Food delicatessens

In any trip you visit many cities, talk with lovely people, and see amazing landscapes, but there is another reason that makes a trip different and interesting than any other: food.

Everybody knows in places such as SouthEast Asia you have the opportunity of trying weird food, some is actually good.

Here you have a list of different typical dishes from SouthEast Asia we tried, or at least, saw. You might find some in Europe or other Western countries, anyway they are not so common. We have specified where we found that food, although it might be possible to find it in other places:

Beware some images may be disgusting to you!

Cockroaches
Where? Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Tasted? Yes, Albertico and Miguelito.


we really ate that!

Fertilized egg
Where? Chicken- Laos (baby chicken); Duck- Cambodia and Philippines (balut); Quail- Vietnam
Tasted? Yes, Albertico (all); Miguelito and Polo (quail)


eating baby chicken in Luang Namtha, Laos:

Khao Lham (Sticky Rice In Bamboo)
Where? Thailand and Laos
Tasted? Yes, we all loved it!

Baby birds
Where? Hanoi, Vietnam
Tasted? No.

Durian (tropical fruit with a strong smell)
Where? All SouthEast Asia.
Tasted? Not directly; in cookies or smoothies.

Turtles
Where? Cambodia
Tasted? No.

Quail (roasted)
Where? Krabi, Thailand.
Tasted? Yes, Albertico.

Snake
Where? Vietnam; Cambodia
Tasted? No.

Spiders (tarantula)
Where? Phonm Penh, Cambodia
Tasted? No.

Frog
Where? Hong Kong; Malaysia
Tasted? Yes, Albertico.

Squirrel
Where? Laos
Tasted? No

Grashoppers
Where? Thailand; Laos; Vietnam; Cambodia
Tasted? Yes, Albertico and Miguelito.


mmmm!

Worms
Where? Thailand; Laos; Vietnam; Cambodia
Tasted? Yes, Albertico and Miguelito.


worms where actually tasty!

Fresh coconut milk (come on, not everything must be awful!)
Where? Thailand.
Tasted? Yes, so good!

Pancakes
Where? SouthEast Asia
Tasted? Yes, the best ones in Krabi.

Roaster
Where? Laos
Tasted? Yes, it was our Trecking lunch.

Roaster blood
Where? Laos
Tasted? Yes, and still regretting it.

Chicken blood
Where? Laos; Philippines.
Tasted? Yes, better than the roaster one.

and the star dish, probably the most disgusting!

Dog
Where? Vietnam.
Tasted? No, thanks.

If you have liked this post, read as well the page Food

Transports II (numbers)

In the previous post we already talked about what happened to us in those uncountable trips we did, but, how many of those trips we really took?

Yes, we (Albertico indeed) counted them, and here the result:

3 flights together. We should add flights to Paris or flights back that Albertico and Polo took, or the one Miguelito did to Burma.
11 times we rented a bicycle and we were all day long with.

14 trips by boat, either in the sea, either in a river.

13 urban buses, all of them in big cities (obviously).

7 Songthaews, all in Thailand.
13 tuk-tuks, but non in touristic areas. Anyway, surely we paid more than we should!

16 trips by underground, including Paris, HongKong and Singapure.
1 train, just 1, and a famous one, the Malaysian Jungle Train.
11 urban trains, kind of tramways, kind of monorails. Most in Kuala Lumpur.
5 urban boats. Yes, this kind of public transport exists too.
25 times we got on a car. We didn’t drive, and amongst those 25 times, we did 13 times autostop.
7 times we got on a motorbike and discovered wonderful SouthEast Asian provinces.

30 times we took a taxi. Oh, so cheap over there!
14 minivans, including the one we got a puncture.

And the main dish, the real experience of this 100 days journey:
47 buses, some bad ones, some even worse!
We spent sooo many hours travelling: Around 220 hours travelling, it means more than 9 days just travelling (hours and days are approximative, although a real number should be higher).

That’s loooong time.

Ooops, we forgot! And 1 elephant 😛

Transports I (the anecdotes)

Aaaaah… transports.
How many hours we have passed in a vehicle: either planes, either bicycles, it doesn’t matter which vehicle we have taken, we have experienced lots of anecdotes while moving from one city to a different one:

* we have been 4 adults and 3 bagpacks in a tuk-tuk sitting as Tetris pieces (Surin, Thailand);
* we have travelled from Nan to Chiang Klang (Thailand) in a very old and small bus, sitting on the ground close to the driver, face to the rest of all Thai passengers;

* in a songthaew in Shukothai (Thailand) surrounded by dozens of schoolgirls;


* we saw beautiful views before almost getting lost in the middle of the mountain in Nan province (Thailand)

* yes, we finally rode an elephant in Chiang Rai (Thailand), and to be honest, it’s not very comfortable…

* we already talked about how transports are in Laos….,

and in Vietnam

* our minivan got a puncture right in the moment we were advancing a kid who was cycling and we all thought we run over her (but not!), near Luang Prabang (Laos);



* in the bus from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan (Laos), at least 8 people vomited (Albertico wasn’t fine either) because of the uncountable zig-zags;
* we were 3 people in a motorcycle in Hanoi;
* a terrible sleeping bus from Hoi An to Pleiku (Vietnam). “Beds” not longer than 170 cm, imagine;

* we changed 4 times our transport while going to Bangkok from Cambodia;
* it was a torture to spend hours in a bus while watching local karaoke DVDs or terrible movies! Ah, independently how poor was the bus, there was always a LCD TV!
* we took the jungle train in Malaysia;
* in Malaysia, in some buses, the seat gives you a massage!

 

Where’s Miguelito?

Now the trip is over, we have time to, finally, watch and organize all those almost 5.000 pictures and videos we took.

So, meanwhile we update pictures, videos and some other posts and pages, here a game known by everybody. Just change “Wally” for Miguelito, and go for it!

click to enlarge

100 days of trip

From the 30th of October 2010, date Miguelito and Albertico joint Polo in Paris, to the 10th of February 2011, date Albertico flew back home, the first one leaving SouthEast Asia (Polo left 4 days later, on the 14th, and Miguelito will go on travelling), 100 days have passed.

Since the moment we were in Paris airport, we have taken each day a Daily Picture, except very few days. Sometimes with our great friends.

Here you have the before (02/11/2010)…

and the after (07/02/2011)…

And here, more tanned and with some kilos less, the evolution how we changed!

Enjoy it:

Music: Perpetuum Jazzile
Song: Prisluhni skoljki