How to make Papaya Salad ? (with pictures)

 

After our afternoon "fishing", Panadda and her friend invited me for a Thai lunch/dinner (for we had not had lunch). We went to Al Fair supermarket where you can find food from all over the world (including fresh bagels).

We bought groceries to make papaya salad and Pad Thai. Here is the recipe for the Papaya Salad (which was one of my favorite meal when I visited C. in Bangkok, so good when served with sticky rice) :

First, you have to shred a green papaya

Using a mortar, you mix green and red chili and garlic

One tablespoon of sugar

One small tablespoon of MSD (I have no clue of what is this powder)

A pinch of shrimp paste

Tomato and lime are then added

A splash of fish sauce

Last, the shredded papaya and then you mix everything

Here is the result : a wonderful meal ! If you like cashew nuts, you can top up your salad, it adds a crunchy taste

This recipe is quite easy and so good. It's spicy, sweet and sour at the same time. Actually, it was very spicy (I was with real Thai cooking real Thai food). Hopefully, I'm used to eating very spicy.

If I ever cook Tom Yam with my Thai friends, I will definitely post the recipe the same way.

Comments are welcome.

Picking up shells in Muscat

 

Thursday was off for me since I had worked the previous Friday.

Panadda had planned to go with her boyfriend and another friend to the beach to pick up shells. She asked me to come.

Al Bustan

We went to Al Bustan where there is one of the most luxurious palace in the world. We could not have a look inside since there is a GCC meeting this month and security has been strengthened. Therefore, we went to the nearby beach. It looked like Brittany with dark rocks all over the beach, which is funny because 100m from there you have white sand beaches.

  Al Bustan palace

It was very nice because I got to see many animals I'm not used to see on European beaches. While Panadda and friends were looking for seafood, I was taking pictures of this strange creatures.

Panadda trying to catch fish

It looks like a star fish but it's moving very fast

Urchins

This little guy was eating algae

Camille's friend

View from Al Bustan Beach

Al Gubrah

After one hour, we moved back to another beach to get another kind of shells. It was actually in Al Gubrah, near the Chedi !

This place seems popular for shells since many Asian families were there.

While my friends were searching the sand, I walked on the beach and picked up nice shells (empty ones !).

This hobby is quite surprising (I would not have the idea to pick up shells on Muscat beaches) but seems very popular in the Thai community. They actually do so to get very fresh seafood (compared to Carrefour or LuLu).

I spent a good time at the beach, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. It also reminds me of the 'good old days' when we used to pick up seafood on Brittany's beaches. 

Thai party at Beach Hotel in Muscat

The Thai community of Muscat was throwing a party on December 5th.

It was actually for the King's Birthday. I got invited through my friend Panadda, it took place at the Beach Hotel pool (next to the Intercontinental) in Qurum.

There were dances, food and Thai people.

It was the first time such a party was organized (through some Thai organization from I understood). Thus, everything was not perfect but for a first time, it was not so bad.

Firstly there were some songs and anthem as well as a welcome speech.

The food was served as a buffet. The line was long before getting the food but it was worth the wait. The food was very good and not too spicy to accommodate westerner palates.  I had some samosas and green curry as well as yellow rice.

After meal, we enjoyed traditional Thai dances :

The dancer on the pictures above is Got, a Panadda's friend.

 

Look at the details of the costume :

After that, they play some disco (Thai) music and people started to chill.

Then, the Intercon had a Thai night so everybody went there. Bernard (who works with me) and I quickly became surrounded by Panadda's friends. Since they are mostly girls (there was a lady-boy though), I can tell you couple of guys out there were very jealous.

However, we took off quickly after because I had worked all day and we had to decline dancing all the time.

Just for fun, a picture with a Christmas tree :

Road Safety Cameras in Oman

1st message of a series I'd like to write about driving in Oman

Speeding in Oman is tempting since you have the highways cutting straight through the land. 

However, at least on the highways near Muscat, the roads are monitored by safety cameras. In France, you have a safety camera every 200km or so, here it's every 1 or 2km !

Speed limit on highways is 120km/h, but the safety camera threshold is set between 130km/h and 140km/h (maybe more, I have not checked).

I like this setting because when you cruise at 120km/h, you don't have to pay attention if you are exactly 120km/h. It's okay if you are 125km/h : you won't get a ticket.

The camera are located in the middle of the road and check the speed both ways.

Garbage Cats in Muscat

Today I cooked sardines and rice. Since I had a couple too many, I decided to feed the cats living in the streets.

Basically, in Muscat street cats only eat garbage. Thus, you see them hanging around at night next to garbage containers.

We had already given them cat food. However, this time it's gourmet food : fresh fish. Tuna, mackerel and sardines (not talking about salmon or squid) usually drive cat nuts.

Indeed, the fish was eaten in minutes by the cats.

The food

 

The first one to enjoy

Another cat is interested by the food

It's taking over the other cat's meal

Turtle Beach

 

On the Thursday night, we slept in a hut next to the beach at Ras Al Haad. The hut comfort was poor but the night included dinner and breakfast which were OK. We wanted to see the turtle nesting at night but the evening tour was full. There were still vacancies for the morning one. The only problem is it starts at 4:00am. However, it is well worth getting up early.

The rules

The entrance fee to Ras Al Jin is RO3. Park rangers bring group to the beach after explaining the rules about the visit. The rules you should abide by are :

• never stand in front of the turtle,
• remain quiet,
• don't touch the animals,
• never stand between the turtles and the sea,
• NO LIGHT !!!

Baby turtles rely on the light to reach the sea. Any flash camera or camp fire will lead them the wrong way to a certain death.

They have changed the rules since November 1st 2008 : no camping, no car, no unaccompanied people, is allowed on the beach. Only 100 people are allowed to enter the park at one time, either at 9pm or at 4am. They are working on turning off the fishermen's mosque light at night time.

The group  we were in was mainly Indian families. Some of them were really annoying and would not abide by the rule. C. almost slammed a kid who was throwing sand at the nesting turtle. However, the park rangers, though being very nice and polite, keep a close control over the situation. We were warned, at the beginning of the visit, that not following the rules would lead to be kicked out of the park.

The park

As far as I remember, the park was created in 1996. It protects 45km of the coastal line, including the shore. Only 2 km of beach are open to the public.

The visit

We went on foot to the first beach. Some lazy people asked to go there using the park minibus (it's a 10min walk in the dark). These same people ended up being pain in the neck for the all group.

We stopped at about 300m of the sea, two rangers went on the beach to see if any turtle was nesting. Unfortunately there was none.

Therefore, we went to a second beach (10min walk). After a short wait, they found 2 green turtles nesting. They are called green turtles because their body fat is green (they are actually killed partly because of that).

They also found two babies hatching. Here are the pictures :

 

You see the eggs under the right flipper.

Baby turtle : only 1 out of 1000 become adult. This one was already wounded by crabs.

The same turtle in the hole she made to nest.

Another baby turtle : this one was eaten before getting to the sea.

Sunset in Oman

Turtle covering the eggs

The covering of the eggs being finished, the turtle made its way to the see.

One of my favorite picture : on the left hand side, you can see the trail of a turtle on the sand.

Almost there

Home !

 

Feelings :

This night will probably be one of the best memories of my stay in Oman. It was wonderful to see nature at work. The Sultanate has a jewel, they should keep up the good work and cut the "bad" tourism to switch to a more responsible one.

I am very thankful to the rangers who were very knowledgeable and kind.

I would definitively recommend this park to anyone planning a trip to Oman.