Thai word soup

Harmonique

"Meander your way down the street north of the Shangrila past the Lebua until you reach Soi 34. You won't be disappointed by Harmonique, and we recommend you hit the place for lunch so you can see impact of the sun shining into this 70+ year old extremely authentic Thai bistro with vines and flowers and trees blending in with the antique atmosphere of the courtyard garden. And the food? An extensive menu with plenty to make you sweat if you like those little red chiles. Service was a little slow, but par for the course in the Land of a Thousand Smile, and who cares anyway... you are on vacation! Enjoy the place. Highly, Highly recommended. Also, great silver jewelry shopping on the main street (forget the name)"

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293916-d1022137-r22241978-Harmonique-Bangkok.html

BKK Siam

BKK The motorcycle dude

Jessica Agullo

Jessica Agullo began taking photographs when she was living in Egypt in 1980 studying art and art history as a means to record life around her and to connect with the lifestyle of the people that so intrigued her. In New York she has worked as a freelance photographer, shooting portraits, photojournalism, events and video documentary. She has gained recognition for her photojournalistic style.

Jessica and I photographed Sri Lanka's tea country and the Adam's Peak pilgrimage in 2003 and the photographic exhibition took place in December 2007 at the prestigious pilgrims museum of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

http://www.jessicaagullo.com/
http://www.mdperegrinacions.com/

Chote Chitr

Josef Polleross for The New York Times

by JOSHUA KURLANTZICK for the NEW YORK TIMES
"SURROUNDED by groups of civil servants greedily slurping bowls of soup at Chote Chitr, a tiny, family-run restaurant in the older part of Bangkok, our table soon overflows like a Thai Thanksgiving. The yam makhua, a salad of grilled long eggplants topped with tiny dried shrimps, combines the tang of fresh shallots with expert charring. Prepared by the hand of a skilled griller, the vegetables retain a smoky crunch on the outside, but a first bite pierces the crackling char and reveals a juicy eggplant so sweet it resembles a ripe peach, full of lime juice and fish sauce that has soaked into the flesh.

Next comes Chote Chitr’s gaeng som, a soup flavored with tamarind and palm sugar, packed with chunks of coarsely chopped cauliflower and large, meaty shrimp, their fat melting into the hot broth. Native to southern Thailand, where cooks use the abundant local seafood, gaeng som has a dense mouth feel, because the chef has added finely ground fish flesh into the stock, thickening it like roux."

http://events.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/travel/06bangkok.html

The Birth of Travel

Two men were sitting at the bar of The Oriental. “One more round”. The two men observed a couple entering the dining room. They took a table near the arches that led to The Verandah. “Who’s that?” asked Bill. “Travellers’ said Leonowens. “There are more and more of them coming nowadays. People travel.” Bill shook his head.

Franklin Bill Hurst and Louise Thomas Leonowens, 1893, The Oriental, Bangkok.

Europe was almost 40 days away by steamer. Saigon, Hanoi, Hong Kong to the east and Singapore to the south were the ports of call. Not many travellers came to Bangkok. It was a sleepy, little city.

Shanghai Baby

Tintagel: Tristan Laurens Bernard

From the author: "The fashion is from Pakistan, as the model. The shots were just a natural outcome of the combination, with some flowing/frozen movement thrown-in to spice-up the photography a bit"

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=647632891&ref=nf

My mother's village...

Salika Nammavong (USA)
"I visited Champasak in 1996 with my family who are originally from there, from a little village called Ban Dou. It was the first time for me and over twenty years for my Mother and Aunt. After arriving in Vientiene, which we stayed with my Uncle's relatives for a few days, we booked a flight down to Pakse which lasted about 45 minutes and then crossed the Mekong River by ferry to Champasak. I have heard they have since built a bridge that connects the two sides and you can now drive across. From there we drove to my mother's village which is about twenty to thirty minutes and is located on the main road, which its name has escaped me. Unfortunately we did not see Vat Phou or toured the main city of Champasak, but stayed in the countryside. It's so beautiful there, the sky is so blue and the clouds are so white and puffy and at night the stars are endless, because there are no bright city lights to shadow them. We stayed in Ban Dou for only two weeks, and for me it felt like it was only a few days. There is so much to take in, by just walking along the main road down to my grandfather's rice patty to walking with a bunch of my cousins down to the little stream and taking a swim. I savored every moment and it would take a book to tell you all the things we saw and did and felt in only two weeks. It wasn't seeing the main attractions for me really because we didn't, like the waterfalls and Vat Phou, it was being close to family. I plan to visit there again in the near future and this time I plan on visiting Vat Phou and all its glory"

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/champasak.html

Vat Phu, Laos

Said the French archaeologist Louis Finot “I do not know that the Cambodian architects have ever shown more taste in the choice of a site, more art in the arrangement, more cleverness in combining the accidents of the terrain and the disposition of its edifices, in the manner of producing a seizing impression of nobleness and majesty.”

Wat Phou (Vat Phu) is a ruined Khmer temple complex in southern Laos. It is located at the base of mount Phu Kao, some 6 km from the Mekong river in Champassak province. There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries. The temple has a unique structure, in which the elements lead to a shrine where a linga was bathed in water from a mountain spring. The site later became a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phou

Jon Swain: River of Time

Jon Swain, award-winning Sunday Times of London reporter, looks back at the most memorable moments of his life: his assignments in Phnom Penh and Saigon during the last five years of the American war in Indochina

A beautifully written book.

http://www.amazon.com/River-Time-Vietnam-Jon-Swain/dp/0312169892

The Mekong: Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang

Khong Island: Auberge Sala Done Khong

Room Number 10. A room with a pretty terrace overlooking the Mekong on Khong Island in southern Laos. Auberge Sala Done Khong is an old french style colonial home.

A tribute to Dith Pran

Jon and Sydney were about to be shot by the Khmer Rouge when Dith Pran intervened. A tribute to the courage of their friend, who died this year in April. The end of The Killing Fields...

My Un-Battered Suitcase

Champassak, Southern Laos

Picture taken just before dusk on the 10th of November, 2008

Rain Dogs Bar & Art Gallery, Bangkok

Tucked away down a dead-end street, you'd never find Rain Dogs unless you knew about it. Run by and for local and expat artists, photographers and journalists, it feels refreshingly grungy in increasingly slick Bangkok.

Elementary by Karl Steinberg

An Interview with Karl Steinberg by Rathindra Kuruwita.

"I met Karl Steinberg by accident; there is no other word to describe it. Rukshan and I were wandering aim lessly through the streets of Galle on a windy evening. Almost all the galleries of Galle Art Trail 2008 were closed for the day, when we came across a semi closed art gallery and decided to enter it. The exhibition was called ‘Elementary’ and as we stared at the photographs of the city of Galle during various stages of the day, Rukshan tells me all about the lenses and filters which were used to colour the view, to bring some things close and to distance others. But at the end he mutters with tinge of professional envy and admiration, ‘maru pinthura ban (these are good photos.)’ It was at that point we decided to meet Karl Steinberg...."

http://www.nation.lk/2008/11/09/eyefea5.htm

“A journey is beautiful game, a treasure hunt. The objective of the game is to find and open doors, secret passages to understanding, realization and fulfilment. These ‘doors’ are people you meet along the way. What lies beyond are their stories, insights, perceptions...”

"Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.”

Mark Jenkins

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”

Jack Kerouac

Ulpotha Rice...

"Ulpotha Heritage Rice comprises a variety of pure strains of very rare indigenous rice, produced by unique communities of villagers in the jungle heartland of Sri Lanka. Traditional methods of farming, where respect is paid to local deities, and lunar cycles are used to determine auspicious times for planting and harvesting, are embraced in Ulpotha. Naturally no artificial fertilisers and pesticides are employed on the land. Instead age-old bio-dynamic formulas, traditional rituals, and bio-diversity are used to ensure a healthy harvest. In order to preserve the natural environment, water buffalo plough the fields and thresh the paddy in place of tractors. And, in keeping with old village practises, most of these farming activities are times for communal song, dance and celebration. Ulpotha Heritage Rice supports and celebrates not just a method of farming but a way of life."

Ulpotha has been a pilgrimage site for thousands of years and remains an oasis of tranquility in the heart of Sri Lanka.

http://www.ulpotha.com/