When Ivan the Terrible wanted to commemorate the siege of Kazan and capture of the surrounding area, he had an incredible church constructed in the very center of Moscow. Unlike any other building built in Russia at the time, the church was colorful, whimsical, and detailed in a way no one had ever seen before. It was named the ‘Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat’. Lucky for us the church has survived since 1561 and goes by a much simpler name these days – St. Basil’s.

Located on Red Square, the church has been an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1990, and is one of the most iconic images of Moscow.

Gyeongbokgung Palace, the royal residence in South Korea, is located in Seoul and was nearly destroyed in the 20th century by the Japanese government. This ”Palace of Shining Happiness” is slowly being restored, with 40% of the original buildings standing or being reconstructed as of 2009.

This photo highlights the changing of the guard, a colorful event filled with beautiful flags and costumes. Though at this point, the guard change may be more for tourists rather than being official, the custom provides a view into the history of the country’s rich history.

In addition to the deep focus on travel photos, the new site features a major dose of original destination and thematic content, including fresh articles in categories such as “Affordable Family Destinations,” “Let it Pour” (featuring breweries, wineries and distilleries), “Will Travel for Food” (showcasing ideas for culinary adventures) and many more. For the first time, 10Best is now being infused with rich, original content on a regular basis from the global network of local editors built by NileGuide.

Key site features were also upgraded to further cement 10Best.com as a best-of-breed travel planning resource.  These include the inclusion of up-to-date menus for every restaurant listing and an improved sorting and filtering mechanism that enables users to drill-down further into 10Best’s editorial “Best of” lists via options ranging from “cheap eats” to “family-friendly.”

“We set ourselves on a mission to radically improve user engagement on 10Best.com,” offers Josh Steinitz, CEO of parent company NileGuide.  “We employed rigorous user testing and relied on our network of top-tier editors from around the world to produce what is truly a new and category-leading site experience.  I’m thrilled with the result and look forward to continuing to leverage the strengths we have across our individual portfolio websites to build high-engagement, category-leading digital products for travelers.”

About 10Best

10best.com makes trip planning easy with engaging travel news and practical “Top 10” lists of great restaurants, fun things to do, places to stay and important sites to visit around the world.   These lists are fastidiously compiled and curated by 10Best’s own team of expert travel editors from around the world.

About NileGuide

NileGuide.com offers unique, “for travelers, by locals” recommendations and free itineraries covering what to see and do, as well as where to stay and eat, in thousands of popular travel destinations.  These recommendations and original itineraries are created by a unique network of NileGuide editors, or “Local Experts,” spanning the globe.  NileGuide.com also provides a Q&A tool that allows travelers to ask questions and get answers from more than 75,000 local community members around the world.

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Contact Information:

Anne Moellering

VP, Marketing

650-636-9369 ext. 103

anne@nileguide.com

Aside from a few specific items, most of the ingredients can be found at any well stocked grocery store. If you’re lucky enough to have an Asian market in your city, stop by first to pick everything up at once. And although the recipe list looks long, once everything is chopped up the cooking process is super fast and easy – and all in one pot. Enjoy!

Image: sabel/Flickr

This recipe is adapted from Instructables.com author canida. Check out the original post for step-by-step photos of the soup-making process.

Ingredients:

for the broth:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass, washed thoroughly and cut into chunks
• 3 red shallots, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp whole coriander seeds
• 1 cup cilantro leaves, washed and de-stemmed
• 5-10 Thai chili peppers (or whatever you have on hand, adjust for your desired spice-level)
• 1.5 inch chunk of galangal root, cut into pieces (can be found at Asian markets)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, cut into strips
• 1 tsp chili garlic sauce

goes into the broth:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cut into cubes (can be breast, thigh, or both)
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms (any kind works)
• 1-3 tbs fish sauce (smells funky, but it’s important!)
• 1 can baby corn, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup cubed plum tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes

top it off:

• 1 lime cut into wedges
• 1 cup cilantro leaves, washed and de-stemmed

Steps:

Combine all ‘for the broth’  ingredients into a large pot, bring to boil, and simmer for 15-20 minutes covered. Strain broth through a sieve or strainer to remove all the large pieces of lemongrass, galanga root, and lime leaves. If you love lemongrass, feel free to leave a few stalks in. (Make sure to use a flexible spatula to press all the good juices out of the large chunks before discarding.) Add the ‘goes into the broth’ ingredients to the strained broth. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve hot with ‘top it off’ ingredients to taste.

We fell in love with this image of an artisan preparing herself for the Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco. Pier 27 on the Embarcadero is where all the float and parade materiel is storied before the big day, and we can only imagine the excitement and nerves before the hours-long parade hits city streets.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest in North America and represents the biggest community of Chinese outside of Asia. Its iconic buildings and vibrant community are prized by the city of San Francisco, and their Chinese New Year parade has everything from stilt-walkers, to lavish floats, to fiery dragons.

Gung Hay Fat Choy and happy Year of the Dragon!