THAILAND: Krabi

Krabi town has a great morning market where you can stock up on fresh vegetables, fruit, fish and meat and dry good like noodles or spices. There are some great dishes for breakfast on offer too.

Pa-tong-goh is like a Thai donuts made from wheat flour and yeast. It will be kneaded into long tubes and two small pieces will be joined together to form the characteristic X-shape. It's then being deep fried until golden brown and cripsy.

There's also great night market if you fancy tasty street food by the river. This vendor here sells Kanom krog which can be translated into coconut pudding and is a rice flour batter with coconut cream cooked over a charcoal fire.

THAILAND: Ao Nang

In Ao Nang we took a cooking class and managed to cook and eat ourselves silly. We tried our hands on a lot of classics: som tam, pad thai, tom yum, red and green curry, Penang curry and sweet and sour chicken with pineapple. For dessert we had sticky rice with mango and pumpkin cooked in coconut milk. Learnt a lot today.

Not much exciting to say about soda water but the packaging just looked so interesting that I had to show them.

Fried rice has become such a staple for us. This one is vegetarian with cashew nuts. For dessert we had a coconut rotee, what is basically a pancake. Yum!

And another type of pancake. These mini ones are filled and rolled in a cigar shape are delicious. They can either be filled with pandan (Bi Tua), vanilla or any kind of jam. The beginning of a long relationship. Me. Pancake. And pandan.

MALAYSIA: Batu Caves

Sate ikan are mini grilled fish balls on sticks dipped in sweet chili sauce. There is something about food on sticks, right? Practical and will always remind me of the fun fair with candy floss, candy apples, lolly pops and kids birthday parties with ice cream on sticks. Good times.

And while I mention kids birthday parties this dessert wouldn't be out of place there: pandan bun with scoops of technicolour ice cream. It's soft, cold, sweet, what more do you want?

Whenever you see a sweet in a bright green colour it's likey to be made with pandan, my new favourite flavour. Wish I could find the 'London roll' in London.

Kaya is the other flavour I become to love in Malaysia. It's a spread made from coconut, eggs, pandan and palm sugar. it's great on toast, waffles, cakes or in steamed pao. Sugar is just so addictive...

MALAYSIA: Melaka

The beautiful city of Melaka is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula and is known for it's great food. Nyonya-Baba cuisine is a fusion of Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Indian, British and Malay cooking with most dishes being fairly spicy.

Portuguese steamed fish and four angle beans alongside other dishes.

Fresh juice on ice is a great thirst quencher in the heat. This one is cucumber juice.

Cendol gula melaka is a classic drink that doubles up as a dessert. Cendol is a green custard jelly made from rice flour and pandan. Gula melaka is the brown syrup made with palm sugar and lends the dish a caramel flavour and sure to give you a decent sugar rush. It is served with coconut milk on lots and lots of ice.

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur

There is one word that will become familiar when you spend time in Malaysia: makan. Makan means to eat and that you can plenty and usually very good. Food is part of the collective DNA and when it come to eating "we can be like a bulldog in a peanutbutter jar. We will get up at 3 in the morning to eat. Or drive 2 hours one way to eat at a restaurant that was recommended." Thanks for this insight Vishal!

Kopi is the Malaysian coffee and can be found in restaurants, outdoor stalls and kopi tiams. The beans are roasted with margarine or butter and sugar what gives it an almost caramel like taste. You either drink it black with plenty of sugar or with a dash of condensed milk.

Kopi tarik (tarik translates "pulled" in Mandarin) is also made with condensed milk but plenty more and extra sugar. Its name is derived from the pouring process of "pulling" the drink during preparation. The mixture is poured back and forth repeatedly between two vessels from a height, giving it a thick frothy top.

Roti canai is a type of flatbread found in Malaysia, often sold in Mamak stalls (Mamak refers to Tamil Muslims, who generally own and operate them). It is usually served with dahl and a great dish for breakfast.

Nasi lemak is a classic dish: steamed coconut rice, sambal, peanuts, egg (either fried or hard boiled), anchovies and cucumber wrapped in banana leaves. You will find it all over Malaysia.

INDIA: Jaisalmer

We left Jodhpur for Jaisalmer and had Indian style breakfast/lunch on the train: masala chai and aloo pakoda

Jaisalmer has a beautiful sandstone fort but the main reason to come here is for a camel safari through the desert. It is much more hot here and very dry and dusty so it shouldn't come like a surprise that we had a sandstorm. What was a surprise though was that it was followed by rain. The first rain in this area since October but the monsoon is still a long way off.

We left early in the morning when it was still bearable and met our camel guides. It's very quiet in the desert. All you hear is the rhythmic ringing of the bells around the camel's necks.

We had lunch in the shade under a thorn tree and Malou, one of our guides started making some fresh chapattis on an open fire to go with the aloo ghobi and some Chinese style noodles (thinking we might be more accustomed to than Indian food).

The camels had lunch too. Though they look a bit more like giraffes then, no?

For dinner we had some pakoras followed by a dhal with rice and more chapattis. All washed down with some warmish beer watching the sunset and relaxing our aching bones.

INDIA: Jodhpur

Jodhpur is known as the blue city due to the blue-painted houses around the old town.

There are some great local specialities to try and saffron lassi is one of them. Another one is Makhaniya lassi. It's simply a lassi with some butter to make it creamy, almost like a milk shake. Other variations are lassi with cardamom, dried fruits or any sort of fresh fruit like banana or papaya.
Also refreshing in the heat is sugar cane juice. This one here was squeezed with a lime to balance the natural sweetness. Delicious. See the machine? It's hard work to extract the juice so usually they are powerd by a generator.

Indians eat their dinner fairly late so to bridge the gap or if they just feel peckish they might have some of these: Wada or vadai is a savoury fritter-type snack. A bit like a donut. But Indian style with a hint of cumin.

Another great snack are these deep fried Thenkuzhal (made from gram and rice flour with black sesame seeds) formed into a spiral or Murukku ribbons (with some cheese added) and fried. It usually comes with fried chilies. Great with an ice cold beer.

INDIA: Udaipur

Udaipur is considered the most romantic city in Rajasthan, if not even in India. "Everybody will promise you the most romantic hotel, restaurant or view but you can't buy any of that. It has to come from the heart!" Well spoken Chill (real name Filuz), our tuk tuk driver.

Udaipur is also known for it's appearance in the 1982 James Bond film 'Octopussy'. For in case you have forgotten you will be reminded every night with screenings at most restaurants over dinner.

With the summer approaching fast the days are getting hotter and nothing is more refreshing than a cold lemon soda. All you need to do is mix it yourself.

We took a cooking class with Sushma in her kitchen and learnt how to make three different kinds of curries, chappatis and proper chai. And the best was we got to eat it all afterwards.

Meet: Rakesh. He is a miniature painter specializing in the Rajput-Mughal style that Udaipur is famous for. The smaller and more intricate, the more expensive his work is. So does size matter? Rakesh will definately say yes!