doi suthep - chiang mai

One of the best things I did in Thailand is renting a scooter. I did that in Chiang Mei and in Khao Lak. A scooter allowed me to get to places that would normally be difficult to get to. With a prepaid SIM card I could use my iPhone to figure out where I am.

 One day in Chiang Mei I went up the nearby mountain Doi Suthep that overlooks the city.

My DSLR lens failed very early in my trip but I managed to workaround the crippled lens in complete manual mode, stuck in a fixed aperture.

phuket town - thailand

Three nights in Patong was more than enough for someone who does not care too much for the beach and tourist scenes. I wanted to go and see something more cultural and historic. Phuket Town it was.

shanghai grocery store 上海鋪

In my childhood growing up in Hong Kong one place we lived in Tsim Sha Tsui has a Shanghai grocery store on the ground level. There are certain things my parents would buy from that shop and most of these food are etched in my young mind. Most I forgot until seeing this Shanghai grocery store recently.

chinese condiment shop 醬油鋪

For most Western cities Chinese cuisine is often poorly represented or outright altered to please the sweet palate. Similar to many Asian countries Chinese cuisine employs a wide variety of cooking condiments. In truth I am at a lost to find a better word than condiment. Condiment typically refer to sauce or sauce-like substance that you added to cooked food as enhancements. In China there are shops that sell a variety of condiments. While some are used as condiments as the word's original meaning, most are used for cooking. They are called joun yau po 醬油鋪 - meaning sauce and oil shop poorly translated.

I came across the biggest one in Beijing a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I didn't take any photo of it.

eating snake

While I consider myself quite well versed in the cuisine of China there are some less common dishes I have not tried. Amongst them is food made with snake. For most Westerners even the thought of eels as food is not all that appealing. Not me. I love eels.
the snake master handling a poisonous snake

this and that - hong kong 2012, part 3

This is one of many photo diary of a recent trip to Asia

hong kong soup noodles

There are countless noodle soup styles in Chinese cuisine. Most are meant to be a light meal and casual one at that. Whenever I visit Asia I eat plenty of them. The soup noodle that I miss the most is wonton noodle done in the authentic Hong Kong Cantonese method.

home made thai meals - 2013 jan

One of the best meals I had in Thailand was in a mid price restaurant in Bangkok near the Democracy Monument near the infamous Kao San Road. Had it not for the manager of the hotel I was staying I would never know about it. That day I set out to take a long trek to another restaurant which I read about when in the US. It would involve taking the river boat and then the sky train that requires switching a train line. I was delighted when the manager told me there is a restaurant of similar quality withing walking distance.
democracy monument - some fraction of the red shirts were staging a rally that day

lens repair

In my recent trip to Asia I brought my Canon 7D DSLR together with a 17-85mm zoom lens. Very early into the journey the camera threw a fault code that it could not communicate with the lens. It suggested the electrical contacts may be dirty and needs cleaning. Knowing my camera and how I used it I knew the problem is not due to dirty contacts. Needless to say my spirit was dampened knowing I have to travel without my DSLR. Dreading the though of taking photos with my iPhones (I brought a old 3GS to used with prepaid SIM cards), I struggled to figure out a workaround.