(To be sung to tune of My Favourite Things): Fish balls and tofu, bean curd and kiwis, Quail eggs and Chang beer, noodles, shiitake, Fresh crab with chilli, starfruit and choc mousse, And let’s not forget about Kickapoo juice! Dim sum and chicken, durian and Tiger, Fish crackers, kopi, lemongrass and kaya, Fried wonton and…
Markets of Manila
Taking my hand, she led me through the crowds of people who stared intently at us. In my newly assumed role as her charge, I kept close to her small steps manoeuvring around the stalls that spilled over our escape route – masses of clothes, watches, dolls and electronic goods sprawling across our path. A…
An opening line
If I could be anywhere it’d be by the coast. Give me rocky coves, big waves, sandy shores or the quientessial seaside resort – I love them all. Asides from my fascination with all things nautical, I am addicted to backpacking and enjoy meeting new faces. I’m afraid I’m one of those irritating people who…
Deal with the Devil
There’s something almost Faustian about signing a disclaimer for an extreme sport, especially in India where ‘health and safety’ has hardly been adopted into the local psyche. Nevertheless, I scribbled my signature without hesitation, imagining myself soaring on the thermals over the Himalayas for just 5200 Rupees (roughly 60 GBP). Paragliding in the Solang Nallah…
The art of noodles
The man slaps a lump of white dough on his metal work surface. Behind him, his wife tends to bubbling pots of miso soup, and dunks metal nets of noodles into boiling water. He sprinkles some flour on top of the dough and begins to stretch it from both ends, until it has white streaky…
Turning off snooze
I woke up. I was making my usual evening commute in the swirling traffic, buildings and hum of London. A long day in the office had numbed me, and my robotic footsteps travelled past white marble and grass lawns of Trinity Music College, where broken notes and shards of scales hung in the air and…
Ferns and forest 