It's alive...or it used to be!

Spring cleaning again. This post used to be a page and is dedicated to strange fruits, odd plants, interesting food and anything that is or was, once alive!

A butterfly that wouldn't leave us alone. Monkey Waterfall Vietnam.

Langsat, tastes like citrus and grape and splits into segments. Malaysia. (not my photo, I couldn't find mine, but I ate plenty of them)

One Elephant Fish on a platter. I felt a bit sorry for it, nobody wanted to buy it for lunch. Mekong Delta Vietnam.

Frogs at a Hanoi market. They were alive a few seconds before this, and skinless.

Crispy Pancakes or Khanom bueng, a Thai dessert.

Unusually scalloped bark. Shanghai China

Sorting tiny crabs from the even tinier crabs. Hanoi Vietnam

Part of the spread at the temple.  Hanoi Vietnam.

Large grapes, funny leaf. Hanoi Vietnam

Keeping the prawns fresh. Hanoi Vietnam

Pomelo...yum, like giant Grapefruit but not very sour. Hanoi Vietnam

The jackfruit in Vietnam (Artocarpus heterophyllus or A. heterophylla) is a species of tree in the mulberry family (Moraceae), which is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is well suited to tropical lowlands. Its fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world, seldom less than about 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. Thank you Wikipedia.

Mangrove roots. Brunei Borneo

Giant moth. Brunei Borneo

Laksa. Brunei Borneo

Donut lady. Mekong Delta Vietnam

Nem Nuong (Nem nướng) is grilled meatballs, usually made of seasoned pork mince, on a skewer of lemon grass stalk. Slide it off into a rice paper wrapper, top with salad greens, herbs and rice noodles and roll up. Then dip into peanut sauce and eat. Hue Vietnam.

Some sort of flossy edible at the market, probably some type of sprout? Hoi An Vietnam.

Vietnamese coffee in the making. Really strong, really sweet and really addictive.

Part of the lovely gift given to me by Dung's Mum. Sapodila plum (Vietnameme: "quả hồng xiêm" or "quả sapoche") Plum = quả. Hoi An Vietnam.

Part of the feast Huong cooked for us. Some type of Vietnamese shellfish. Que Nhon Vietnam.

They don't look that nice, but taste great. They are Hong Deo...dried persimmons. Da Lat Vietnam.

Cooked Duck embryos..yes, that's right, chicks cooked in their shell. Saigon Vietnam.

The makings of Nasi Lamak in Christina's kitchen. Kuching Borneo.

Lichen and moss. Kuching Borneo.

Fresh ingredients at the Top Spot restaurant. Kuching Borneo.

Ready to go into the steam boat. Kuching Borneo.

The steamboat.

Offerings to Buddha...note the chicken! Nha Trang Vietnam.

Same same but different! Thailand.

Tom Yum Khung soup on the boil. Chiang Mai Thailand.

Please let me sleep. Still not sure if they were drugged or not.Chiang Mai Thailand.

Awww...how cute and definitely not drugged. Kanchanaburi Thailand.

A young goanna in our front yard. Australia.

'Outside' a shop, at the bottom of a pillar...a fish tank with a lone goldfish in residence. Bangkok Thailand.

Huge prawns on the go. Bangkok Thailand.

One of my daily bouquets...thanks Stray! Thailand.

Lunch. Golden Triangle Thailand.

Pho Chien Phong. Yum! Deep fried squares of rice noodle topped with slivers of beef and water spinach. Hanoi Vietnam

Bot Chien. Fried squares of carrot cake (not the type we know) mixed with an egg and served on a bed of shredded ??? salad. Saigon Vietnam

Wellington New Zealand

Dunedin New Zealand.

Swiss said...

i laughed so much when i saw those persimmons. you were right, unsightly. but you cant keep a good persimmon down.

i never knew what they were called but i also had the Langsat and had forgotten about them until now.

great pictures!! and the coffee has flared up my addiction... i might have to go brew a cup. i brought whole bags of khmer and vietnamese coffee back to the US with me, and some bags also for my mom which i am bringing back to her next week. i cant wait. she's the kingpin of coffee drinking and will go crazy for this.

i loved reading this!

m

August 15, 2010 3:32 AM

Snap said...

I know what you mean about the coffee! I bought one those coffee makers home with me and am lucky enough to have a friend in Vung Tau (VN) who sends me supplies.

So we came all the way back, just to go back - Cambodia

We've been back in Oz for just over one month now. Happy to say Mr Bundy's ears are still intact, minus the points (Solar Dermatis, fancy name for my cat can't tolerate the sun. So he's doomed to a life of zinc cream coated ears). And, I've given into the fact that I WILL have to move more than two chairs and a bed back into the house and have started to do so. Can see a big garage sale coming up soon...more culling.

Stray's undone the termite damage, bar the aesthetic touches. But, I'm still pretending that the upstairs doesn't exist, even though I can safely walk up the steps. Less cleaning that way.

OK, getting to the point! Cambodia, especially Angkor Wat just outside of Siem Reap, was one of the places we intended on visiting while being so close, in Thailand. But, one thing lead to another and we never got there. So, we're heading off early next year to see that, Phnom Phen and Sihanoukville. All via Malaysia where we'll stop off in Georgetown (Penang), Langkawi and Melaka
.

Batu Caves outside of Kuala Lumpur

Sabah (Kota Kinabalu, Borneo) fishing boats

Kuching (Sarawak, Borneo) riverfront

We've visited Kuala Lumpur a couple of times, and Borneo, and our plans are fairly well set in jelly ...but if you've been to any of these places and can recommend 'what to see's' and 'what to do's' (or not) apart from what's on the usual tourist spiels, please do!

Snap's other blog Chiang Mai Thai

Videos - Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia, Brunei 2008

...more videos and a few photos.

Apart from the pea soup atmosphere (humidity) in Borneo, I loved the Malaysian part of the country. OK...I liked all of the areas of Borneo we visited.

Looking left out of the hotel window to the resort area of KK.

It's a sign 4, 5 and 6

POINT TAKEN !!!!!

Brunei, Borneo.

Not so much a 'funny sign', but more of an ODD sign. We found this sign not far from funny sign number 2 and went into the store, which was filled with many wonderful, amazing treats...but no Tim Tams or Pavlova in sight? To be honest I was hard pressed thinking of confectionery that is uniquely Australian (owned). Nice combo though, Malaysian, English and Chinese...very multi cultural.

Say no more. This funny sign in the centre of Hoi An, Vietnam. A beautiful, charming ancient city filled with wonderful memories for both me and Stray.