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I stopped by Som Tom Convent yesterday and they were out of duck  Will go back today because gently caress you guys for making me crave it again  Lao Kitchen in Vientiane has amazing duck larb too  Speaking of food, what the gently caress is that thing that looks like a cheap mini knockoff of tacos with just a glob of sour cream and some cheese or meat at some street food stalls?
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Jul 4, 2013 07:48
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If that's what I'm thinking it is it's a dessert. Khanom bueang. "Khanom" means desert (which as far as I can tell includes everything baked from grain or made with gain batter, everything with a bean in it, and everything that doesn't have meat but does have rice and coconut milk and isn't soupy), "bueang" is just the name of that thing I think. The yellow/orange shreddy stuff ("cheese") is made from egg and has a sweet egg yolk kind of taste, but they put other stuff in there sometimes. The white goop ("sour cream") is of course coconut cream. They're a little sweet for me but inoffensive and pleasant. Tortilla is rice derived I think but I also remember seeing versions with an orange tortilla which was probably just more egg stuff mixed in to the same rice base. The sign is probably whatever "dessert" is plus a taco shape with your hand. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanom_bueang raton fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 08:02
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Tomato Soup posted:Speaking of food, what the gently caress is that thing that looks like a cheap mini knockoff of tacos with just a glob of sour cream and some cheese or meat at some street food stalls? EDIT: Khanom Krok are pretty decent local snacky desserts. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 08:09
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Khanom krok are also my favorite Thai desserts. They always remind me of the little compartmentalized and fried quails eggs though and then I end up getting a little box of tiny fried eggs instead. As a Thai garbage man once told me, "I like eggs."  Certain types of candied tamarind are also nice. raton fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 08:14
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Sheep-Goats posted:Khanom krok are also my favorite Thai desserts. They always remind me of the little compartmentalized and fried quails eggs though and then I end up getting a little box of tiny fried eggs instead. As a Thai garbage man once told me, "I like eggs."
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Jul 4, 2013 08:27
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Thanks guys! I was worried that it would be like what it looked like but now I'll try some. Thai desserts are loving amazing, I love it when I find a good dessert stall and buy like 2-3 different desserts to try.
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Jul 4, 2013 08:33
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ReindeerF posted:Is any of this hyper-local snacky poo poo available at Thai joints there in the Big Crapple? Houston's got a gently caress ton of Thai restaurants, should be over 100 now, but I never see things like this even at the truly authentic joints. I'm lucky if they even have basil to begin with sometimes. I basically avoid Thai food when home, heh. Yeah, there's a place called Sugar Club in my neighborhood in Queens (which is the neighborhood with the highest concentration of Thai people -- even if they don't really ghettoize like the Chinese do) that has a lot of them. There are also a few businesses that produce them here and you see their prepackaged versions (still hand made) in a lot of Thai restaurants up by the cash register (along with fish jerky and other poo poo). The restaurant with the most authentic ingredients is run by a farang (Pok Pok) and while it's good the overall must authentic places are again in my neighborhood and run by Thais (Chao Thai, Sri Phapai). raton fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 09:10
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A mother was nice enough to bring in lunch for me the other day. The Thai teacher got a bag full of vegetables, some curry, some of that lovely dipping sauce and I think some chicken. I got American fried rice. Welp. v It's rice fried with ketchup and raisins in it. Served with "American" sides such as hot dogs and fried chicken. v Chair Huxtable fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 10:25
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I have to ask, what's american fried rice?
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Jul 4, 2013 10:30
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lemonadesweetheart posted:I have to ask, what's american fried rice? EDIT: I've always assumed that was leftover from the war era, because it's too weird even for modern Thai people to have come up with. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 10:36
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Reminds me of English Lok Lak, which I think is just normal Lok Lak served with chips/fries instead of rice. 
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Jul 4, 2013 11:16
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In Vietnam we have "bo luc lac": Beef cubes with bell peppers/onions (basically, a beef sweker), served with french fries. Funny.
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Jul 4, 2013 11:39
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Thank god we have a legitimate Chinese heritage/presence in the Philippines, because otherwise fried rice here would always have hotdog bits in it rather than sometimes.
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Jul 4, 2013 11:48
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toasterwarrior posted:Thank god we have a legitimate Chinese heritage/presence in the Philippines, because otherwise fried rice here would always have hotdog bits in it rather than sometimes. I always enjoy trips to Malaysia where I can get their awesome nasi goreng and other more Chinesey Chinese stuff. Now that you mention it, some of the Chinese stuff in the Phils was pretty good, though I had a real problem getting them to make anything spicy, but that's par for the course in a country where people freak out if so much as a speck of black pepper lands on their food, heh.
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Jul 4, 2013 11:55
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ReindeerF posted:Yeah, Thailand-Cambodia-Laos probably have the worst fried rice in the region. All steamy and with weird poo poo in it sometimes. Khao Phad Nam Riep, which is fried rice with those Chinese-style olives, is the only one I ever order. Honestly it's probably because the rice is so much better. Real jasmine rice soaks up about 50% again more water per volume of rice than your usual Chinese pig feed / restaurant price point rice. Frying high water content foods is a trick, the main mistake being that you can't overcrowd your pan if you expect to do anything other than steam even with oil in there, and who ever heard of an Asian dude who didn't crowd the poo poo out of his wok? Chinese fried rices start with lower water content rice and usually feature a lot more sodium added during cooking in one way or another (Thais slop on their fish sauce after cooking usually), such as in your nasi goreng paste, and the salt helps dry the rice out a bit as well allowing more of it to actually fry (the carbs to crisp up and caramelize, the fats to reach a higher-than-steaming temp and being changing chemically, protein losing adjacent water content to get replaced with either oil or distributed liquified animal fats, etc).
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Jul 4, 2013 12:45
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ReindeerF posted:I always enjoy trips to Malaysia where I can get their awesome nasi goreng and other more Chinesey Chinese stuff. Now that you mention it, some of the Chinese stuff in the Phils was pretty good, though I had a real problem getting them to make anything spicy, but that's par for the course in a country where people freak out if so much as a speck of black pepper lands on their food, heh. Have you tried out Bicol Express yet? In general, Bicolano food is considered spicy, though I think most Filipinos prefer sour or salty food to spicy ones. Granted, I'm not fond of spicy stuff either unless it's really good like Korean bibimbap so I'm not one to judge. I do remember sometimes finding whole peppercorns in adobo (which is straight up gross, by the way), but then again it's not Chinese cuisine so standards are different.
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Jul 4, 2013 12:53
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toasterwarrior posted:Have you tried out Bicol Express yet? In general, Bicolano food is considered spicy, though I think most Filipinos prefer sour or salty food to spicy ones. \/\/\/ I always wondered who actually ate it, heh. Now I know! ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 12:58
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lemonadesweetheart posted:I have to ask, what's american fried rice? To extrapolate from ReindeerF. It does seem to originate from Vietnam War era. It consists of: - Plain fried Rice, with ketchup, onion and raisin. - Fried Chicken (usually drumstick) and/or fried ham. - Egg, sunny side up. - A few fried hot dog sausages. - A leaf of lettuce and a few slice of cucumbers, for decoration. I used to like it when I was a child... Hell, who am I kidding, I still like it. FortMan fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 16:15
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American fried rice is GIs' American breakfast leftovers scraped into a pile and mixed with some fried rice or fried up with it. Most places do it poorly, and it's awful. The rare good one is amazing, though.
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Jul 4, 2013 17:19
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Only in SE Asia would the cook think a hot dog counted as a breakfast sausage or that raisins go anywhere near any of this poo poo. I love that they still usually put a little julienned carrot on the plate, though, to make it all fancy-like. Also, ketchup as an ingredient in cooking. Thanks, Asia.
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Jul 4, 2013 21:44
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I have a co-worker who's trying to find out some info that doesn't seem to be readily available online: She's looking to confirm if its possible to take a boat from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc (Vietnam) and then bus to Ho Chi Minh. If so, any recommendations for particular companies? Or skip it and fly? She knows she can go from Vietnam to PP by boat, but not 100% sure she can go from PP to Vietnam because of visa issues. When she's looked on travel forums, they give conflicting info (It was the recommended cheap way to travel, but looks like it may have changed sometime around 2011).
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Jul 5, 2013 02:12
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Can we assume from your post that she's asking "if I don't have a visa in advance..." and then the rest of it? Or is that wrong?
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Jul 5, 2013 03:00
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I took the bus/boat trip from Ho Chi Mihn ---> Chau Doc ---> Phnom Phen  It takes forever and is not really that cheap. The boat ride was the worst, just sitting on a boat with nothing much going on. We arrived at like 2am in the morning in Chau Doc and sat on our asses for 4 hours. Then the next part we paid for the fast boat and turns out they put us on the slow boat Just take a bus if you are on a budget.  VisaFrom 2 years back, Vietnam only allows visa on arrival if you are flying and have a letter of recommendation (internet agencies need 1 day beforehand). If she wants to go overland into Vietnam before hand, she needs to have a visa ready.
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Jul 5, 2013 03:39
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I did HCMC to PP by boat too. Not really worth it in my opinion. Takes forever as caberham says and there's hardly anything to see along the river. So yeah, taking a boat might sound cool but it's really just a big let down.
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Jul 5, 2013 05:37
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It's still the same today with VoA only possible if flying into Vietnam with an invitation letter. Google Vietnam visa, you'll find loads of sites offering letters of invitation for like $10 or so. I went with the cheapest site I could find and it worked fine. You'll have to pay a stamping fee at the airport too which varies based on the kind of visa you want. If you don't want to wait around a hour or less at the airport for them to issue you the visa, read below but the VoA option is typically cheaper. If you're going by land, find an agency to get you the visa DO NOT GO TO THE EMBASSY YOURSELF. Using an agent will save you money, time, and pain. I was told about a couple who went to the embassy and balked at the price quoted so they went to an agency instead. When the agent went to the embassy, they remembered their faces in the photos and denied them visas  There is no way at all to get a visa at the border or flying in without making arrangements in advance.
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Jul 5, 2013 05:37
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Abugadu posted:She knows she can go from Vietnam to PP by boat, but not 100% sure she can go from PP to Vietnam because of visa issues. I've only done the boat from Vietnam to Phnom Penh (stayed overnight in Chau Doc) so not too sure what going in other direction is like. But if she's staying in Phnom Penh she can easily get a Vietnam visa in advance, it only takes a couple of days to process and any guesthouse or travel agent can arrange it. Tytan fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 05:43
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Tomato Soup posted:If you're going by land, find an agency to get you the visa DO NOT GO TO THE EMBASSY YOURSELF. Using an agent will save you money, time, and pain. I was told about a couple who went to the embassy and balked at the price quoted so they went to an agency instead. When the agent went to the embassy, they remembered their faces in the photos and denied them visas Embassy prices are worse than agents?  That's so weird. I just go to the consulates and pay. How much did you guys pay for a Vietnam visa? Mine was 300 HKD, around 35 USD for a single entry  Is that pricey? Vietnam sucks. Just saying. 
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Jul 5, 2013 05:57
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Ringo R posted:I did HCMC to PP by boat too. Not really worth it in my opinion. Takes forever as caberham says and there's hardly anything to see along the river. So yeah, taking a boat might sound cool but it's really just a big let down.
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Jul 5, 2013 09:32
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Visas again! Assume I wanted to go to Bangkok to visit a urologist: I have an unused thai tourist visa in my passport, but don't want to use it. I would prefer to enter with a visa waiver, giving me up to 30 days in the country (I will be flying). This is because I will be returning to cambodia, then going back to Thailand overland in three weeks. I will only get a 14 day waiver by going overland, so would prefer to use the tourist visa then, and not waste it on a few days in Bangkok just to go to hospital. Is this possible (ie to say "hi I have a visa but don't want to use it, please just stamp my passport instead") and if so does it have to be arranged in advance or can I do it at the airport? This will play havoc with my Cambodian visas but that's a lot easier to sort out.
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Jul 5, 2013 09:52
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The official word on this is that it's not strictly illegal, but that if a border guard notices during the process of stamping you in then it's not unheard of them to force you to use the visa - or for the next one, who sees the visa after you get the stamp, to question you suspiciously about the irregularity. My guess, though, is that you can slip through if you have enough visas in there. I've got probably 10 Thai visas stamped in there and even when I hand the thing to them with the page earmarked and the visa number written down they still can't find it.
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Jul 5, 2013 10:04
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ReindeerF posted:I'm not sure what it's like today, but ten years ago the little immigration hut on the creek that demarcates the border was pretty loving quaint, heh. Also Chau Doc itself I really enjoyed. The rest of it, yeah, not a memorable experience, though if there's a boat and a bus and the time's anywhere close, I always take the boat just for the fresh air and sun. Nowadays though South East Asia (except Burma??) is pretty well paved for its major highways. Even Poipet went upscale!
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Jul 5, 2013 10:38
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ReindeerF posted:The official word on this is that it's not strictly illegal, but that if a border guard notices during the process of stamping you in then it's not unheard of them to force you to use the visa - or for the next one, who sees the visa after you get the stamp, to question you suspiciously about the irregularity. They've put it on the very last page. The only thing separating it from the photo page is a flimsy page explaining what each bit of the photo page looks like in about fifteen languages. Think I'll just risk it, fill in the waiver form and play dumb if they see the visa. It's no biggy if I do have to use it, the 14 day waiver can be extended to 21 days anyway.
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Jul 5, 2013 10:49
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/\/\/\ True, but A) you don't want to go all the way up to Chaengwattana and pay 1,900 baht for a 7 day extensions as it's a major pain in the rear end and, B), you should be eligible for a Medical Visa extension if you're in the hospital. Shoot me an email at reindeerf@outlook.com if you have any questions.caberham posted:Nowadays though South East Asia (except Burma??) is pretty well paved for its major highways. Even Poipet went upscale! ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 10:50
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Tomato Soup posted:There is no way at all to get a visa at the border or flying in without making arrangements in advance. caberham posted:Embassy prices are worse than agents?  "Citizens of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway visiting Vietnam for up to 15 days are exempted from Visas" duckmaster: Sorry, don't think skipping that tourist visa will work Good luck with your balls! Seriously, that sucks I used to have tons of Thai visas in my old passport like ReindeerF and one time the immigration officer just flipped through my passport for ages and then just gave up and stopped but he didn't say anything (oh no, loose face). So I had to show him which one to stamp on.I am back in Bangkok for a while in case anyone wants to grab a beer and be awkward. Also, FML:  That took probably four hours. Censored because if they find out it's me I will get blacklisted for "insult goverment not take care farang quick for make visa not welcome thailand anymore" "If make name long it more good and hiso and important na ka"  - - - VVV - Yes same same it number one place to satay Ringo R fucked around with this message at 11:36 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 11:30
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/\/\/\ ka nhong lingo I go for call dit week na ja we go thamboon ja today i hab many sick from eat bad som tam jingRingo R posted:I am back in Bangkok for a while in case anyone wants to grab a beer and be awkward. EDIT: Oh, Non-Immigrant. HiSo na. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 11:31
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So I've got the chance for a few days holiday coming up in a couple of weeks and want to try diving in Thailand. I know there is at least one goon in this thread out there diving so can I get some recommendations? I seem to recall Ko Tao being mentioned as the place to head for, any recommendations for outfits to dive with there? Or places that would be better to hit up? I'm already qualified (BSAC Dive leader) although don't have much of my kit out with me (luggage things and moving here, only brought my dive computer and torch) so any recommendations on what to rent, what would be good to buy before? (I'm going to pick up a mask but fins? wetsuit?). Hell is this even a good time to be heading there or will I just get told stuff was awesome 2 weeks ago/will be awesome in 2 weeks? Any and all advice appreciated, if you're there when I am I will buy beer!
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Jul 5, 2013 13:32
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Get ready to see a lot of hello kitty police officers in Thailand folks! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6932801.stm
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Jul 5, 2013 14:24
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MrNemo posted:I know there is at least one goon in this thread out there diving so can I get some recommendations? lol internet. posted:Get ready to see a lot of hello kitty police officers in Thailand folks!
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Jul 5, 2013 14:25
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MrNemo posted:So I've got the chance for a few days holiday coming up in a couple of weeks and want to try diving in Thailand. I know there is at least one goon in this thread out there diving so can I get some recommendations? Other dive Goons, what's the consensus on Koh Phangan? We went to Sail Rock three times and loved it, and had much smaller groups than you might get at Koh Tao. Of course, that's the Koh Phangan divemaster perspective. What's up? edit: If you want to spend some cash, it seems like the Andaman side of things is also worth some money. Is this true, dive Goons?
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Jul 5, 2013 18:15
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MothraAttack posted:Other dive Goons, what's the consensus on Koh Phangan? We went to Sail Rock three times and loved it, and had much smaller groups than you might get at Koh Tao. Of course, that's the Koh Phangan divemaster perspective. What's up? I often led groups of one (ie one diver plus myself) or two when I worked on Koh Tao. 4 was the biggest group unless there was a bigger group that wanted to be together. Not sure how much smaller you can get  Sail Rock is by far the best dive site in the gulf of Thailand, but not consistently so. A good day at Chumphon Pinnacle is far superior to a mediocre day at Sail Rock. Also, SR is a lot more hit and miss for vis. I've had 50cm vis days at SR... Andaman coast Is def worth checking out. But it is off season right now... doesnt start up till Oct I think
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Jul 5, 2013 21:37
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