Archive for the ‘Phuket’ Category

Bird’s Nest Soup: Baby Birds Thrown-Away In The Name of Greed – Phuket

Monday, September 12th, 2011

krabi_caves

The Chinese have high culinary-regard for certain bird’s nests constructed by a swallow-like bird called a Swift. The nest is made from glutinous strands of the bird’s-saliva and is considered a supreme delicacy.
The tricky part of collecting edible bird’s nests is that if collected too late there is the possibility that eggs might be damaged, and if gathered too early the nests will be of inferior quality.
Pacific Swift, Edible-nest Swiftlet and Black-nest Swiflets are the species of swift that produce edible bird’s nests in Thailand, mainly in limestone caves on islands around Krabi, Phuket, and Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand.
After the first nest disappears, the female bird will automatically build a second nest, and collectors will wait a month before harvesting the second nest. The third nest, final production for the season, is where the baby birds will grow and the nest will not be harvested for three months.

As with most everything in this part of the world, and due to the high value of the nests, corruption is rampant and sometimes the unthinkable happens, the baby birds are thrown away to harvest the valuable third nest. The sad thing is that locals get very little money out of the businesses while, concession holders and governments who levy high taxes, become rich.

Khao Lak: Filming of “The Impossible” A Journey Back Into Tsunami 2004

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Pool

Naomi Watts along with Ewan McGregor star in the new Spanish film “The Impossible” currently filming in Khao Lak, Thailand. The Impossible is the terrifying account of a family unexpectedly caught with many others when a Tsunami flattens their three-story hotel and the surrounding landscape and how they had to struggle to survive after being pushed underwater into a quagmire of dislodged trees and debris where they were thrown upside-down, and battered by debris.

Naomi Watts (image credit: wikipedia) Ewan McGregor (image credit: wikipedia)

O’ Rendez-vous, Khao Lak – Thailand

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

O’ Rendez-vous Restaurant & Bar
5/42. Moo 7
Tel. 076.485.108  087.706.7457
Email: tpasieu@hotmail.com
Operated by: Pascale Theng
tpasieu@hotmail.com, Pascale Theng

We were most fortunate to find this lovely restaurant located directly across from our hotel in Khao Lak.  It is run by two charming individuals, Pascale Theng, a French national with considerable reinforcement from her German boyfriend Philipp Schüeller.  She has organized the kitchen to produce both classic French and authentic Vietnamese dishes as well as popular Thai selections. I highly recommend this restaurant as probably the best restaurant in town.

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