Road Trip from Marseilles to Paris: Part 1

In late June my parents came to join us on a two-week road trip from Marseilles to Paris. We rented a car and had a great time stopping in towns and cities along the route, mostly staying two nights in each place except for Paris where we stayed for four. In many of the towns we rented apartments where we'd make at least one meal a day--which of course always consisted of at least two French baguettes, a variety of local cheeses, and wine. We hopped from towns in the Riviera to the Western edge of Switzerland, through a small portion of Germany for one afternoon, and then to Paris. It was good to make the trip with family after being away from home for so long.

We penciled in a rough map of our route. Here it is.

Recipe: Thai Beef Salad

One of our favorite dishes from the Thai cooking class we took was Thai Beef Salad. Yes, a salad made from beef. I think it would be delicious at a summer barbecue. (Ah, how we miss those!) You should be able to find most of the ingredients back in the States, but I think you could get the same effect with some substitutions. This recipe comes from the Classic Home Cooking recipe book, which they gave to each of us after we finished the class. If I haven't said this enough, I very highly recommend them.

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Nua)

Ingredients:
- 100 grams of beef (That's about 3.5 ounces. If you're cooking for a group, you might want to quadruple everything. It's that good.)
- 1 tablespoon of finely sliced shallots
- 1 tablespoon of thinly sliced lemon grass stems. (Don't eat these unless they're sliced very very thinly. They're not poisonous or anything, just a bit too fibrous and flavorful to eat on their own.)
- 1 tablespoon spring onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon sliced cucumber (I'd use a bit more if you want to make this a bit more 'salad' and a bit less 'beef.')
- 1/2 tomato, sliced

Ingredients for dressing:
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 2-4 crushed hot chilies. (If you're using the original recipe amounts, I'd recommend no more than 2 peppers, unless you like things with lots of heat. To crush the chilies, use the flat part of your knife to sort of roll the pepper open.)
- 3 teaspoons of lime juice (Adjust to taste. I like it extra-limey.)
- 3 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar

Method:

1. Grill beef and then cut into thin strips about 1 inch wide. (I recommend grilling to somewhere between rare and medium rare.)
2. Mix all dressing ingredients in a big bowl. Add the beef and other ingredients.
3. Sprinkle mint leaves on top. Serve with lettuce, cabbage, or whatever else you have on hand.

Happy eating, Thai-style!

-R

A Thai Cooking Class in Chiang Mai

Tom and I both really love Thai food, but since we eat it so rarely at home, we usually stick to our favorites like green curry and pad thai. We were really excited to get to Thailand and eat our way through dozens of menus (and we definitely did!), but we also wanted to spend a bit of time learning about the food and how to prepare it so that we could make some edible souvenirs when we get home. 

We decided to take a Thai cooking class while we were in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. It seems like everyone and their mother runs a cooking class in Chiang Mai, so we read some reviews and decided to go with Vanee and Meo from "Classic Home Cooking," based on a review which said that it was like cooking with your grandmother. I am so so glad we did a class with them. The food we made was incredibly delicious, and they were wonderful hosts to us. Since it was the off season, we were the only two students in the class and so we got tons of attention.

Beach and Island Hopping in Thailand

After the craziness of Bangkok, Tom and I wanted to take a bit of a vacation from traveling. (You'll notice this is a theme for us. We also 'vacationed' in Melnik, Bulgaria and Colonia, Uruguay, as well as a few others.) We figured that the islands and beaches in Southern Thailand would be the perfect place to unwind for a few days.



We flew into Phuket, spent a few nights in town, and then headed to Kata Beach, which was just a quick bus ride from Phuket town. We treated ourselves to a few nights at a resort just a few minutes off of the beach with a great pool. Plus, swans. The beach itself was gorgeous, with warm waves and clean sand and views of islands in the distance. At first, we were a bit apprehensive about going into the water. Since we were visiting during rainy season, we'd heard to watch out for riptides and jelly fish. We did see some red flags warning of riptide areas, but we swam happily and jelly-fish free for hours. When your biggest complaint is that the water is 'just a little too warm,' you know that you've found a pretty great beach.

Krakow, Poland: Photo Tour

In our nearly six months of travels this year, we've visited about 16 countries, and about 40 or so different towns and cities. Some had great food, or amazing history, friendly people, or breathtaking landscapes. But out of all of these places, Krakow is the one I could most imagine myself living.

Don't worry, Mom, there's no move to Poland in my future (so far as I can see, anyway). But Krakow is just so appealing. It has that elusive "thing" that makes people (or us, anyway) want to stick around for awhile and enjoy. It's the perfect size: big enough to have plenty of neat neighborhoods and great food options, but small enough to get around on foot or public transit pretty easily. The gorgeous spring weather probably had an impact on how much we loved the city.

Yes, Krakow is a place I could call home... except for one major factor. Pigeons.

Pigeons!!!

I know, there are pigeons everywhere. But there are flocks and flocks all over Krakow, each bird seemingly trying to get tangled in my hair or eat one of my toes for lunch. If only they were well-behaved, then maybe me and Krakow could get it together. But alas, back to the U.S. I will go. (Please forgive me my anti-pigeon rant. Tom has already heard it about 40 times. One of the joys of spending each and every day with only one other person is that we hear each other's stories and ideas again and again. But, hey! That's why we have a blog!)

While we were visiting Krakow in early June, we spent much of our time wandering around the old city. It's large, but very walk-able, with lots of little shops and restaurants begging for our zloty. The entire old city is encircled by a green park, which was fairly bustling each time we visited. We passed several hours people-watching as joggers, bikers, dog-walkers and lazy strollers wandered by. Even outside of the historic center, the city is vibrant and fun.

Tom and I also took a day trip to tour Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum. We highly recommend that anyone visiting Krakow take the short trip over. It's one thing to learn what happened during the Holocaust, but it's another thing to be there. Suffice it to say, it was an incredibly moving day.

Now onto the photos.

Wawel Castle grounds

Tom outside of Wawel Castle

Bike paths along the river.

This park runs all around the old city (Stare Miasto)

Sunset in the Main Market Square

Vendors in the Main Market Square

Free lemon vodka at Trezo

Yes, I know it's weird to eat lasagna in Poland. But it was amazing.

This amazing.

Musicians playing for us while we ate

Somehow Tribeca, a small coffee shop and restaurant, ended up being our hangout for the 5 or so days we were in Krakow

Probably because of these: delicious lattes, and croissants filled with either chocolate or raspberry

Zapiekanka, which is sort of like a Polish version of pizza. It's tasty.

Beers in a garden

Getting rained on. 

Climbing the tower in the Main Market Square

Tom climbed too

View from the top

Us. (Please note the new green scarf. Thank you, Krakow. And Tom, who got sick of looking at my other one and so purchased this one.)

At Auschwitz-Birkenau

This inscription is written in many different languages at Birkenau.

-R

Sensory Overload in Bangkok, Thailand

Note: We'll be bouncing back and forth between Europe and Southeast Asia posts for the next few weeks while we get caught up. Don't be confused: we've left Europe, and are planning to stay put on the other side of the world for awhile!

We arrived in Bangkok a few days ago, and I'm still overwhelmed by all of the sights, smells and sounds of the city.

Market of dried fish.

Food stalls

 

Walking around town

Shopping!

In some ways, it's exciting to constantly see, hear, or eat things you've never experienced before. But on the other hand, my brain has been in a state of constant stimulation for the past few days... and that can be tiring, to say the least. It seems that I go from exhilarated to exhausted and back again every hour or two. Travel writers often like to describe cities or countries as having contrasting elements. Bangkok is the first city I've been to where I've thought the description to be fully accurate.

Take, for example, the city streets. They're chaotic and messy, and crossing one as a pedestrian is like playing a game of Frogger, except with motorcycles and tuk-tuks that weave in and out of lanes at random, all seemingly aiming for anything on two legs. Even the sidewalks aren't safe; you must constantly watch all around to make sure some vehicle isn't headed straight towards you.

Tuk-tuiks and motorcycles. This is very calm!

But, if you head to any one of the three train systems, you'll find a completely different world. The chaos is gone. Instead, there's serene music playing and everything is scrubbed clean. The citizens and tourists of Bangkok line up in straight rows to enter and exit trains, and while traveling, they sit quietly or talk in hushed voices. It's so different from the honking cars lining the streets.

This is a great system. People queue up along the sides and enter on a diagonal. People exit the train down the middle. 

Even more shocking, people seem to follow the arrows!

Tom riding the skytrain. Take note of the calm behind him.

On a more serious note, you can see vast differences in income and lifestyle from one block to the next. In many areas of the city, people live in crumbling homes and wash their pots and pans on the sidewalk. But right around the corner, there are brand new skyscrapers and gleaming malls filled with stores like Cartier, Valentino and more.

No matter what area of the city we were in, we felt completely safe, and we found friendly and helpful people in all parts of Bangkok. A nice young woman helped us order some delicious minced pork with basil from a street vendor. Three men who worked on the river ferries helped me reunite with Tom after I got stranded on a ferry while Tom was onshore. (Yeah, that was a fun half hour of worrying.) And many, many more people helped us navigate our way through public transportation, crazy intersections, and more.

The temples all around Bangkok are nothing I've ever seen before -- at least not in person! It seemed like every surface was covered in glittering gold or intricate tile-work. It was absolutely beautiful. While we saw some of the major "must-see" tourist stops, I preferred our time wandering around the streets of Bangkok, just taking in all parts of city life. Enjoy the rest of our photo tour after the break, and check back tomorrow for a few tips we've picked up for those traveling to Bangkok!