The Sticky Rice Club
My name is Gabriella and I’m a sticky-rice-aholic. In fact since leaving Laos, I think I am suffering from a serious case of withdrawal. It is a relationship that is pure. No fancy contraption is needed, no spoon, fork or chopstick, just you and your ball of sticky rice. Some people prefer the simple bowl […]
Taking Stock: 306 Days On The Road
“Don’t Cry. Don’t Cry,” I kept telling myself as the lump in my throat rose higher and my heart bounced. Not wanting to raise the immigration lady’s suspicion for any other reason than having made it. Maaade it! To our destination by land. After 306 days on the road, we arrived in Hong Kong, the […]
Nobody Goes to…Savannakhet
How does a place capture your heart and memory? Is it the splendid setting, the luscious landscape, the opulent architecture, the smiling people, that memorable plate of food or the sun that set at just the right angle while you were walking by? Because Savannakhet has all that and something more. What other destinations on […]
Laos Jungle Papaya Salad
Leeches are not in my OK list. I know they are technically harmless, but the idea of a tiny worm turning into a giant blood-filled slug at my expense is not convincing. There is no rationality to this of course, which is how I ended up trekking in dense 35 degrees jungle heat wrapped from […]
Where Are You Really From?
Taken circa 1985 with my Italian Nonna at the aptly named “Universo” bagno in Carrara, Italy. Where are you really from? … And then they all went, “aaaah…..”. Never before have I been so confronted with a daily question of choosing a label, choosing a place, a culture, a name. Have you ever been asked […]
Myanmar…Through the Funnel
Myanmar is the fifth in our series – “…Through the Funnel”. You can read our previous one on China here. It is a way for us to share 12 aspects that stood out to us in our experience of the country and its people. Did we miss something that stood out to you in Myanmar? #1 Faded Melancholia Myanmar is photogenic. It […]
A Letter to My Travelling Partner(s)
Travelling alone is peaceful. Moments where you are free to think, to soak it in and digest it with a space all to yourself. People are more likely to approach the lone traveller, less intimidating in their vulnerability, alone in a foreign place. You may meet more people, experience kindness and return knowing more about […]
Yangon Street Food – Pop Up Style
06H00 Yangon arises by 6 am. No, let’s make that 5 am. Not one to hit the snooze button again and again, the city is an early bird champion. The short and narrow streets of Chinatown sit side by side in tidy rows, rickshaws ride through slow and steady. Block after block of colonial houses resist, […]
The Teahouses of Myanmar
“Dissue.” “Tissue.” He shakes his head. No. No. “Deeeessue. Dee. Dee.” he says with clear exasperation. I point at the box of tissues on the table. “Dissue?” He nods. Finally. Yes. I am having my five minute Burmese lesson with Keh Keh, a boy of no more than 12 years old, hanging out at the […]
The Fish Mongers of Mandalay
First you feel it in your toes. A slime of seawater, molten ice, soil and fish guts invade your flip-flops turning them a dull murky grey. Then it hits your nose, raw and metallic, the oxidising flesh of fish simmering in the sun’s heat. We have arrived at the wholesale fish market of Mandalay. Along […]
