Travel – Page 5 – Yogurtsoda

Thailand, Days Six and Seven

July 19, 2017

Animal tourism is big business in Thailand and it comes with a nefarious side. Stories of drugged tigers and abused elephants abound — as do advertisements at nearly every corner in Chiang Mai. We nixed riding an elephant or petting a wildcat for visiting an elephant sanctuary about an hour outside of Chiang Mai instead. Established in the 1990s, Elephant Nature Park is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation center where the animals roam freely and are taken care of by volunteers.

It’s not every day you get to take a selfie with an elephant.

Although I’m pretty sure Nishan preferred the cats.

Lunch at Elephant Nature Park was one of the best meals I ate in Thailand. Does anyone know the name of the green vegetable in the top right of my plate? It’s delicious and I would love to find it stateside.

We were famished after a full day at the nature park so once we returned to Chiang Mai we basically ate all the things.

We probably visited Fruiturday at least once a day in Chiang Mai. Their icy concoctions and mango sticky rice were manna from heaven in the stifling heat.

From there we descended into Nutella roti. Go ahead, Internet. Shame us.

Soft shell crab showed up on the menu in Thailand often and I ordered it with every chance I got since it’s so hard to come by in California. For dinner, I had stir-fried soft shell crab with yellow curry at U Chiang Mai.

We had a lot of eating to do the next morning (obvs), so we woke up bright and early with a meal of sai ua (northern Thai sausage). Filled with meat, herbs, spices, and red curry paste, sai ua is usually eaten grilled with sticky rice and is super popular in Chiang Mai.

Afterwards we explored Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang in the old city.

But you didn’t think I was going to come to Chiang Mai and not find the best khao soi, right? Nishan dutifully navigated us through the city until we found Khao Soi Khun Yai, one of Chiang Mai’s most popular khao soi spots. It’s so nondescript you could easily walk past it, were it not for the crowd of people happily slurping noodles. (Want to make khao soi at home? Here’s my adapted recipe.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Warorot Market, a huge market filled with all kinds of snacks and fresh produce.

For dinner, we sought out Lert Ros, a friendly Issan restaurant where grilled, smoky fish is the most popular dish, and rightfully so.

Thailand, Days Four and Five

July 14, 2017

What’s hot and gold all over? The Grand Palace in Bangkok, although I’m sure there’s a Tehrangeles joke in there somewhere.

After our adventure in Ayutthaya, day three in Thailand was sucked into a black hole of heat exhaustion and a sniffly cold but we were back at it on day four, catching an early water taxi on the Chao Phraya River towards the Grand Palace. This is one of the world’s most visited destinations and boy oh boy did the throngs of tourists make that clear.

Freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice both quenched our thirst and spoke to the Iranian in me before we headed to nearby Wat Pho.

We called it an early evening and the next morning took a flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s largest city in the north and near the border with Myanmar. As soon as we settled in to our hotel we were, well, hungry. Nothing a little street side egg, banana, and milk roti wouldn’t fix.

We capped our evening off with a (healthier) meal of stir-fried morning glory with mushrooms and tofu at Aum Vegetarian. Seriously though, I could eat morning glory every day.

Thailand, Days One and Two

July 11, 2017

It’s been over a year since I visited Bangkok and Chiang Mai and I’m still trying to recreate the tastes of Thailand. From sticky rice and mango in the old city to grilled meats, Issan-style, the flavors of Thailand elude me. Mangoes in California will never be as fragrant and kaffir lime leaves are nearly impossible to find. Fresh sugar cane juice? Forget about it.

Nishan and I went to Thailand to eat, and eat we did. (Oh yeah, we also did some sightseeing.)

We dragged our jet-lagged selves to Khlong Lat Mayom, a floating market half an hour outside of Bangkok. The bustling market, the heat, and the smog were thick but we found fresh mangosteens and freshly squeezed palm and sugar cane juice to cool us down. A snack of eggs with seafood and chili sauce kept us satiated for the ride back to the city. Back in Bangkok’s Sathorn District, we made our way to Thanying for dinner.

Crab roe with salted egg yolk and fresh vegetables

Stir-fried morning glory with soybean sauce

Deep-fried sea bass with garlic and pepper

Stir-fried crab with curry powder, egg, milk, chili oil, and celery

By our second day, we were both feeling under the weather but we had plans to visit historic Ayutthaya, so off we went along the Chao Praya river. From there, a short bus ride took us to Ayutthaya, where we rented bikes to ride through the historic ruins in 100 degree heat and humidity level infinity. Great idea, right?

By the end of the day, Nishan got heat exhaustion and I’d developed a full-blown cold. Back in Thailand, we’d made dinner reservations at Nahm, also known as The Restaurant Where I Was So Stuffy I Couldn’t Taste Anything.

That being said, my favorite thing on the menu by far was dessert — and I don’t even have much of a sweet tooth. Behold: pandanus noodles with black sticky rice, water chestnuts, tapioca, and coconut cream. I could eat this every day.

A Weekend Road Trip to San Diego

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016

Sometimes all you need are a couple of days away in the same time zone to recharge. Most Californians take the quick route down to Southern California via Highway 5, but this time around, I wanted to enjoy the scenic route. Here’s my recommended itinerary for a roadtrip to a long weekend in San Diego, Yogurtsoda style.

Day one: Wake up early for the long, beautiful coastal drive down Highway 1. Stop in Carmel to grab a coffee. Putter through Big Sur and take in the vistas. Once you’re in Los Angeles, take a detour away from Highway 1 to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach for dinner. The rush hour gridlock will be worth it. Afterwards, finish the drive to San Diego and check in to your hotel. (Make sure to bring Roscoe’s leftovers with you.)

Day two: Head to La Jolla Beach for a lazy beach day and walk along the coast. Eat tacos.

Day three: Drive over to Coronado Beach for gold sand, happy crowds, and lots of ice cream. Eat more tacos.

Day four: Check out early and get on the road back to Northern California. Take the much faster Highway 5 back and save yourself a few hours. Before leaving Southern California, definitely stop at an Iranian grocer and grab a kalbas (mortadella) sandwich and ice cream sandwich for the road.

Japan, Days Five and Six

February 24, 2016

Part of what makes Japan so special is the traveler’s ability to hop on a train and be transported somewhere entirely different in just one hour. Before we planned this trip, my friend Karen urged us to take a day trip to Hakone, famous for its hot springs and view of Mount Fuji.

After the train ride into town, we hopped off to explore the Hakone Open Air Museum, which features sculptures on its spacious grounds that blend into gorgeous views of the surrounding valley and mountains. The museum also includes a sizable Picasso collection and a relaxing hot spring foot bath for visitors.

Next it was back to Chokoku-no mori train station and a quick chicken katsudon lunch set before stopping at the Hakone Museum of Photography.

This museum, like the previous one, boasted incredible views of the region, and we soaked it all in over matcha tea and cherry blossom wagashi before heading to Koen Shimo station to board the funicular. Are you keeping track of the stations, yet? Hakone does not play when it comes to diverse transportation.

Our next stop was the Hakone Ropeway, an aerial lift connecting us between Sounzan and Togendai via Owakudani. Owakudani literally translates to “Great Boiling Valley.” Sounds relaxing, right? It’s a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs and especially kuro-tamago, or “black egg.” The eggs are hard-boiled in the hot springs, turn black, and smell slightly sulphuric. I passed on the black eggs but bought a bag of smoky dried scallops instead. Souvenirs aside, Owakudani was freezing! Note to future travelers: it’s cold up there. Bring a jacket.

For those keeping track, our next mode of transporation was another aerial lift where we reached the dock at Lake Ashi. At Lake Ashi, we boarded a boat to take us to Hakone town. It was so overcast that Mount Fuji was nowhere to be seen, but the lake was stunning.

After a brief stroll through the side streets of Hakone, we boarded a bus which took us to Hayakawa River. Seriously, do the views get progressively more stunning as the day goes on in Hakone or what? After oohing and ahhing at the river, we strolled over to Hakone Yumoto station, where I grabbed us a snack of inari sushi to hold us over for the train ride back to Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, thus completing our Japanese Public Transportation Extravaganza.

We spent our next and last day in Tokyo enjoying some of our favorite foods, among which include department store sushi. No, I’m not joking. The otoro sushi at Kinokuniya’s food hall in Shinjuku may be the best I’ve ever had. This is the sushi dreams are made of. Sublime and perfect, like butter.

Our last meal on this trip was at Ramen Setagaya in Haneda Airport. We paid at the vending machine and ten minutes later sat down to stellar ramen. In the U.S., ramen of this caliber would garner hour-long waits. In Japan, it’s airport food.

What a perfect note to end our trip on.