Wandering around the marvel that is Petra, I wonder where all the people are. It’s summer, and should be the beginning of the high season for tourism. In the shaded Siq leading down to the buildings carved into the red rock face a couple of coach parties wander towards the site at around midday, but if you walk the same route in the morning or evening, you’ll probably only see a couple of other people, most of them locals. If you wander to a further out part of the ancient city you feel as if you have the whole place to yourself.

Jordan is home not just to Petra- one of the wonders of the world- but also four other World Heritage Sites, Jerash (some of the best Roman ruins I’ve ever seen), Wadi Rum (a Mars-red expanse of remote desert) being only two examples. I’ve lived here for almost a year, travelled around the country most weekends, and still haven’t seen it all. However the story of solitude in Petra is repeated at almost every site I’ve visited. Despite this impressive list of tourist attractions, Jordan’s tourist industry is struggling. The first quarter drop this year is over 11%.

When I visited Wadi Rum my guide told me how he used struggle to fit all of the visitors who wanted to come into his calendar, but now he struggles to fill enough dates to keep going. In Jerash, a local selling tea tells me that the site is much less visited that several years ago. He wistfully talks about how he hopes that the visitors will increase soon, not just so that his sales increase, but also so that more people experience the beauty of the ruins, and of Jordan.

The problem stems from the region’s instability and the constant stream of negative news about the area. Jordan is very stable, has a strong army and government, but potential visitors only focus on the bordering countries. Syria lies to the North, Palestine and Israel to the West and Iraq to the East. All of these countries feature in the news every day with new headlines about the death and destruction that ravages them. Most people don’t want to be that close to danger, even if it is actually incredibly unlikely to affect them. The fact that Jordan has seen fewer successful terrorist attacks than many of the major European capitals in recent years does little to convince wary tourists.

It’s not just the numbers of Westerners visiting Jordan that are on the decrease. Tourists from the Middle East have also fallen, as the people are too busy focusing on the changes in their own country to travel the region. Instead of tourists from places such as Syria, Jordan now has thousands of refugees coming from the country- there are over 600,000 registered refugees in Jordan from Syria alone.

The government has called several emergency meetings to discuss what can be done to counter these ever falling numbers. Reduction in fees to enter Petra (currently sky-high), reduction in flight prices, have all been discussed in an attempt to entice visitors in. Thus far, these remain ideas rather than a reality, and measures put in place have been to no avail.

It has been a week since I arrived in Vietnam and I think I’m experiencing something of a reverse culture shock. The Bangkok-esque neon lights are back, the selfie sticks are out, and I haven’t even seen a squatty-loo! Within the first three minutes of my taxi from Ho Chi Minh Airport I knew Vietnam would be far more developed than Myanmar – it was abundantly apparent that Vietnam was not a country that had been cut off from the world well into my own life time.

Despite political and social communism (flags bearing the hammer and sickle appear like bunting along the main streets), the economy is a hive of activity and competition. And tourism is just one, yet a very substantial, source of wealth. Westerners have long been a normal feature here and no one really bats an eyelid at this fair, red-headed girl walking down the street – unless of course they’re selling the iconic ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ t-shirts and they reckon I’m the perfect prey. In some places it can even be difficult to find a menu that doesn’t include pasta or pizza. It seems everything is tainted by Western tourism.

Some advice I was once given went a little something like this: ‘A country isn’t designed to make you, a visitor, feel comfortable; it is designed to make its own people feel comfortable’. Those were sage words for travelling in Myanmar where western influences are rare. Tourism is certainly becoming a ‘thing’ for them, but so recently and rapidly that it is still very much ‘Myanmar’. This is a country where coca-cola arrived a mere two years ago and no one knows what pizza is. Yet in Vietnam the only ‘discomfort’ I have experienced is a bit of sunburn and a few nauseous days as a result of my anti-malaria tablets – and I can hardly blame Vietnam for them!

I can see why most of the people I’ve met travelling in South East Asia adore Vietnam and count it among their top favourite places. It has still got a strong local culture, but it is also easy, and it is fun. On every street there are shops selling familiar products, be that a Kit-Kat or Nivea suncream, and finding somewhere to eat is only ever difficult because of the unquantifiable amount of choice (a real problem for someone as indecisive as me). In contrast, we were thankful in Myanmar that the places we stayed at (budget hotels because hostels haven’t yet been introduced) sold water – it could be a struggle to find somewhere selling something as basic as that.

On top of that, 80% of the population don’t consider themselves to have religious faith, so alcohol is not at all frowned upon, as it was in densely Buddhist Myanmar. Bars and clubs are as prolific as in any city back home. The standards of music might not be quite the same, and seeing a bouncer smash a glass bottle over a (sleepily) drunk customer’s head was (to say the least) a little disturbing, but the party lifestyle is certainly not lacking out here. On the plains of Bagan and the shores of Inle Lake it was very rare to have a story start, ‘oh my god I was so wasted…’, yet here that seems to be a running feature of traveller tales.

Vietnam certainly has its charm, and only a third of my way in, ticking off only cities and beaches, I am sure to come across more authentic Vietnamese culture as I head up north. The prevalence of people here doing what I’m doing, the hostels that cater for backpackers and the cafes that use mineral water to make their ice, certainly make travelling a more comfortable experience. I think that had I been travelling solo for my stint in Myanmar it would have been a lot more difficult – but I’ve barely had a day to myself and have pulled out the lone diner card just a couple of times. Vietnam is lively, buzzing, metropolitan. One thing is for sure – I am not in Myanmar anymore.

“Why did you become vegan?” “What do you even eat?” – these are the two questions I would hear every day following the creation of Plant Only Recipes, the Facebook page and brand under which I share my vegan recipes.

Until May of this year, I never gave much thought to what I was eating. I’ve always been a huge food lover but, because I was naturally slim, I tended to just eat what I wanted when I wanted, without much thought to its calorie content or the effect it had on my body. In the beginning of 2015, towards the start of my first year at Oxford, I started to struggle with energy, enthusiasm and general well being. I was diagnosed with depression and, unhappy to have to take medication, began looking at other means of treating it. Around the same time, my dad had been struggling with his diabetes and my mum was looking to lose some weight (which, by the way, was totally crazy because she’s almost 50 years old and a size 12!) With this in the background, I began looking into food, diet and nutrition. 

I watched so many documentaries; it was fascinating and addictive! My recommendations include: ‘Forks over Knives’, ‘Hungry for Change’, ‘Food, inc’ and ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.’ Documentaries like these boldly address the impact of what we are eating and the effects it has on our body. I found it shocking how far away our diet has come from anything remotely natural – think confectionary, fast food, junk food, convenience food, long life products etc. Fundamentally, in the last 50 years, science and global companies have developed western food to a point completely removed from what our bodies have evolved to digest. During the same time, the incidence of obesity, heart disease and cancers in western society has sky rocketed – see where I’m going with this? 

There is an overwhelming correlation between not only processed food but also high concentrations of meat and animal products and increased circulatory disease, cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Since I became a vegan, I have seen and heard stories of people who have reversed: 1) plaque build up in their arteries 2) diabetes and 3) obesity by adopting clean eating habits – meals packed full of nutrients, vitamins and natural products. For more information about clean eating, I recommend the Deliciously Ella blog or http://www.cleaneatingmag.com. 

So, over night, I decided I would become a vegan and one who would steer well clear of refined and processed goods (white bread, white pasta, white sugar, oils, crisps, biscuits etc.) In essence, I wanted to adopt more natural eating habits for personal health reasons. However, in addition to the health benefits, documentaries, like ‘Vegucated’, address the ethics behind animal slaughter and the impact it has on our environment. The welfare of animals in meat production is truly shocking: chickens are now bred for a larger meat mass which their bones cannot support. Pigs are killed by being dumped in boiling water vats. Animal feed is supplemented with antibiotics and steroids which derive from chemicals that they were never meant to absorb and that we have ended up eating in their meat! I could go on. As is well known, there are also many environmental factors which push people to becoming vegetarian or vegan: meat production has become the biggest environmental polutant in the world. 

So there you have it, these are the reasons behind my diet and the creation of Plant Only Recipes. Every recipe (unless otherwise stated) I made up myself and use only plant ingredients. In addition, they are gluten free and free of refined/processed goods – but still delicious, I promise! The idea behind it was never totally to convert people from meat and animal products, but just to show healthy, delicious and easy alternatives to them. 

I believe we would be happier people in a happier world if we adopted more balanced eating habits – say, consuming meat and animal products in one daily meal as opposed to all 3 of them, plus snacks! This would not only lower pollution, lower the cost of your shopping and lower the number of animals slaughtered, but also lower your risk of developing the world’s most fatal illnesses.  

Saying all this, my conversion to a plant only lifestyle wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows! I had no idea what to eat and underate so much that climbing the stairs became a challenge. If I thought about the meals I used to eat and take out all the meat/animal/refined products, spaghetti bolognese would essentially become a tin of chopped tomatoes and a red onion. Not what you might call fab. 

Things started to improve when I thought about food differently and discovered new ingredients – chickpeas, beans, lentils, squashes, buckwheat etc – and the creation of plant only flapjacks, cookies, brownies and cakes (my first successful recipe you’ll find below) was/is my highpoint. You can seriously eat some delicious things without heaps of butter, sugar, eggs, milk and I will prove it to you! Plus, you don’t have to worry about getting fat because it’s natural foods that your body can actually utilise instead of “store for the winter” which, in our day and age, isn’t quite the famine it used to be. Oh and against popular belief, it’s also quick, cheap and super easy! ALSO, you don’t have to worry about bacterial contamination like salmonella.

How has it helped me and those close to me? Well I have cut my anti-depressant dosage to half and feel so much better! I have so much more energy and honestly feel like I can take on the world. People have commented that I look good too; my skin is glowing and my hair is shiny. I’ve also lost some weight and become much leaner. I am nearly always in the gym by 8am and no longer feel exhausted by 8pm. In short, my body is flourishing. My dad has reduced his diabetes medication too; he’s lost weight and is seeing fitness improvements. My mum looks and feels fantastic, not least because she’s now buying size 10 skinny jeans! 

Oh, and one final word on the biggest myth around: protein deficiency. Nuts, seeds, quinoa, oats, soya, broccoli and lentils are all listed in the top 20 high protein foods. They’re all far lower in calories than meat, egg and cheese and contain no saturated fats. What’s not to love?

So, without further delay, my first creation: Apple & Almond Flapjacks (6 bars) 

4 tbsp Apple Purée

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

1 tbsp Almond Butter 

4 tbsp Maple Syrup 

1 mug Oats 

2/3 mug Almonds

1/3 mug Chia Seeds 

Handful of Pumpkin Seeds 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Firstly, there are a few options for the apple purée: 1) shop bought, 2) homemade: blend an apple, 3) grate an apple & cook gently with a splash of water. 

Whichever way you do it, add your apple purée to a saucepan with the coconut oil, almond butter and maple syrup. Heat gently and stir into a delicious mixture. Measure out the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and pour over the liquid. Stir well so there are no dry patches. Pour this out into a lined baking dish, firmly pack the mixture down and bake for 10-15 minutes. I always like mine soft and sticky so go for closer to the 10 minute mark but by 15 it should be browning at the edges.

These are protein & fibre heavy which is great but, for me, their main purpose is to satisfy my mid afternoon sugar craving. If I’m feeling like I want to be healthier however, I may switch out the maple syrup for mashed banana.

Enjoy!  

To find more of Natalie’s amazing plant-only recipes, visit https://www.facebook.com/plantonlyrecipes?fref=ts 

Courgette and Halloumi Fritatta

This yummy frittata is the perfect way to use up the last half of that bock of halloumi you opened last night – that is, if there’s any left! Halloumi has become a staple in the bourgeois British diet – and in true, appropriating, bourgeois British style, let’s toss it together with vaguely appropriate foods from the same region to suit our menus. Voila: a halloumi frittata! 

Ingredients (for one)

Halloumi (as much as you want – personally, I can’t get enough!)

2 or 3 eggs (treat yourself)

Finger chillis (to taste)

1 courgette

1/2 of a red pepper

1 clove garlic

Milk (optional)

Tabasco or Sriracha sauce (very optional!)

Black pepper and salt

Start by mixing together the eggs together with the milk, salt and black pepper – and, if you’ve chosen the spicy route, the Tabasco/Sriracha sauce. Then grate a courgette and finely chop up your red pepper and fresh chillies. Chop up your halloumi into as many slices as you want (keep ‘em big, however). Turn on your grill, so that it has pre-heated by the time you need it. Put olive oil in the frying pan and add your garlic clove whole – cook it over the heat until the outside has begun to turn light brown. Remove the garlic and chop. Put the chills, red pepper and courgette into the pan and fry on a medium heat. Add salt and black pepper and wait until the water has started boiling away. Add the egg and stir briefly to mix the ingredients together. Wait until the bottom of the egg on the pan has begun to set. Put the halloumi on top and place the pan directly under the grill. Cook for 8-10 minutes – basically until the egg has risen and the halloumi has begun to crisp. Remove from the heat (using oven gloves because the handle will be roasting!) and flip onto a plate (by which I mean, place a plate on top and the carefully turn so that the frittata falls perfectly out of the pan, onto the plate). There you have it – courgette and halloumi omelettes!