Experiencing Thailand Through Food

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Take a look of what I have here. Are you going to eat these raw? Aside from the obvious long beans and cabbage chunk, the one with long stem is some sort of herbs. When I say eat them raw? What comes to mind? To me, even if I were to take raw veggie(which I do sometimes), these would never be my choice. I would rather go for celery, baby tomatoes (which has less of the slimy part), carrots and lettuce. Long beans??? "No, they're too raw, I've never been introduced eating them like that. The simplest way at least to eat them is in omelette or stir fries." Cabbage??? "No, the raw taste and the after smell which lingers is definitely a no-no. In fact, this veggie can really make one bloated with gas." Herbs?? I never had herbs in my food until the last time I had it with a noodle dish in Vietnam. At least, that was added and soaked in the soup.

So, how did these end up in my hand? I will definitely not ask for these. In fact, I wonder if these are direct from the farm- market- hawker. Yes, fresh but have they been thoroughly washed for consumption? The lady hawker stuffed this in when I bought my Som Tam (Thai sweet+sour+spicy salad) during my stay in Thailand.

Let me tell you how this snack tastes. It's crispy and seasoned with soy sauce and pepper. -End of Story- And no, I didn't get any stomach upset.

Not a perfect picture as it was taken with a mobile phone on my free hand.

Tada....

Tada...tada....

Here's my other snack which naturally is white in colour. I don't exactly know what to call it, blame it on my poor insects vocab. Above is how it looks after been fried and seasoned. Taste wise, unlike the first, this is not crispy nor crunchy..well a lil on the outer layer but when you bit through it, it's powdery and moist in the middle. Yeap, that's the innard of it. Texture's like the brain part of prawns (if you know what i mean).

Can I call this a bug? A beetle? I don't know. I least favour this. It has a subtle weird taste which the seasoning can't even conceal.

About 100g of this snack costed THB20. However I only finished the cricket. Again, nope...no stomach upset. Give them a try when you visit Thailand.

5 Reasons Why A Working Holiday Appeals to Me

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1. Longer stay abroad

Unlike most holiday trips, this program allows me to stay for more than 30 days in a foreign country. I will be able to take things slowly absorbing my new environment.

2. Elligibility to work

What's more I'm allowed to work to fund this holiday. That also means I am able to keep my travelling costs to a minimum. I will be earning and spending there without affect much of my savings back home.

3. Opportunity to experience a different lifestyle
I'll be able to understand the culture and way of life of the locals by being a part of the working people, also a part of the community where I stay. I will get to learn the working culture, the eating habit, the pastimes, the norms... etc.

4. Opportunity to interact with people from all over the world

Besides the locals, there will be lots of other Working Holiday Maker s(WHM) I'm going to meet & work together with. We'll be a community of holiday makers at a foreign land.

5. Self discovery

I also consider this as an opportunity to discover more about myself. How far I can go by myself. How good I mix around and interact with new people. How well i manage and organize mysel on my own during adverse situations.

Requirements of a Working Holiday Scheme

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I'm not sure if any of you know about a Working Holiday. This leads to the purpose of this post. A working holiday basically is work+holiday scheme. *NONSENSE* LoL. Ok, I'm not good at providing informations but I'll let you know what I gather about it.

A working holiday is a scheme

a) catering to youths within the age of 18-30

b) unlike other holidays abroad, you are allowed to work to fund your holiday under this scheme

c) you may stay for a longer time at that particular country, exp. a max of 6 months in NZ, or 2 years in UK. This may vary according to mutual agreement of these countries with your own.

d) you must be single and have no dependants

e) you have a proof of sufficient financial support for your first week there and a flight ticket to return to your home country.

f) As I understand, to be qualified for UK's Working Holiday, the applicant will have to show proofs of their plans in UK. Basically, he/she has to assure them that their primary purpose in UK is to travel and not to work.


Links to more info on:-

Working Holiday NZ

Working Holiday UK


NEXT: Why am I attracted to WHM?

Going for a Working Holiday. Then what?

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I have a dream. I dream of myself going on a working holiday. I'm not sure if it's meant for me but I would love to give it a try while I'm still qualified. For Malaysians, we only have the UK Working Holidays (2 years) and NZ Working Holidays (6 months). The memorandum with Aus is likely to materialize soon. Yay, 3 options soon.

OK, back to this. It's been in my thought since I graduated from uni mid last year. However, I've decided to work and get the feel of working life before I set off on my own. Not to say I'm ready now, but I'm not sure if I'll feel like leaving when I'm midway up the corporate ladder. This ques keeps bouncing back to me. What will I do when I return from this 2-3 years nomading abroad? Will it be a problem to join the workforce then, as a 'not so fresh anymore grad' with limited working experience?

As a beginner to blogging, I learn that one can monetize it. I can't stop wondering how this is done. How can one reach a point where they get 20,000 unique visitor to his site. I'm talking about Kenny Sia. No, he didn't tell me that. I once read about an interview with him on the local paper. It was written by NicoleKiss. Now, this girl. She's the same age as me but I've already considered her as my role model. I hope to do what's she's doing now. She's the best living proof for a Malaysian like me. Why? Because she's globetrotting while her blog generates money .Don't get me wrong, it's not that she totally abandons her blog while the money keeps coming in. She has to log in and continue writing on the go for sure. I've been following her blog for a while now and I'm still figuring out how she manages to garner and hook her readers and how exactly she earns from it.

It's a lot of research to be done, reading up on success stories, tips, trying out myself, thinking about life again, etc. Some people call this 'Mid Twenties Crisis'.

I'm curious, how do you really earn from your ads and which would you recommend most?