Monet's Garden

Japanese Bridge, Monet's Garden, Giverny

Elmo was fortunate to work in Paris for a few months last year. Poor Elmo: all those pastries, art, FOOD, weekend trips around Europe, and did I mention FOOD? Of course, I was supremely jealous of all the eating, so I joined him towards the end of his stay. 

One of the absolute highlights was visiting Claude Monet's house and garden at Giverny. It was wonderful to see Monet's studio and personal art collection (also his amazing kitchen and cookware). And while the garden was lovely in the overcast morning, when the sun finally emerged in the afternoon, it was absolutely stunning. 

 

Monet's garden at Giverny

Sawadee Kha

In retrospect, I was pretty green on my first trip to Thailand some ten years ago. Back then, it just seemed too big and overwhelming and stifling hot.

With the advantage of travelling with Elmo who speaks and reads Thai, this second visit was a much richer experience. Bangkok is major sensory overload: hot in the heat, cold in the air con, noisy but polite, crowded and dynamic, relaxed chaos.
We spent most of our time in the city with Elmo's family, but also visited the seaside and ventured inland. In the north, we visited the stunning ancient ruins of the old capital Sukhothai. These bell shaped structures are called chedi and they represent the path to heaven. They are built in the form of a lotus flower.
The scale of some of the statues of Buddha was just breathtaking.

We also drove out to Thung Luang to see the local ceramicists and pottery centres, and briefly visited Phitsanulok, a big country town to the east of Sukhtothai. The Thai countryside is so different to the big smoke - so relaxing!
Back in busy Bangkok: if you ever get the chance, head out to the Pak Klong Talat (night flower market). We cabbed it there at about midnight and were rewarded with the most vibrant and voluminous display of flowers including orchids, roses and lotus flowers. Absolutely stunning.

The orchids below are on sale for 10 baht a bunch (about 30 Aussie cents). And have you ever seen lotus flowers presented like this?! They are so architectural and beautiful. Happily, we also frequented the local markets and street food stalls. I must end this post with a picture of one of my favourite discoveries: kanom krok.

Kanom are a snack or sweet that is normally purchased on the street, and there are many different types of kanom.
Kanom krok is a type that is cooked on a hot iron plate. It is a coconut sweet that has a crunchy bottom and a soft, coconut-y filling on top. Sometimes kanom krok has corn or spring onion added to the soft filling. I'm a bit embarrassed to confess that we were too busy scoffing the kanom krok to take decent photos!

Hmmmm, Thai food. After only a week home, we are now both nursing serious cravings for Thai street food!

ching ching!

on our way home from london, we stopped over in hong kong to see my side of the family. in the instant that i saw my relatives, the six long years between drinks disappeared - a very comforting feeling indeed.

we stayed in tin hau, a relatively quiet neighbourhood on hong kong island. tin hau is dotted with excellent hong kong style cafes (think congee, or rice porridge, for breakfast and noodle soups for lunch) and the most fantastic dessert house, ching ching (i kid you not).

that's right: a house of desserts.
and so many to choose from: from classic tong yuen (rice dumplings) in ginger syrup, tofu fa, red bean soup and my absolute favourite, black sesame soup. you can choose to eat the desserts hot or cold, or you can add semolina pearls or tong yuen, or any combination that you desire.
the first night, i ordered black sesame soup that included coconut milk and semolina pearls. this was smooth and silky, with sweet pops of pearls in each mouthful and a lovely nutty taste from the black sesame. mmm.

elmo ordered red bean soup with mango pieces (of course). the mango was absolutely delicious. how i would love to live in a tropical country - think of all the fruits!
we returned later to sample the mango pudding and the tofu fa - equally silky and delicious.
we were in heaven!

eating aside: a mere two weeks in london and paris were not enough preparation for the excesses of hong kong.

the buildings are BIGGER.
the number of people: HUGER.
the shopping centres: HIGHER.
the smog: SMOGGIER.
it's a vibrant, bustling, elbows-out, get-on-with-it kinda city.

and though we barely embraced consumerism while we were in london or paris, we shamelessly lost control in hk at muji.

muji is a japanese lifestyle store that offers everything from furniture to fashion to food. there was something about the clean design and practical simplicity of their products that we couldn't resist.

we confess: we want to live a muji life!

elmo found this and immediately declared his love for it.it's a portable speaker, almost measuring 3cm across, that is charged via a usb port. this cute little cube flips out a plug that fits very sweetly into your mp3 player of choice. for its size, the sound is pretty good. and so far, we've got through a leonard cohen concert without losing power.

i can just imagine: elmo as dj at all our summer bbqs...

two-for-a-fiver

we have returned from a lovely two weeks in london where we met elmo's new nephew, mr x.

last time i visited europe, i felt like i was in a theme park: 'i guess i better see the [insert famous icon/building] since i'm in [insert big city]'.

so, other than a few days in paris, it was a nice change to just hang out with the locals in east london and spend time with the newest member of the family...

mr x and his mum, L, took us to their favourite local haunts including a fabulous shop that sells fresh, buttery, flakey croissants near the columbia road flower market.

and what a gorgeous market too: i just loved the stallholders with their sing-song 'two-for-a- fiver', 'three-for-a-fiver' chorus as we strolled through their lovely roses, tulips, black eucalyptus plants and many many more. they all looked so beautiful - i so desperately wanted to take some plants home with us!