a pale but I don't much like it' pale, ambers from blondes; and generally a hoppy tipple I love from one I like, tolerate, or mentally note not to get again! In Thailand there are tank tops, tees, bottle holders, boxers, tattoo designs, children's bibs..etc all over marked by one of their 3 big beers - Singha, Chang, Leo. Worn proud by thais and travellers alike, like replica football kits. But I don't know why, Leo is by so very far the best! Chang sometimes annoyed me, Singha was the compromise beer - why buy another when you can have a Leo. But no, I definitely haven't got any Leo merchandise hidden in big bag. Leo is the best Thai beer, that's all.

Then the award for international beer popping up everywhere - is shared by Tiger and Heineken. The crowd claps tepidly - yep they dont excite me much either!



Onto the big one of the night - the best beers of the trip -

In 5)th place - Angkor, Cambodia's biggest beer. The little green cans give the chance to win a free/discount next one with a flick of the ring pull, its a bread and butter beer, a taste to keep rolling with. Well, Angkor cannot actually be here tonight but Anchor beer is here to collect the award on their behalf.. which is apt as on asking for one, you could easily get the other, and you wouldn't mind were it not for the ring pull lottery! 4) Hanoi beer - this will hold a special place, marking a first night of the adventure with team Nam, a bottled treat of a punchy lager. Number 3) Leo. A much richer, just nicer taste than Thailand's terrible two! 2) La Rue. The best tasting beer, a little bitter golden and really refreshing, in it yellow and blue uniform. Great name too. A product of french influenced, early 20th century Vietnam.

Aaaand, number 1)... BeerLao! I want this beer in my local, I want to get a knowing round of BeerLao for friends - ignoring usuals, let's enjoy this. It isn't technically the best beer, but it wears a cool glass brown jacket with a fetching yellow-white label, and its such a refreshing beer with Laos' pride wound about it. And mostly because it almost always comes in a big bottle, handed over by a friendly hand, poured into small glasses of big ice cubes that'll be topped up and cheersed with new and newer friends over the night. Glasses are never let below halfway, an ice cube never let be bitesize. So many fun and lovely times with travelling and welcoming Laos friends with this one 😊 And i admit here, as a souvenir, I do have a beerlao jacket from Luang Namtha.



And (in the alcohol section!) let's also remember those who were passed around, shot and not forgotten this past 6 months -

.. Rice whiskey - an oft home made product, offered with generosity and a little friendly mischief from locals, passed down through history to you right then - from jungle trek leaders, to local drinking pals asking yous to join, to story telling cops, homestay families and Vietnamese uni students. A little quick shot, orf!, followed by food, a bite of a Herby plant, a swig of beer. Be careful! But always, cheers in good spirit and the local lingo - Chock Dee! Ngok Ngok! Mot-hai-ba- yo! Chong Moi!

.. 'Mixed spirit' - a tall spirit bottle, picked up from stalls on the way to the Mekong, this tipple warmed cheeks and spirits, in coffees, with crackers, in boat engine rooms, in the rain and wind. Becca, Sam, I and our little mixed spirit helper on our wintry way to Luang Prabang!

.. Cambodian whisky - a night with Phnom Penh locals, taking in Cambodian culture and sharing language and laughs; sunsets and midnight moonlight on Koh Rong Samloem beach with Roo, Bene and Bastien. Family and friend get togethers on Koh Trong, Rith calling his friend, 'Whisky Man' to us, over to join.

.. Baileys - Vientiane, Sky bar - a sip of Becca's insistent glass - yum! Then later that week in Dresden bar, a very cool 1920s theme, with my travel besties - our Baileys glasses clinked with a happy knowing. A sip of baileys will always bring back special feelings and times to mind.





Okay. Mind food raffle..

Sticky rice. Wow. It'll expand in your belly. But you'll (at least I) never leave any in the little bamboo woven drums (nor indeed in your friends' little drums).

Larp. Combined with sticky rice and spicy jaow pastes, this made Lao food my favourite. To be rolling a ball of sticky rice in one hand, to them grab larp - a beautiful food move. Larp, or laab, is a finely cut, marinated, herbed meat dish, chopped so fine and mixed with complimentary vegetable and herbs, spices - so each sticky rice topping would be so flavoursome. We tried beef, pork, duck, fish, water buffalo, raw water buffalo. The latter was actually the favourite. In Luang Prabang we went to a fantastic restaurant called Bamboo Tree, one of the best meals.. It was a little 'posh nosh', and us three brought a little youthful, traveller vibe amongst the flash, north european crowd in ski jackets this wet, cold night. But though this was a rare treat, we knew how to eat it right (hands). We'd have the chargrilled bamboo and bile broth, stuffed pumpkin salad, buffalo larp.. the flavours! Without seeing the menu (or consulting Sam!) I can't say more on the specific ingredients, but wow.

Jok. Maybe my favourite dish. Definitely my favourite breakfast / start the day dish. A rice porridge soup, often pork based, and at its best - with a not quite cooked egg placed in when its still hot to complete cooking. Then the 4 flavour corners added on top - soy sauce, a swirl of chilli paste, a salty nut dusting, a sweet sprinkle or splodge of sweet sauce.. and below the surface, finely chopped spring onions, basil, peppers... You slowly turn your spoon to mix, and enjoy the next half hour! I first had this at the Pak Chong farm, where I experienced the best (traditional northern) Thai food. My second week of Jok breakfasts here would be superbly cooked by Sam 😊 I'd keep an eye on Jok throughout Thailand and Laos, if I found a stall, happy mornings were ahead. I remember being so chuffed when we found a Jok stall in our nearby Vientiane streets. Then I re-found it in Vietnam's Da Lat, it was off my radar and had been a while - it was as good as I knew it would be.

Green Papaya salad (Son Tum). A great dish, refreshing, with dried shrimp, garlic, fish sauce, chilli.. Add this alongside a grilled fish and bag of sticky rice and you've the best park picnic.

Ah, and what of morning glory? - The rich green Super Food that's available over so much of South East Asia, not just from chilled upmarket shop fridges or the health food shop that's not open on Tuesdays. Any stall or sit down, in larger towns or in areas where it is indeed grown nearby is likely to have it on the menu. Its a water spinach, but with a thicker crunchy stork and long thin leaves, and would often be cooked in garlic and chilli, a plate of this and a little rice was a top meal.



*note - I'm writing about food, now continuing in a bar in Chiang Rai (drinking Leo of course), and a stranger just came up and presented me with some of her birthday cake on a plastic plate! How lovely. Cream, sponge, strawberries! Happy birthday. (What's happy birthday in Thai?) She said she'd had a perfect day.







Onto Cambodia. The recent horrors of the Khmer Rouge are said to have stripped Cambodians of their know hows and continued history of their traditional cuisine. That is very sad. And the food was often more simple, and I at least (I'm no foodie or good solo explorer into the dishes) didn't find it easy to grasp what Cambodian food is. The well known dishes? I couldn't tell you. Though those more knowing than I could I'm sure tell of dishes, of Cambodian hand, and of cooks who produce delights everyday for their homes. For most of my time in the country I was staying with a family who provided such delicious food - fresh ingredients maximised into such satisfying and warming meals. Sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, ah the cabbage parcels of minced meat, i would sometimes taste the vegetable dishes and just stop and think blimey that's good! Here I grew such an appreciation of vegetables, they tasted better than at home, and were used in many different ways. The veg was so good that I never missed meat here, and I could genuinely think on vegetarianism. And from here onwards, I often fancied a batch of local cucumber with any dish.



Fruit shakes - throughout my trip these were often a present, hooray. It was a joy to pack in different fruits each day, try different combinations. The fruit here is luscious, no want for any milk or sugar. Papaya shakes, carrot, with ginger. Mango, just beautiful mango! Banana shakes for fuel. Dragon fruit, pineapple, watermelon, passion fruit combinations. Lime, coconut.. And strawberries, especially in North Thailand. I had kind of thought strawberries British, at least European after meeting a few to correct me! But on riding through Doi Inthanon national park I saw first hand the vast strawberry fields in this cooler north hill region. And following a local through winding country roads we came to a farming family, and bought a big bag of strawberries; they asked if we wanted to eat them today or tomorrow and chose for us accordingly. Incredibly tasty.

On my travels I've also now appreciated Grapefruit and Watermelon (here its no poor fruit relation). And new fruits - Roselle, a most rich and sweet antitoxidant juice. At Homtel farm we'd eat vast bowls of 'Punto' (I need to investigate its actual name again), often when playing board or card games in the evenings. They are small green delights with similarities to rich green apples but somehow with almost blueberry tastes too. Depending on the size and ripeness you could get very different tastes. The Pringle of fruits!





Malaysia. Here influences from across the region culminate into the best food showcasing bazaar. After delights on the island of Langkawi over the new year - Turkish kebabs, seafood barbeques.. Ah, and on seafood, across this trip I'd try mussels for the first time (with a view of Halong bay beside two great friends) and adored them, and had some absolute belters of prawns (Malaysia was a hub for top prawn dishes, and big prawns!) and grilled or fried fish with chilli, vegetables, fruits. Infact my most expensive meal was at a famous seafood restaurant in Ayutthaya (with a first dorm room buddy) for a yummy local fish, whole and spiced and fried beautifully.

So (after a food detour here), it was onto Malaysia's food capital Georgetown. Here we'd have the most rich and moreish Indian curries, with naan breads, chapatti, saloos and rice between us (we each had our faves) and a round of lassis. Hot, packed food, over ordered, over eaten, but far from over Indian. Then the rotti.. Yum. I first tried this on Thailand's southern tip of Satun before the boat over, and it was delicious. Rotti Canai, the flimsy looking, but tough, airy dough is waved confidently like a banner and pulled, then compressed, pulled again until it is just right for cooking. With its squared pieces it would come with a healthy dose of biriyani curry to dip the light soft pastry into. Through the markets, curry pastries, little seafood tarts.. noodles of all types; rice, vermicelli, yellow, kwai tiao, udon, mee pok, fat, thin, wide egged, high waisted..



Vietnamese food is known as being less spicy than other parts, but fresher, healthier and much about the herbs - mint, lemongrass, coriander (I'm not much a fan), ginger (big fan). There would be crunchy, lightly cooked vegetables, or pickled salad and vegetables in side dishes (maybe eggplant, bean sprouts, cabbage); light broths of herbs, tofu, vegetables like sweet potato, pumpkin, spring onions; long noodle soups, clean and refreshing, perhaps with meatballs as in Pho; steamed rice in bowls and little pots of fish sauces and soy for dipping. In teaching in Saigon these small dishes would await after morning or evening classes and that time was always a treat, a chance to unwind and chat with the school family. In the kitchen with My, her husband Hai and her mum the wonderful cook and with our other teachers, chopsticks would be rolled between hands, 'So good!.. You gotta try this!' And often, being-prepared food would be shared as we prepared lessons, like roasted sweet potatos, juicy grapefruit, the homemade jar of fish jerky - sticky, very fishy and tough, but uniquely tasty. Then I've already talked about banh mi a lot (!), my on the go food. Another of my favourites was the Vietnamese savoury Pancake 'banh xeo' - sizzling as it's cooked, it comes packed with bean sprouts, prawns, pork, onions, a tumeric kick, within the wrap of the crispy crepe.





The food markets and the many densely food-stalled streets have been a special part of my trip. 5pm approaches and those day time streets are now transformed, as stalls attached to motorbikes or push carts of cooker, pan and ingredients are appeared. Or there's the streets of morning bustle with traders setting out from 5am, i remember the one time i walked through Saigon early, it was 6am and before the heat and thousands of mopeds of day, I could see each food stall lining the street. I'm going to miss street food incredibly. They are great places to try new things, popping between stalls with your change for a little feast, if you could wait, or else you eat as you go along.. then maybe shooting back for another of those spicy sausages, or more dipped tofu sticks, of another mini egg and prawn tart.



A pick me up drink order - Iced coffees, I'm sold. Never appealed before, but a very easy sell here. Americano, dash of milk or the more local thick black coffees over ice. Hot vietnamese drip coffees, the teasing crown of coffee slowly filling your cup. The thick, rich coffees of Cambodia and Laos, maybe a little sweet milk at the bottom of the glass to compliment the bitters (an upside down guinness). Thai tea - iced, milky, the infectious tea would be run through a cotton strainer from up high between pots then into your bag or cup. Making our own thai tea pots at our hut in Langkawi was particularly sweet.






• Surprising statistic insertion, in Jon Motson style - I didn't eat one green or red curry in my time (so far), that's 189 days of eating, and 87 of those at home in Thailand, without scoring 'Thai green curry'!. There was so much more on offer, and many other dishes of prominence here.






• A special award now for the unsung heroes - and we have two here.



Firstly, sesame crackers - the shop bought packets of thin, sweet sesame munchies, they were there in the tough times! On the cold, wet longboat to Luang prabang, a shared pick us up. And a left over packet would be rationed and savoured in the afternoons of a monastery stay. And I mean savoured!

Then the little pots of chilli - on street stall plastic tables, and of the four pot condiments on restaurant tables. I could just take rice, and spruce it up when monies were low, or add them to any meal, any time, to make it just right. Sure, sometimes I over used, sometimes I took them for granted, but the little chillis and the powder sprinkle alternative were a mainstay of the trip!




• Some of the best ways to eat this delicious food -



-With hands, of course as this was often composed of Laos food!

-Wrapped in banana leaf, you might not be quite sure what was inside as you unwrap from the market, but there'd be no passing of the parcel

-Sat about huge banana leafs of food splodges and piles in a tree clearing along a jungle trek

-A Thailand train meal in 1st or 2nd class, before the seats are transformed into beds, scenery passes as you have dinner

-In takeaway bags wrapped tightly with bands to eat sitting outside, or in boxes for long journeys

-With new friends, new conversations

-With friends from home! New tries together

-As offered by locals, showcasing and sharing their food

-As the first meal of the day after an early start and a few hours of work. The sound of the farms' horn, and a family coming together

-As a treasured communal breakfast after a rice giving ceremony for monks

-After a good school lesson, 'food time already?!'





And a teaser for next year? - Korean food. Amazing, I can only wonder how it will be on its home turf..



Food, glorious food. A bite of any of these will bring more than a present enjoyment of taste, but flood my mind with special, funny, new, happy memories of my trip.

A sip of Leo, and a iced coffee slurp tomorrow, to that.









And special thanks be to! -

- Sam - an infectious foodie who would take us to researched gems or follow his nose and enthusiasm to try new, to try local, to learn - this led us to so much fantastic food.

- Becca - we'd both try mostly anything, whilst her imaginary egg timer helped us three to speed up choices. Many brilliant shared meals. And of course, introducing me and baileys! A fixed taste memory now.

- Dawn and family at Homtel Farm - for their sharing of delicious northern Thai food and its customs, for the wonderful shared meal times, always entertaining and warm

- The food stallers, across South East Asia - presenting their specialities, churning out orders through the night bazaars. I'd be watching their skills in awe at times from pancake creation to roti craft to plate spinning esque magic; or just be glad they could cook it mighty quick. And those putting care into each fruit shake combination (the guy outside the Chiang Mai tesco lotus springs to mind here 😊 )

- Rith and family - feeding me and the other volunteers so very well and variedly during our school stays. I left appreciating pumpkin, cabbage and cucumber more than ever and it showed me that I could become vegetarian and eat joyfully

- My's mum in Saigon - welcoming us down to the kitchen after lessons to a treat of little Vietnamese dishes, delicious vegetable concoctions, broths and noodles. Chopsticks passed around knowingly

- To chillis - how can I leave you behind?! Maybe I should at least bring back one of the ubiquitous sauce bottles.





Nohm nohm.

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