Bamboo and rice

I love to visit Phuket because some of the food I am addicted to is not easily available in Bangkok.

(Ed – you are at work in Phuket, hopefully!)

One of them is "Khao Lam" – sticky rice in a bamboo tube. The rice is first soaked in coconut milk and sugar, sometimes black beans are added to the mixture, which is then pressed into a hollow bamboo tube. The tube is then sealed off with banana leaves and roasted.

The result is delicious and the best place to taste Khao Lam in Phuket is Koh Sirey.

Just a word of advice – ask the vendor to break the tube open for you because it can be quite difficult.

              

Useful Apps for your holiday to Thailand

Ever since friends persuaded me to buy an iPad, my family has had enough of me going on about apps that I discover, which means that I am left with only you, my Otter's Tales’ followers, to share my findings.

I have already tried out all the apps that Tim recommended here previously (post one and post two), and though I am not quite ready for iCloud I have found some wonderful apps of my own.

One of the questions that I hear repeatedly around Cape Panwa Hotel lobby is:

“What time is the Sunset?”

‘Sunset Countdown’ tells you the exact timing of this beautiful natural occurrence wherever in the world you may be – when in Phuket consult the app and then head to Cape Phromthep to experience a glorious sunset.

A question I hear all the time from touts at the Grand Palace in Bangkok when I stay at Cape House is:

“Would you like a guided tour at a special price?”

‘Grand Palace’ is an audio guide that surpasses all others – the detail of the description is superb – walk around the Grand Palace plugged into this one for an educational and entertaining tour.

My last recommendation is for the many of you who have fallen in love with Thailand. 

There are a number of apps to help you to learn to speak and read Thai but I found this – ‘Learn To Write Thai’ is for those of you who are serious about learning Thai – for whatever reason it may be!?! 

(Ed – does Tim know how to read and write Thai yet?) 

              

Rubber Trees

The local people have started to rent out bicycles so this time I rented a bicycle and chose to follow the previous journey taken by a guest they wrote about in this blog.

View tim in phuket - a bicycle ride in a larger map

I cycled off and carefully followed the map which was outlined by Tim and did not get very far because I was attracted to a huge set of trees near Khao Kham Phanwa Buddhist Park, not quite a forest because the trees were in perfect straight lines. 

I was surprised to find that all of the trees had a coconut husk tied to the bottom and were full of a white liquid substance. I took some photographs and returned swiftly to Cape Panwa Hotel. It was here that I was told that what I had looked at was where they were still taping rubber. I was then told that this was one of the original industries in Phuket and asked had I seen what happened next in the process?

I said that I would like to see what happens after this and would do so the next time I visited. I hope they remember.