You know, 'Stanley' or 'Thermos' brands. Equivalent Viet or Thai brands would be find if they actually are quality-made (real stainless steel innards, proper seal, etc). In Bangkok department stores they are expensive imports apparently coming from USA. Don't know why they aren't available as generics from India of Indonesia. Perhaps upper income Khmers are brand conscious.

Wide mouth like for soup would be ideal. Even in west these are not cheap ($30-).

Anybody see a good selection?

Yeah, there's a high-end homeware/restaurant supplier at Sovannah Mall on the second or third floor that stocks these. Don't know the name but it's pretty obvious when you've found the right place, they stock chafing dishes, knife blocks, stainless steel cookware etc. You're right though, not cheap.

Have the materials and designs if thermos bottles changed? When I was a kid in the 1960s the inner part was a shiny, thin, very lightweight and very fragile (I broke many) fiberglass type spun metal. Now all I find are heavy albeit safer stainless steel. They seemed like space age technology. Now they look industrial - indestructible but heavy and bulky.

1. Phsar Tom Thmei stall: off brand (China) 2-layer? $13

2. Zebra store (Thai) Sorya: 1 L 2-layer wider mouth $22.50 Almost same price at Lucky Supermarket on Sihanouk

3. City Mart, Sorya: (Japan) widish mouth $52 and $56 large size

4. Aeon
Lock & Lock (Korea?)
3 models
appear durable and high. quality, but poorier value per L than Zebra
What I like is the compactness (portability) and brand name. But the Aeon staff is ignorant as to which brand and model is suitable for my purpose (NOT keeping liquid, NOT keeping food hot but actually cooking soft grains)

a. 'Hot & Cool' 300 ml
+ $22.90
+ brushed gun metal
+ OK diameter opening
+ shiny inside, easy to view
- screws in outside
- very portable, one serving grains only
- unsuitable lid (for drinking), will it even keep meal hot?
My rating (all for my niche market use): ***

b. 'Hot & Cool' 350 ml
- $34.90 (a lot more for 18% more volume)
+ brushed gun metal
- very small opening
- dark inside
+ screws on inside
- unsuitable lid, intended for pouring liquids
+ very portable
- one serving grains only
+ sturdy steel exterior cup on top
- cup plastic-lined so inefficient use of space
OCD thermos geek rating: ****

c. Hot tank 500 ml
$24.90
- normal stainless
+ lighter weight even though 30%- taller
- still small opening but *almost* useable for grains
+ screws on outside
- cup plastic-lined so inefficient use of space
- easy fit (slim) in backpack
rating: ***

d. Hot tank 800 ml
$32.90
- normal stainless
+ lighter weight even though
- bit bulky 25%- taller and wider
- little bit larger opening but still not really practical for soup
+ screws on outside
+ cup larger
rating: ** (too large)

e.
brand: Lock & Lock
name: Minus 100
size: 600 & 800 ml
price: $27.90 & $34.90
material: steel & plastic
weight: bit heavy
size/shape: 600 very portable, 800 taller, same diameter
opening: both same, much wider than 'hot tank'
lid: very bulky and intended to dispense drink
cup: none
rating: **

Note: Very annoying labelling. English is poetic. *Korean* version has some facts but no scientific info. I want to know what is thickness if steel, tests on his long it holds heat, etc

f.
brand: Eplas
name: Bullet/Sportif
size: 500 ml
price: $17.90
material: stell
weight: medium light
size/shape: well, bullet - streamlined
opening: normal (i.e. inadequate)
lid: can click open to pour (very thin amount?) of liquid. I don't trust lids that open and I don't need
cup: yes
rating:*** (only because good value)

Food thermoses...

Turns out I was in wrong section... ALL Zojirushi product labels read 'Zebra', a Thai Inok company. Saleslady tells me Zebra manufactured for Japanese company, or distributes in Cambodia. Or something. I have no accurate idea what she said - my Khmer is pre-kindergarten.

g.
brand: Zojirushi
name: unknown (all labelling in Japanese, though instructions are in Thai. Warranty card is in Swahili - just kidding)
SF-CC15-XA
size: 1.5L
price: $62.50
material: steel & plastic
weight: way too heavy
size/shape: like workman's thermos w/ handle that clips closer when not in use
opening: wide
lid: seal looks good and when close feels excellent
cup: small soup bowl size us cover can use as second
rating: **** IF AVAIL IN SOUP SHORTER VERSION AND NO HANDLE. Too mitary specs.

h.
brand: Zojirushi
name: SW-ETE50-PE
size: 0.5 L
price: $47.50
material: steel & plastic
weight: medium
size/shape: squat
opening: 6.5 cm
lid: strange, has space
cup: none
rating: **** (smaller version of what have already)

BOUGHT NEXT ONE BELOW...

i.
brand: Zojirushi
name: SW-FCE75
size: 750 ml
price: $48.40
material: Steel & plastic
weight: med light
size/shape: bit squat
opening: large, 7 cm
lid: strange, has space inside
cup: none
rating:******

Got this Mercedes of thermoses due to perceived quality and suitability. But my 'buyer's remorse' is major, like I just bought a condo. The enclosed papers imply that there should be a case, a long spoon and a spoon case. But when I returned I am told that this is not so. Perhaps they are add-ons. After making a hard-boiled egg and miso soup I am impressed by its ability to cook and retain heat. I forgot what a hot 'bowl' of soup tasted like! Will report back if one can actually make seeds/grains. I think this is going to be a key part of my travelling kit - like my silk envelope sheet, java press mug, travel kettle, plug adapter and mini mosquito zapper lamp. Still looking for a mini rice cooker for grains (e.g. millet and wheat) that require log high heat.

thermos flask postscript

Downstairs in housewares section of Aeon supermarket- prices are much better, e.g....

h. 1 L
brand : BC?
- in travelling sleeve (appears to have zero insulating value)
steel
$8.10

i. 2L
Vietnamese
old style spun-fiberglass thermos like something out of 1971 PRC
$6.40!
manufacturer: Rang Dong Light Source & Vacuum Flask Joint Stick Company (sure sounds like a state-owned enterprise - for better or worse)

j. Seagull (Thai)
'Urban'
0.75 L
marginally insulated carrying draw-string bag
claims '8 hours keep warm'
2-layer stainless
$14.90

k.
+ same line but a good grip 0.5L model
'Metro'
+ nice bluish purple colour
+ $11.40
+ might come back for this one as a very portable backup

Best value so far seen at PARAGON (also lower prices on groceries than Lucky, Bayon and Thai Huot)..

l. About ten choices $6->24

Favourite

Nikko 'Alaska'
.35L
Japanese (text anyway) via Thailand
food flask w/ drink lid
compact
$11.40 but missing lid and sheath! Will not be restocked.

Well I'll be blowed, a thesis on thermoses. Georgie, you need to get a hobby.

Georgina wrote:j. Seagull

Would that be J.L. Seagull?

Joker Poker wrote:Well I'll be blowed, a thesis on thermoses. Georgie, you need to get a hobby.

I for one welcome similar posts on equally obscure and inconsequential topics: challenges of releasing turtles to the wild (will they drown in the river?), salaries of anti-P4P NGOs where 'trafficking' means a woman of 25 inviting her cousin to come work as a cashier at a bar, taste tests of soba (buckwheat noodles), reviews of saunas and massage and should you tip the 45 year-old nice lady who was hoping to give you a hand-job but you'd rather pass, price comparisons of sesame oil, why is Dutch Gouda cheese packaged in Vietnam cheaper at SMIlE convenience store than Aeon supermarket, and why do natural latex rubber pillows cost a billion dollars?

Clearly, I have too much free time and a compulsion to write for which I have not found a suitable financially rewarding avenue. Considering doing an investigative report on 'free range eggs.' At least two companies exist. One is a Korean NGO? But I suspect that after doing the research, field visits, interviews and photos my return would be 23 cents an hour. If I am lucky. Better to post here for no pay?

Suppose I could just accept the gift from business owners to not get findings published and instead bury the expose. Hmm, I hope I am wrong and 'free range' means er, free range rather than 'free run'. But I suspect it is like my observation in a small island on the west coast of America...

Free range is a fiction or at best an exaggeration. Those healthy, active and happy roosters and hens you see eating insects and running around the yard of your neighbour and who get rounded up by the daughter at dusk are NOT what chickens in industry and cottage industries even consist of. I went to a 'free range' farm in the same village in an Oregon like free (but very expensive) love commune and it was a depressing grass-free dirt hut. Open but dismal. Of course an improvement over torture of a cage. Better to be vegan or wait for the request from neighbour to look after his chickens when he is on holiday.

Speaking of eggs - tongkat ali AKA pasak bumi from Sumatra works, though not as effectively as testosterone. But no side effects. Crap sold in coffee in Malaysia is so weak and possibly chemically adulterated that it is a scam.

Enough meandering sparks on unimportant tangents for the day.

You have a strange mind... I like that.