Dina's Travels: Food in Southeast Asia. (and a few flowers)

We really enjoyed the variety of food on our trip, most freshly cooked from scratch. There were also new fruits (and a few vegetables) to try and many I had not seen for years!

There may be some repetitions in photos, as I took similar photos in different places...hope not too many. Enjoy!

Food in Bangkok, Thailand--before GAdvantures Tour officially begins

Selections from buffet at Centra Hotel breakfast. YUM!

Chicken curry lunch across from Grand Palace

Mangostein, $1.50 a kilo

Apples, $1.30 a kilo

Small weekend food market

Cooking food to sell at the weekend market

Food in Cambodia:

Lunch near Siem Reap--about $4--really tasty

Lunch served in coconut

Sticky rice and red beans cooked in bamboo, on road to Phnom Penh

Special grilled Cambodian fish

Sauteed mushroom and chicken cooked in lotus leaf--pretty but simple, bland dish

Very sour Cambodian fish soup with eggplant--well, I tried it once!

No one actually ordered this

Durian....doesn't taste bad at all

Rambutan...lychee with crazy hair--tasty!

Rambutan inside, like lychee but lots of little white sections, each with a black seed

Jack Fruit, rather dry

Tamarind

Tamarind inside, tastes date-like, yummy
I bought some in Seattle and it was much more sour than the fresh fruit

Crickets, gross

Fried Quail legs


Palm fruit on left, better with inner casing removed between eating

Marcy's first order of fresh spring rolls

Women selling cooked skewerers of meat in a market, no refrigeration

Pig parts for sale--street market

Fruit--not sure what it is--maybe sapodilla?

Tasty fruit, no idea what it is called in English. Had it in Hanoi hotel too

I usually got water, but I tried this "soy milk." It was way too sweet!

Lunch near open market. Marcy's dish with tomatoes on top, mine with veggies on the bottom. Yum!
Got white rice at most meals. Brown rice is not "known" here.

Buffet at Diamond Hotel in Phnom Penh--more western so carb and meat heavy

Fish for sale--some dried but a bunch fresh and no cooling--at Central Market, Phnom Penh

Fruit I really like and cannot remember the name--help!--anona in Hebrew (custard apple?)

Inside of the fruit above...lots of small black seeds

Delicious curry at home dinner in Phnom Penh

Vegetarian spring rolls at dinner in private home in Phnom Penh

Veggie Dish at private home

The meal was delicious--several vegetarian dishes were made for the 3 of us who preferred vegetarian. It was a great experience to be in a family home and also have such great food.

Below is a homemade alcoholic drink made from rice, I think, and tarantulas. Others tried it. I did not!

Dead (drowned?) tarantulas

We stopped at an open street market close to Kratie, Cambodia for lunch and saw some different things. The people were very friendly and happy to smile for a photo when I asked if it was OK.

Below--two duck egg specialities (neither of which I would choose to eat): The black eggs are ones that have been stored in jars of salt until the shells turn black. By that time, the inside has turned into a jelly-like texture similar to a soft boiled egg. The white eggs are called "duck eggs with duckling," It contains an unhatched duckling which is boiled and served with herbs, salt and pepper, to give strength and good health.

Tiny river clams in the sun on a tablecloth

A Woman selling dried fish as she talks on her cell phone

A woman chopping fresh fish. She is dressed in traditional clothing that looks like pjs to us.

Selling live fish--picking one out from her water tank

Eating a fried spider leg in "Spiderville"

Fried crickets

Insects fried in lots of oil

Boy selling small bananas

Beer I tried--tasty! Much better than our amber-colored beer and no hoppy aftertaste

Below: beach picnic food: very chewy half chicken with very spicy sauce and salad.

Breadfruit--quite large


Woman peeling pineapple to sell

Man working in market....selling spices and herbs

Some fish concoction....looked a bit gross sitting in the hot weather.

Kakada eating water buffalo

Food in Laos:

Beer Lao--Richard liked it but I didn't.

Chicken or fish larb or laap, the national dish of Laos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larb

Woman opening fruit and selling it by side of road/river

Cooking vegetables at home stay

Some of the dishes we were served for dinner. YUM!! Veggie melon included.

Morning glory?

Tiny mangos that fell of the tree. Local women collect the to grind and use as seasonings.

Food in Luang Prabong Market:

Fresh fish

Sugar Cane?

Herbs, etc.

Donuts! What a surprise to see....

River Weed as Laos is landlocked. A bit more sour than seaweed

Mango drink at hotel in lovely setting


$1 vegetarian buffet at Luang Prabong night market--safe street food and owners are also caterers

Yum! Nice choice of food!

Buffalo skin snack

Tumeric Tea

Jack Fruit in buffet at Pakse hotel--bland

Cut fruit for sale on road to Vang Viang--didn't buy as was not sure how safe it was

Sababa hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Vang Viang

In Vietnam:

First dish of Pho

Delicious latte in Sapa


Yummy pumpkin soup--key ingredients were coconut milk and fish sauce?

Lunch at Sapa--chicken above and vegetarian below. Mine included the pumpkin soup for $4 total.

Asian breakfast at Sapa hotel

Egg and veggie breakfast at Sapa hotel

Delicious eggplant dish--at least it was the first time Marcy had it

Two dishes above served at restaurant for training disadvantaged youth to work in a restaurant.


Lots of spices for sale, but none marked in English

Skinning sugar can to sell on road out of Sapa


Vegetarian lunch at restaurant first day on trek

Hostess cooking at homestay

Close up, with long stick of wood gradually pushed in

Yummy vegetables

Dinner--at least part of it--note electric rice cooker and Coke (which was extra)

Almost forgot: before dinner after we arrived, we had something to drink and French fries. I normally do not eat them, but these were delicious and not at all greasy. The sauce was very spicy....definitely not catchup!

Then we went to hostess's daughter's home for a special meal honoring the new truck the son-in-law got for work and ate (or tried to) again. What a feast!!

Purple rice. I didn't get to try it as it was at the mostly men's table.

Mushroom dish

Morning glory? Very common vegetable in Asia.

Rice noodles and ???

Chicken--tough, I think.

Pork ?

Our hostess was going to make banana crepes for us for breakfast. We asked what she and our guide would eat and she replied they would have left over dinner. We said that we would be happy with that (and I preferred it), but she made both anyway!

I really enjoyed the soup and vegetables as well as the hard boiled eggs!

Here are a few photos of fauna that I took along the way. I either took fewer photos of flowers than usual (but I doubt it) or there were less to photograph. When we were at nice quality hotels for lunch or coffee, I often found flowers to photograph. I did get some nicely detailed photos with my new camera.