Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand: Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images Part 6

A Collection of Temples and Statues: the Classical, the Folksy and the Quirky

Theravada Buddhism

Dharmachakra

Theravada (lit. "School of the Elders") is the oldest existing branch of Buddhism. Theravadins have preserved their version of the Buddha’s teaching in the ‘Pali Canon’ for over two millennia.

The classical Indian language of Pali is Theravada's sacred language and the canon was probably written down in the 1st century BCE in Sri Lanka from where it spread throughout South East Asia.

Monasticism is an important component of Theravada, most boys spend some time in a monastery – usually during the school holidays – learning about the monastic life, though no commitment is made before adulthood.

This post covers Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Sri Lanka and Myanmar were featured in Theravada (1) and (2).

Laos

Laos

Laos within the former Indo-China

Buddhism seeped into the area from the 7th century onwards, firmly establishing itself in the 11th and 12th centuries as the Lao and Thai people migrated south from southern China. With Laos often split into three kingdoms or partly ruled by invaders, Theravada Buddhism became an important unifying features of Lao culture. Indigenous non-Lao ethnic minorities (some large, some only a few hundred strong) make up 30% of the population and generally follow folk religions.

The North

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang was the capital of its own kingdom from medieval times, and the royal capital of the Kingdom of Laos after independence from France in in 1953. After a long civil war the kingdom became the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Laos in 1975.

At 6 o’clock every morning the monks of Luang Prabang process through the streets soliciting alms for their daily food.

Begging Monks, Luang Prabang

It is, of course, a tourist attraction, and the modern world has provided more efficient ways of supporting religious institutions, but the procession remains symbolically important, both to the monks and the kneeling citizens who place donations of sticky rice into the monk’s begging bowls.

Wat Xieng Thong

Wat Xieng Thong’s Sim was built in 1560 and is the original; unlike the city’s other older temples it has never been razed by Chinese marauders nor over-enthusiastically restored. Considered a masterpiece of Lao architecture, the eves sweep almost to the ground, like a mother hen protecting her chickens. Though of great importance, the sim is modest in size; understatement is the Lao way.

The Sim, Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang

Inside is the usual collection of Buddha images....

Inside the Sim, Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang

… but not the most important statue. The Sitting Buddha, locked in a pavilion behind the Sim, prefers to remain in darkness and is taken out only to be washed. There is, however, a keyhole through which the Buddha can be viewed, and even photographed.

The Sitting Buddha through the keyhole, Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang

The Pra Bang Buddha

But even the sitting Buddha is not the most important statue in Luang Prabang. The Pra Bang Buddha, the Palladium of Laos (the image on which the nation’s safety depends) is housed in his own pavilion outside the former royal palace. We were allowed to approach the Buddha, shoeless, hatless and camera-less, so I have no a picture but can a report that it is a standing Buddha almost a metre high with his arms stretched forward. palms outward.

The hall of the Pra Bang Buddha, Luang Prabang

See Luang Prabang (1) The Old Town (Feb 2014)

Muang Khoun

Once the royal capital of Xieng Khaung, Muang Khoun is now little more than a village 30 km south of Phonsavan, the modern provincial capital (see map above).

As the stronghold of the communist Pathet Lao (now the government) and straddling the Ho Chi Minh trail Xieng Khoun was heavily bombed; eastern Laos receiving the equivalent of one planeload of American bombs every eight minutes for eight years (1964-73). Unexploded ordinance still blights the lives of local farmers.

Wat Phi Wat

After bombs destroyed Wat Phi Wat the main Buddha image was painstakingly reassembled, though his face now has an appropriately pained expression.

The Wat Phi Wat Buddha statue, Muang Khoun

 see Phonsavan, the Plain of Jars and Unexploded Ordinance (Feb 2014)

Vientiane

Vientiane, a small, low rise, low stress city has been the capital, off and on, of all or part of Laos since 1573. The Kingdom of Vientiane became a vassal of Siam in 1779 and after a rebellion in 1827 the city was looted and razed. It was rebuilt by the French in 1899.

That Luang

The gold painted stupa of That Luang marks the centre of the city and the focal point of Lao culture. It was built in 1930, based on French explorers’ sketches of the great stupa that stood here before 1827.

That Luang, Vientiane

Wat Pha Keo

Vientiane has many temples, as befits a major city, but Wat Pha Keo, the king’s personal temple rebuilt by the French, is now a museum whose major exhibit is elsewhere.

Wat Pha Keo, Vientiane

It once housed the Pha Keo, the ‘Emerald Buddha,’ but that it was carried off to Thailand in 1799 and now resides in Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok. It is the Palladium of Thailand, touched only by the king when he changes its robes, so there is little chance of it returning any time soon. (for more, see below and the 2015 post The Story of the Emerald Buddha.).

Wat On Teu

I should include one working temple from the capital, so I have chosen Wat On Tue, the Temple of the Heavy Buddha. Rebuilt several times since its original construction in 1560 by King Setthathirath, it is a complex of small buildings…

Wat On Teu Temple complex, Vientiane

….with a larger sim containing the eponymous image. In 1560 the nobles were summoned here to swear allegiance to King Setthathirath in front Vientiane’s largest Buddha. Two centuries later they were summoned to swear allegiance to Siam and 150 years after that they gathered here to swear allegiance to the French.

Young monk and the heavy Buddha, Wat On Teu, Vientiane

See Vientiane (1) Wats, Stupas and a Heavy Buddha (Feb 2014)

The South

Wat Phabat Phonsan

An hour from Vientiane, Wat Phabat Phonsan in the village of Dan Sa Mouc was constructed on an ancient religious site.

Wat Phabat Phonsan

Although the Buddha never visited Laos, devout Buddhists have managed to find his footprints all over the country and the Sim stands over such a footprint.

The Sim, Wat Phabat Phonsan

Physically, the Buddha was a normal man, but his footprint was, apparently, the size of bathtub. Local guide Phim said that in his grandparent’s youth there really was a ‘footprint’ of sorts, maybe a fossilised dinosaur footprint. The Lonely Planet suggests it was a depression formed by millennia of Mekong flood water.

Buddha's footprint, Wat Phabat Phonsan

Whatever the ‘footprint’ really was, the temple is redeemed by the paintings of the life of the Buddha covering the walls.

Painted interior, Wat Phabat Phonsan

Near Paksan

North of Paksan, our eye was caught by a small country temple with an outsize Naga Buddha. This popular image commemorates a time when the Buddha was meditating beneath a tree. A storm blew up and Mucalinda, the seven-headed King of the Serpents came up from the roots of the tree to shield him from the rain.

Small temple, large statue beside Route 13

See Heading South from Vientiane (Nov 2015)

Champasak

With some 100,000 inhabitants, Pakse (see map) is Laos’ third biggest city. Once capital of the Kingdom of Champasak it is now the capital of Champasak Province. Bordered by Cambodia and Thailand, the area saw many battles in medieval times and four of Champasak’s ten districts lie on the western (otherwise Thai) side of the Mekong.

One of those districts, tucked into Laos’ south-western corner includes the old town of Champasak which gave the kingdom its name, though it is now little more than a village with a line of guest houses beside the Mekong. This a rural area, every village and hamlet has its temple…

Village Temple, Champasak

The main local attraction is the UNESCO world Heritage site of Wat Phou, a 5th century Khmer Hindu temple that converted to Buddhism with the rest of the Khmer Empire in the 11th century. A single shrine remains in use but the site is largely a ruin, and though well worth a visit (or a look here!) it is not included in this post.

Cambodia

Cambodia

I have rather dwelt on Laos; Cambodia will be briefer. Buddhism, Cambodia’s official religion, is followed by 97% of the population (Pew Research Center) but temples, other than the ruins at Angkor, hardly feature on the tourist agenda.

Phnom Penh

The Cambodian capital is the other regular tourist stop – largely for the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Prison.

Wat Preah Keo

The Royal Palace complex provides some light relief and includes Wat Preah Keo, the Silver Pagoda. I failed to bag a decent picture, so borrowed one from Wikipedia for the Emerald Buddha post. I should attribute it more precisely but cannot as it no longer graces the page linked to.

Wat Preah Keo, The Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh, borrowed from Wikipedia

Inside, the no-photographing policy was vigorously enforced - so another borrowed picture.

The golden Buddha, Silver Pavilion, Phnom Penh, (picture from Wikipedia)

Built in 1962, the name alludes to the 5,329 silver tiles covering the floor. Now there is a polishing job! The main treasure is a golden Buddha crafted in the royal workshops in 1906/7. Its 90Kg of gold are encrusted with 9,584 diamonds (according to Wikipedia, the Rough Guide says 2,086). There is also a crystal version of the Emerald Buddha. Cambodia has a tenuous claim to the real one, but accepts that Bangkok has it for the foreseeable future.

See Phnom Penh (1) Palaces and Museums (Feb 2014)

Phnom Penh apart, we visited the magnificent temples of the Angkor period – Angkor Wat is just the centrepiece of an extensive complex of temples – and the pre-Angkorian temples at Sambor Prei Kuk. Interesting as they were, they are all ruins and have little or no use by today’s Buddhists, so they are not really part of this post.

Thailand

Thailand

Buddhism is thought to have arrived in Thailand around 250 BCE. The Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great (ruled 268-232) sent out monks to spread Buddhism and they may well have reached Thailand.

From the start of the (still-reigning) Chakri dynasty in 1782 the king has been the Supreme Patriarch of Thai Buddhism and the religion and monarchy are deeply entangled in what it is to be Thai.

Ban Na Ton Chan, Sukhothai, Ayuthaya and Bangkok are underlined. Phitsanulok is under the 'u' of Sukhothai and Wat Pha Sorn Kaew is under the 'h'.

Siam/Thailand was never part of France’s Indo-Chinese possessions, or part of any other European empire, but the Thai people, their culture and language are closely related to the Lao and there is a similarity in their temples.

Ban Na Ton Chan – A Village Temple

Ban Na Ton Chan is a craft village in northern Thailand. We visited on the day of celebration of the end of the rainy season and everybody was out partying in the grounds of the village temple.

The Village temple, Ban Na Ton Chan

The people were extraordinarily welcoming and plied us with food…

Mushrooms and Pork in a Christmas pot, Ban Na Ton Chan

…and I found some new drinking buddies round the back of the temple.

My new drinking buddies, Ban Na Ton Chan

Phitsanulok

Once an Ankgorian provincial centre, Phitsanulok became an important city in the first Thai kingdom which established itself at Sukhothai in 1238.

Wat Phra Sri Rattana

The temple dates from 1357 the time when Phitsanulok was briefly the capital of the Kingdom of Sukhothai.

Wat Phra Sri Rattana, Phitsanulok

Its most prized possession is the Phra Phuttha Chinnarat Buddha image. According to our guide, Ake, it is solid gold (this was a gold mining area) and is 'the most beautiful Buddha in Thailand and in the whole world.' Wikipedia describes it as gold-covered, which seems more likely.

Phra Phuttha Chinnarat Buddha, Phitsanulok

Sculpted sometime between the 10th and 15th centuries, it is, after the Emerald Buddha, the country’s most revered image. Women wearing skimpy tops and short skirts may not enter its presence – though men wearing shorts are no problem. We were also instructed not to photograph the image from a standing position, but as long as we were kneeling or sitting reverently - i.e. with our feet pointing away from the image - we could snap away to our heart's content.

Phetchabun Province

To the east of Phitsanulok is the more rural and hilly Phetchabun Province.

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew - The Temple on a Glass Cliff

Very new – indeed still under construction when we visited in November 2015 – this huge temple and monastery complex set on an 800m peak on the hills of Phetchabun seems a strange mixture of bad taste and brilliance.

Thai decoration is often fussy, but here it becomes fantastical,…

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

…the monastery is a cross between the palace of mad King Ludwig at Neuschwanstein and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle…

Monastery, Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

…but the Life of Buddha – five statues in one over a gleaming white temple is impressive, and not just for its size.

The life of the Buddha in one statue, Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Ayutthaya

Sukhothai was in decline by the 14th century and Ayutthaya, founded in 1351, became the next Thai capital.

A city of rivers and canals with many inhabitants living on boats, Ayutthaya’s population topped a million by 1700. Its wealth attracted traders from China, Persia and the European powers, each having their own ghetto and dock exporting rice, spices, timber and hides. This golden age ended abruptly in 1767 when, after centuries of incursion and counter-incursions, the Burmese finally sacked Ayutthaya, leaving it a ruin.

Bang Pa-In

The city has never recovered its pre-eminence, but it is left with many temples, most of the best in ruins and inappropriate for this post. Nearby Bang Pa-In is a royal retreat that was temporarily abandoned with the fall of Ayutthaya.

In 1782 a new Thai Kingdom emerged with its capital at Bangkok. Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok founded the Chakri dynasty and styled himself Rama I (the current monarch is Rama X).

Bang Pa-In regained its status as royal retreat in the mid-19th century when steam-powered boats put it within easy reach of Bangkok. It was favoured by King Mongkut (Rama IV) and his son King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) who was responsible for most of the building. Kong Mongkut hired the recently widowed Anna Leonowens to be governess for his many children, an event mythologised and romanticised in the King and I. King Chulalongkorn was her protégé and thus an admirer of most things western.

He particularly liked western religious architecture…

Buddhist Temple (yes, really) Pa-In

….but his enthusiasm did not extend to western religion itself. The ‘church’ in the photo above is actually a Buddhist temple. Inside there is even a triptych altar-piece, though there is no altar and the triptych’s iconography is purely Buddhist.

Inside the Buddhist Temple, Pa-In

Bangkok

For the biggest and the best of Thai temples, the capital is the obvious place to go.

Wat Pho

Wat Pho, in the heart of the old royal centre, was constructed in the 1790s on the site of an earlier temple. Within the walls are a monastery, one of the oldest schools of Thai massage, and a huge temple.

There is a central shrine...

Central Shrine, Wat Pho, Bangkok

...and four other main halls….

Wat Pho, Bangkok

…numerous courtyards…

Courtyard full of Buddhas, Wat Pho, Bangkok

….more Buddha images than you can count….

Assorted Buddhas, Wat Pho, Bangkok

….and 92 stupas. The small ones containing the ashes of members of the royal family…

Small Stupas, Wat Pho, Bangkok

… while the large ones hold ashes of the Buddha himself (allegedly).

Large Stupa, Wat Pho, Bangkok

Wat Pho’s main attraction is its Reclining Buddha. At 46m long and 15m high it is not the largest we have seen, (that is the Chaukhtatgyi Buddha in Yangon) but it is undoubtedly the most beautiful…

Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok

….with the most serene face.

Head of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok

And on the feet, as always, the 108 attributes of the Buddha.

The 108 attributes on the sole of Buddha's foot, Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok

Wat Phra Kaew

Next to Wat Pho is the Grand Palace, no longer the residence of the royal family, but used for ceremonial purposes. King Rama I started building Wat Phra Kaew next to the palace in 1782 and in 1784 installed the Emerald Buddha which he had carried off after sacking Vientiane in 1779.

Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok

Only 50 cm tall and carved from jade (‘emerald’ refers to its colour) The Emerald Buddha is the palladium of Thailand and probably the most important Buddha image in south east Asia. It is touched only by the King when he changes its robes three times a year. With a long and complicated history, the earlier parts shrouded in myth, the statue has its own post: The Story of the Emerald Buddha. Wat Preah Keo in Phnom Penh has a space should it ever return to Cambodia and it is the most important, though absent, exhibit in the temple/museum of Wat Pha Keo in Vientiane. There is, though, little chance of it leaving Bangkok in the foreseeable future.

The Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew. Bangkok

Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Mahayana Buddhism
Part 3: Tibetan Buddhism
Part 4: Theravada (1) Sri Lanka
Part 5: Theravada (2) Myanmar
Part 6: Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand

I Don't Really Have a Sweet Tooth, but.....

.... I Used to Like Desserts

Time was we would go out and eat a three-course meal, today it is usually main course only (though in the Time of Covid we have not been out since we took up that nice Rishi Sunak’s invitation ‘to eat out to help out’). Part of the problem is the increasing size of pub main courses, but most of it is our increasing age – we just can’t eat like we use to.

So, this post is a celebration of all things sweet. It is not quite a fond farewell, we are still in 'one dessert, two spoons' territory, and of course there are many occasions where the casual purchase of something small and sweet is deemed appropriate.

My dessert at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, Padstow (2007)

So where to start?

Portugal, Obviously

Why obviously? Because we have spent a week or two in the Algarve every October this century, and would be there right now if our flight had not been cancelled by the Curse of Covid.

The Algarve to us means, first and foremost, sea-food, fresh from the briny and expertly cooked, but a meal should not stop there.

Dessert menus generally involve a large glossy folded card produced by a manufacturer of synthetic desserts and ice creams. Stuck somewhere on the card there will be a small, sometimes hand-written, list of desserts for grown-ups, many of which will have been made in-house. Ever present is pudim flan, a rich eggy caramel custard, which is perfect when you have too little room for anything heavier. Sometimes it is just perfect.

Lynne and a pudim flan, Martin's Grill, Carvoeiro

Many residents of the dessert menu are equally at home with a morning coffee - another of the pleasures of Portugal and the reason why each trip is traditionally followed by a diet.

Coffee and Cakes, Ferragudo (2012)

An assortment of bolos (cakes) and tartes (translation unnecessary) are made from local produce including (but not limited to) almonds, figs, carobs, oranges and apples. The cakes will always be made with one egg more than would be normal elsewhere and are universally wonderful.

Different cakes (and cups) but at the same place in 2011

Apple Cakes

Portuguese apple cake is moist, flavourful and lovely. Elsewhere apple can be a little dull, though Lynne’s Dorset apple cake is always a delight and a French apple tart can be a thing of beauty. So is Moldovan apple cake – who knew there was such a thing? We made it our lunch in the ambitiously named Eco-resort, actually a clutch of traditional painted houses, in the village of Butuceni. Butuceni sees few visitors – it deserves more (click here to find out why).

Lynne and a Moldovan apple cake, Butuceni Eco-Resort

Pasteis de Nata

Our favourite and most frequent accompaniment to morning coffee is the pastel de nata (literally, if misleadingly, ‘cream pastry’)

Cafe con leite and a pastel de nata

Baked fresh every day – the supermarket version is cheap but a shadow of the real thing - the pastry is crisp and flaky, the filling rich with vanilla and egg. It can be enjoyed anywhere, but I know of nowhere better  than the Pastelaria Fabrica Velha in Carvoeiro, one of our favourite Algarve coffee spots.

I will also briefly mention Lord Stow’s Garden Café in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, just across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong. (Click here for our visit and ‘Lord Stow’s’ unusual back story.)

Lord Stow's Garden Café, Coloane, Macau

Lord Stow’s egg tarts are based on the pastel de nata; the pastry is first class, but they look a little too tidy and the oversweet filling lacks the subtlety of the real thing. Expanding from the Garden Café, Lord Stow bakery franchises can now be found in several east Asian luxury hotels.

Lord Stow's egg tarts, Coloane, Macau

SE Asia (and Mexico)

Vietnam

Having reached Macau we shall stay in Asia. There are many sweet foods in China, but there are no desserts because there are no courses. Dishes are ordered, arrive when they are ready and are shared by everybody.

The same is not true in Vietnam which has its own distinctive style. Finishing a meal with soup seems odd to us, but why not? In Hanoi (click here) our first dinner ended with che bo bo, a soup (though che means ‘tea’) described on the menu as a sweet southern dessert consommé.

Lynne and Nhu (representative of Haivenu Travel) at the Ly Club, Hanoi - we had not quite reached the dessert soup yet

At the other end of the country, Ngon is a Saigon institution. The huge restaurant is housed in a colonial mansion where tables fill the entrance hall, atrium, courtyard and every ground floor room. It was packed with office workers, students and suburban ladies on shopping expeditions; everybody, it seemed, headed for Ngon at lunch time.

Fortunately, we had a booking and a waiter led us confidently through the throng to the only spare seats in the building (for the full story click here). Sweetness is all-pervasive, so making good desserts is easy, but sublime desserts are rare. At Ngon, my glutinous rice balls swimming in a ginger and coconut milk sauce presented a combination of flavours and textures that hit that mark. I had difficulty grasping the idea that, for the locals, such delights are ordinary everyday food.

In the former imperial city of Hue, in Vietnam's narrow waist, we were treated to an 8-course imperial banquet. The food was all right, no more, but the presentation of each course was memorable. The dessert of sweetened red bean paste formed into fruits was one of the most inventive, though of course the fruits all tasted the same, regardless of colour or shape.

Fruits made from Bean Paste, Placid Garden Manor Restaurant, Hue

Malaysia

Malaysia is a great place to eat, but desserts are not a high priority. Cendol is a sort of national dessert available everywhere from 4-star hotels to street food stalls; the price varies, but the quality is much the same. It consists of shaved ice with coconut milk, green coloured rice noodles, a few red beans and a lot of unrefined palm sugar – simple, but pleasing.

Lynne eats cendol at a street food stall, Penang

Durian is popular from southern China southwards. The big, green spiky fruit smells like a chemical toilet left out in the sun, but if you can ignore that, and it is not easy, they taste wonderful (allegedly) – as the locals say ‘smells like Hell, tastes like Heaven.’

Green durian and red dragon fruit, Banh Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City

Malaysia is peak durian territory. There are shops entirely devoted to durian and the pastries and confections made from it. One-bite durian puffs are an easy way to approach the challenge, but the ‘one-bite’ is important. Attempting two bites deposits a surprisingly large slick of durian slurry over an extensive area (as well I know). The smell is repressed by the cooking and the flavour is actually quite pleasant.

The one-bite durian puff, Malacca

Emboldened, we tried a durian ice-cream on a stick in Kuala Lumpur, and actually enjoyed it.

Durian ice-cream. Are we beginning to develop a taste? Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Ice Cream

So, having reached ice cream, here is a brief rant.

Ice-cream parlours figured large in my youth, or at least Borza’s on the prom in Porthcawl did. I know others remember Borza’s fondly as the last time I mentioned them complete strangers contacted me asking for further information. Unfortunately, all I know is that the Borza’s moved on, those that didn’t can be found in Porthcawl cemetery, just across the path from my grandparents.

In the late 1950s Borza’s did few flavours, but they did the most exquisite creamy-textured vanilla - a vanilla nut sundae was a once-a-holiday treat (well it cost 1/9d!*). For Borza’s, vanilla was not a synonym for ‘plain’ it meant ice cream flavoured, quite strongly, with actual vanilla. To get an ice cream that good today you have to visit a high-end restaurant where they make it in-house. (Click here for the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny).

Since then ice cream has diversified into a host of mostly synthetic flavours and lost its texture. Some American makers have gone so far astray that ice cream has become merely a filler of the interstices in pots of crumbled brownies, cookie dough or honeycomb.

Ice Cream in Mexico

Rant over, now please join me in a leap across the Pacific from Malaysia to Mexico.

To complete a street food lunch in Puebla, 100 km south of Mexico City, we ventured into an ice cream shop. We had rarely seen such a vast array of flavours.

Ice-cream choices, Puebla

But it was not the number that amazed us, it was the flavours themselves. With our rudimentary grasp of Spanish we could see the usual suspects, strawberry, chocolate, rum and raisin, even vanilla tucked in the end. But what about vino tinto? As an ice cream? And queso (cheese) or queso con zarzamora (cheese with blackberries) or chicle (bubblegum)? Our local guide helped with the translations, but even he could not render maracuyá or guanabana into English, so that was what we chose.

Eating ice-cream in Puebla

We enjoyed both. Maracuyá was familiar though we could not quite place it, guanabana remained a mystery. We googled them later; maracuyá is passion fruit, so we should have recognised it, and guanabana is soursop. No? Nor me. It is, apparently, a spikey, vaguely pear-shaped fruit that grows on an evergreen tree throughout the tropical Americas. Its flavour, according to Wikipedia is a combination of strawberry and apple with a sour citrus note. It makes a decent enough ice cream.

Now, back to Asia

India

Mava

Mava or khoya is made throughout the sub-continent by stirring gently boiling milk until its consistency approaches a soft dough. It can be sold like that…

The Bhirandiyara Mava Center, Gujarat

… and the result is surprisingly sweet.

Lynne eating Mava, Bhirandiyara

Gulab Jamun

But it is also the basis of several sweets and desserts, my favourite being Gulab Jamun. Mava is rolled into balls, which are deep fried in ghee at low temperature until they are golden brown, then soaked in a light syrup, sometimes flavoured with cardamom, rose water or saffron. I have eaten many, but never photographed them, so I have borrowed this one from Wikipedia. In my experience they are rarely as elegantly presented as this.

Gulab Jamun with Saffron
Photo by Prakrutim, reproduced under CC Share-Alike 4. 0

Nimish

Nimish, a speciality of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, is another dairy based dessert. Double cream, icing sugar, rosewater and saffron are stirred together and topped with pistachios and silver leaf. The silver leaf has no gastronomic purpose, but the cuisine of Lucknow is the cuisine of Nawabs, so everything must look opulent.

Nimish at Lucknow market

Served here in an eco-friendly bowl of pressed leaves, it was sweet and lovely and slipped down very easily.

Nimish, Lucknow market

Turkey

Another westward skip brings us to Turkey. South-East Asia and India possess two of the world’s great cuisines and although few would say the same about Turkey, the country has, by my count, made three major culinary contributions; one is the donner kebab, the other two I like very much.

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight, lokum in Turkish, really is a delight and Istanbul has whole shops dedicated to it.

A whole shop full of Turkish Delight, Istiklal Cadessi, Istanbul

The concept is simple, a gel of sweetened starch is cut into cubes and dusted with icing sugar. The ‘delight’ comes from the inclusions (dates, pistachio, hazelnuts, walnuts) and flavourings (rosewater, bergamot, orange, lemon). Other inclusions and flavourings are possible. It is not covered in chocolate like Fry’s Turkish Delight, which is a very poor approximation to the real thing inside.

Baklava

Baklava may have been developed in the imperial kitchens of Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace. Layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and bound with syrup or honey make a rich dessert entirely suitable for an emperor – and pretty much anyone else. It has always been a favourite of mine, but in the only photograph I have of baklava, it is already half-eaten (I wonder why?).

Light lunch with ample sugar - Baklava, Turkish Delight and sweet Turkish coffee, Istanbul

United Kingdom and Ireland

Leaping athletically across the rest of Europe, we arrive home.

Posh Desserts

Sugar is such a dominant flavour that desserts can be a problem for high-end restaurants where subtle flavours are important. One solution is to create a variety of textures, as in this dessert from the Michelin starred Loam in Galway. Called 'Strawberry, Juniper' it involved strawberry ice cream, shards of juniper meringue, sweet pickled cherry, lovage sponge, coconut butter, white chocolate mousse, white chocolate bonbon, hazelnut crumb and a hint of smoked hay. All the elements, some very small, made their contribution providing a variety of textures and flavours beneath the dominant sweetness.

Strawberry, Juniper - Loam, Galway

Another is to go architectural as in this henge of fruit and meringue from the then Michelin starred Box Tree in Ilkley.

Dessert, The Box Tree, Ilkley

Despite my garish lighting effect (it is as good as I can get it) this mille-feuille of raspberries with lemon curd and elderflower was very pretty.

There are fewer problems lower down the pecking order. While banoffee pie and tiramisu have become ubiquitous, there has also been a renaissance of the traditional British pud.

Bakewell Pudding

Nothing sounds and feels quite as traditional as a Bakewell pudding (and I mean ‘pudding’ not ‘tart’, but that story is complicated - click here for Bakewell and Haddon Hall). A two-person pudding in the ‘Old Bakewell Pudding Shop’ eaten at 11am (and not quite finished) kept us going until dinner at 8.

A Bakewell pudding for two, served with cream and custard(!)

The jammy, almondy, marzipany flavour of the not quite egg-custard was toe-curlingly lovely, at first, but it was so sweet that even this wonderful flavour became cloying surprisingly quickly.

Sticky Toffee Pudding (STP)

And finally a mention for Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sadly, the only photo I have is of the factory in Flookburgh, 2½ miles from Cartmel, where STP has been made since demand outgrew the resources of Cartmel village shop. It seems wrong that a factory-made pudding that can be microwaved in minutes should be so good, but it is.

Cartmel sticky Toffee Pudding factory, Flookburgh

And finally, finally

That would be a dull picture to end on, so here is my dessert at the Makphet Restaurant in Vientiane, (the capital of Laos, as I am sure you know). Makphet exists to take children off the streets and train them for careers in the hospitality industry, so a worthy charity as well as a fine restaurant.

Top dessert, Makphet, Vientiane

Coconut ice-cream, fresh, sweet pineapple, cane syrup and a dusting of chilli powder. All my favourite flavours on one plate (although if they could have stuck in some ginger….)

*For the benefit for youngsters under 60, that is Old Money; one shilling and nine (old) pence – the equivalent of 8½p. That was expensive, in the 1950s when you could go round the world for half a crown and still have change for a fish supper.