Month: October 2014

food

Bangkok Food – Continued

Post author By doruk
Post date October 24, 2014

Previously I described the food I experienced during the Historic Bangrak Tour during a visit to Bangkok. That same day, I took another tour in the evening – the Midnight Food Tour by Tuk Tuk. I figured that as long as I am in Bangkok, and as long as I greatly enjoy food, instead of trying to find a place to eat for dinner I would do another tour in the evening and experience more flavors.

This time I was on-time to the tour but barely. I had only recently returned to my hotel after getting lost near Wat Pho in the rain, looking for a taxi that would take me back to the hotel (and failing), and ultimately taking the crowded, dark river ferry back down to a metro station I was familiar with. On my way to the meeting point, I walked right past the group and only found them again a few minutes later. I’m just not very good at following certain directions.

The tour included not only food but some tourist activities as well. Our first stop was near the meeting place where there was what seemed like an outdoor Buddhist temple that was teeming with devotees and tourists. There was dancing and music, a shrine in the middle of the square, and some holy water in the corner, which we all got a quick splash of. It was a walled enclosure that led out into a street full of people, noise, and general lively cacophony.

Tags bangkok, food

travel

Datca

Post author By doruk
Post date October 19, 2014
No Comments on Datca

It was early in the morning at that time following dawn when the sun begins to blanket the sea with bleary rays of light. The water shimmered in silver with patches of turquoise and blue awaiting the full rise of day. The water at that time is a flat sheet and the sounds of lapping waves the only music in the still and silent morning.

My uncle drove over to pick me up in the car that would carry us many miles in the next two days. Our starting point was a stretch of sea a couple coves down from Akyarlar on the southwestern coast of the Bodrum peninsula. On any given day the white houses of the Greek isle of Kos are visible; and on especially clear days a hazy silhouette resolves to a view of our destination: the Datca peninsula.

In recent times Bodrum has been civilized in the most modern sense with shopping malls and megamarts forming an integral part of the landscape. Still, a nostalgic, old-fashioned aura persists in many places, especially in villages like Guvercinlik, where we went for breakfast. It was still early enough in the day that even the breakfast proprietors were only just beginning services as they drowsily watched us approach. Here, we fortified ourselves with a simple but extensive meal with cheeses and olives and jams and bread, and washed down with a standard helping of tea.

Tags bodrum, datca, travel, turkey

food

Bangkok Food

During a recent work trip to Southeast Asia, I partook on a quick weekend jaunt to Bangkok. It’s a fascinating city and a fascinating culture with a wonderful vibrancy. It also has an intimate relationship with food with more than 20,000 food-serving establishments in the city. So when I went to Bangkok I took not one but two food tours.

The tours I took were offered by Bangkok Food Tours. Aside from the food, it was a good opportunity to see parts of the city I would not have explored otherwise.

In the morning, I took the Historic Bangrak Tour. It began inauspiciously as I was late to the meeting point because I came out the wrong exit at the metro station. However, I found the group and soon thereafter we were heading through a sprinkle of rain to the first destination. There, we were served a simple but delicious plate of roasted duck on rice. That was followed by a more adventurous item: duck feet wrapped in pig intestine (looked like bacon) and stuffed with more pig product. The first dish was quite tasty, the second was just an experience.

Tags bangkok, food