Thai food May 2012

Thailand trip - local food

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tam

Spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya. Don't add 'Pla ra' and raw crab. Pla ra got acquire taste. It is made by pickling several varieties of fish, mainly Snakehead Murrel. The fish is cleaned and cut into pieces, after which it is mixed with salt and rice bran. The whole is then left in a big jar covered with a wooden lid, to ferment for three months to a year.


The raw crab is super salty....


It taste sour, spicy, fragrant (cashew nut), salty. I have it every meal during my stay. It is a real appetizer. My friends & I have challenged the spiciness to the limit. They add dry chiili which we have burned our tongues and mouths. 

Wanton Noodles - Hong Kong

云吞面 Wanton Mee

This is one of many local food in Singapore. You can order 'dry' with chilli/tomato/dark soy sauce or soup. This dish always accompany with 'char xiu' (叉烧) / vegetables / last but not least - wanton (Minced pork). As for the dipping sauce is green chilli (preserved chilli in vinegar + salt + sugar) with light soy sauce.

SG Wanton Noodle

At Hong Kong, I went to a food shop below to try the local wanton Mee. This is highly recommended in the Internet.

I've ordered a bowl of wanton mee & steam 'kai lan' with oyster sauce. There are 3 wantons which are big & stuffed with generous prawn! It tasted really fresh & delicious. The noodles is '没马跑' (hokkien buo bei zao). The noodle texture is so bouncy that I can feel every strand of the noodles when I bite. The steamed kai lan is so soft inside but crunchy outside. All in one word 'shiok'  (爽)。



HK Wanton Noodle - one of the 3 wanton is hidden under the noodle



Kowloon Park Hong Kong

If you have a chance to stay at a country for many days, do spend some time at the local park. Kowloon Park is a place I went to experience the culture, relaxation, etc. I felt so relax...mainly is the cool weather (13 - 17 degree Celsius). I realized my life is so busy that I have miss out things such as beautiful tiny purple flowers blooming at car park located near my work site.

Taking a stroll in the park which I can observing people, flowers, birds chirpings, etc. I felt light and happy throughout the 3 hours of my stroll at the park.

When I took up hobby like photography, I starting to realize tiny things around me. I did not appreciate the beautifulness of flowers till last year. Now then I notice and wondering how nature can nurtured beautiful & colorful flowers.

Cheung King Mansion Hong Kong- Hostel room for 1 person

Living in a hostel is the one of the cheapest choice if you are traveling alone and on budget. Well you pay what you get!

I'm staying at 3rd floor (thank goodness). I remembered I only used the elevator once in order to reach 1st level as most of the time is crowded. I have to queue for the elevator to reach 3rd level whenever I came back from tourist sights.

The room is small...no space for your stuff. The bathroom is small too. Talking about this bathroom...impossible to bathe in the morning as the water not hot enough. Fortunately, it was pretty hot for night shower.

It can be noisy during your sweet dream. Noises can be from those people who check in after midnight, flushing toilets, opening & closing of doors, etc.

林村许愿树 Lam Village Wishing Tree

I remembered my first visit to this wishing tree. Janice & I have paid some money to buy incense paper tied with raffia string and one orange at the other end. We wrote our wishes on the paper and threw as high as possible onto the wishing tree. The higher you throw, the greater chance for your wish to come true.

I threw 3 time but Janice threw more than 9 time....well..we did it eventually.


On 17 Feb 2011, I visited this village again. There should be a Chinese New Year (CNY) event going on at this village. I thought it should be very crowded and vibrant but less crowd and freezing cold there.

 You can see the difference of this photo (left) to the photo (above). This tree branches collapsed due to the weight of the wishing things on it.

There are some changes in the way that people can still 'hang' their wishes.

If you insist to do it in a traditional way, yes you can!

Guys wanna her contact no! 下半辈子吧！

If you lack of confidence to throw, you can chose wishing lamp too.

臭豆腐 Smelly Bean Curd

Never heard of it, you might wonder.
Ever smell it, you might fear.
Ever taste it, you might love it.

This is what I am when come to the SBC.

This dish is not introduced into Singapore till late 1990s. I got to taste it when I was at Hong Kong and Taiwan (Taipei). If you want the stinkiest, you might want to go to this shop near Prince Edward MTR (Hong Kong)



If you want less smelly and like to have some pickles, you taste it at Taiwan.



猪血食品 Coagulated Pig Blood Food

I came across this dishes when I was staying with my aunt during my school holiday. She simply cooked it into a soup for our dinner. Then, I keep pestering her to buy CPB from market for our meal.

One morning, she brought me along to the market at Hillview (Phased out). Then I knew that CPB came into shape like tofu but in dark red color.

In mid 1980s, CPB and pig lung are not allowed to be sold in Singapore due to the epidermic of Nepal Virus. I really miss this dishes not till I learnt that CPB is commonly sold in asia countries such as Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.

So I will always order this any dishes as long as there is CPB in it. Mostly you can see them in porridge. In Hong Kong, you can order dishes like 韭菜猪肠猪血. This is so delicious. A bit salty though.