I'm a girl from the Tropics

As I'm writing this, it's snowing outside. So I'm looking longingly at our vacation photos & wished we were still back in Phuket.

X & I spent many evenings discussing whether it was going to be Bali or Phuket - I've been to both & always partial towards Bali. X has been to neither & preferred Phuket. In the end, Phuket won for their beautiful beaches. And we were not disappointed. The beaches are gorgeous, even better than I'd remembered them to be.

We stayed at Kata & even though the beach is beautiful, we actually preferred Karon, since the beach stretches further & wider, it feels more spacious. Considering that beach chairs in Cannes can cost up to 35 euro, the ones in Phuket at 100 baht (2 euro) is a bargain. Sigh, I was often reminded how expensive Europe can be.

Phuket is still picking up the pieces after the tsunami. Even though we were there during high season, we were still able to get good hotel deals (check out www.latestays.com). Despite the many tourists doing the Phang Nga Bay circuit, it didn't feel annoyingly crowded (which we were really thankful for).

This shot was taken in Suwankuhu Temple in the Phang Nga region - as part of our day trip to explore Phang Nga bay.

The temple is situated in Monkey Cave - named after the hordes of monkeys whose sole purpose is to wait for tourists to feed them. Lilian commented that this looks like Yoda, don't you think so ?

This here is Ko Tapu, Nail island cos it looks like a nail but everybody calls it James Bond Island, after it appeared on The Man with the Golden Gun. It really is postcard pretty.

Phang Nga Bay with it's famous limestones caves scattered throughout the area. We took a canoe ride amongst the caves & it was such a fun way to see them up close & personal.


Next stop was at Ko Panyi - a self sufficient Muslim village nestled in the Bay. Built entirely on stilts, the village gets fresh water from a pipe connected to the mainland.

For the 1400 residents, there is a health center, mosque & school. They either fish, man souvenir stalls or work in one of the seafood restaurants catered to tourists. I wonder how it feels to have busloads of tourists at your door step gawking at you everyday. I guess they get used to it, especially if it's their livelihood. We did buy dried shrimp & shrimp paste, which we had forgotten & left behind in Singapore, I hope my brother is enjoying them.

We spent most of our time by the beach & even though the beach shacks offer food - they were mainly tourist fare like burgers, fried chicken & fries. If like me, you don't want to be stuck eating burgers in Thailand, I'd recommend you chose your beach chairs based on what food is served nearby. At Karon beach, we found a spot which was near a local restaurant so we only had to hop across the road to ta pau pad thai, yum won sen & fruit shakes back to our seats.

Here's typically what we ate during the trip (it didn't vary much from day to day)
Breakfast - buffet at the hotel (why is it only hotels in Asia offer awesome breakfast buffets)
Lunch - pad thai, yum won sen, som tam, watermelon & pineapple
Dinner - pad thai, yum won sen or som tam, watermelon & pineapple
We're boring that way.

That's not true, one night we did go to Chalong Bay for seafood (a sumptuous meal for 5 cost us less than 40 euro).

If not for the fact that we wanted desserts, we would be quite happy eating from road side stalls. 30 baht for a freshly made som tam right in front of you. 10 baht for a skewer of squid or chicken gizzard. Sadly only on our last night did I discover a stall right outside our hotel which makes a delicious pork belly "laab" style salad.

But desserts were calling & X craved for mango with glutinous rice, which surprisingly was not served in a lot of restaurants that we went to. We did finally find it, of course & look how beautifully it was presented.

The next half day trip we took turned out to be the highlight for The Girl. Based on my friend Jerome's recommendation, we went to Ko Khai. Knowing how everybody would be headed towards Phi Phi, we decided we didn't want to join the party.

Khai island is on the east coast of Phuket & even though long tailed boats from Rawai or Chalong can take you there cheaper, we took a half day tour that included insurance, refreshments & snorkelling equipment, which worked out to be more or less the same in the end.

The 3 Khai islands all had something different to offer - we swam, we snorkelled, we tried to catch crabs - found this pretty hermit crab wandering about by himself.......

....or just simply lazing on the beach enjoying the wind & scenery.

But it was Ko Khai Nok that was the star of the trip. Just look at all these tropical fishes so close to the shore. Like the monkeys earlier, they were waiting for us to feed them bread & bananas (yes, The Girl fed them some).

If you are going to Phuket with young children or the young at heart, I'd highly recommend going there. Buy a loaf (or 2) of bread. Have fun feeding the fish or just swimming with them. Plus you get a fish spa for free (apparently all the rage in Singapore now - what's up with that ?).

Now you know why we chose Phuket, just look at how clear the water is.

About Being Away

Some random thoughts from the trip (don't worry the pictures will be up soon)

1. Oh how I miss the street food in Asia. Be they the roadside stalls in Thailand where you can get a som tam (green papaya salad) for only 30 Baht (less than 1 euro) or the hawker centres in Singapore. Not just because they are cheap. Where else can you walk into but a hawker centre or the fancier food courts & have so many choices of food. Whenever X & I cannot agree on what to eat, we'll just drop by the nearest hawker centre & each of us can order whatever we fancy. Why can't this concept take off in France ? The closest we have to street food is the pizza truck & that's just so not the same.

2. Don't Singaporeans eat at home anymore ? Even when they do, it's likely to be ta pau food (take away). Granted eating out in Asia may be more convenient & cheaper but there's nothing quite like the experience of inviting friends over, planning the menu, setting the table & having a leisurely meal without feeling the need to rush out the door in a restaurant. During our trip, we dined in only twice. Once it was our reunion steamboat dinner (which wasn't exactly home cooked food) & the other when friends invited us over for dinner on the terrace of their apartment (thank you again Jim & Marc for a wonderful dinner). I'm not talking only about the food, it's the whole experience of entertaining at home, relaxing with friends over a glass of wine or champagne. That was what I missed when I was in Singapore.

3. I've been away more 18 years now & even though I do go back regularly over the years, I still feel like a stranger. I wanted to go to Scotts Picnic for lunch only to discover that they had torn down Scotts Shopping Centre, I got lost at Orchard MRT station, new malls are constantly sprouting (Does Singapore need more malls ?) & try finding your way around the new highways KPE, TPE, BKE.

But there are also certain things that feel so familiar that I suppose it doesn't take long before I fit right back again. The very Singlish speaking taxi driver that picks us up from Changi Airport, the markings on the ground at the MRT station where you're supposed to stand (reminding me how we are constantly being taken care of), the long list of taxi surcharges esp the new 35% peak hour surchage (yet another example of how everything is regulated to supposedly make life easier) and going to all my favorite food haunts (still there & still good). Call me boring - I don't try new restaurants when I'm back in Singapore & don't even offer to take me to an ang moh restaurant. Nothing makes me feel more at home than when I eat local. But the best example is when I go to Il Fiore (a landmark amongst the Raffles Place crowd) - a small Italian restaurant in the basement of Singapore Land Tower to meet friends for drinks, not food. Even before I sit down, the manager Angie already has my favorite drink on the table. After all these years, she still remembers who I am & what's my drink.

It feels great to be home.

We're Back

We're Back.

Instead of building snowmen, we were building sand castles. We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Phuket - the beautiful beaches & indulging in all my Thai favorites (pad thai, yum won sen, som tam).

Then going back to Singapore for Chinese New Year was great. The Girl even picked up a few Chinese phrases (most importantly Gong Xi Fa Cai). Family, friends & good food - what more can you ask for.

I now have to go on a strict diet cos I'd put on so much weight this trip.

More pictures & stories to follow.

Nadiya

Nadiya is one of The Girl's 2 favorite singers. We used to play her CD in the car & whenever this song comes on, she would be punching her hands in the air exactly like Nadiya does in the official video (which I cannot imbed).

What's with French sports personalities becoming singers ? There's Yannick Noah (tennis), Lorie, the Britney Spears of France (figure skating) & Nadiya who was the 800m French champion in 1989. These are only the ones that I know of.

I managed to locate a clip of Nadiya performing Roc.

911 on Rice

Rice - every Asian's favorite carb.

Although I own a rice cooker, I hardly ever use it except for making sushi rice. Most times, I cook rice, as I've been doing for years, in a pot. I know exactly how long it takes so I don't ever burn the rice unless I intentionally want that to happen.

The reason I cook rice in a pot is because I'm too lazy to clean another appliance but mostly because I like the crust. When we were kids, my grandmother would pour hot water into the pot of leftover rice & we would fight over who gets to eat the crust.

Burnt rice is excellent when accompanied with soup. I usually burn my rice for shabu shabu or whenever I prepare chinese soups. For those who have not tried this, go burn your rice today & you won't regret it.

I decided to do this post on rice because what I take for granted about rice is not apparent to most. By most, I refer to non Asian & non regular rice eating folks. It came as a big surprise to my friend Gaby when she found me washing rice one day.

I've been doing it forever & so did my mother & my grandmother & her mother before her, we do it without ever questioning if it's really necessary. I wash my rice about 4-5 times till the water runs clear. I told Gaby the reason is to clean the grains & to remove extra starch.

Even then, I wasn't thoroughly convinced & so decided to do some research online & came up with the real reason here.

I was also asked what type to use for fried rice. Leftover rice kept in the fridge over night is perfect. The grains are drier & thus don't clump together as much when frying.

Here's wishing all my Chinese readers
a very Happy & Prosperous Year of the Ox !!

Destination Ailleurs

J'adore Yannick Noah. He went from becoming the last French player to win the singles title at Roland Garros (French open) in 1983 to performing bare foot on stage. He is very active in charity work & one of his hit songs "Aux arbes citoyen" highlights the need to protect the environment.

Destination Ailleurs translate to mean destination elsewhere which is very appropriate for us right now. For those of you in colder climates, hope this will take you briefly away to somewhere warm & sunny.

Seafood Pasta

Some food porn to tie you over until regular blogging returns.

Did I mention I love seafood pasta ?

X made this for the family the weekend before we left for Singapore. He overdid the seafood and believe me, there is linguine at the bottom. We slurped & soaked up with bread every last bit of the sauce.