The Best Dishes of Thailand

Thai Green Curry

Thai green curry, often one of the milder curries available in Thailand, is made using green curry paste, coconut milk, green chillies, thai eggplant, sweet basil and usually a meat such as chicken.

https://www.eatingthaifood.com/thai-green-curry-recipe/

Pad Thai

Found extensively around Thailand, Pad Thai is the most well-known dish found in South East Asia. The dish is made with flat rice noodles cooked in egg with additions such as green beans, chilli, spring onions and a selection of meat. Lime and crushed peanuts accompany the dish and is enjoyably filling despite its small serving.

Tom Yam

If lemongrass and ginger are not the desire of your palette then you should probably avoid Tom Yam. With a supporting cast of kaffir lime leaves, basil, galangal, chilli and garlic providing fragrant flavour; chicken, mushroom and a selection of local vegetables are routinely used as the edibles in the broth. This soup is often served with a side of rice to be spooned onto and the distinct hot and sour flavour of Tom Yam can be well complimented by a cold beer.

Massaman Curry

Chunks of chicken, potato and onion float about in this delightfully light curry with strong hints of coconut and chilli in the broth. Tastes of fish sauce, tamarind and cinnamon can still edge through but it is a far less fragrant curry than its green cousin.

Cambodian Cuisine

Food in Cambodia varies ever so slightly from the surrounding countries but still embodies the essence of South East Asia cooking.

Rice is the staple food of Cambodia, often eaten during every meal. It provides the body of most meals, commonly topped with sauce or served with soup dishes. One of the more popular breakfast dishes is a rice porridge, usually eaten with fish and flavoured with ginger.

Dishes in Cambodia may equally include chicken, beef or fish and are commonly eaten in the form of curries and soups are extremely. Galangal and Lemongrass are the prominent flavours in Cambodian dishes, often paired with kaffir lime leaves and ginger for added pungency. Although some dishes are similar to the other countries in the region, chilli is almost never present in large quantities and compared to nearby Vietnam, the refreshing additions of mint and coriander are excluded. Coconut milk is used extensively, similar to Thai and Lao dishes.

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The defining dish of Cambodian cuisine is the Amok curry. Firstly a paste is made by crushing lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, finger root, turmeric and dried paprika. After a small quantity of salt, sugar and stock are added, fish or chicken is then marinated in the paste and coconut milk is added before the mixture is cooked inside a banana leaf.

Another popular dish is beef lok lak. For this dish, beef is marinated in soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, tomato sauce and stock with a small amount of salt, pepper and sugar. After being stir fried, it is served with rice and a small salad.

Unlike the vermicelli filled spring rolls found in Vietnam, Cambodia tend to prefer fill them with minced pork, taro, carrot and onion if deep fried and with lettuce, carrot and cucumber if they are to be consumed fresh. Again rice paper or thicker wraps are used.

Why Interrail Is Perfect For First Time Travel

Interrailing around Western Europe was my first travelling experience and I have encouraged many other prospective travellers to use it for their first experience too. But why is a train trip around Europe suitable for a first time traveller?

The first and main advantage with Interrail is the way the trains and ticket work. There are two types of ticket available, unlimited travel in a specific amount of time or limited travel days in an allowed time. With the former option, you are free to travel on as many trains as you want, and as far as you want too. This means that if you need to return home or need to get to another city, you can do it for free without worrying about buying tickets or flights. Option two requires you to be a little more prepared, but there is still a sense of freedom.

Interrail can mean you explore more than you originally planned on doing. Instead of booking a standard holiday away, Interrail makes you want to experience more. As well as still being able to relax and watch the beautiful European scenery whilst travelling by train, your ticket is completely flexible to travel where you want.

Interrail is only in Europe, which for me and other Europeans means you are not too far from home. If something goes wrong and you can’t/don’t want to carry on, you can return home quite easily and cheaply. A friend or family member could easily come to your rescue as well. Or just meet you for a brief getaway.

Europe does however have a small language barrier. No other country in Europe speaks English as a first language which makes talking a bit more difficult than travelling to the US or Australia. But unlike travelling to more remote parts of the world, most people in the major European cities can speak pretty good English. Although it is handy to try to learn some of the language, you should be able to get by perfectly with just English.

And last but not least, Interrail is completely affordable. With flights only costing as little as £20 to a near European city and the train ticket ranging from £226 to £830 (for unlimited travel for a whopping 3 months!!), Interrail allows a cheap trip around Europe.

 

Why You Should Visit Melbourne (and Why I Adore it)

Sitting in the top spot of EIU’s list of the most liveable cities since 2011, Melbourne is truly one of the most loved cities in the world. As I spent 10 months living there during 2014-2015 and a few more months in 2018-2019, it will always be one of my favourite places and will remain in my heart forever. Unlike the bustling city of Sydney, Melbourne has a far more relaxed mood similar to some smaller European cities. Here are my five reasons why Melbourne is simply amazing.

People

For a large-ish city, Melbourne can sometimes have a very town-like feel to it. If something happens on one side of the central business district, the news will have already travelled to the other. I had the pleasure of living in the city for 10 months and could really get to know the local bars and hangout spots, and therefore, make a lot of good friends. Melbourne is a calm and friendly city where tourists are welcomed by the locals and can be shown a really good time.

Sport

Melbourne, in my opinion, is by far the best city in the world for sport. Cricket and soccer dominate the city on the sunny days with the Australian Open and Australian Grand Prix signalling the end of the summer sport season. Heading into winter there is still an abundance of sport to watch from rugby union, rugby league and Australian Rules football. The much loved Melbourne cup is essentially the last event of spring.

Alleyways

In most cities, alleyways are the darkest and most foul places to have to walk down, but not in Melbourne. Due to the unique layout of the central business district, there are now hundreds of alleyways open to locals and tourists, offering all sorts of delights. Delis, coffee shops, bars, hairdressers, tattoo parlours… the list of businesses open in the alleyways is endless. Pop down to one of the alleys for a morning coffee or an after work beer and the atmosphere will amaze you.

Food

Melbourne has appointed itself the capital of cuisine in Australia and it had good reason to do so. Having worked in a restaurant in the inner suburb of Toorak for 10 months, I have first hand experience of how amazing some of the food can be. There is a real competition between restaurants to deliver the very best food and Melbournites are very eager to go out and explore this culinary heaven.

On top of this, Melbourne is one of the coffee capitals of the world and has plenty of coffee shops to allow you to try out a few different blends in whatever style you desire.

Day Trips

Every city has somewhere to visit for a day out of the hustle and bustle of urban life, but none with quite so many or as varied as Melbourne. If it is beaches you want then head on down to Brighton, Sorrento, Lorne or even Apollo Bay, Dandenong Mountain for a small trek, the Grampians or Yarra Ranges for a longer one and the Great Ocean Road for some coastal beauty.

How To ‘Travel’ During Isolation

Like many others who spend their evenings trawling through travel blogs, Sky scanner, Google maps and Hostel world, I am finding the Coronavirus pandemic an absolute nightmare. Before I get into the main part of the article there are a few things I’d like to mention.

Firstly, in no way am I saying I am in a bad position. It is only a slight setback, and even that sounds too serious, that I and many others can’t travel. It is merely a loss of a hobby and people’s lives and health are far more important to me than a hobby.

Secondly as you will discover further down this blog, I am not encouraging or endorsing any travel at this current time. This post is simply a way to keep the wanderlust at bay whilst humanity goes through this difficult time.

Right, so here we go…

Sort through old travel pictures

That’s right, it may sound tedious but sorting all your travel photos into individual folders (and the correct ones!) can help bring back some glorious travel memories. Even if you are making slow progress because you keep stopping to look at various ones, sorting them out will make it easier in the future to find anything specific. It may also help inspire number 2…

Make that dish you tried abroad

Whether it was the exciting Panak Paneer you had in India, the gorgeous chicken fajitas in Mexico or the simple chicken parma in Australia, recreating your favourite foreign dishes will help the memories come flooding back and inspire you to travel once you’re available to again

Organise your travel souvenirs

I don’t know about anyone else but I absolutely hoard everything I collect whilst abroad. The most useful things are the maps, most with annotations by myself or someone else. The more dubious things would include the train tickets and the receipt you have from that one café in Vienna. Sort and bun these whilst you have the chance, or make a scrapbook of everything that means something to you

Write about a journey you’ve taken

What better way to spend endless weeks in isolation than to relive that last major trip you took and write down everything you can remember. Details and memories are often lost, but if they are written down….

List places you’d like to go

Probably not the most fun thing to do right now, but how about writing down all the places you’d like to go when everything is back to normal? I’ve already started my list for November 2020 (hopefully!!) which only includes a casual 8 countries.

Find friends

Not new ones obviously, but rekindled the friendships you had whilst travelling, whether it be the group tour friends you made, the people you shared a room with or the Germans you shared that lift with up the East coast. They are probably just as bored as you, so why not give them a message.

Buy/sell your travel gear

I’ve been sorting through my travel gear whilst I’m stuck in my house. For reasons unknown I’ve amassed a collection of one 100L backpack, one 65L backpack, a 50L, 40L and four 25-30L daypacks. EBay here I come!

Plan packing lists for places in the future

Again this might seem odd with nothing planned, but why don’t you write packing lists for various holidays you might do soon. I’ve written two out, one for if I go on a beach/scuba diving trip and one for if I go on another city break. It doesn’t kill to be prepared…

Use social media to inspire others

Almost everybody loves to go on holiday and it is something which we think about all year round. Why not speak to somebody who is interested in finding somewhere to travel to or post a few pictures you’ve taken. You never know who you’re going to inspire.

Remember what home is like

Lastly, look after yourself. Remember what it was like to wake up at home and not on the road, to eat in your own kitchen rather than in a hostel or on the street and reconnect with the life you maintain at home. See (or at least be near) your parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces and nephews.