WSET -Wine & Spirit Education Trust-

Last month, I had a chance to join a two days course to learn basic wine knowledge.

The course was provided by The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

 

Course book and wine in glasses for tasting

 

 

 WSET was found by the English wine merchants' guild -Vintners Company- in 1969.

 (Official website →http://www.wsetglobal.com/)

"The Wine & Spirit Education Trust has over 40 years' experience in the design and delivery of wine education programmes and qualifications in wines and spirits. In that time, it has grown to become the largest global provider in this field, with over 35,500 examination candidates per annum, in 58 countries. WSET qualifications are currently available in 17 different languages."

-from the official website-

 

 

14 people from different part of Taiwan attended the course

 

 

The course I joined took place in Taichung city, Taiwan.

(So, the course was ran in Chinese, though they gave me the English course book and exam in English.)

First day, the course started in 10am and study whole day until 6pm.

Level 1 course mainly covers basics. Such as, Types and Styles of Wine, Principal Grape Varieties, Social Responsibility...etc

Study through books along with the activities, like, wine tasting,  aroma sampling, food and wine pairing...etc

And the second day, we spent a few hours in the morning, reviewed what we have learnt in the first day and the certification exam after the lunch break.  

 

It was very interesting and I learnt a lot from the course.

Japanese food is very popular all over the world and loved by diversity of people.

Of course, Sake goes perfect with Japanese food but it can be enjoyed with wine also, if you choose correct food with correct wine...

 

Thanks to the teacher, Tina, and all the classmates, I have received the certificate from WSET!

I am looking forward to join the Level 2 course....

  

 

Angkor, Cambodia, vol 2 アンコール遺跡、カンボジア

Face of the Buddha, Angkor Tom

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia.
But the each sites are tremendously damaged because nobody had taken care of them during the war time and the time was quite long too...
Many countries stood up and help them restore the sites in a good shape, but at the end of the day, those work can not be done without the effort of local people.
I had a chance to visit the local art school "Artisans d'Angkor", established by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ligue Française de la Formation Continue et de l'Enseignement (French League for In-service Training and Education), and saw how the local student learn to become a real craftsman and help reconstruct the sites, the heritage of their own country.

 

 

Young students getting ready to be a craftsman

 

Sketches of a statue of the Buddha (left), Buddha's face from the site (right)

 

How they make statues of Hindu icons, Shiva (left), and Ganesha (right)

 

 

By the way, you can see both Hinduism and Buddhism sculptures in Angkor sites because the Khmer Empire (9th-15th century) was influenced by both Khmer Hindu and Buddhism. It was very interesting to see that both sculptures were seen in a same temple or a same column next to each other.

 

 

Beautiful paintings are sold on the street

 

A young artist painting and selling his work on the street

 

 

Well, as I said in "vol 1", I walked a lot from site to site in a very hot weather, I could use some rest. I enjoyed fresh coconut juice prepared by local girl with a big knife and also a cold Cambodian beer at the store just out side of the site.

 

 

Fresh coconut juice (left top), Cambodian beer (right),

Shops selling snacks, beverages and souvenirs (bottom)

 

  

There was a local fruit market near the hotel I was staying at.

Many different types of tropical fruits are found in the local market. It's very cheap anyway but you can also negotiate for a discount! You can pay both Cambodian Riel or US$ in any stores and shops in town. (US$1≒4100R)

 

 

Local fruit market near Smiling Hotel

 

Dragon fruit (top left), Longan (top right),

Salak -or Snakefruit-(bottom left), Rambutan (bottom right)

 

 

At Siem Reap's old market, you can also find fruits & vegetables, fermented fish paste, herbs & spices and souvenirs, like, Cambodia's famous palm sugar or T-shirts etc. 

 

 

Local market, selling vegetables (left) and spices (right)

Variety of spices and seasonings (left), Fermented fish and pickles (right) 

Dried sausages, fish meat, etc...

 

 

5days trip wasn't a long time. I wish I could spend more time and explre more but I enjoyed those 5days. Angkor definitely is a place to visit, at least, once in a life time. There are so much to see... I strongly recomend it!

 

 

Angkor, Cambodia, vol 1 アンコール遺跡、カンボジア

Ruins of Angkor are the Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction, located near Siem Reap city.

 

Many ruins of Angkor were hidden in the forest, covered by trees.

 

 

I took a 5days trip to Angkor,Cambodia, last month. Angkor was one of the place I always wanted to visit. Cambodia was not accessible country until they ended their 20years of civil war in 1990.
So, I think we are very fortunate to be able to visit there and see the part of ancient history with our own eyes.

Smiling Hotel in Siem Reap

 

View from the balcony (left), Swimming pool (middle), Appearance of the hotel (right)

 

 

I was staying at Smiling Hotel, one of the four star hotels in Siem Reap City.

The hotel is not located in the downtown Siem Reap but there is a local market next door (if you like to explore and try some local food), the room was very clean, decent breakfast buffet and free Wi-Fi in every rooms and the lobby. That was good enough for me.

One thing though, there was a blackout for a few minutes, every night around 10pm! But it was nothing to do with the hotel,  it was not only in the hotel, seems like whole town gone blackout every night...

 

There are a couple of five star hotels in Siem Reap City. One is Sofitel and other is Le Meridien.

Both located next to each other and also a bit far away from downtown.

I also saw a sign of Park Hyatt going under construction. They made an agreement with Hotel De La Paix, rebrand and renovate the hotel, supposed to be opening in fist quarter 2013.

 

 

Tonle Sap, "Large fresh water river" or simply "Great Lake" 

 

 

First day of the tour started from "Tonle Sap", a great lake. Half an hour drive, straight from the airport, we arrived the lake. It is a huge lake, more like an ocean, just something wrong with the color of water.

The color of the water, as you can see from the pictures, was brown... It's not clean, obviously. People live there and do all the things necessary for their lives, from excretion to washing their clothing with same water from the lake... though they do have a water purification system in place for their food and drink.

Well, important thing is no matter what the circumstances are, people seem to enjoy their lives. Not much stress, totally relaxed. The lake support their lives with water and fish. They don't need to worry about food. They can also easily move around with the houses/boats, depending on the season.

 

 

Houses on the river bank (left), 

A boy with an aluminium bowl, using it as a boat (right) 

 

People have their life in "mobile" house

 

Over one million people live in floating villages around the lake(left, middle),

They even have shops and schools for their children (right)

 

 

From the 2nd day to 4th day of the 5days tour,  focus on the ruins of Angkor. Everyday from morning to late afternoon, there are a lot to see...

Angkor Tom, Angkor Wat, Ta Keo and so on... walked a lot in hot days except 4th day, rained in the morning, but all of them were spectacular sites. As you may know from the movie "Lara Croft", those temples and palaces are amazingly beautiful. Unfortunately, most of them are heavily damaged because they have been abandoned for long time during the war time... but somehow the abandoned buildings and the forest are in a good harmony and keep attracting people's eyes and hearts.



 

 

Angkor Wat, translated to "Temple City" or "City of Temples"

 

Angkor Thom, "Great City"

 

Preah Khan, "Holy Sword"

 

Preah Khan, Temple (right), Library (middle), Sculpture of Buddhas (right)

 

 

There are so many pictures and things I want to share, but it is becoming too long...

 To be continued.....!!