Rain and Food
Rain welcomed in Yunnan ran a scrolling text on the Chinese Broadcasting Company's English language channel as they read the weather forecast. Well, not really if you ask me. But welcomed or not, the last two days have been rainy and we'll see what the future holds. However rain has given me the perfect excuse to spend pretty much the whole of my first afternoon here in the town of Dali at a scrumptous bakery talking to an interesting fellow traveller. I find that the travellers in China are, on average, a more interesting bunch than those in South East Asia (exceptions aside like the Chicago girls). For one thing they tend to be a bit older, not first-time-travelling 20-year-olds, and therefore have a bit more of a vision of the world and its intricacies. The life stories one hears - there are some interesting people on the road!
So having spent most of today cramming bakery products, I shall use this opportunity to say a few words about an issue of paramount importance, which I have sorely neglected so far; that of food. (At this point I suggest faint-hearted readers do not scroll down to the image at the bottom of this entry, as it may be disturbing. Beware Kaisa-girl!)
All in all I have not suffered on this trip as I did in Syria. Food has been easily available and, for the most part, palatable. The cuisine certainly went up moving from Cambodia into Vietnam, and the upwards trajectory seems to be continuing as I work my way into China. Ordering food in China could be a real challenge, since there are no English language menus. However, many restaurants display all the raw ingredients and you just point to whichever you want them to prepare your food from. So it works nicely.
Cambodia was a land of relatively poor ingredients and shortage of restaurants outside the beaten track. Chicken was served chopped up into little bits without first removing the bones. By the time you'd worked your way around all the small slivers of chicken bone, there wouldn't be much left to eat.
However, so far Cambodia has offered the best and worst eating experience. The best was on the coast in Kep, where they have a famous crab market with a string of restaurants, that culinarily minded Cambodians drive three hours from Phnom Penh just to dine at. The fresh crab with Kampot pepper sauce and a caramel-roasted fish just blew me away!
The worst was getting two hard boiled eggs from the market for a light, late night snack in my room. However, when I cracked the shell, inside the egg there was a fully formed chick, feathers beak and all, inside a glutinous, veiny pouch.
Now I eat chicken and I eat egg, so logically speaking what's my problem. But... No, mother of mercy, no for the sweet love of Jesus (or as they would say in Malaysia; no for the sweet love of Jimmy as the Malaysian government censors the word Jesus in foreign rock songs played on the radio and substitutes it with the word Jimmy).
Now admit it, how many of you immediately scrolled to this picture, when I told you not to at the beginning of this entry?
So having spent most of today cramming bakery products, I shall use this opportunity to say a few words about an issue of paramount importance, which I have sorely neglected so far; that of food. (At this point I suggest faint-hearted readers do not scroll down to the image at the bottom of this entry, as it may be disturbing. Beware Kaisa-girl!)
All in all I have not suffered on this trip as I did in Syria. Food has been easily available and, for the most part, palatable. The cuisine certainly went up moving from Cambodia into Vietnam, and the upwards trajectory seems to be continuing as I work my way into China. Ordering food in China could be a real challenge, since there are no English language menus. However, many restaurants display all the raw ingredients and you just point to whichever you want them to prepare your food from. So it works nicely.
Cambodia was a land of relatively poor ingredients and shortage of restaurants outside the beaten track. Chicken was served chopped up into little bits without first removing the bones. By the time you'd worked your way around all the small slivers of chicken bone, there wouldn't be much left to eat.
However, so far Cambodia has offered the best and worst eating experience. The best was on the coast in Kep, where they have a famous crab market with a string of restaurants, that culinarily minded Cambodians drive three hours from Phnom Penh just to dine at. The fresh crab with Kampot pepper sauce and a caramel-roasted fish just blew me away!
The worst was getting two hard boiled eggs from the market for a light, late night snack in my room. However, when I cracked the shell, inside the egg there was a fully formed chick, feathers beak and all, inside a glutinous, veiny pouch.
Now I eat chicken and I eat egg, so logically speaking what's my problem. But... No, mother of mercy, no for the sweet love of Jesus (or as they would say in Malaysia; no for the sweet love of Jimmy as the Malaysian government censors the word Jesus in foreign rock songs played on the radio and substitutes it with the word Jimmy).
Now admit it, how many of you immediately scrolled to this picture, when I told you not to at the beginning of this entry?
Comments
Reka+Pekka
Mutta ei hätää: sain lisävoimia tuosta kuvasta. Pitää palata tekstiin joskus paremmalle ajalla....aauuuuuuu.....
Ja joo, en todellakaan kiirehtinyt skrollaamaan kuvaa heti, vaan kurkin lopuksi toisella silmällä. Tai vallan kahdella, nykyään kun olen tunnettu nelisilmäisenä. (Ei, kyseessä ei ole ikänäkö vaan miikkalasit sillä olenhan ikinuori:-)
Kerrottakoon lopuksi, että tämä blogi on NIIIIIIN suosittu että sitä salaluetaan jopa iloisessa itä-Helsingissäkin (terkkuja vaan Stoikov & Tuopikki, teidät on nyt paljastettu.)