Dede Sophie

Southeast Asia has a very special place in my heart because it’s the place where the seeds of veganism were officially planted into my head (I saw a dead dog at the meat market 🙁 ). I’ve lived in Bangkok, house sat in Chiang Mai and travelled across Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand and Singapore. Whilst I’m loathe to put these unique countries with their unique histories and cultures into one box of sweeping statements, it still can’t be denied: the food in Southeast Asia is incredible. Yes, even for travelling vegans. In this (hopefully useful) guide, I’m giving a quick overview of the eight Southeast Asian countries I’ve personally travelled vegan in (with an invitation for you to add your own tips for Myanmar, Brunei and East Timor). As is my usual ‘style’, I’m laying out (pun intended?) the accidentally vegan foods of each country as well as the traditional foods of the countries and how t...

There is so much more to Agra than the ‘ Taj Mahal ’. There are its colorful and vibrant bazaars, its other UNESCO World heritage sites (Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri), its Mughal era gardens, its river side, its mosques and its iconic tombs. You are never too far away from a work of art in Agra. One such work of art is the Tomb of Emperor Akbar, located about 10 kms away from the Taj Mahal. This Mughal architectural masterpiece is one of Agra’s top tourist attractions and a must visit on your Agra holiday. Built in the early 17th century by Akbar’s son Jehangir, this mausoleum is famous for its gigantic size, its massive gateways (similar to that of the Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri), its inlay panels, its jaali work, the front façade, the arches and the decorated tomb itself. Add to it the stunning red monument that stands in the middle of lush green surrounding with blackbucks roaming its lawns and you have an architectural masterpiece. Akbar’s tomb would have been grander had th...

CONGRATS TO LUCKY WINNER – EMILY! “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her — her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy. I was in a hurry when I opened this audiobook and didn’t realize at first it was the author herself reading it out loud! It certainly made for a unique reading experience, and that made it all the more fulfilling somehow. I hadn’t read the paper version of the novel and was unprepared for the gamut of emotions the story takes a listener thro...