Austin Bush

writer/photographer

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Any guesses? #lpinlaos

A really excellent breakfast at Xepon’s morning market: sticky rice, mixed w coconut milk, stuffed w smashed soybeans, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled; candied coconut meat, wrapped in rice flour, coconut milk and a banana leaf and steamed; and sticky rice, mixed w slightly sweetened coconut milk, filled w smashed soybeans, wrapped in a nanner leaf and grilled. I think sugar was only used in one or two of these, and sparingly, so they were rich and fragrant more than they were sweet. #lpinlaos

I’m in Xepon, near the border w Vietnam, where there’s one bridge destroyed by Americans and another built by Russians. While I was standing there thinking about this, a group of girls dove by on motorcycles and screamed “fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou!” at me. Maybe I deserved this? #foreignpolicykarma

Apparently this is a thing in Thai restaurants in the US. If you’re in Bangkok and want to try the real deal, tune into @fantasticfoodsearch. We’ve just posted two places that do very, very Bangkok-style Thai dishes, including a version of “swimming Rama” that doesn’t look like it came from a cookbook printed in 1952. #fantasticfoodsearch #ffsbangkok

Much of the food I’ve eaten here in Laos hasn’t been great. I’ve been in some pretty remote places and Laos is a very poor country. But when it’s good, Lao food is amazing: unique and often seasoned so deftly — savory, not sweet, w produce that has so much flavor. Like this duck laap. Where the Thai version might be tart and spicy, this was practically rich, w herbs that pack a punch. (And yes, that’s a banana leaf heart.) It’s going in the book! Ping Kai Napon, in Tha Khaek. #lpinlaos

#bangkok is big, confusing and hectic, with food options to match. FFS, how do you choose where to eat?

Easy! Use our simple hashtags to find the good stuff: #fantasticfoodseach #ffsbangkok #ffsthai.

Because of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, this area was bombed by the Americans; not far from the village, there’s a six or so km stretch of road edged w dozens and dozens of often linked craters. One village still has parts of a US fighter jet that was shot down rotting in its temple, as well as bomb casings rusting next to wood houses. To grasp the scale of this, watch the recent Ken Burns doc, The Vietnam War; the footage of bombs being poured on these places is truly horrifying. #lpinlaos

The area was once part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and this cave was allegedly home to 3,000 North Vietnamese troops at one point. It’s said that you can still find junk they left behind more than 40 years ago! #lpinlaos

Emerging from no internet and a crazily beautiful, weird and kind of sad place. Will update soon.

TV

March 02, 2008 in blog

Recently the Dutch television programme The Taste of Life was in Bangkok. I took them around town for a day, and even feature in part of the show! Apparently the video can be seen here, but I'm on the road and have yet to find a connection fast enough to accommodate streaming video. If you're blessed with amble bandwith take a look and let me know how silly I look.