Thursday Travels

#ThursdayTravels @Exploring the World

The aim of this meme is to highlight your favourite and best holiday pics.

One at a time.

Some easy to follow rules:

• Pick just ONE photo that shows something unique, unusual or quintessential about your travels.

• You can label it, write a story or do a travelogue piece about your photo if you so desire.

• These photos are about the place, the environment (man-made or natural), panoramas, macros - whatever captures your eye.

• All photos must be your own.

• NO selfies or family pics please.

We're all about the scenery at Thursday Travels!

Hanoi, Vietnam

One of the things about travelling is learning the rules of the road, wherever you are, as quickly as you can. Vietnam traffic looked chaotic and crazy, but it was actually quite safe crossing the road, once you knew how. You simply start walking. Slowly, mindfully but purposefully. The scooters and bikes and taxis will swerve around you as long as you keep going forward, slowly, mindfully and purposefully. It was quite a zen experience that I came to enjoy a lot.
If you're not sure, watch the locals for a while to see how it works.

#ThursdayTravels

Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen

Secrets of the Red Lantern was one of the books I tracked down after my Easter visit to Vietnam. Mr Books and I loved the food whilst in Vietnam - so fresh, so tasty and so much variety. We loved the casual, shared style of cooking and eating.

We have eaten at the Red Lantern restaurant in Surrey Hills before with great pleasure, but when I spotted that Pauline had a cookbook memoir, I knew I had to give it a try. I wanted to create some of their famous healthy, delicious dishes myself.

Preparations

I have been dipping in and out of Pauline's story ever since, but have failed to try any of the recipes.

Curiously, it has been #AusReadingMonth and #nonficnov that finally got me to have a go at one. On Thursday evening I made Cha Ca - ling fillets marinated with dill and tumeric - with great success.

I love any chance to use my granite mortar and pestle, so I was delighted to crush the garlic, spring onions, tumeric and curry into a smooth paste.

The aromas that wafted around the house were so sublime they drew Mr Books down from his office to partake of the process!

The recipe was easy to follow, easy to recreate and very, very easy to enjoy.

Dinner!

Secrets of the Red Lantern is much more than a cookbook with great recipes though. It is also a substantial family memoir.

Generously littered with family photos and stories, we follow Pauline's immigration to Australia at a young age with her family after the war in Vietnam, to her early life in Australia, the importance of food in maintaining family connections and the opening of the first Red Lantern restaurant with her brother Luke and (now) partner Mark Jensen.

The book is sumptuously put together.

Each chapter begins with another part of Pauline's life story and a few family photos. Beautiful, simple photos of the food follow with one recipe per page. Brief chef suggestions by Luke and Mark accompany each recipe.

It really is an aesthetic delight from start to finish.

This post is part of #AusReadingMonth, #nonficnov and #weekendcooking.

Marble Mountain, Danang, Vietnam

Huyen Khong Buddhist grotto, Thuy Son Mountain, Danang

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Tam Thai Pagoda, Vietnam

Tam Thai Pagoda, Thuy Son Mountain, Danang, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Hanoi, Vietnam

City street, Hanoi, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

L'Azalee Cruises, Halong Bay, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Marble Mountains, Vietnam

View from Marble Mountain, Danang, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Hoi An, Vietnam

Night market lights, Hoi An, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon was our first port of call in Vietnam.

It's an energetic, vibrant city that embraces its traditional and French Colonial past. There is now also a desire to modernise as the younger generations choose careers in education, tourism & finance.

We loved our time in Saigon.

We ate well, completed a cooking class, tried our first Vietnamese coffee, walked our legs off & learnt to cross the road Vietnamese style (more of that later).

Tube Buildings

Bitexco Financial Tower

People Committee's Building

Dong Khoi at night

Me Linh Square & statue of Tran Hung Dao

More tube buildings - I loved them!

Central Post Office - repainting.

Opera House - side view

Opera House - front view of this beautiful belle époque building.

Saigon River in the morning

Reunification Palace

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot

Spice Tray, Vietnam

Spice tray, Hoi An, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot - Vietnam part 2 - The Accommodation

One of the advantages of getting older is when we travel now, we no longer need to stay in backpacker accommodation. In Ho Chi Minh City we enjoyed the French colonial charms of the Majestic Hotel. Our room overlooked the pool courtyard which meant we were away from the street noise. The hotel was situated perfectly on the corner of Dong Khoi and the road that ran alongside the Saigon River.

The grand foyer of the Majestic Hotel

Our view of the pool

Breakfast with a view of the Saigon River

In Hoi An we splashed out and stayed at the Sunrise Resort - complete with two glorious pools!

Pool One

Pool Two with infinity edge!

It was a hard way to spend three days, but we managed somehow!

I loved the high ceilings in the Sunrise foyer.

In Hanoi we stayed at the Silk Path Hotel right in the city on the edge of the Old Quarter.

It was a great spot - easy walking into, through and around the Old Quarter as well as within walking distance of the lake.

The foyer was full of gorgeous lacquer paintings...

...and huge vases of flowers that changed every day.

We loved the view of Hanoi from the 9th floor. The busy streets were endlessly fascinating to us.

We also enjoyed a two night cruise around Halong Bay on board the L'Azalée.

It was magic.

View from our dinner table.

Cruising around Halong Bay.

Cruising on the top deck.

The fleet were being renovated & upgraded boat by boat.

Our day boat was brand new & the height of comfort & relaxation.

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot.

Hoi An, Vietnam

Lantern shop, Hoi An, Vietnam

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot - Vietnam Part 1 - The Food

There was so much to love about our recent holiday to Vietnam, but one of the stand-out highlights for us was the food. 

We ate well and we ate often.

A few margarita's may have happened too!

Pho - I made the mistake of eating the chilli (like I would at home).

We booked a morning cooking class whilst in Saigon.

It involved a trip to to the markets to check out all the fresh, local produce.

Our first lesson at the Saigon Culinary Art Centre was how to create carrot flowers!

I was only drinking iced tea - really!!

  

We then went on to make seafood spring rolls, morning glory salad with pork & prawns and deep-fried egg noodles with seafood & vegetables.

It was a fabulous way to start our holiday in Vietnam.

Mai loved a camera shot too!

It was all delicious!

I also enjoyed drinking the lotus & jasmine tea's.

On our last night in Saigon, we treated ourselves to a meal at Maxim's.

The decor was wonderful, the jazz groovy & the margarita's sublime!

The prawn spring rolls (above) were scrumptious.

But the whole red snapper in ginger and onion (below) was out of this world!

The BBQ'd prawns weren't bad either!

 Rambutans are a cousin of the lychee.

I managed to have several of these for breakfast everyday, along with dragonfruit (pitaya), passionfruit, pineapple and watermelon.

Our first lunch in Hoi An was the local specialty - 'white rose' shrimp dumplings.

The flavour was very subtle & very satisfying.

Happy hour margarita's for two by the pool, Hoi An

We fell in love with the Hoi An Special Spring Rolls - they became our lunch time special.

Along with a glass of cold Tiger beer.

Mai Fish, Hoi An do a mean kumquat margarita! A great way to watch the sunset.

In Hanoi (below) we joined a night tour of the local street stalls.

We ate 'rats tails' (so called like the American hotdog - for its shape not its contents)!

Rats tails were minced pork with coriander, cucumber & chilli wrapped up in a long skinny roll.

 It also included a tour of the local markets.

The highlight was eating from one of the DIY street BBQ stalls.

Mr Seasons loved the Iced Vietnamese Coffee with condensed milk.

But while in Hanoi we also tried their famous Egg Coffee.
Yes - coffee and egg together!
 They blend the yolk into an espresso with a splash of condensed milk.

A liquid tiramasu say some! 

Too sweet says me.
One cafe also served them with a meringue made from the egg whites floating on top.

Our last night in Hanoi saw us dining fine on stuffed squid & pork ribs in Hanoi special spices.

The desserts at Porte d'Annam were pretty special too.

 Needless to say, the diet started this week!

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot and Weekend Cooking.