World Blog Surf Day: a South African braai in London

Welcome to this edition of World Blog Surf Day: Food Edition and hi to everyone who has clicked over from DaveAvenue.  This WBSD has been organised by Sher from Czech Off The Beaten Path and is the second such event to be organised.  The idea is that each expat blogger shares some of their experience and then links to another expat blogger so that you, the reader, can take a virtual trip around the world.

Food I miss and eating like a South African in London

I’ve been an expat my whole life.  My tagline should actually be ‘professional expat’ as opposed to ‘eternal tourist’!  I was born in South Africa and we moved to England then Nigeria then back to England by the time I was five and then returned to South Africa when I was nine.  My father hailed from Liverpool though and returned there a couple of years later.  After spending 25 years in South Africa, I consider myself to be South African through and through.  I am mostly fluent in Afrikaans and my heart and soul belong to that beautiful country at the tip of Africa.  

While in South Africa, I craved English sweets such as Flying Saucers and Cadbury’s Buttons.  Those are easily transported in a suitcase and for 25 years my cravings were periodically met as I visited UK or friends visited us.  If only it was that simple getting good old South African favourites over here!  The things South Africans miss the most can’t be simply put into a suitcase and up until a couple of years ago, our favourites were near impossible to get in England. 

Now South African shops are opening all over England and you can buy products online too and thus it was possible for us to have a good old South African braai last weekend.

Braai is the Afrikaans word for barbeque and it is universally used in South Africa to describe the art of cooking meat outdoors on an open flame.  We use charcoal or wood and firelighters, heat the fire up to its hottest point and then cook the meat as the fire cools down.  This gives the meat a distinctive smoked taste.

We consider a braai to be very different to a traditional barbeque because of the meat we cook on it.  No cheap hamburgers or sausages for us.  There are a couple of vital items in a good South African braai experience:

Boerewors is a very long, pure beef sausage that is presented as a coil in a tray.  The word boerewors is an Afrikaans word that is literally translated as “farmer’s sausage”.

One of the guests at our braai last Saturday told how he used to take his grandmother’s secret mix of herbs and spices to a butcher in north London to get them to make up boerewors for him.  It took a couple of tries for him to convince them not to bulk up the recipe with cereal but eventually the butcher must have tasted the sausages because he has made them to order ever since.

Sosatie is a skewer with chunks of chicken or lamb on.  The important thing is to marinate the meat for at least a couple of hours or overnight so that it absorbs the tasty flavour.

Another vital ingredient in a braai is marinated chops, steaks or chicken pieces.  The meat drips with marinate as it is moved onto the braai and is usually really tender and succulent. 

As you can see from Stephen’s plate above, the meat is the focus of the plate but most people also pile their plates high with salads.  Salads are  a central part of the braai experience.  Apart from your standard greens and coleslaw, potato salad made with mayonnaise and egg is also a firm favourite. 

There is one other traditional part of a braai that English-speaking South Africans like us aren’t as keen on and that is mieliepap.  This is a porridge made with maize meal and it is served with a tomato and onion relish.  It is most popular amongst the Afrikaner or black populations in South Africa.

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There are a couple of other items that we love to get at the South African shop.  I usually go to the SAvanna shop in the Vaults at London Bridge.

I love my colleagues. One of the biggest things I miss from South Africa is rooibos tea. Pronounced roy-boss (not ruby bush like my colleagues say) rooibos is literally translated as ‘red bush’.   It is naturally caffeine-free and full of anti-oxidants and can be enjoyed with milk and sugar or black, with lemon and honey.  I found this cup on my desk the other day and it truly cheered me up!

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Meebos (also known as Safari Fruit Dainties): this is mushed, dried fruit covered in sugar.  Yum, yum.

Fizzers are chewy candy sweets – my personal favourite.

Caramello Bears are chocolate bears with caramel inside.  I eat the heads off first and then the bodies.  They look just like koala bears and are most likely an Australian import.

Milo bars are chocolate bars made from Milo.  Milo is a Nestlé chocolate drink that is available just about everywhere in the world except for Europe and the US.

And last, but certainly not least, we have biltong and droëwors.  Biltong is a dried, cured beef that is similar to beef jerky.  I like very dry, lean biltong and I don’t like the biltong in London as it tastes like dried British beef to me which is exactly what it is!  Droëwors is literally translated as ‘dry sausage’.  I have never been a fan of droëwors as it has a faintly alcoholic taste.  Stephen and my brother love the stuff though so I usually buy them £15 biltong and £10 droëwors at a time.

You can imagine that shops and butchers selling boerewors, biltong and droëwors are making a roaring trade in England as it is not legal to bring these items into the country and they must be made here. 

The 2001 census showed that there were officially 140,000 South Africans living in England but it is estimated that the figure is more accurate at about 500,000.  This 2007 article suggests that there are as many South Africans in the UK as there are Poles.  It is no small wonder that so many South African shops and themed pubs popping up then!

Continuing your journey on World Blog Surf Day

Please click through now to Emmanuelle at Winning Away.  Emmanuelle is a French expat living in Vancouver, BC and she has a wonderful, professional blog on how to ‘Live Your Expat Life to the Fullest’.  Have a wonderful World Blog Surf Day!

Day out: Taking the Thames Clipper

I’ve wanted to go on a boat cruise up the Thames for the longest time and we finally got a chance on the Bank Holiday Sunday. The weather was glorious, the sky was blue and it was a lovely warm day. So we left the Thames Barrier and we drove up to The O2 and caught the TFL Thames Clipper from the Queen Elizabeth II Pier. Our group was made up of four adults and one teenager. A single trip on the Clipper is a whopping £5 and a return is £10. You can get a roaming ticket for £12 which allows you to get on and off as you please and they gave us a deal and allowed the teenager to go free when we bought four roaming tickets. Score!

The Clipper is so smart inside and it has a bar. I could have sat there the whole day just drinking coke and watching the sights go by.

We soon realised there were seats available outside, on the stern of the boat. I think you call it the stern but it is 23 years since I was a girl guide so I’m not sure.

[Click on the thumbnails for larger photos]

The Clipper goes really, really fast and we guessed that was the reason why we felt no sea sickness. The first stop was Greenwich which is usually so pretty but had ugly yellow cranes on the pier on this occasion! The photos above show the chimneys of the old Greenwich Power Station and the Greenwich Foundation.

The Peter Deilmann Deutschland cruise liner was in town for a couple of days

Canary Wharf pier

We were at the Canary Wharf pier in no time. I love Canary Wharf and I just knew I was going to get my best shot of Canary Wharf ever! I thought the pier looked like it came straight out of the seventies.

The best shot of Canary Wharf ever

I know I’ve taken tons of photos of Tower Bridge and the Mayor’s office before, but never from the middle of the Thames!

Tower Bridge and City Hall

Tower of London and Traitors Gate

If you click on the photo above, you can clearly see Traitors Gate where enemies of the Crown entered the Tower of London. [See my tour of the Tower of London: part 1 ¦ part 2].

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge

Across the river from the Tower of London we saw the magnificent HMS Belfast which is permanently moored and can be accessed via Tower Bridge or London Bridge station.

I need to go now so I’ll have to complete this post next week. Ten sleeps to New York!

Koh Kaew Yai - Boat trip from Rawai Beach

Just off the south of Phuket there are a number of small islands such as Koh Bon, Koh Lon and Coral Island all of which have beaches and some facilities and accommodation. We intend to visit them all in the future, especially now that we have found a friendly longtail boat captain at Rawai Beach. You can get to all these islands from Rawai and will have to negotiate a price for the boat trip. We have meant to do this for ages, and have vowed not to be so lazy from now on!

We took a trip to Rawai a few weeks ago. Weather was a bit grey and some light drizzle fell during the trip, but the sea was pretty calm. We wanted to visit Koh Kaew Yai which is only about 1km south of Phromthep Cape or about 4km by boat from Rawai Beach. The island has a Buddha statue facing towards Phuket watching over the island. Aside from the statue we did not know what to expect on the island. On the way back to Rawai we figured to stop at Koh Bon, which you can see from Rawai beach.

At Rawai we parked the car and called a mobile number written on a "Boat for Hire" sign. There are plenty of them either longtail or speedboat. Mr Chin arrived soon after the call and we agreed to pay 1000 Baht for the return trip. We can recommend Mr Chin - his mobile number is 081 6072427. Friendly guy. His son came along to help him with the boat.





It's not a long ride, took about 20 minutes. There were some longtail boats out fishing between Rawai and Phromthep. As we approached Koh Kaew Yai the Buddha statue became clearer and we could see that we'd be landing at a small beach. You can see the location of Koh Kaew Yai on Google Earth.





Despite the calm sea there was a bit of swell at the beach. Getting out of a longtail is not always the easiest of things for everyone when the boat is moving around. The little beach looked lovely, but there was a large and rather smelly pile of garbage waiting to greet us. This can only be garbage from the Monks who live on the island. Needs a clean up for sure.



We climbed some rocks at the north end of the beach where we found a shrine.



A path headed through the woods towards the big Buddha statue. We passed one of the Monks houses. Looks like the Monks here have quite a simple life... which is how it should be, right? Actually we had not known in advance that Monks lived here or we would have brought a donation of some kind.



The Buddha statue that you can see from Phromthep Cape is about 5 meters high standing on a platform over the rocks facing Phuket. I do like Buddha statues. This one looks very serene. My little boy always says his prayers. My daughter is similarly fascinated by the Buddha images.







The bodies of 2 Naga (mythical snakes) wind around the platform and raise their heads in front of the Buddha looking out over the sea.



From the big Buddha, the path heads through the woods (lots of mozzies - take some repellent!) to the north tip of the island where you find a Chedi and another shrine above some steep steps heading down to the rocks. Even though I say the sea was calm, the southwest swell was bashing on the rocks and you would not want to fall in. Some of the rocks looked a bit slippery. Not good for a nervous dad!





If you can reach the last slippery rock (my wife did) there you find the "footprint of the Buddha". Legend says that the Buddha visited Phuket and the island of Koh Kaew Yai was where he first set foot before heading to the mainland at Rawai - the name Rawai derives from Rao Wai, meaning (something like) "we pay homage". It seems this little island is a place for Monks to come for short stays as it's a significant place in terms of Buddhism. We stopped to talk to 2 Monks from Chiang Mai who were just staying a few days. They did not like the mosquitoes either. There was incense burning around their hut and they had a decent looking tent too!



There was more here than we expected! I had just imagined the one big statue. The light rain did not stop us enjoying a bit of exploration. Certainly worth the visit. Other nearby islands are on our list starting with Koh Bon, which is less than 2km from Rawai - you pass it when heading to or from Koh Kaew Yai. We had planned to stop there on the way back, but it was not beach weather... so, another time. As we left Koh Kaew Yai, a monk asked to hitch a ride back to Rawai on our longtail...

World Blog Surf Day: Food Edition

Photo credit:  NASA, Public Domain

I’m taking part in World Blog Surf Day again.  This edition is taking place on 13 June 2009 and is open for all expat bloggers.

The theme is food as in "food I miss," "great food where I live," "favourite recipes, photos," "where to eat," "local specialties." 

I did not realise that the deadline for submissions was yesterday so thank you Sher for accepting my application today!

Hotel Recommendation: Kata Palm Resort

Been a while since a Phuket hotel recommendation on the blog, so today I was looking at deals available for the low SUMMER season, especially on LateStays. At this time of year you are guaranteed availability, and LateStays is a great place to book a last minute hotel room. The website is very easy to use and you can book up to 28 days in advance. The prices in low season are somewhat ting tong...

• LateStays late booking deals on Kata Beach Hotels

So I was looking for a hotel to recommend in the Kata Beach area. In the 9 years that I have been here, some parts of Kata have not changed much but along the road behind Club Med, many hotels have been built and indeed the south end of Kata is now (I would say) a better area to stay that the north end if you want a good variety of restaurants and bars. One of the resorts in that area is Kata Palm Resort (and Spa.. everyone seems to tack "and spa" on the end of their name these days!).

It's quite big with 180 rooms, but it covers a big area so does not feel crowded. About 5 minutes walk to Kata Beach. There are a couple of pools plus kids pools. The pools wind interestingly around the gardens. No boring square edges. There's a kids club too - looks like a good family choice rather than a romantic getaway if you ask me.

And in case I forgot to mention... for the next 4 months during the Phuket summer season, the rates go waaaay down. Compared to high season rates starting at 4,000 Baht you can book at Kata Palm Resort from 900 Baht per night. Deal or No Deal?


Kata Palm Resort - Booking & Reviews

• Kata Palm Resort - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Kata Palm Resort - Hotels Reviews


Kata Palm Resort - Photos










• More Hotels in Phuket - Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Last minute Phuket hotels - LateStays.com
• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations

Day Out: Thames Barrier, London

The Thames Barrier with a closed section visible on the left

For some reason I cannot quite pinpoint, I have long been fascinated with the Thames Barrier in London.  Yet despite living in that area for a year, I only saw it for the first time from the Docklands Light Railway on the way to the airport in March.

Well, we finally made a visit to the Thames Barrier on the Bank Holiday weekend (the day after we went to Canterbury).

The weather was absolutely glorious that day and by 10am in the morning it was already sweltering.  I love London in summer!

The Thames Barrier is the second largest moveable flood barrier in the world (the largest is in Maeslantkering in The Netherlands).  It was set up to protect the 125 square kilometres of central London from tidal surges.  Tidal surges are a real threat in the area and in 1953 the North Sea Flood left 307 people dead in the UK and 1,835 people dead in the Netherlands.  A flood in 1928 had left 14 people dead and the scale of these natural disasters prompted the construction of one of London’s most visible landmarks.

The Tate and Lyle plant across the Thames to the south

Only a fool would underestimate the seriousness of tidal surges in the area.  Two South African fools such as Stephen and I for example.  On 9 November 2007, the barrier had to be closed twice following a storm surge in the North Sea that was comparable in scale to the 1953 surge.  Stephen had been in the country a week and we got calls from my father in Liverpool and my uncle in Westerham asking if we could find somewhere else to stay that weekend.  Well, Ste and I hadn’t seen each other in four months and we weren’t about to go through that rigmarole, so we laughed off the threat.

In reality, the only thing that saved the area was that the surge did not coincide with high tide.  We were living in Thamesmead which is down-river from the barrier (and therefore not protected by the barrier) and the area would have been submerged had the flood actually happened – we were probably the only idiots who actually stayed in Thamesmead that weekend!!

The O2 (formerly the Millenium Dome) and Canary Wharf across the Thames to the north

The Thames Barrier was a quiet and eerie place but then it was before noon on a Sunday in London!  I noticed long ago how quiet things are up to lunch time around here. I would recommend that people go visit at least once but you may want to combine your visit with a trip to Greenwich or the O2.

There is a lovely park there (The Thames Barrier Park) but unfortunately my guests did not want to visit it.  There is also an information centre which is meant to be open seven days a week but apparently it was not open on the day we went to visit.  I would suggest calling them first on 020 8305 4188 if you want to visit the Information Centre and remember, you can get 2 for 1 tickets if you travel with National Rail.

The Phuket Big Buddha

Work on the Big Buddha statue in Phuket has been going on for many years. The main Buddha image is 45 meters high and sits over 400m above sea level on a hilltop in the south of Phuket island. We head up there at least a few times per year, sometimes get some food at a little restaurant near the top of the hill, sometimes just to enjoy the views and to check on the progress of the construction. I realised recently that I had not blogged the Buddha for nearly 2 years. Last time the main statue was still covered in scaffolding. Now things look very different.



As you can see, the main image is covered in marble, though the whole of the base including giant lotus leaves still needs to be marbled. It's already an impressive sight... it was already impressive a couple of years ago! Work continues slowly, donations are still being collected. It's much busier than it used to be. There's a sizeable car park now, more food and drink sellers have sprung up.. I really hope it does not get too commercial.



As you arrive you'll find a huge bell hanging below the statue. You then walk through a temple area where souvenirs are for sale and there are many photo displays showing the building work over the years.



There are many donation boxes along the way - up to you! Over the years we have made many donations. You can still pay to have your name on a marble slab which will be used in the building. Somewhere in there, our names are to be found on marble and on bricks too. Having your name and the names of your loved ones as part of a Buddha statue is considered very good luck.

As you start to climb the steps, the way is lined with hundreds of bells. You can buy a bell and hang it here to ring in the wind on the hilltop. The sound of all these bells is somewhat magical.



Reaching the top of the steps you are right underneath the statue. It is very big. I can imagine that when the base is all marble the sight will be totally breathtaking.



Behind the Big Buddha is a smaller gold statue - I mean, not too small, about 12m high. This was completed several years ago. Impressive enough but dwarfed by the white marble Buddha!



We feel a close connection to the Big Buddha, having been up the mountain so many times, having seen the statue grow up from nothing.. the very first time we came up here there was little more than a pile of dirt! It's getting busier for sure, and I can see that, once finished, the Buddha will be on the itinerary of many tours. It's not just "our" Buddha any more... There's no entry fee at the moment, donations are voluntary. I hope it stays that way. But although you don't have to pay - please do leave a donation! The views will always be great - the view below is looking north along the hills.



The Big Buddha is well worth a visit. You can drive up by car or motorbike or tuk tuks will drive up here. The road is almost all paved now. It's about 6km to the top from the main road that runs between Phuket Town past Chalong Temple. The turn off is about 1km before you reach the Chalong traffic circle if you are coming from town. An easy drive from Kata or Karon beaches.



Finishing date? There is no date given for completion. There seems to be no rush. We visited last weekend and there were not many workers. But anyway, even incomplete the Buddha is one of our favourite spots... And finally a photo that I think shows a little of the scale of the Big Buddha.