Thailand – Unusual forms of drinks
Ice coffee, served in a plastic bag

I knew before going to Bangkok for the summer vacation that there would be a lot of new experiments to make. Food was of course pretty high on the list of new things to try out.
Street food vendors were everywhere, selling nearly all what Thai food can offer. The most unusual thing that I saw was the way they would drink ice beverages.

Even boat drivers do
The first time was on the taxi boat, going up and down the river to carry passengers around town (a great of traveling by the way). We were sitting on the boat and waiting for the driver to show up. At that point I saw a plastic bag, filled with a dark orange liquid, hanging off the driver’s seat. I wondered what that could be……
We later on found out that this was a Thai ice tea.

So let’s do it
Karin really wanted to get one of her own since she thought that was the most interesting drink form around (pretty true)!
So we found an old lady, on the streets, having all the pots and jars around her stall and ready to prepare for 10 baths (0,20 euros) this curious drink. We tried to get the tea drink but I guess she did not understand us. Even though she nodded affirmatively she still made us a coffee.
Anyway, that was interesting to watch.
She took a little plastic bag off her pile, put a lot of ice in it and started adding the coffee she had pre-made, a big spoon of sugar, concentrated milk, and evaporated milk into it. The final chef touch was to dump a straw in the bag.
The drink in itself is nothing special (very sweet) but it is quite fun to walk around the streets of Bangkok, holding the little bag by its handles and drinking out of it. It is actually pretty handy.

Respect the local manners
And a lot of locals drink this way. There are some rules to it, for example, you can not put the drink down. Obviously, the bag does not have a bottom on which it can sit. So the only way is to hang it somewhere. And when you look carefully around you, you will see bags hanging off the branches, double function of the tree, protection against the heat by providing shade (so the ice does not melt and the drink stays cool), holding your afternoon drink!

Now, whenever you get the chance to visit Thailand, go and get you own and blend in with the locals.

- Nico

Ninja boots
This time, I am following the fashion

Asakusa’s neighborhood
When moving to Tokyo, we really had no clue which neighborhood would make a good place for us to live. After some pragmatic considerations (how much commuting time and so on), we decided on the Asakusa area…..well that was a brilliant idea!
This place is actually one of the few places in Tokyo that retains the old feel of the Edo period, well kind of.

O-matsuri all year round
One great thing though, is that there are plenty of festivals (O-matsuri in Japanese) going on around here, pretty much all year round. On a sunny Saturday, as we were leaving the house, we ended up finding one of these festivals. Not sure what it was all about but it was fun, plenty of people wearing traditional outfits, including some extremely interesting shoes….the ninja boots. This is the best name Karin and I came up with. But go ahead, any suggestions are welcome.
Not only men, but also women wear them.

So…..
So, because we want to be part of the vibrant life of our neighborhood, we are making attempts at blending in better. Granted, I for one, start with the disadvantage of being tall and white…I won’t let go. Recently I was mentioning the need for us to buy a Yukata (this traditional Japanese summer outfit that people here wear when they go out to festivals, fireworks, cherry blossom parties, etc). Well, following the same idea, Karin had the awesome idea to get me some Ninja boots for my birthday…
Well now, I’ve got to figure out when to wear them. Meanwhile, check them out…And the funniest thing is that we found these in the “construction workers equipment” section of Tokyu Hands (a big DIY shop in Tokyo). And as a matter fact, everyday you can walk by a construction site and see ninjas working there (at least ninja boots shoed people).

Next (ninja) steps
The Obvious next step is to better understand how ninja behaved. And I already have my little idea for this….Near our place; there is a neighborhood named Yanaka. On the Yanaka’s map (ok I admit, it was a touristy map with English translation), they mention a ninja fence….a ninja fence, what is this…?? Beats me! We walked around the neighborhood (which is by the way lovely), but we could not find the ninja fence. Well now, I am gonna go back, equipped with my ninja boots and I will find this fence….

- Nico
These boots are made for walking and that’s [not] just what they do….