Brief record of our trip (Friday 8/17/2007 - Thursday 8/23/2007):
Day 1 Friday- Arrived in Kauai at 4 PM. Stopped in Kapaa to buy groceries at Safeway. Discovered Papaya Natural Foods store. Arrived at Kamahana condo in Princeville. Stayed in.
Day 2 Saturday- Explored north shore. Found Lumahai beach. Explored shops in Hanalei. Bought ahi salad and smoothie from Papaya natural foods. Ate dinner at Polynesia Cafe - grilled ahi with steamed vegetables and brown rice. Casual outdoor restaurant with good food served on paper plates. BYOB. After dinner stopped into Bar acuda restaurant and wine bar and spotted Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Arquette, Ben Stiller.
Day 3 Sunday - Morning - went to Makai golf course driving range. Visited Hanalei Bay Resort. Started guava gathering. Found hidden Kahili beach. Nice beach tucked away in residential neighborhood. Few campers and surfers. Drove to Kilauea Lighthouse but it was closed. Ate dinner at lounge at Hanalei Bay resort.
Day 4 Monday - Morning- 2.5 mile run, Kiran went to driving range. Drove to Puipu area to see south shore. Took dirt cane roads to hidden Mahaulepu beach . Great long white sand beach with good swimming. Mostly deserted with few sun bathers and kite surfers. After beach, walked through Grand Hyatt Poipu. Drove to Lihue to find Whaler's Brewpub but it was closed for construction. Ate dinner at Norberto's El Cafe - taro leaf enchiladas. Food was not great - would not go back.
Day 5 Tuesday - Hiked Na Pali coast (all day). 2 miles to Hanakapiai beach plus 2 more miles to Hanakapiai Falls. Swam in pond and under waterfall. Ate dinner at Postcards Cafe in Hanalei.
Menu:
1. Porcini encrusted scallops with beet puree, carrot puree and date cashew dressing.
2. Mushroom and acorn soup.
3. Sweet Potato crusted ono fish with fennel buerre blanc sauce
Day 6 Wedensday - Timeshare presentation at Hanalei Bay Resort, snorkeling at Queen's Bath, brown rice sushi lunch from FoodLand, Hiva Pacifica Luau, walked to beach through Princeville Resort
Day 7 Thursday - early morning flight to Honolulu then Sacramento
Things to try next time - Ke'e beach, Secret Beach, raft trip along Na Pali coast, kayaking, waimea canyon, wailua falls, more hikes. Would stay in Princeville again. Some nice condos incluse The Cliffs, Pali Ke Kua has a direct path to the beach and "turtle bay"
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico
San Cristobal de las Casas is a beatiful colonial town in the southern most state of Chiapas, Mexico. The city is a magical place with a central plaza, gorgeous churches, cobblestone streets, amazing art, and wonderful restaurants and cafes. There is no way to truly capture the beauty of this town on camera but here are a few of my attempts...
Friday, January 5, 2007
Mastering the Art of Thai Cooking
We woke at 8 AM in anticipation for our day long Thai cooking class that we had booked before leaving SF. We were given 
strict instructions not to eat a big breakfast, but "mama," Semay's mother and Moon Dance's cook, enjoyed feeding her guests and didn't seem to take out request seriously. We got 1 western breakfast with fried eggs, ham, sausage (what we would call a mini hot dog) and oj, and one Thai breakfast of jhok, or rice porridge soup. We were picked up from our guest house at 9:30 AM and 
brough over to A Lot of Thai cooking school, a small family run school in the home of Yui, Kwan and their two kids http://www.alotofthai.com. In the car, we met our classmates, two young girls from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who had quit their jobs to travel for 5 months, Billy, an Australian guy from Melbourne who was also on extended holiday, a family from Austria, and Mike, a young guy from New Orleans who had spent 
the last 10 months travelling as a freelance journalist. At the moment he was writing an article on cooking schools in Chiang Mai for Travel and Leisure Magazine (so cool!). The class turned out to be amazing! We each cooked six dishes: pad thai, stir fried chicken/vegetables with cashew nuts, vegetable spring rools, tom yum gung (spicy shrimp soup), chicken/vegetables in green curry, and 
sticky rice with mango. Yui, our instructor, was very sweet, knowledgeable, funny and passionate about cooking. In the middle of the class, we took a trip to the local market where Yui helped to de-mystify the local specialities. We learned about everything from local fruits and vegetables to the different kinds of rice, sauces, eggs, seafood, herbs, dessert, and so much more! This was a definitely a highlight of our class and our trip! By the 
end of the cooking class, we were so full we could hardly move. We ended the evening with an interesting 2 hour game of Chinese Checkers with Lars, Semay, Hiroshi and Marcel, an interesting Swiss guy who had a thing for Thai "lady boys," one of which we met that night - Rose. Kiran loves to share this story so I'm sure you'll more when we get back!
strict instructions not to eat a big breakfast, but "mama," Semay's mother and Moon Dance's cook, enjoyed feeding her guests and didn't seem to take out request seriously. We got 1 western breakfast with fried eggs, ham, sausage (what we would call a mini hot dog) and oj, and one Thai breakfast of jhok, or rice porridge soup. We were picked up from our guest house at 9:30 AM and 
brough over to A Lot of Thai cooking school, a small family run school in the home of Yui, Kwan and their two kids http://www.alotofthai.com. In the car, we met our classmates, two young girls from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who had quit their jobs to travel for 5 months, Billy, an Australian guy from Melbourne who was also on extended holiday, a family from Austria, and Mike, a young guy from New Orleans who had spent 
the last 10 months travelling as a freelance journalist. At the moment he was writing an article on cooking schools in Chiang Mai for Travel and Leisure Magazine (so cool!). The class turned out to be amazing! We each cooked six dishes: pad thai, stir fried chicken/vegetables with cashew nuts, vegetable spring rools, tom yum gung (spicy shrimp soup), chicken/vegetables in green curry, and 
sticky rice with mango. Yui, our instructor, was very sweet, knowledgeable, funny and passionate about cooking. In the middle of the class, we took a trip to the local market where Yui helped to de-mystify the local specialities. We learned about everything from local fruits and vegetables to the different kinds of rice, sauces, eggs, seafood, herbs, dessert, and so much more! This was a definitely a highlight of our class and our trip! By the 
end of the cooking class, we were so full we could hardly move. We ended the evening with an interesting 2 hour game of Chinese Checkers with Lars, Semay, Hiroshi and Marcel, an interesting Swiss guy who had a thing for Thai "lady boys," one of which we met that night - Rose. Kiran loves to share this story so I'm sure you'll more when we get back! On to North Thailand...
From Phuket, we took a flight to Bangkok then Chiang Mai, arriving at 2:45 PM. While waiting to pick up our suitcase, Kiran thought he spotted an old friend from Cal, but I wasn't convinced. Deciding that there was only one way to find out, we walked over to where he was standing and strategically struck up a conversation about Cal, Sure enough we had run into a fraternity brother, Rabin Marfatia, half way around the world! Mr. A, a hired taxi driver picked us up from the airport and 
brought us to our guest house, Moon Dance on the River. The house was owned and run by Lars, a Swedish ex-finance guy (40) and his Thai girlfirned, Semay (22). The house was lovely - four rooms, gorgeous Thai artwork and furniture, a beautiful garden, and of course generous Thai welcome gifts like flowers on the bed and fresh bottles of water. We booked this guest house becasue it was the only one showing availability on t
he internet, but in the first few minutes, we could tell that it was going to be an interesting stay! The first guest we met was Hiroshi, a kind young Sony engineer from Tokyo. He told us a little about his week in Chiang Mai and then we headed off to do some exploring of our own. We took a tuk tuk to the Good View Restaurant, a popular spot for visitors that was right on the river. We sat outside enjoying the view while feasting on another saefood yam (unfortunately this one was made for farang (foriegn) palate) and fresh fish. After dinner, we walked to Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar and broused through the hundreds of stalls of local handicrafts, knock off wallets, purses, sunglasses and watches, jewelry, soaps, textiles and local artwork. The bazaar was enormous! Feeling too tired to see it all, we decided to stop browsing and Kiran got his third Thai massage for a whapping $2!
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