Thailand Tourism Doesn't Have To Be Hard. Read These Six Tips

Succulent fresh prawns and straw mushrooms lend it body. A bold, refreshing blend of fragrant lemongrass, chilli, galangal, lime leaves, shallots, lime juice and fish sauce shapes this classic soup, giving it its legendary herbal kick.

As are bananas boiled in coconut milk and cantaloupe sago. Speaking of sticky rice, of course you're familiar with mango and sticky rice. A common street food dessert is sticky rice topped with coconut cream and served in little squares or banana leaf.

Mung bean particularly, is used in many desserts because it is quite gloopy and used as a thickener. Most Thai desserts feature traditional ingredients: coconuts, bananas, sesame seeds, tapioca, rice flour, arrowroot flour, mango and beans. Served with mushrooms and meat (salmon in the picture), some restaurants will serve it with a spot of chili oil on the top.

I also love Thom Kha soup, which is a sour soup made predominantly from coconut milk and flavoured with lemongrass. Not only that, but street food is plentiful as most Thais prefer to snack or eat when they're hungry, which is a huge contrast to Western dining practices. And of course the Thailand food and drink is good - most meals are around 40 baht ($1.32CAD or £0.83GBP) for a bowl of pork spare rib soup with rice noodles or pad thai.

Ferrang, the Thai word for foreigners, often ignore such street restaurants; but with the huge insurgence of money-minded backpackers, more and more travelers are eating with the locals. Though the soup is seasoned with chili, lime and fish sauce, because coconut milk is added to thicken the stock, the broth is milder and less spicy. It is the most simple dish imaginable, but the flavours absolutely explode in the mouth.

Red onion, coriander, spearmint, lime, dried chilli and tender strips of beef are tossed in a light lime based sauce. It is for me, the best tasting salad dish in the world. This spicy beef sad is absolutely bursting with flavour.

This is a firm favourite among Thai people and not surprisingly, it is really delicious. It is then simply served with slices of fresh yellow mango. The rice then absorbs all the liquid and becomes one soft glutinous lump.

The rice is then added and the heat turn off. It has to be the more rounded rice which has a more glutinous quality to it. After the rice has been cooked, coconut milk and sugar is heated in a pan. The secret of this dessert dish is the rice.

This is a truly wonderful curry. The paste is then added to coconut milk and meat potatoes and onions are added. This is combined into a paste with coriander seeds, lemongrass, garlic, white pepper, shrimp paste and shallots.

The seasoning spices used in the rich sauce are cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, cloves, cumin, bay leaf, nutmeg and mace. It is thought to have its Thai roots in the Ancient former capital city of Ayutthaya. It is thought that the name Massaman, not Thai, refers to Muslim; it has though, stuck.