The Many Noodle Soups of SE Asia

Of all the types of foods in Southeast Asia, noodle soups were the most ubiquitous of all. I estimate that I had some kind of noodle dish once every three days in my 6 months traveling. It seemed that everywhere we went there were new and interesting noodle soups to try.

Some had watery broths, others had thick creamy stocks. 

Some were packed with extreme flavor, and other relied on accoutrements for seasoning. 

All of theme featured some kind of meat and vegetables. 

Many of them had eggs. 

All of them were eaten with chopsticks, even in Thailand where forks and spoons are more common. 

Their prices ranges from $0.60 to $6.00. 

I ate soups in restaurants and on the street, in all settings: from my hotel porch to plastic benches on the sidewalk. 

I had delicious and not-so-delicious soups in every country. 

This is a comprehensive list of all the soups I had in every country in Southeast Asia. Many of them I had more than once. 

VIETNAM 

Pho with beef in Hanoi, Vietnam

Bun Bo Hue in Hue, Vietnam

Pho Dac Biet (special everything pho) in Saigon, Vietnam

Noodle soup with pig ear from the street in Hanoi, Vietnam

THAILAND 

Beef noodle soup in a savory broth in Hua Hin, Thailand

Kao Soi curry chicken noodle soup with crispy wontons in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Breakfast noodle soup with fish on the train in Bangkok, Thailand

Spicy noodle soup with ground pork in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Another version sof Kao Soi in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Noodle soup with poached egg and "bounce pork" in Chiang Mai, Thailand

 
CAMBODIA

The best beef noodle soup in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Watery and flavorless noodle soup at a bus stop in Camodia

A mystery meat noodle soup at a bus stop in Cambodia

 

LAOS 

Pork and rice noodle in Vientiane, Laos

Delicious breakfast noodle soup in Huay Xai, Laos

Breakfast at my hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos

 

MYANMAR 

Dry noodle with ground port in Yangon, Myanmar

Singapore style spice noodle soup in Yangon, Myanmar

Rice noodle soup in Bagan, Myanmar

 

MALAYSIA 

Penang prawn noodle soup in Penang, Malaysia

Assam Laksa in Penang, Malaysia

SINGAPORE 

Spicy coconut curry Laksa in Singapore

What did I eat in Cambodia?

Pho Vong in Siem Reap: the best meal I have ever had anywhere. period.

 Although this is not the country from which I have the most culinary memories, I did have some epics wins. The most memorably delicious meal I ever had on any of my trips was in Cambodia. It was beef noodle soup with a Cambodian iced coffee. The place is called Pho Vong and it is on the northeast corner of Khmer Pub Street and Charles De Gaule.

1. Food I wished I had but didn't: Marijuana pizza. It might have been interesting...
2. Food I had but wished I didn't: Noodle soups at the rest stop. They were terrible. 
3. What should have been on the list: Amok. It's a traditional dish and quite unique. 
4. Biggest surprise: how much Western breakfast there was everywhere!
5. Most delicious meal: Beef noodle soup with an ices Cambodia coffee at Pho Vong 

Road stop noodle soup 

Several rungs down on the ladder from the best beef noodle soup at Pho Vong, these soups were eaten at roadside restaurants from Saigon to Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.Unexpected meat parts and hearty flavors.

at a road stop after the Cambodian border

at a road stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

Amok and Traditional Cambodian food

Amok is a coconut curry in banana leaf and usually has fish or meat. I tried it in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and loved it.  Luckily I had some Cambodian friends who knew how to order. 

Amok is on the far left. Also pictured: curry and stir-fry beef

Amok with fish

Western Breakfast 

Maybe it's because Cambodia was at the tale end of my 6-month trip in Asia, or maybe it's because western breakfasts are so abundant and diverse, but all I wanted in the morning was brunch food. With plenty of options to choose from, I never had to eat the same dish twice. 

pancakes with a cappuccino

granola with fruit and yogurt

Lox bagel with cappuccino

eggs Benedict

 Market Food

I had hoped that Cambodian market food would be as good as Thailand, so when we were in Phnom Penh, we made a trip to the Russian market to check out the culinary offerings. Unfortunately, it did not feel very sanitary and much of the food was cold. Still an interesting experience, and by far the cheapest meal we had in Cambodia. 

Stir fried noodles with egg, freshly cooked and delicious

waffle, super cold and stale

bread with sweet cream dip, also cold and stale

Fruit Juices and Smoothies

As in most SE Asian countries fruit smoothies are amazing and plentiful. I  can't remember all the flavors and fruits we tried, but you can get a sense of the variety just by looking at the colors. 

 

A Day in My Life: Chiang Mai

sunset from my rooftop

When I started this blog as a way of cataloging my travels and my life, I didn’t intend to make it a diary. and record a play-by-play recap of each day. That would be both too personal, and too ordinary. But after living and traveling to so many places, I now see the value in recording the events of an ordinary day, because they are so revealing of  the place, the time, and the stage in my life. Even if I went back to Chiang Mai again, I could never recreate the life I lived there in early 2015. 
The moment has passed. 
Chiang Mai is different now, and so am I. 

My time in Chiang Mai was special because I had no responsibilities other than to myself. Because of this, I had to design a schedule that allowed for both productivity and leisure. Before arriving in Chiang Mai I recorded the projects I wanted to work on and allocated time to each of them. I never followed my schedule exactly, but it helped me stay focus and accomplish something each day.

my favorite breakfast

Here is how I spent most days in Chiang Mai.

Mornings begin at 9:00 am, where I awake in the sunlight streaming through the white curtains of our east-facing balcony.

By 10:00 we are having breakfast at our favorite place in the city. I still don’t know the name, but I always order the same thing: Mama Noodles, and Tom-Yum Eggs. My partner usually chooses between 2 or 3 noodle soups and we share a drink. Our total bill is $3 USD. 

After breakfast we head straight to a café. Sometimes it’s Marble Arch, or 9^th Street, or Artisan (our old favorite), or Chang Nong (our new favorite), or CAMP (if it’s a week day). I either work on blogging or editing my novel for two hours, typically from 10:30-12:30.

We break for lunch and eat something small. Zood Zood is a cheap and good choice, or the noodle place beside Beta House, which serves amazing Butterfly Pea tea and Pandan tea.

Around 1:30 we head back to the condo, to avoid the hottest hours of the day. I either continue writing/editing, or I read a book on the balcony, until around 4:00 pm.

In the late afternoon we head to the gym. I start with cardio, alternating between the treadmill and the elliptical. After 45 minutes of cardio, I stretch and do some isometric exercises, spending a total of one hour, or an hour and a half, at the gym. After showing and changing clothes, it’s close to 6:00 pm. 

The sun sets consistently between 6:00 and 6:30, so we like to view it from the rooftop of my apartment, where we can see a full view of the mountains and city.   

We like to eat an early dinner to avoid the crowds and noise, and we try to dine off the main drag of Nimman because at this point we’ve tried everywhere nearby. We have a couple favorites, like Hong Tuaw or Beast Burger  just down the street, but we also try new places like Huen Muan Jai or places at the Think Park. If it’s a weekend and restaurants are too busy, we grab street food and eat at home.

I usually like to go out to another café after dinner, but the options are limited since many cafes close around 6:00pm, and the ones that don't are packed with college students in the evenings. Often times we just go home and watch movies together on our couch. I then read in bed for about an hour or so, and fall asleep just before midnight.

The Best Burgers in SE Asia

It’s true. After so many noodle soups, no matter how delicious they are, the American in me wants a burger. For someone who rarely eats burgers in the states, I ate a burger in just about every country in SE Asia (except Singapore and Malaysia).

Burgers themselves are not hard to come by, but good ones certainly are. This list goes in order from best to worst, and by country. 

Weatherspoon's, Bagan, Myanmar

Beast Burger, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Naughty Nuri's pork burger, Ubud, Bali

Sputnik's Black Burger, Vientiane, Laos

Freshness burger, Yangon, Myanmar

Jay's House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Gotcha burger, Saigon, Vietnam

Coconut restaurant, Luang Prabang, Laos