If you ever find yourself in the capital town of Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri, there is only one place to go for breakfast. You will not regret it. You will enjoy the most delicious breakfast in town at the Cinnamon Cafe and Bakery.

The coffee was the best. I had enough of those bitter coffee from other places in Sen Monorom. Here, I can enjoy the coffee without being suspicious of its origin. The owner, Kia, told me that the coffee beans were bought in Phnom Penh. It does feel good!

For breakfast, I had an all day English breakfast. This meant two scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes, bacon and homemade bread.

I also had homemade yoghurt with mango, passion fruit and muesli.

And since I can’t get enough, I had pancakes too served with lime and sugar.

I’ve met Kia a few times before. The last time was in Bangkok some years ago. I know that she is known to be the best baker in town. She has many orders everyday from individuals and some from organisations too. Really cool! She related to me how everything started, how an expat couple who worked many years in Mondulkiri got her started and encouraged her to continue. It was a beautiful story.

(All photos by Ari Vitikainen @arivitikainenphotography.com)

Renting a car is inevitably in Iceland. That is the only way to get around and see the beautiful places. Then you also get to stop at amazing places for coffee. These were good stops.

But if you don’t know yet, Iceland is expensive. If you like, you can get a bowl of soup for 25 Euros and one egg (uncooked, that is) at the grocery store could cost 1 Euro. So it’s not a backpacking kind of place. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any backpackers there. There is this very popular bakery in downtown Reykjavik. There was a long queue, I tell you. Fresh, fresh bread…

I’ve never been anywhere as spooky as this place. Pigeons were everywhere, making creepy echoes…

This is Les Alyscamps in Arles, a prominent burial place during the Roman times. Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin painted here together. I’ve always thought Van Gogh painted benches when actually they are sarcophagus. Lots and lots of them.

There was no one around. So  capturing the mood of this abandoned, very eery location was even more spine-chilling. It was a perfect spot for a horror film.

These are Van Gogh’s and Gauguin’s paintings of Les Alyscamps.

Terrasse de café le soir (Good food and the upstairs was looking really, really ancient!)

The Trinquetaille Bridge (Notice how the tree grew!)

La nuit étoilée sur le Rhône (Van Gogh painted this with candles stuck on his hat.)

La maison jaune (It was bombed in a WWII air raid so the structure was not there anymore.)

Le pont de Langlois (More than 10 km walk under the Provençal sun) 

The Old Mill (Someone removed the sign from this one.)

Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, Saint- Rémy-de-Provence where Starry Night was painted.

Marseille is one place that I never expected to visit. But going to Arles means arriving in Marseille airport before taking the train to Arles. But I did enjoy Marseille. The balcony from the hotel room was a perfect spot to wait for the sunset and the city lights.

One lovely late afternoon was spent in Iles du Frioul.

Taking the boat at the pier located infront of the hotel and a climb on the hill, presented a beautiful glimpse of the sunset. There was no one there, except for the seagulls.

If you knew Marrakesh, then you are familiar with its narrow, well-trodden, intricate network of alleys which seem to be leading to nowhere while some that just stop right in front of you. It was something of an amazement to me. Although walking through these alleys the first time felt very strange, as the days went by it became the common thing to do to get to places.

But there was this thing about the locals asking you to see the Berber leather market. Everyone (not really but it felt like) would like to lead you to the Berber leather market. It’s because today is either the last day, the only day, the Berber King is there or these people just happen to be on their way anyway so why not go with! I never fell trap to this trick. First of all, I know if ever there was a Berber leather market it would smell very awful. And I have no plans to buy any leather products at the moment either.

I can’t deny it. I love the evenings in the Medina. I have to confess. I have dined at almost every restaurant around the Souk. Waiting for the sunset felt so magical. Then lingered longer for the night market to come to life and to witness people pouring from every direction.  I can’t remember seeing so huge market in my entire life, especially that I don’t really like markets. But it was fun to watch the evenings in Marrakesh on the rooftop terraces. Not to mention, the food. Heavenly!

You know what they say. When visiting a country, you have to try the local delicacies. So you can imagine how many dishes of Tangine I have consumed over the last few days. And of course, not to mention the many pieces of Baklava!

So here I was, sat at this beautiful and peaceful place to try the Moroccan coffee. This time with Moroccan herbs. And so I gathered all my courage to order a cup. If you know me, you know how particular I am with my coffee. Can’t drink instant coffee. Can’t drink airplane coffee. Can’t drink hotel breakfast coffee. Can’t drink from a paper cup. Can’t drink from a tiny cup. Can only drink from a mug. And must drink my coffee sat. So this was a brave thing for me to do.

I also took all my strength to taste it. The coffee was very bitter. It left a strange sting at the tip of my tongue. I was suspecting black pepper. There was also a hint of cinnamon and probably, cardamon. It was a bit minty too. So the bottomline, it tasted weird. I was not able to locate the taste of coffee at all!

Will I drink Moroccan coffee with Moroccan herbs again? I bet you know the answer.