Food, Glorious Thai Food!

One of the best things about visiting Thailand? The food of course! I absolutely love Thai food, and so I was in food heaven on my recent travels.

Perhaps not the most waistline friendly... all that satay (peanut) sauce and coconut milk, but somehow I managed not to gain any extra pounds, and I am still under my target weight that I have been striving to adhere to this year.

Our hotel resort offered one-to-one cookery lessons with their resident chef, who showed us how to turn these lovely ingredients.....

.... into these tasty dishes....

Tom Yum Soup

Green Curry

Chicken and cashew nuts

Some of the best food to be had can be bought from street vendors and at the night food markets, like Fisherman's Village at Bophut....

Corn on the cob with coconut butter ... delicious beach fare!

Even the birds love them!

Coconut candy treats

Spring rolls (fore) and Imperial spring rolls (aft)

Duck pancakes

Fruit smoothie... my type of sundowner!

Now that would be food hell... a whole load of duran fruit!

What is your favourite type of food?

He's A Lady...Whoa Whoa Whoa...He's A Lady!

The "third sex" or so-called  Ladyboys are a prominent feature of Thailand's very tolerant culture... and a lot of them work in the entertainment industry. I must confess that I was quite curious to see what all the fuss was about... so we decided to go to a cabaret club on our recent travels on Koh Samui.  The shows last around one hour and are free... so long as you buy at least one (exorbitantly overpriced) drink while you're there.

My photographs are not great as the ladies (and gents) were enthusiastic dancers... but they should be enough to give you an idea of just how attractive some of the ladyboys are. Others less so, perhaps....

With absolutely no disrespect to Tom Jones intended.

Island Tour - Koh Samui

It was incredibly hard to drag ourselves away from our gorgeous resort, but we did feel we ought to get out and about and explore the island a bit.

First stop, the rather striking natural wonder, the "Grandfather and Grandmother" rocks (Hin Ta and Hin Yai) at Lamai...

Yes, that would be the "Grandfather" rock!

And that's the "Grandmother" rock... use your imagination!

Next, Kunaram Temple to see the mummified monk, Loung Pordaeng. When he died, he was sitting in a meditation position. Almost forty years on, he is still in that same position and his body doesn't show any signs of major decay. A slightly macabre sight....

Onto the The Big Buddha Statue (Wat Phra Yai), which at 15 metres tall, is indeed BIG....

The colourful temple of Wat Plai Laem is just up the road from The Big Buddha....