“Isaan people eat everything!” Poo tells our small group as we negotiate the muddy paths of frenetic Klong Toey market on a walking tour to purchase ingredients for our Cooking with Poo Thai cooking class. Our Thai cooking lessons will follow at Saiyuud Diwong’s Helping Hands Thai Cooking School in the Bangkok market. ‘Poo’ is … Read more
It’s hard to escape the apsara in Siem Reap. The celestial nymph is everywhere we look. Clad in silk and a colossal golden headdress, she seductively adorns temple walls in the form of elaborate carvings, or in human form as a graceful and distant dancer performing the Dance of the Apsara Divinities. The Apsara is … Read more
Add a Thai cooking class at the Mandarin Oriental Cooking School in Bangkok to your Thailand itinerary if you’re like us and believe that discovering the food of a destination is a way into the heart of a place and learning to cook the cuisine is the route into its soul – via the stomach! … Read more
Exploring the Isaan wasn’t only about scrambling spectacular Khmer Empire temples at dawn, feasting on fiery northeastern Thai food at local eateries and mouthwatering markets, and absorbing lush bucolic landscapes dotted with farmers tending rice crops and herding cows, Thailand’s northeastern Isaan region is also famous for its silk, another remnant of ancient Angkor, and … Read more
Our third morning in Portugal’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed Douro Valley wine region began with the now mandatory drive through magnificent countryside, our small bus skirting the edge of the misty valley before climbing up to Favaios, on a plateau which at 600 metres is the Douro’s highest point. Favaios is home to Quinta da Avessada, … Read more