Koh Tao - Thailand

I know I should try to keep my posts in somewhat chronological order, but I just have to warn you about this a place on Kho Tao, Thailand. It's a restaurant and dive shop, and I can't say anything about the diving part, oh the food and especially the SERVICE I can say one or two things about...

To all my fellow coeliacs: don't eat at Big Blue Diving, Koh Tao! The staff there was stressy and very rude, and didn't even try to read/listen to me and my dietary requirements. Since our waiter's English seemed okay, I tried to ask what kind of wrapping they had on their spring rolls (I've heard that if they use rice paper they are gluten free). Anyway, I just about managed to ask my question and say that I can't eat wheat, rye or barley, before our waiter, whilst walking away from our table, says that he doesn't know about the spring rolls and that if I have allergies I should choose something I know I can eat. Then he was gone again. I was SO annoyed! How am I supposed to be sure about what I can eat if I can't ask questions and make requirements?! If there's something a waiter/waitress don't know they ought to be able to ask someone who do! And the fact that he just ran off without letting my friend or me to order is just unacceptable.
Eventually he came back so we could order our normal "safe" meal - fried rice - which you can easily get a tastier and cheaper version of in several restaurants on Koh Tao...

Based on the service, or perhaps I should say the LACK OF SERVICE in this place - I will NEVER go back to this place and I would NEVER recommend it to anyone, coeliac or not!!!

Oh dear what an angry post, but both my friend and I were very upset after this. And also there are so many much nicer places on the island - like Simple Life for example!

The manager at Simple Life is the only one there who read Thai (the others didn't understand my restaurant card) but he is a lovely person, and so helpful when it came to find me something I could eat that wasn't fried rice ;)

So leave Big Blue Diving to its own destiny and head to Simple Life to eat!

Love Erika

More from my travels last year - Prague

After leaving Berlin I decided to make a two-day-stop in Prague, just because I basically was so close to the Czech capital on my way from Berlin to München (Munich). I arrived in the evening so I wen directly to a hostel I had looked up online - Traveller's Hostel Dlouhá. I hadn't booked anything but I was lucky and got the last place in a 4-bed-room for 20 euro per night, breakfast included (if I could eat anything I knew I would be lucky...)

I left my things in the room, lucky for me there was a locker for each person, and I went out to find someplace where I could buy something to eat. I had passed a shopping mall on my way to the hostel, so I decided to try there first. There was a food hall in the mall, and there i bought yogurt, cheese and rice cakes (which had the gluten free symbol on - the crossed-out wheat) I also went to a Starbucks and bought myself a large latte before heading back to the hostel, where I had a picnic in my bed.

The following morning I was happily surprised. I was one of the first to get to the breakfast room and there the ladies who worked in kitchen had prepared everything. There were bowls with different kinds of cereal in (no gluten free ones), there were plates with two or three pieces of ham and cheese, there were small pots of yogurt, there were a big basket of bred (not gluten free) and two large bowls one with butter and one with strawberry jam, there were tea, coffee, juice and milk. I had brought my own breakfast cereal and bread (just to be on the safe side and so I would have anything to eat for breakfast). So what I did was just ask for an empty bowl (these ladies didn't speak English, but they understood what I meant) I took a plate with ham and cheese and a pot of yogurt, then I moved to the butter where I found a nice and "clean" corner and the same with the jam. So in the end I had a really nice breakfast!

After such a good star on my day I walked to the old town square where I joined Sandeman's free guided tour at 11 o'clock. It was three and a half hours of a very energetic guided tour of the city. I can highly recommend doing one of these tours, but bring a sandwich and a snack... in the middle of the tour there's a 25-minute-lunch break at a bagels cafe, and nothing there is gluten free, apart from things to drink. It was a great tour and if you're in Prague - do it!

(Sandeman's has these free tours in several European cities check it out here: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ )

Directly after that I went on Sandeman's Castle tour which also is very good value for your money (250 czk for students). However, if I were you I would do this tour on another day, and not the same as the free tour... To walk around Prague for more then six hours can be quite challenging, and in my case I was starving (!) by then. Lucky for me I had my small rucksack with water, snacks and fruit, otherwise I wouldn't have survived.

The Castle tour finished at the Strahov Monastery and from there I searched my way to my next goal, the restaurant for the evening - Na Zlaté krizovatce.

It took me almost an hour’s walk to get there from where the tour ended. We got a bus ticket from our guide, but i was unsure which bus to take, so I thought a walk was a better option. It was a little difficult to find, but if you're good with a map and read the signs carefully (or use a GPS) it's no problem, and trust me it's worth the effort!

I got a warm welcome by an English speaking waitress. I was there early for dinner so it was no problem in getting a table. In the menu it says that EVERYTHING which is cooked and prepared in this restaurant is gluten free! The waitress puts bread (that they baked at the restaurant), butter with herbs and tapenade on my table. I turn to the menu, so many (ALL) things to choose from... This is not a luxury I have ever experienced in a restaurant in my gluten free life! Eventually I manage to decide to have a Pâté for starter. Then I have a Schnitzel for the main course and it is served with a potato cake rolled in puff pastry. I'm stuffed, but I know this is my chance to try as much as I possibly can so I have an Apfelstrudel for dessert - thinking this might be my only opportunity to try it. And I don't regret my decision, it really is divine!

Completely stuffed and very pleased with my day I took a bus back to my hostel...

If you're in Prague don't miss to have dinner at Na Zlaté krizovatce!
Check it out here: http://www.nazlatekrizovatce.cz/en/index.php

Love Erika