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World - World food culture - Thali is not the name of one dish but a way of arranging several portions on a single tray. Rice or bread, dal, vegetables, something sour, yoghurt and a sweet create a rhythm of changing flavours; the components vary widely by region, religion, se ..

Miscellany - Life around us - While most of the city is still asleep, many people are already sweeping the streets, collecting rubbish, checking gates and getting spaces ready so that a new day can run normally. Seeing the work that is easy to overlook Cleaning, security and ma ..

World - World food culture - Smørrebrød begins with a slice of bread, usually rye, but what goes on top can make a lunch of many layers of flavour. The way the order is chosen, the ingredients combined and the whole thing eaten with a knife and fork shows that this open dish h ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - Da Lat easily tempts visitors to fill the schedule with cafes and photo spots. A slow three days should group activities by area, leaving time for the lake, the market, the pine forest and even for the rain. The first day: walk around the rhythm of ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Fish sauce is both a seasoning in the kitchen and a dipping bowl on the table, but the proportions, the additions and the dishes it goes with change by region, by season and by household. The dipping bowl is part of the dish's structure Some dishes ..

Miscellany - Life around us - A phone-free hour is not a war against technology. It is a small experiment to see how your hands, your attention and your conversations change when the device is out of reach. The value comes from the activity you choose to put in its place, not m ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Cao Bang banh cuon surprises anyone used to dipping it in fish sauce: here it is eaten with a bowl of hot bone broth, which may hold pork roll, minced pork and herbs. The thin, soft sheet meeting the clear, warm broth makes a breakfast suited to th ..

Miscellany - Life around us - A family is not kept close only by big trips. A fixed mealtime, a short call or tending a plant together can become an anchor in a busy week. A ritual is not the same as a rigid obligation A family ritual is a small meaningful thing repeated, which ..

Travel & Backpacking - Restaurant & hotel reviews - A room that photographs well may still lack privacy, soundproofing or safety procedures. A homestay worth staying in has to be judged as a real place to sleep, not just as a backdrop for pictures. Check what kind of place it is and how much privacy ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - Three days in Quy Nhon are enough to take in the city beach, one cluster of spots along the coast and the rhythm of a fishing village, provided each day keeps to a single focus. The first day is for the city and the rhythm of the sea After checking ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional culture - The central coast has produced a kitchen that is at once fresh and well prepared. Fish that has just landed can be grilled or cooked straight away; the rest of the catch is dried, salted and fermented into sauce to carry the household through rough ..

Miscellany - Health & beauty - Light is one of the main signals the body clock uses to tell day from night. Exposure to daylight, particularly in the earlier part of the day, combined with a reasonably steady wake-up time, can support your sleep rhythm; it is not a fix for every ..

World - World food culture - Raclette is both the name of a cheese and the name of a method: heating it, then scraping the melted layer onto potatoes and whatever is served alongside. What makes a raclette meal so well loved is not only the warm richness but the rhythm of wait ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Rice batter, steam and a skilled pair of hands make the thin sheet, but the filling, the accompaniments and the dipping sauce give banh cuon a different voice in every locality. The sheet is the part you notice least and the part that decides most ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - After high season the beaches can be quiet, rooms are easier to choose and the pace of the town is slower. In return, the weather is changeable, services cut their hours and the sea is not suitable for swimming every day. Quieter does not mean ever ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - The sound of rain makes a kitchen feel smaller, and the smell of a braise or a hot soup seems to stand out more. A rainy-season meal is remembered not for a lavish menu but for the feeling of being dry, of being warm, and of everyone being there ar ..

World - World food culture - Injera is at once a fermented flatbread, the base that holds the stews and the tool for bringing food to your mouth. On the shared platter of Ethiopia and Eritrea, its spongy, lightly sour surface soaks up the sauces, while the act of tearing and d ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Banh cay is a well-known gift sweet from Thai Binh, memorable for a slice woven together from toasted sticky rice, sesame, peanuts, candied fruit and a binding layer of malt syrup. The piece is small but carries many stages, from preparing the rice ..

Travel & Backpacking - Restaurant & hotel reviews - Ten minutes of checking as soon as you take the room helps you find faults early, makes changing rooms easier and avoids arguments at check-out. There is no need to be fussy; just follow a clear sequence. Four points about safety and sleep Check th ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - The flood season is not just a backdrop. It is an ecological and economic cycle that affects the fields, the fish, transport and what people eat. Visitors need to go by the actual information for that year, rather than assuming the water always arr ..

World - World food culture - Aperitivo is not simply a happy hour. In many Italian cities it is the passage from work into the evening, when a drink alongside a few small dishes and a conversation slows the day's rhythm down. One dish, many layers of history The habit of takin ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - Sweet, sour and hot in a Mekong Delta kitchen are not three separate straight lines. They are adjusted so as to lift the fish, the vegetables, the fruit and the broth, reflecting what the region produces and how people eat in a hot, humid climate. ..

Miscellany - Life around us - A button that has come off, a loose chair leg or a cupboard handle that rattles is not necessarily the end of the object. Repair extends the life of what you own and teaches you your home, but a good decision has to balance safety, cost, time and w ..

Miscellany - Life around us - Disagreement turns up in every family made of real people. What marks out a healthy relationship is not the number of arguments but the way people keep each other safe, stay on the issue, and come back to put things right. Argue about the matter, d ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - A night in a tent by the sea can be beautiful, but a flat stretch of sand in the afternoon is not necessarily safe once the tide comes in. A shift in the wind, a thunderstorm, big waves and local rules are the four things to check before you drive ..

Travel & Backpacking - Tips & sharing - Cao Bang involves long distances and sights that lie far apart. A sensible weekend should concentrate on the Ban Gioc and Nguom Ngao cluster, or on one other route, rather than trying to gather the whole province into two days. The first day is for ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional specialties - A central Vietnamese breakfast may be just a bowl of noodles, a bowl of banh canh or a plate of small cakes, yet the structure usually carries enough starch, protein, vegetables and broth to start a working day. And every province has its own way o ..

Culture & Cuisine - Regional culture - The northern Vietnamese Tet table is not recognised by banh chung, boiled chicken or pickled onion alone. Behind the dishes lies a schedule of preparation stretching over days, memories of gathering around the cooking pot, the way offerings are mad ..

Miscellany - Life around us - Marks give part of the picture about learning, but they do not describe a child's whole day. The question “were you happy today?” opens a door onto friendships, fears, curiosity and the things a child cannot yet put a name to. The question decides ..

World - World food culture - Jollof is a pot of orange-red rice fragrant with tomato, onion, chilli and spices, and at the same time the subject of lively arguments between West African countries. Behind the question of whose version is better lie a history of exchange, family ..