Category: in thailand

all the pocky!

we ate a bunch of pocky (the coated japanese sticks) while in thailand, so many that by the end of the trip i was starting to get a bit sick of them… but thoroughly schooled on all the different flavours available. there are so many of them!

i think that’s part of what makes it fun, as it feels like there’s always something new to try. plus, they’re bite-sized and coated with just enough sweetness that one stick is sometimes just the right dose. here are some of my favourites:

choco-banana and mango had such irresistibly cute drawings of monkeys and elephants on the package. although… what is the elephant doing on the mango package? :|

the matcha flavoured pocky look a bit more serious, but this was probably my favourite flavour. i don’t think i’ve ever met a matcha-something i didn’t like :D

and the original is always nice. in hindsight, i wish we had discovered “glicode” (glico is the name of the japanese brand that makes pocky) before we had left thailand though — we could have had fun playing with it!

in thailand video

walking in thailand

for a change of pace (ah!), here’s a short video of thailand’s grounds and floors. cliché as pictures of feet have become, i always notice how sidewalks look like in different countries, and thailand has a nice variety of them.

this trip was my first time using a borrowed gopro and i loved the convenience and versatility of that little camera — i only wish i had remembered to clean the lens more often! also, i’ve been watching meteor garden for a while now, and the soundtrack seems to be permanently stuck in my head… sigh!

foooood in thailand

little parcels

the hostel where we stayed in chiang mai had these very intriguing handmade “parcels” of banana leaf, just laying on a basket on the breakfast table… what were they?

curious to find out, we removed the pin, unwrapped two layers of leaves and whoa! nested inside, we discovered a spoonful of sticky rice, with pudding on top! it was great, and just small enough to provide a quick sweet bite.

cool packaging + sweet content is a winner combo in my book. after we discovered what they were, we noticed how quick they flew off the breakfast choices and started to secured ours early in the day. :D

foooood in thailand

mango with sticky rice

i want to write an ode to the perfection that is mango with sticky rice… but i’m not a poet and words fail me. what is it about the combination of sweet glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and buttery yellow mangoes that makes this ~~probably~~ the best dessert ever?

is it the hot and cold dynamic? is it the fact that there’s fruit to spice up what would otherwise be a milchreis? is it the coconut milk, mellowing the rice and turning the flavor into something exotic?

i have no answer to these questions. all i know is that whether they’re served in street food carts or on a restaurant table, the result is always the same: an explosion of flavors in our mouths that make our eyes close in happiness.

at some point we started cooking it on our temporary home in koh samui, because we couldn’t bear to go a minute longer without it. we’ve eaten so much of them that i fear that we’ll go through withdrawal symptoms once we get back.

alas, i’ve never seen a yellow mango in europe, and they’re so much better than our “normal” mangoes, that i wonder if we could get away with planting a mango tree in our backyard. it would take some years for it to grow, but it would definitely be worth it. mmmm….

foooood in thailand

sweet toasts

i didn’t expect toast to be such a big thing in thailand, but we’ve seen them a bit everywhere, always covered in garish toppings or (more often) condensed milk and served with hot or iced milk.

i confess it feels a bit strange for me to eat such sweet stuff on top of warm bread, the sweetness of the topping amplified by the heat becoming somewhat cloying… but truth be told, it kind of grew on me.

they come in all kinds of funky flavors, like taro, coconut or pandan custard (or the default, condensed milk). on our last day, we tried a different version at mont nom sod: steamed chunks of fluffy white bread, with a coconut custard dipping on the side. it’s soooo good!

they are super popular with the teenagers in bangkok… i can understand why! :D