Time to Leave Thailand...

We’re back in Australia now. It was fun to go and play for a while in Thailand...we also found some aspects of being there a little challenging though – primarily the pollution factor...from car fumes to pesticides to litter, it felt a bit full-on for us... Here are some of my recent observations about life in Thailand:

1. In general, Thai people seem to me to be happy, relaxed, smiley, kind, generous and content. Indeed, enjoyment seems very embedded in the national psyche. One of the guiding principles of Thai culture is ‘sanook’ or ‘fun’ – if smthg is not ‘sanook’, there’s not really any point doing it ;) LOL – love it ;) People ensure to enjoy themselves together wherever they are – even at ‘work’ ;) – this is a nation who seems at some level to really get the idea of enjoying our time here...they could be thought of as a very heart-centred people in this regard...

2. ‘Tis a country where the bathrooms are generally very...wet ;) LOL...they seem to take the term ‘water closet’ literally and the whole bathrooms are usually like ‘wet rooms’, tiled throughout and quite often with no shower curtain or anything to separate off a bathing area – everything just kind of merges into one big sloshy fun room ;) I like it. Having grown up in England, where even the bathrooms obscurely tend to be carpeted, this is a refreshing alternative to me. ‘Tis also a country where I tend to shower a lot – at least once a day and sometimes up to 3 times a day. It’s very hot and humid and while I love sweating, I don’t like feeling sweaty for extended periods – I think that’s a throw-back from my obese days, when being hot and sweaty felt very uncomfortable to me...

on May the 14th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups INTENSE veggie juice (cabbage, celery, cucumber, cilantro, carrot)
water of 3 young coconuts with another quart of intense veggie juice
big bag of rambutan
3 dragon fruit
1 quart water
½ a fresh pineapple
½ a fresh durian
1 quart water


3. People tend to travel by motorbikes/scooters. They seem VERY skilled at riding them and very few people seem to wear helmets. It’s not uncommon to see people riding along on a motorbike while sending a text message (SMS) on their phone, carrying cardboard boxes, holding their babies and so on ;) Very young children routinely travel on the bikes and many speed past with 2 or 3 tots on board... It’s pretty remarkable to observe, for us. They seem to start learning to ride them very young too – a few days ago we saw an absolutely classic sight. A Thai girl who looked literally about 9 years old rode past us on a big black motorbike, pulled up at the side of the playground, then excitedly ran with her arms flailing towards the playground toys, where she sat and played. LOL...nobody batted an eyelid, while we mused on the fact that if a similar scene were played out in the US/UK, the parents would most likely end up arrested or smthg ;)

4. While we’re on the subject of children, I’d love to mention the distinct lack of strollers/pushchairs/prams in Thailand. I literally didn’t see a single one there, or any of the assorted baby-related paraphernalia that tend to go with them (except the packaged milk powders ;). Thai people carry their babies and when they’re old enough, they walk. I appreciate this simplicity. It also seems like it would be very challenging to even try to use a stroller/push-chair there if you wanted to – the kerbs are often VERY high off the road – up to a foot or more off the road – not very conducive to pushing baby strollers around... (BTW, there is a WONDERFUL book on the benefits of carrying babies, called ‘The Continuum Concept’.)

on May the 15th I had:

1 quart water
plate of fresh fruit: papaya, pineapple, rambutan, mangosteen, banana
water of 2 young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
amazing raw food restaurant feast at Rasayana in Bangkok – platter of taco cups, raw lasagne, raw pizza, pesto pasta, followed by banana ice cream with amazing macadamia/carob wafers
1 quart water
water of 2 young coconuts and 8oz carrot juice
2 divine mangoes
1 quart water


on May the 16th I had:

2 quarts water
1 cherimoya, 1 persimmon
2 cups water
romaine wraps stuffed with avocado, alfalfa sprouts & karengo seaweed, with some gorgeous macadamia/flax crackers on the side
1 quart water
3 little persimmons
1 pint water

5. One thing I find very challenging about life in Thailand is the pollution. It is shocking to me. As I mentioned before, the Thai culture seems mid-way somehow between ‘tradition’/old ways and haphazardly embracing aspects of a more ‘western’ lifestyle, with an apparent emphasis on...plastic and pesticides (see below for more on pesticides). Litter is abundant in most places, streams and rivers bubble with untold chemical concoctions and the streets are hazy with petrol fumes (so much so that we actually bought face masks to walk around in and Mr Monarch is of the opinion that the last 3 weeks in Thailand have aged him a couple of years ;O ). In many ways, this country is like a potential paradise (beaches, warmth, exotic fruit, coconuts, elephants, friendly people, inexpensive, etc), then not far underneath that surface, there is a much murkier reality. It’s like they’ve taken on different aspects from the ‘west’, yet managing those things doesn’t quite seem to flow well...or maybe they’re just not as adept at hiding it as other countries ;) People in western countries often speak of ‘throwing things away’, raising the question of ‘where is ‘away’?’, while in Thailand one almost gets the impression they don’t even bother to make landfills/other solutions to manage all the rubbish that’s generated from the packaged foods – people just drop it where they are – ‘away’ is...well, right here actually...imagine how abundant the soil everywhere would be if all those dropped items were fresh food scraps instead ;)

6. On the subject of fresh foods, pesticides and other poisons are a major issue in the Thai food chain. Some of you have been writing in asking why we’ve not been eating any veggies lately. Well, that’s why...it’s VERY challenging to find anything organic, so anything we’ve been eating tends to be smthg with a thick skin, so that we’re at least hopefully limiting our exposure to toxins. We were very blessed to have access to amazing organic veggies at the health spa where we stayed on Koh Chang – hence we were drinking veggie juices daily and eating veg-meals there. However, most of the time it seems wiser to focus on thick-skinned fruits and coconuts, though having said that, we hear that many people inject durians in Thailand with all kinds of toxins, as well as picking them before they’re ripe and dunking them in Sodium Dioxide to get them to ripen quicker – eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek... Fortunately a friend who used to live in Thailand advised us to ask vendors in Thai for ‘durian ban’ – smthg like ‘wild durian’. These are smaller, rounder fruits that usually haven’t been meddled with as much. We hear that organic farming is starting to be more common in the north of Thailand now, in the Chiang Mai area, which is encouraging... ;)

I’m definitely gonna miss the coconuts – love, love, LOVE having fresh coconuts every day, they feel soooooooo good to me...and all the fruit was fun...and the elephants... ;) We’ll have another video ready sometime soon hopefully concluding our adventures there...for now, bye-bye Thailand and thank you :)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Seaweed Safety and Spices...

I’m writing from the southern tip of Lake Taupo in New Zealand today...what a STUNNING area – the lake is just vaaaaast :) We’ve been travelling quite a lot the last few days, LOVING the scenery here, marvelling at the myriad hues of green, the enormous stretches of land, land, land, sans human settlements, the gorgeous pristine waters...yummy…we also gave talks yesterday in Tauranga – thanks to ye’ all who came out to play – it was fun :) We’re on our way south now...in fact, we’ve just confirmed we’ll be speaking in Wellington in a couple of months' time. We’ll be at the Crossways Community Centre, (Cnr Elizabeth & Brougham Streets) on Saturday 19 April from 3.30pm to 7.30pm, with a raw potluck after...hope to see you there if you’re in the area – you can see full details and book your place HERE: http://www.purewellbeing.com/index1.html.

on February the 22nd I had:

2 quarts water
juice of 3 mandarins juiced in the mouth ;)
20oz of celery/cucumber/parsley/spinach/lambs’ quarters/carrot juice
bowl of fruit salad with chia gel: papaya/dragon fruit/banana/peach/cherries/blueberries
1 quart water
1 tbsp green powders: wheatgrass and barley grass
bowl of homemade tahini/brazil nut butter mixed with mung bean sprouts, diced tomatoes/garlic, karengo seaweed, stuffed in lettuce leaves and nori sheets
1 quart water

This question came in recently about seaweed:

“I wonder about mercury in seaweed? If we must worry about mercury in fish, wouldn't it be in the seaweed also?”

Hmmmm, thanks for the Q...well, while personally I don’t feel that I ‘must’ worry about anything, I was intrigued about the content of this message and so asked our primary seaweed supplier - ‘Maine Coast Sea Veg’ for their feedback – here was what they had to say on the matter:

“Our mercury levels are so low that we actually stopped testing for several years. We started again in response to customer requests for the information.
The levels for mercury have been consistently undetected at 0.04 ppm.

We do testing for heavy metals every year, at the end of the harvest season. I have attached our Statement of Product Testing for 2007, which is the last year for which data is available. You can also check out the same document in our FAQ section online, at http://www.seaveg.com/faq6.php.

I hope that this is helpful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours in Health,
Rae Urban”

Hmmmmm, interesting, eh? Hope that helps y’all feel even more yummy about munching on the ocean’s weedy wonders...I am SOOO into seaweeds at the moment, as you may have noticed in my daily food logs ;) Karengo, wakame, kelp, nori – LOVING it and it’s definitely nice to know I’m not massively stacking up my toxin load simultaneously... ;)
Ok, double-whammy food log now, due to being ex communicado on the road for a while there... ;)

on February the 23rd I had:

1.5 quarts water
3 mandarins
16oz carrot/cucumber/ginger/mint juice
bowl of cherries
2 cups carrot juice with Greener Grasses powder stirred in
3 cups water
bowl of fruit salad with chia gel: banana/blueberries/cherries/mulberries
1 quart water
2 cups carrot juice
bowl of avo mushed with diced tomatoes/garlic, mixed sprouts, karengo seaweed & cumin powder, served in lettuce leaves and nori rolls
1 quart water


on February the 24th I had:

2 quarts water
3 mandarins
24oz celery/cucumber/cabbage/parsley/spinach/lambs’ quarters/carrot juice
lettuce wraps stuffed with seed pate (soaked sunflower seeds/sundried tomatoes, blended with garlic), diced tomatoes, sprouts and seaweed
1 quart water
1 tbsp green powders
bowl of chia gel with fruit salad – blueberries, cherries, mulberries and apple
1.5 quarts water

Here’s another recent Q – from Ms. Amy...

“I'm wondering: do you use any kind of spices in your dishes (pepper, oregano, etc)? I'm just curious. I don't know if going without spices is for me, so I'll probably keep them personally, but I was just curious what "real" raw foodies do! Thanks. Making The Transition in Pennsylvania – Amy”

Thanks for the Q Amy :) Well...everyone’s different of course and some raw foodies will use herbs and spices, whereas others aren’t interested in them...I’ll certainly share with you what THIS ‘real raw foodie’ does though ;)
I rarely use spices anymore in foods I make myself – I do go through spates though where I might get REALLY into something – like cumin for example – some of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while might remember I got really into eating cumin with avocado and lime a while back – I was eating it literally every day, then I was just...done, not really interested anymore – though, coincidentally, I did get some out of the cupboard here yesterday in fact and enjoyed a bit with my meal ;) Sometimes I get interested in cayenne pepper and I think that may happen again soon...I feel it coming ;) Cayenne is an extraordinarily healing food – if you’ve never looked into the properties of it, I’d definitely recommend it – especially for anyone in cold, wintery places right now ;) I also absolutely LOOOOOOOVE cinnamon and just got a new bag of it a few days ago, so will start using that again soon, most likely…other than that, hmmmm...I don’t use much myself in the way of spices...
Herbs I enjoy include parsley, cilantro, mint and basil – the first two we use pretty often in juices and sometimes in salads/savoury meals, whereas basil and mint I tend to find more awkward to use in meals – it always seems like when you buy them, they come in huge bunches and unless I make pesto or ice cream or smthg, it just seems like way too much to deal with in one go, so I tend to just not even bother getting either of them ;) I’m not much into using dried herbs myself either... HOWEVER, if I eat some pre-prepared raw food like crackers or smthg that someone’s made, which contain herbs or spices, I usually feel fine about it. Mr Monarch on the other hand has been at this raw game longer than me and is not so enamoured of spices – he’s very sensitive to them and really feels the effect strongly when they’re in foods – he prefers to avoid them. A lot of raw foodists actually don’t feel good about eating herbs/spices – usually it’s people more into Natural Hygiene ideas who feel that way . Here’s a little blurb I wrote recently on spices that might help explain why, if this seems odd to you:

“Spices tend to be powdered forms of certain plants, in concentrations you would not easily come across in nature. Spices are made by powdering down a large amount of some bark, root, or other plant matter. You might even have a spice blend. The concentrated intensity of the spice can throw the body a bit out of balance, as you are getting a much bigger ‘hit’ of this food than you’d naturally be able to get hold of if you were just foraging things to eat in the wild. This can distort taste buds, block your ability to sense when you’ve eaten enough and so encourage eating in excess.”

As for the herbs, well, as mentioned above, some of them just don’t seem that easy to use – if you can’t imagine eating a whole bunch of mint or basil for a meal, some people question the idea of bothering to use them at all...;) Well...different courses for different horses – I hope that’s given you some ideas anyway about raw foodie herb/spice interactions...

One love,
Angela. xxx