Foot and Fire

 After the Tinagong Dagat trek, 2009 This is how I looked after traversing the Bacolod to Talisay route using the trail via Tinagong Dagat.  No hiking experience, fresh from 8-5 desk job, no gears (not even a raincoat), I ended up like a Vietnamese finding refuge anywhere in the Mekong River paddies. If you can picture that, you know what I meant. Meanwhile, the expert hikers have raincoats, as pictured below. In short, my first travel tip is: Be prepared to look ridiculous!

  In memory of the lost bracelets along the way and  in honor of these surviving ones, I have to write a story for you my dear readers about these finds I got from my travels outside the country. While trinkets abound, one has to look closely and feel affinity with the item before buying the same. Sometimes choices are overwhelming that one ends up not buying anything. It can be a visual overload actually at the flea market aside from the noise of haggling. So here is my stories... These bracelets are made of candle wicks. I can feel the candle texture on each strand actually. I lost one of this, the one with blue-green, green and blue color combination. One can buy stones of value but I found some art and soul in these candle wicker bracelets. It spoke to me like the wind, inaudible yet felt. I bought this in the night market of Siem Reap, Cambodia which is located just a walking distance from where we stayed, a hotel called, No Problem Hotel. From that hotel we woul...

By GERLIE M. UY Just posting here the dinner we had at the  Thai-inspired restaurant called Atmosphere  fronting the el nido beach... Aside from being a bit  pricey, the resto has poor service when it comes to group diners. They evidently caters to foreigners who just loiter and orders a few food and drinks. In fact, we are the only ones dining upstairs as all of them are in the beachfront area sitting in the beanbag and mattress prepared by the resto. It is also disappointing as there is no service water too. And while I like the noodles, I was expecting for a rice noodles but they used the local thick noodles which can also be eaten in the sidewalk mami stalls.  lemon grass iced tea  Chicken pandan with peanut sauce.  Thai inspired noodles with chicken and soy sauce. (I'm not sure if my memory serves me well)  Thai inspired noodles with mushroom and shrimp and chili paste. (Not so sure with the chili paste)  Thai inspired noodles with shrimp. I...

By GERLIE M. UY The filling Pad Thai I made Pad Thai before. See my previous post  and another post . But this one, I entitled shortcut because I forgot to fry the tofu and chop them up. So I missed the essential ingredient of a real Pad  Thai. Anyway, this noodle dish I churned out in a hurry turned out yummy. For this recipe, I had fried scrambled eggs, stripped native chicken flesh, mongo sprout and the rice noodles. I used available herbs too like celery and coriander. As for the flavoring, don't forget the tamarind-based cubes, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Please see my previous post for the cooking procedure. rice noodles here are being soaked in a hot water the cooked noodles, from crystal noodle to white color The other ingredients go to the pan...

Like The cold cucumber salad... Be the first of your friends to like this. 3 pcs medium sized cucumbers Dressing 3 stalks of lemon grass (white portion only) 6 calamansi juice 1 tbsp Green Curry Paste  1tsp Cumin Powder  1 tsp Curry Powder  2 tbsp Refined Sugar,   3 tbsp Ground peanuts (reserve 1 tbsp for garnish) 1-2 tsp chili powder (use fresh green and red jalapeno pepper if available)  Salt and ground pepper Peel cucumbers alternately so as to leave green stripes. Cut into half lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick. Chill. In a blender, put all the spices and blend. Adjust taste with salt and pepper as well as sugar. Pour dressing in the cucumber and mix well just before serving. Arrange in a serving platter with lemon grass, jalapeno or ground peanuts as garnish. Topped with peanuts, this cold cucumber salad is rich in flavor. Taste of Thailand. Left to right: Green Curry Paste, Cumin Powder, Curry Powder,  Refined Sugar, ...

The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha a.k.a Wat Phra Kaeo (Thailand) Here is an essay in photos we got after trekking the vast area of the Grand Palace in Thailand from here up to there despite the heat of the Sun. Not captured were the important artifacts in the museum, like the king's robe made of gold thread. The antiquity of the Emerald Buddha (dressed in summer, rainy and winter season) is awesome. The grandeur of the Grand Palace is beyond words. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***