Posts Tagged ‘Thailand’
Shrine with Doll in Thailand
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008Artistic Elephant
Sunday, January 6th, 2008
(Click on the photo to view in larger format.)
This artistic elephant is painting a picture at the Maesa Elephant Camp we went to in Thailand. This particular elephant received no help from his handler, but some of the younger ones were helped here and there.
All the elephants at the sanctuary are protected and each has a handler assigned to them for life. Handlers are young when they are chosen to bond with a young elephant so that they may remain together for their entire lifetimes. The handlers and their families also live and work at the sanctuary for life.
The paintings the elephants were making were for sale and benefited the sanctuary, but we didn’t have enough baht for the one I wanted!
Edit: Oops! I had a bit of a blonde moment. The name of the elephant sanctuary we went to was the Maesa Elephant Camp, not the Elephant Nature Park. So, I changed the name and link.
Lost in Translation
Friday, November 23rd, 2007During our trip through Thailand via our plush tour bus, we stopped at several pit stops along the way to use the rest room and purchase a snack. We were lucky if the restrooms had “Western style” toilets; the rest of the time their were porcelain holes in the ground and you had to scoop water from a small reservoir inside the stall to pour into the hole to “flush it”.
Most of the time we had to pay the rest room stewards 2-5 baht (5-15 cents) to use toilet; the money paid for a small wad of toilet paper and for the daily cleaning of the rest rooms. All the stalls (at least for women) had a small trash can to put your toilet paper in, because it could potentially clog the septic system in a lot of the more rural areas.
On one particular stop, I noticed an odd (yet cute) graphic on the trash can in the stall. It amused me so much that I just had to take a photo. I’m not quite sure what else to say about the following photo, so I will leave you to admire the most amusing trash can graphic (art?) I’ve ever seen.
In case it is hard to read, here is what it says below the title of “black & white”:
“We are very cool and probobly [sic] one of the most composed beings but when we cat we get wild on instinct. Do you?”
I’m not exactly sure what this literally means, but as a cat owner I’m certain that it’s true. 😉
Mmmm… Coconut Pancakes.
Monday, November 19th, 2007There are very few foods in this world that I crave, though I’ve always had a sweet tooth. My favorite sweet flavors are vanilla and coconut (separate or together, it doesn’t matter to me). So, when we went to Thailand and I found out that coconut is used in just about every native dessert, I felt like I died and went to heaven.
Of course now that we are back in the States, I’m craving two types of Thai treats: coconut pancakes and coconut pudding. Neither are served locally anywhere (at least, not that I’ve found so far), but I think I might have found a recipe that looks like it would make the coconut pudding we tried in Thailand. Score!
As for the coconut pancakes, I’m still working on trying to find a recipe that mimics the ones I had in Thailand. I’m a little worried that I won’t find an “authentic” recipe, because most of the recipes I’ve found so far use sweetened condensed milk (ewww) and not coconut milk. 🙁 I’m not about to give up, though! Seriously, those coconut pancakes were the bomb-diggity and I must have them again!
Since I don’t have any coconut milk on hand, my craving for the coconut pudding will have to wait until the next shopping day, but I do plan on making it before the end of the month. When I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out. 🙂
So, I’m curious if I’m the only loony person out there who looks up recipes of random foods she’s tried just to satisfy a craving. Also, what sort of foods do you crave, and if you are having one of your cravings, how far do you go to satisfy it?