I was very excited to be visiting Angkor temples (or wats) for 4 days. The first morning we went to see Angkor Wat as it is the largest temple in Ancient ...
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Khmer Flavors, Siem Reap
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Ancient Angkor Temples – Day One
I was very excited to be visiting Angkor temples (or wats) for 4 days. The first morning we went to see Angkor Wat as it is the largest temple in Ancient Angkor. But before I describe that amazing complex, let me take you back through the history of Angkor, the ancient city area and seat of […]
Ancient Angkor Temples – Day Four
Kbal Spean Shrine After a light breakfast of fruits and croissants, we headed for Kbal Spean. It was about an hour ride from Siem Reap but was told, worth the journey. Kbal Spean is one of the most ancient Hindu shrines in the Angkor area, and is famous for its depictions of Hindu Gods, […]
Ancient Angkor Temples – Day Three
Ta Prohm Temple-Day 3 On day three after a warm breakfast of stir fried rice noodles and eggs, we headed to Ta Prohm (Ancestor of Buddha, in Khmer), located about 1 km east of Angkor Thom. Ta Prohm was built in the late 12th to early 13th centuries, during King Jayavarman Vll’s reign, and dedicated […]

Ancient Angkor Temples – Day Two
Bayon Temple-day 2 On our second day visiting Angkor, we headed for Bayon Temple after a delicious breakfast of local Khmer noodles and fruits and French style pastries. Bayon Temple is located in the center of the fortified walled city of Angkor Thom (which means Great City in Khmer), once the largest city in the […]
Remembering Ma on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2014
Happy Mother’s Day to my family, friends, and colleagues Remembering you Ma for Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day is coming soon and this year I have been thinking of my mom, Ma quite a bit. So I decided to take some of the stories of Ma from my cookbook, Flavors of Malaysia as a tribute to her. […]
New York Times Travel Show
Demo Presentation -Traditional Curry of Malaysia for New York Times Travel Show I will be doing a demo presentation at 11 am and book signing at 11:30 am at the New York Times Travel Show on Sunday, March 2nd at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. I will be talking about […]
Happy Chinese New Year
Happy Chinese New Year ! Gong Hee Fat Choy to my Chinese friends and readers! Wishing To all my Chinese friends and colleagues…Gong Hee Fatt Choy! A Very Happy New Year! Chinese New Year begins this year on January 31st…and it is the year of the horse! So if you are born in the years, […]
Cartagena, Colombia- Part 1
Cartegena, Colombia-Part 1 It was my birthday week and I decided to go somewhere warm to celebrate. I have always wanted to go to Cartagena. My dreams of travel were inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical book, “Love in the Time of Cholera” which was set in this old port city on Columbia’s northeast Caribbean […]
Cartagena, Colombia Part 2
Cartagena, Colombia- Part 2 Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, came to Cartagena in late April 1948 and created his literary masterpieces here. Cartagena became the muse for him as he unleashed his magical stories here. He became friends with the local poet Luis Carlos Lopez, and worked as a […]
France: part 3: The Riviera, Burgundy and Paris
We then drove to the French Riviera, known locally as Cote Azur which portrays a totally different scene…passing by its beautiful coastline, beaches and the mansions of the wealthy. We came to our hotel located outside Nice, located on the Mediterranean coast and the capital. It had its glitter and glamour during the 18th and […]

France: Part 2: Dordogne, Languedoc and Provence
We headed towards Bordeaux to spend the night. As we were came to Bordeaux, we drove around a roundabout with statues of pilgrims walking the pilgrimage road, Santiago de Compostela, one of the beginner routes that goes through Bordeaux into Spain. Bordeaux was first settled by Celtics and later came under Roman rule but today is a thriving student […]

France: Part 1: Normandy, Loire Valley, Atlantic Coast
Memories of my first visit to Paris come rushing back, whenever I encounter French art, wine or pastry. At the time, I was a grad student at the University of Reading in England, so my friends and I could not indulge in the finer luxuries that Paris had to offer. However, even on student’s budget […]
Cape Town, South Africa-Part 2
Cape Town, South Africa-Part 2 Table Mountain and the National Botanical Gardens Next morning we took the hop-on and hop -off bus towards Table Mountain, a looming figure anywhere you go in Cape Town area. There is plenty wildlife here with many species of flora, porcupines, baboons and guinea-pigs or rodents called dassies who live […]
Cape Town, South Africa-Part 1
Cape Town, South Africa-Part 1 My dream trip was about to come true. I have always been active in issues of social justice and starting in the 1980s I joined the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. I worked closely with the African National Congress in New York, pushing for sanctions against South Africa and […]