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How to Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer. Nam Hai Resort, Hoi An, Vietnam. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

How to Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer

How to Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer was the title of a recent promotional email that landed in our in boxes. It was impossible to ignore for two travel writers who have been paid to travel the world for close to two decades. After the first couple of paragraphs we knew we were going to have a laugh.

That How to Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer email we received was from the Budget Travel website and it was to promote a video webinar. And what nonsense it contained.

It was all the more disheartening to receive because it had come from what had once been a quality magazine launched in 1998 by American travel writing veteran Arthur Frommer, who started Frommers guidebooks way back in 1957. Mired in bankruptcy throughout 2013, the publication was reportedly sold in 2014 to Lonely Planet, according to Skift. Now, sadly, almost all of its stories are marked as ‘sponsored content’.

It was tempting to sign up just to hear about this fantastic and mostly fictional representation of how travel writers earn a living. Perhaps ‘influencers’ and glossy travel magazine editors can afford the luxury of time they claimed that travel writers had to relax on white sand beaches and swing in hammocks. But freelancers? No. Not a chance.

We resisted the temptation to sign up and decided just to deconstruct the absurd email instead. This is the reality of how to get paid to travel the world as a travel writer by one of two people who have actually been doing it for almost 20 years.

Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer – A Reality Check

“Imagine eight days relaxing on white sand beaches that stretch as far as the eyes can see… and nights of fine dining and dancing under the stars…”

Firstly, it’s incredibly rare that a travel writer will be get to spend eight days at a luxury resort while on assignment. In our nearly two decades of travel writing we’ve never known of any writer who has stayed at a resort for ten days for a story. At most, a travel writer is hosted by a resort for two nights, never in high season, and not when occupancy is above around 80%.

And having to eat at a hotel or resort restaurant for eight days is something that brings travel writers who write about food to tears. I still get shivers when I’m invited to check out a hotel’s ‘all day dining’ outlet.

“…luxurious hotels and spa treatments… days spent snorkelling, swimming, or just swinging in a hammock…”

We have stayed in literally thousands of luxury hotels for our work and we have had an obscenely large number of spa treatments — I once spent a month enjoying daily massages and treatments at 5-star hotel spas when Lara had to write a new spa section for a Thailand guidebook we were updating.

But the spa treatments are not as amazing as you might think for a busy travel writer. You will probably fall asleep as soon as you hit the massage table due to the long hours of work and having to move locations every two days, especially if you’ve still not recovered from jet lag.

Or, like Lara, you spend the whole time wishing it would end because you have to get back to the room to write up your notes, email editors about the next gigs you’re trying to line up, finish a story due the previous day, or make those sub-editor’s corrections for the last story you completed prior to your current trip.

As far as snorkelling, swimming, or just swinging in a hammock go… snorkelling would have to be an activity that the area is renowned for in order to make the effort to actually do it for the story. Swimming would be a quick dip to get in a few laps — just to say you did or because you desperately need the exercise after sitting on your butt for hours every day. And I’ve never had the luxury of time to swing in a hammock on assignment. Not ever.

We choose not to do press trips, also known as ‘famils’ and media junkets, however, most travel writers do. If you’re on a junket in a beautiful region of the world, you’re often up at dawn, shuttled around to see the sights and staged photo ops that have been organised for you, and probably won’t get back to the hotel until after dark – when you have to sit down to write up your notes to tell the exact same story that everyone else on the junket will write.

“…and when you go to pay the bill, you’re told it’s taken care of. It’s on the house.”

No professional travel writer would set foot inside a luxury hotel or book a spa treatment without knowing how much of the stay was covered by the hotel or tourism board. Most travel writers are too scared to touch anything in the mini-bar for fear that a $10 chocolate bar will automatically be added to their bill.

“You see, there is a way you can have VIP access to the world’s best destinations…”

Sometimes travel writers do get the VIP experience on assignment for a major travel magazine or high circulation newspapers. But while the genuine VIPs are enjoying a swim behind the high walls of their private pool villa as a chef prepares their lunch or a masseur sets up their massage in the garden, the travel writer is being shown half a dozen rooms and the conference facilities by the PR person who is insisting they dine with them when all the writer wants to do is catch up on work they didn’t finish before their trip.

Often the travel writers who get the VIP treatment, travelling as a guest of a tourism board or an airline, turn in reviews so uncritical that the writing is not worth reading, such as an airline ‘review’ I read the other day where the writer said “…I didn’t want the flight to end.” I’m pretty sure that’s never been said by anyone after a nine-hour flight. Ever.

“…AND get paid for traveling the globe while enjoying the best experiences the world has to offer!”

As a travel writer, you’re not actually getting paid to travel the world and enjoy experiences, you’re getting paid to research, write and submit a story and, increasingly, provide original photos for which the magazines want for free – not to mention shooting video for their website or sharing your experiences on social media for the publication and/or hotel.

The reality is that very few magazines pay the expenses needed to travel the world – you need to pay those out of your fee – and many media outlets won’t even let you accept a hosted stay. Increasingly, the most luxurious resorts won’t provide travel writers with a complimentary stay unless you have a few story commissions. If you’re good at negotiating, you might get the hotel at a media rate and be able to pull some strings with an airline for free or discounted flights or an upgrade on a ticket you’ve had to buy.

“If you love to travel and you can write a simple postcard, or share a note on Facebook, you already have some of the basic skills it takes to travel and get paid as a full- or part-time travel writer.”

And if you can drive a car, you already have some of the basic skills it takes to be a Formula One driver. That’s probably the most disingenuous sentence ever written about the skills required to be a travel writer. And we were appalled to read that in an email coming from Budget Travel.

“You don’t need a degree in English. And you don’t need years of experience.”

The vast majority of professional travel writers have at least one degree in the arts, communications or journalism. We’ve known many who have second degrees. (Lara and I have a handful of degrees between us). People who want to be travel writers generally exhibited good writing skills in high school and then went on to university.

If you’re applying for an increasingly rare full-time gig as a journalist, a degree will be expected. When I was running a publishing department and hiring writers, I discarded resumes from applicants who didn’t have a university education.

Firstly, I know that someone who has a degree in the arts or communications has written plenty of 3,000 word essays, knows how to research well, has critical thinking abilities, can hand in work on time, and knows what is required in terms of fact-checking.

Secondly, if I hired someone who was not qualified and my editor, sub-editor or proofreader said to me, “where did you find this person…”, I’d be in trouble. If they turned out to be brilliant, I’d be a genius. But if that applicant was up against a university graduate from a highly regarded university who had already been published in a national newspaper, the choice was pretty simple.

Back in my publishing days, I once placed an advert in the Sydney Morning Herald for a desk-based travel writer. I received over 150 resumes within a week. If you think that being able to write a simple postcard or share a note on Facebook counts as experience, you can pretty much guess which pile your application would go in.

As for not needing “years of experience”, read Lara’s epic post on our 18 years abroad and how we created a life filled with travel.

“You’ll learn what the travel writer’s life looks like, the kinds of simple stories you can sell, how to land complimentary travel, and more!”

Given the nonsense above about “what the travel writer’s life looks like”, I can easily imagine how simple those stories would be. Most travel writers haven’t chosen this profession to “land complimentary travel”.

Sure, we chose to be travel writers because we wanted to travel even more than we already were in our previous better-paying jobs with their very generous paid annual holidays. But we also wanted to craft inspiring stories and produce helpful guides to assist people who had worked hard and saved for years for a holiday, to make the most of their very precious time.

If you want to learn how to get paid to travel the world as a travel writer so you can travel the world for free, lie on the beach at a fancy resort, luxuriate in spas, and swim in hammocks, then you don’t really want to be a travel writer at all. You want to be a marketing shill.

We’d love to hear from anyone who logged onto this How to Get Paid to Travel the World as a Travel Writer webinar to learn what other nonsense they shared. We’d also love to hear the thoughts of pro travel writers and travellers.

Pictured above? From the amount of time that young couple by the pool at the Nam Hai spent posing for and taking photos, we’re guessing they were ‘influencers’. And, who knows, maybe they had checked in for eight days and had time to swing in hammocks.

Our Travel Writing and Photography Retreats

If you want to learn the realities of how to get paid to travel the world as a travel writer with a focus on the nuts and bolts, craft of travel writing, and how we pitch, research, develop, shoot, and write travel stories on the road, consider our Travel Writing and Photography Retreats.

The next takes place from 7-16 October 2017 in Cambodia’s Siem Reap and Battambang, costs US$2,855 per person incl. all accommodation, most meals, transfers, transport, guides, excursions, tours, activities, workshops, and consultations. Details here.

Note that these are not for people who simply want to travel the world for free and swing in hammocks. They’re for people who want to learn how to make a living from creating stories that inspire others to travel and help them to have better holidays.

Support our Cambodia Cookbook & Culinary History Book with a donation or monthly pledge on Patreon.

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About Terence Carter

Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nicholas says

    June 7, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    If these influencers think they only need to be able to write a post and share on social media to be a travel writer, it shows. Their output is, frankly speaking, painful to read.

  2. Terence Carter says

    June 7, 2017 at 6:26 pm

    Yes indeed Nicholas. And their instagram feeds are often painful to look at too.

  3. Juliana says

    June 8, 2017 at 12:51 am

    ‘Oh, how the mighty have fallen’ when it comes to Frommer’s. Yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous to see what passes for travel writing nowadays, and I still can’t believe this influencer rubbish that has spread through social media.

  4. Lara Dunston says

    June 8, 2017 at 9:10 am

    Agree. I don’t understand why Frommers haven’t made things work financially when other guidebook companies have. Almost did some updating work for them only the fees were appalling for work involved – far lower than other guidebook companies. I quite liked the Budget Travel magazine in print form. A shame they’re shilling crappy webinars. And, yes, I’m also over the influencer takeover of social media, especially Instagram – fed up with seeing people’s backs, legs swinging over cliffs and bare bums. We almost didn’t use the pic above because of that. I didn’t even notice her bum at the time we did the shoot but that’s all I’m seeing on Instagram these days. It has to end soon, surely???

  5. Larry says

    June 9, 2017 at 5:19 am

    Thanks for spilling the truth on the reality of being a travel writer … cheers!

  6. Lara Dunston says

    June 12, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    Thanks, Larry! Appreciated.

  7. Peggy says

    June 25, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    Hi Lara and Terence, love this post! There’s so much hard work and slog that goes on behind the background of running a travel blog like yours – I just feel bad for the people who think it’s really that easy and sign up for the webinar!

    I agree about the IG influencer trend that’s happening and like you, just don’t understand it. There’s just so much un-original content out there and unfortunately that’s what gets the likes so that’s what’s seen as desirable content. Keep doing what you guys do – I’m saving up for one of your courses in Cambodia, but it’s just hard with multiple priorities, chief amongst them Antarctica next year! :)

  8. Lara Dunston says

    June 28, 2017 at 2:16 pm

    Hi Peggy – thanks so much for the kind words. Appreciated. Can’t wait to see you in Cambodia! Enjoy your time in Antarctica – look forward to hearing all about it. Thanks for dropping by!

  9. Colleen says

    July 3, 2017 at 11:33 am

    I agree with you on all these points, Terence. There are so many people out in the digital media world who feel they are writers, without having the basic skills. And how irresponsible to paint the world of travel writing as a luxurious experience: These phrases’ …the simple stories you can sell’ and, ‘If you can write a postcard or share a note on Facebook’ are what encourages people to think that they too can be writers. I have worked for more than 25 years as a writer — mostly freelance — and it’s nothing like the picture painted by Budget Travel; more of a hard slog. Thanks for exposing this rubbish.

  10. Terence Carter says

    July 3, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    Thanks for your comment Colleen. That story offended me so much I had to vent.

  11. Lara Dunston says

    July 14, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    Thanks, Larry! Appreciated. Thanks for dropping by!

  12. Anni says

    July 19, 2017 at 11:54 am

    Nice post. And what helps (I think) if you have a “sub category” that you write about, then you can write to specialized magazines and not have to compete with everyone else who wants to write about travelling in general.

    Thanks for the post :)

  13. Lara Dunston says

    July 19, 2017 at 2:05 pm

    Thanks for your comment, Anni.

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About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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