Thailand: A country of beautifully manicured white sandy beaches, majestic mountain scenery, crystal clear blue water and Monkeys who pee on you.
So Andrew and I are in Rai Leh beach in southern thailand, minding our own business walking along a path when I feel something wet on my arm. My first instinct since I'm an ex-new yorker is air conditioning drip which is inevitable in that city, but then I remember I'm in the middle of a JUNGLE. Rain? No not a cloud in the sky. I hesitantly look up to see a monkey in the tree PEEING. ON ME. I immediately scream, run away and proceed to pour a whole bottle of water on myself. And although I have showered for a good half an hour I still do not feel clean. The horror.
Other than that, Thailand has been wonderful. We were in bangkok a couple of days and met up with our good friends from New York Shannon and Jordan who were taking vacation for two weeks. So we followed them to Phuket and Koh Phi Phi and had a blast. Koh Phi Phi is where the movie "the Beach" was filmed and it's absolutely beautiful, albeit run over by tourists. But I have to admit there's a reason for it, it actually is that beautiful.
Next we're off to Chang Mai for some elephant trekking, up to Yunnan in China for Chinese New Year and then to Vietnam to meet up with Andrew's Mom. That's all for now!
P.S. I seriously can't have a post that doesn't mention food...The food is obviously delicious here, surprisingly similar to thai restaurants from home. And I say surprisingly because you never know, for example Andrew's sister went to India and said the food was not what she expected at all. Andrew's main complaint is that there aren't solidly thai food restaurants, but mainly a smorgesboard of menus that range from pizza to weiner schnitzel. My favorite was "On the Border, Mexican Grill and Pub. With Pizza, Steak, and Pasta." And the best part wsa that it was attached to an Indian restaurant. And they obviously served thai dishes as well. So it goes!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Food, Glorious Food
So as you may have read in previous posts, a focal point during our trip has been (and will continue to be) the food. Especially with our food partners in crime Gar and Dee, we have been eating well the past 2 months.
I've jotted down some "food observations" and I think the best way to delineate them is through bullets. So here goes:
-Every country gives you candy at customs. With flashes back to my childhood with my parents saying "don't eat candy from strangers" I was at first a bit hesitant. Andrew on the other hand thought it was some sort of a test, "If I take and I don't like, does that mean I can't pass?" Turns out the candy is quite tasty, not poisonous, and not a test and only a nice gesture.
-A couple of McDonald's observations. Indonesian/Malaysian McD's do not have Diet Coke. Very strange. They are also SUPER stingy about ketchup only giving 2 packets per order. You have to beg for more. And don't even think about sweet and sour sauce. You'd have to hand over your first child before you got a tube of that goodness.
-I wouldn't call myself an adventurous eater, but I'm not that picky either. Asians obviously have a ton of curious and different food than we do, but I'm not all that interested in eating any sort of cat, dog, testicle, intestine, etc (although I did try bbq frog which was good). So I've decided that my form of "curious" eating is through exotic fruits. It all started with mangostines (sp?), these delicious little creatures that sort of taste like lychee. And then I was ravenous for any sort of fruit I didn't recognize--and I wish I could tell you what I've eaten but unfortunately I can't understand about half of what the fruit ladies say.
-However, the most interesting is Cacao, which what chocolate comes from. It looks sort of like a small squash and when you open it up it's a bunch of white sort of sweet pieces with a pit inside. I decided whoever made the first chocolate bar was a genious, as I have no idea how they thought "oh let's dry out this fruits pit, crush it, add sugar, and TA DA the most delicious thing in the world." Thank God for Mr. Hershey.
-The worst fruit we've tasted is Durian. Andrew alluded to it before talking about Garrett destroying his taste buds and that's because it smells and tastes AWFUL. First off, it's a huge fruit with tons of spikes on it, like porcupines but thicker. We were reading a book that featured durian and they warned not to throw it on anyone's head as it might kill someone. Ever thought you'd here that warning for a fruit? How desperate was the first person who ate durian? Or maybe they were using it as a weapon and it accidentally broke open. Anyways, it smells nasty. Like really rotten cheese, although I like aged cheese but this is cheese gone sour. And the texture is sort of like slimy tofu (another of andrew's favorite things). And the worst part is that the taste sticks on the top of your mouth and you end up tasting it for an entire day. And the smells wafts so badly that there are signs everywhere, like in subways and hotel lobbies that say "No Durian." Like no smoking, but worse.
-Anyone who knows Andrew well knows that he HATES eggs. Only after 3 years of dating him did I finally convince him to try an omelette. Anyways, indonesians and asians in general are obsessed with eggs. I'm guessing it's because it's such a cheap form of protein (and in my opinion DELICIOUS). Rice, club sandwiches, burgers, sushi, EVERYTHING comes with a fried egg on top. This means that Andrew has to pick egg of most of his food, which I find quite amusing.
-And finally, the most amazing thing we've tried so far is suckling pig, or Babi Gulung (baby pig). We followed in Anthony Bourdain's footsteps to Ubud, trying to find the restaurant Ibu Oka. Like I've mentioned before, It's rainy season in Bali and it actually rains (errr pours) in Ubud. So we decide to trek out in the pouring rain to the restaurant, supposedly a 5 minute walk. After being soaked after only going 5 blocks, we get to the restaurant that is completely empty A guy is sitting in the convenience store next to it and says "It's closed." Duh. Thank you for your help. I ask him it's closed for good, and he says I know another babi gulung place you can go to. We don't want to go to another place, Anthony Bourdain didn't eat at another place, he ate at this place, and we want to go here. Then we see a sign that says "We've moved to the House" and an arrow. Ummm what the hell does that mean? We look a far ways down the street and no house. Luckily, another guy is actually inside the restaurant and he says that they've merely relocated (to the house, clearly) and gives us directions. And by the way, if you only had the sign to rely upon there's no way you would have found it. To the house means down the street, turn right at the ally, the next left and THEN you're at the house.
-Anyways, after an epic journey to the restaurant we order some bintangs and are getting excited about eating some pig. We wait about 5 minutes and all of a sudden plates of succulent pork arrive in front of us. No menus, no ordering, just pig. The way the pig is cooked is over fire on a stick for about 6 hours. It's stuffed with all sorts of spices and the skin is coated again and again with coconut water (have you ever heard of something more delicious?). We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to actually see the pig cooking ( you have to arrive at the restaurant at 8 in the morning...and that wasn't going to happen). On your plate, you get about 4 pieces of the tender pork that almost looks like chicken, fried bits (aka the parts that aren't big enough to serve so they fry it up), lots of yummy, spicy sauce, a blood sausage (which I promptly gave to garrett) and crackling. The crackling is my favorite part. It's the skin and it's incredibly crunchy with hints of coconut and fried goodness. And good for your too!
Sufficed to say, our food tour through asia is going swimmingly.
I've jotted down some "food observations" and I think the best way to delineate them is through bullets. So here goes:
-Every country gives you candy at customs. With flashes back to my childhood with my parents saying "don't eat candy from strangers" I was at first a bit hesitant. Andrew on the other hand thought it was some sort of a test, "If I take and I don't like, does that mean I can't pass?" Turns out the candy is quite tasty, not poisonous, and not a test and only a nice gesture.
-A couple of McDonald's observations. Indonesian/Malaysian McD's do not have Diet Coke. Very strange. They are also SUPER stingy about ketchup only giving 2 packets per order. You have to beg for more. And don't even think about sweet and sour sauce. You'd have to hand over your first child before you got a tube of that goodness.
-I wouldn't call myself an adventurous eater, but I'm not that picky either. Asians obviously have a ton of curious and different food than we do, but I'm not all that interested in eating any sort of cat, dog, testicle, intestine, etc (although I did try bbq frog which was good). So I've decided that my form of "curious" eating is through exotic fruits. It all started with mangostines (sp?), these delicious little creatures that sort of taste like lychee. And then I was ravenous for any sort of fruit I didn't recognize--and I wish I could tell you what I've eaten but unfortunately I can't understand about half of what the fruit ladies say.
-However, the most interesting is Cacao, which what chocolate comes from. It looks sort of like a small squash and when you open it up it's a bunch of white sort of sweet pieces with a pit inside. I decided whoever made the first chocolate bar was a genious, as I have no idea how they thought "oh let's dry out this fruits pit, crush it, add sugar, and TA DA the most delicious thing in the world." Thank God for Mr. Hershey.
-The worst fruit we've tasted is Durian. Andrew alluded to it before talking about Garrett destroying his taste buds and that's because it smells and tastes AWFUL. First off, it's a huge fruit with tons of spikes on it, like porcupines but thicker. We were reading a book that featured durian and they warned not to throw it on anyone's head as it might kill someone. Ever thought you'd here that warning for a fruit? How desperate was the first person who ate durian? Or maybe they were using it as a weapon and it accidentally broke open. Anyways, it smells nasty. Like really rotten cheese, although I like aged cheese but this is cheese gone sour. And the texture is sort of like slimy tofu (another of andrew's favorite things). And the worst part is that the taste sticks on the top of your mouth and you end up tasting it for an entire day. And the smells wafts so badly that there are signs everywhere, like in subways and hotel lobbies that say "No Durian." Like no smoking, but worse.
-Anyone who knows Andrew well knows that he HATES eggs. Only after 3 years of dating him did I finally convince him to try an omelette. Anyways, indonesians and asians in general are obsessed with eggs. I'm guessing it's because it's such a cheap form of protein (and in my opinion DELICIOUS). Rice, club sandwiches, burgers, sushi, EVERYTHING comes with a fried egg on top. This means that Andrew has to pick egg of most of his food, which I find quite amusing.
-And finally, the most amazing thing we've tried so far is suckling pig, or Babi Gulung (baby pig). We followed in Anthony Bourdain's footsteps to Ubud, trying to find the restaurant Ibu Oka. Like I've mentioned before, It's rainy season in Bali and it actually rains (errr pours) in Ubud. So we decide to trek out in the pouring rain to the restaurant, supposedly a 5 minute walk. After being soaked after only going 5 blocks, we get to the restaurant that is completely empty A guy is sitting in the convenience store next to it and says "It's closed." Duh. Thank you for your help. I ask him it's closed for good, and he says I know another babi gulung place you can go to. We don't want to go to another place, Anthony Bourdain didn't eat at another place, he ate at this place, and we want to go here. Then we see a sign that says "We've moved to the House" and an arrow. Ummm what the hell does that mean? We look a far ways down the street and no house. Luckily, another guy is actually inside the restaurant and he says that they've merely relocated (to the house, clearly) and gives us directions. And by the way, if you only had the sign to rely upon there's no way you would have found it. To the house means down the street, turn right at the ally, the next left and THEN you're at the house.
-Anyways, after an epic journey to the restaurant we order some bintangs and are getting excited about eating some pig. We wait about 5 minutes and all of a sudden plates of succulent pork arrive in front of us. No menus, no ordering, just pig. The way the pig is cooked is over fire on a stick for about 6 hours. It's stuffed with all sorts of spices and the skin is coated again and again with coconut water (have you ever heard of something more delicious?). We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to actually see the pig cooking ( you have to arrive at the restaurant at 8 in the morning...and that wasn't going to happen). On your plate, you get about 4 pieces of the tender pork that almost looks like chicken, fried bits (aka the parts that aren't big enough to serve so they fry it up), lots of yummy, spicy sauce, a blood sausage (which I promptly gave to garrett) and crackling. The crackling is my favorite part. It's the skin and it's incredibly crunchy with hints of coconut and fried goodness. And good for your too!
Sufficed to say, our food tour through asia is going swimmingly.
Turbo (the Yukonian)
I have never met anyone from the Yukon in my life, and surprisingly enough I met two in Indonesia of all places. This person on the right who is being harassed by a little monkey, is Turbo (or Collin). His nickname comes from his bountiful energy and his desire to get out and hike or camp. He claims to have a mental alarm clock he can use to wake himself up at any time.
He was the impetus behind our failed attempt to do a sunrise hike to the top of a volcano in Ubud. (Also another post on it's own) He was a lot of fun to have around, and if it wasn't for him we would probably have spent most of our time lazing by the pool.
He was the impetus behind our failed attempt to do a sunrise hike to the top of a volcano in Ubud. (Also another post on it's own) He was a lot of fun to have around, and if it wasn't for him we would probably have spent most of our time lazing by the pool.
Garrett:
So Garrett is the second half of the great Irish duo, he was usually the first one to think of beer during the day ... and the last to leave the bar. They both have great taste in music, and love Arrested Development which is rare for someone from the EU.
I feel bad for his tastebuds, he takes any opportunity to destroy them either with blazing spice or the horrible stench that is Durian. Definitly the most adventourous eater in our group, so it was only fitting that he was our leader on the quest for suckling pig (A great success that deserves it's own post entirely).
Garrett is a serial drunk dialer, we would judge how drunk he was the night before on how long he spent on the phone. Since he has gone back to Ireland (and on to Rome) Lindsay and I have been on the recieving end of these calls and are honored.
I feel bad for his tastebuds, he takes any opportunity to destroy them either with blazing spice or the horrible stench that is Durian. Definitly the most adventourous eater in our group, so it was only fitting that he was our leader on the quest for suckling pig (A great success that deserves it's own post entirely).
Garrett is a serial drunk dialer, we would judge how drunk he was the night before on how long he spent on the phone. Since he has gone back to Ireland (and on to Rome) Lindsay and I have been on the recieving end of these calls and are honored.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
And we interrupt this blog-isode...
To say Hi and Happy New Year from Hong Kong!
Things have been well here, including a second trip to disney (they make it snow!). An update on Jazzy -- She's now saying the complete word Starbucks instead of "pumpkin scone bucks" and Mummy and Daddy are "Mom" and "Dad". She's transformed into a full fledged 3 year old. And as far as the weather for the past 2 weeks it's been a consistent 19 degrees celsius, which we are all convinced is some communist conspiracy. Everyday feels a bit different, yet it's ALWAYS 19 degrees. And for the next few days they have issued a cold weather warning for Hong Kong--it's supposed to dip below 10 degrees celsius (which for my farenheit friendly friends that's around 50). They warn people to "bundle up, if you're using space heaters please keep it way from objects that could catch on fire, and for old people do not drink alcohol to stay warm." It's quite the country.
Tomorrow we're off to Shenzen on Mainland china for DVD shopping, Macau on Friday for some gambling (or just good Portugese food), and Bangkok on saturday! Thailand here we come.
Love,
Lindsay
Things have been well here, including a second trip to disney (they make it snow!). An update on Jazzy -- She's now saying the complete word Starbucks instead of "pumpkin scone bucks" and Mummy and Daddy are "Mom" and "Dad". She's transformed into a full fledged 3 year old. And as far as the weather for the past 2 weeks it's been a consistent 19 degrees celsius, which we are all convinced is some communist conspiracy. Everyday feels a bit different, yet it's ALWAYS 19 degrees. And for the next few days they have issued a cold weather warning for Hong Kong--it's supposed to dip below 10 degrees celsius (which for my farenheit friendly friends that's around 50). They warn people to "bundle up, if you're using space heaters please keep it way from objects that could catch on fire, and for old people do not drink alcohol to stay warm." It's quite the country.
Tomorrow we're off to Shenzen on Mainland china for DVD shopping, Macau on Friday for some gambling (or just good Portugese food), and Bangkok on saturday! Thailand here we come.
Love,
Lindsay
Dee
Deirdre: half of the brother and sister duo from Dublin that we met on the boat to Gili. I don't think we could have found better traveling partners if we had interviewed people for weeks leading up to our trip. I can't say enough about the time we spent with them, and the ridiculous situations we got ourselves into. I miss them already, but we have a place to stay whenever we want in Dublin, and an apartment in Spain to show for it :-)
The picture looks very deep and contemplative, but as she commented on it in facebook:
"I was thinking about how much I love to be able to do a flip on the balcony ledge! Wow, I can sure look deep when thinking about rubbish..."
The picture looks very deep and contemplative, but as she commented on it in facebook:
"I was thinking about how much I love to be able to do a flip on the balcony ledge! Wow, I can sure look deep when thinking about rubbish..."
Pictures to prove it ...
So I have been staring at this daunting task of keeping you updated on what we have done the last couple of weeks. I have been trying to figure out the best approach that won't become monotonous after five minutes. Having been asked the same questions over and over, I have developed boring quick answers about where I have been and what I have done ... but I think you deserve more. The only time I really get into talking about the trip is when flipping through the pictures online, great memories are triggered and stories are easy to come by. So instead of writing long boring monologues about how picturesque Ubud was or discussing the glory that is Bintang, I'm going to write a bunch of short posts, accompanied by the appropriate pictures, and hopefully give you an idea of what we have done and who we have met.
My first goal is to familiarize you with the cast of characters and then I have loads of pictures to go through, it may take me a while to get through everything (or as much of it as I am willing and able to get through), but much like this trip it's a work in progress and I would like it to take as little effort as possible :-)
Please comment on the posts, and tell us how you are doing it would be great to hear from you all.
Also a Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all ...
Andrew
My first goal is to familiarize you with the cast of characters and then I have loads of pictures to go through, it may take me a while to get through everything (or as much of it as I am willing and able to get through), but much like this trip it's a work in progress and I would like it to take as little effort as possible :-)
Please comment on the posts, and tell us how you are doing it would be great to hear from you all.
Also a Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all ...
Andrew
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