Tuesday 28 February 2012

Fish Spa in Krabi Town


A few weeks ago we treated ourselves to a spa experience of a different kind.

It involved treatment by fish!


We went to a little place on the local weekend market.
While we were waiting our turn we could order any kind of drink and listen to the performances on the market stage.

When it was time for our "treatment" we had to rinse our feet off, then walk to a long row of aquariums with little fish.

These fish nibble on the foot soles and pretty much any skin immersed into the water, and thereby remove any old skin cells.

I admit, it took a while to get used to it. The intensity of the experience depends on how hungry the fish are. The fish in my aquarium seemed to be very hungry, so that almost all of them were nibbling on some part of my feet.


It doesn't hurt at all, but can be very ticklish. After a while however, one gets quite used to it.

The fish in Konrad's pool didn't seem quite so hungry and only some of them were actually nibbling away. We switched half-way through. This way I could also prove to him that all my squeaking and jerking in the beginning wasn't just me being overly ticklish ;)

After half an hour we got handed a little foot towel to dry off with and got to walk away with nice and smooth foot soles.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Bananitos and Mini Mangoes


This week we got to enjoy miniature versions of two favorite fruits of ours: small bananas also called bananitos and mini mangoes.

To prove to you how small they really are, here you can see how lost it looks in the palm of my hand.


Another visual proof. A bananito + a mini mango still fit comfortably into the palm of my hand.


Here in Thailand mini mangoes are called Ma Prang, but they are also known as plum mango and Marian mango.

Over on my cake blog I put together a longer write-up describing the features of these little fruits in further detail. You can check it out here.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Chinese New Year in Thailand







January 23rd marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Here in Thailand festivities weren't limited to one day, but rather the entire weekend before was celebrated.

There are a lot of traditions, many food related, connected with the Chinese New Year celebration.

Another tradition is greeting family, friends and neighbors with auspicious greetings wishing luck, happiness and prosperity for the new year.



In the supermarket I came across these apples that are combining a food related tradition with auspicious greetings.

I was so intrigued and really curious how the writing was brought onto the apples. So I picked up a couple, ready to do some online research once home.






Turns out to bring the writing onto the apples a sticker is put on before they fully ripen. The sticker blocks out the sun so that where it is placed the apple does not redden. Pretty cool.

I believe that the top apple says something like congratulations, but I have no clue for the writing within the heart.



Chinese New Year is a family holiday, and here in Thailand it is mainly celebrated within the homes. So we can’t observe too many of the details.

What we have noticed are the beautiful lantern garlands decorating the town streets and some homes and stores, as well as the extensive use of fire crackers. Really loud crackers. At any time of time.

On the first day of celebrations, both of us half jumped - half fell out of bed from the noise of the first crackers by a neighbor. They sound an awful lot like gunfire or like hail on a corrugated iron roof, depending how close you are.

Although it was quite a rude awakening, I still have to chuckle thinking of us jumping out of bed terrified and ready to run for cover ;)



On the actual New Year's Eve we went out to eat at a restaurant. It was a busy night for the owners, and they actually had to turn guests away. Several other eating locations at the markets, run by locals, were closed for the festivities. Resulting in more, or too many guests, for the places that stayed open.

We enjoyed some great shakes and this fantastic fruit salad that was served in a hollow pineapple half.