PIE-HOLE

Trip Recap - Phood Photos of Pho

What can you say ? As we all know - Pho has become a staple here in the US.

In the old quarter in Hanoi - its a whole different deal. It may be 117 degrees in the shade and you may be a big fat scary sweaty guy compared to the extremely composed local folks, but thats OK. The best place to hang out is sitting at a street front mom and pop noodle joint on kiddie patio furniture soaking up the ambiance at knee high level. When all is said and done - who gives a shit. Its the best damn bowl of noodles you've ever been lucky enough to enjoy...

If you're nice - you can get some extra goodies on the side with your noodles. It's all good - trust me...

OK - I've been a total slacker.....

 Over the course of the next few weeks, I will attempt to now share with all of you the best and tastiest sights and memories of the just completed trip around the world. I'll admit it - after I hit month 4, 5 and 6 - with really shitty internet connections requiring 5+ minutes per photo upload and utterly ridiculous per day internet charges in the later half of the trip - I kind of lost the blogger spark.

Having reviewed the 6,000 + photos assembled and longingly looking back on meals consumed and snacks gobbled down - I would be seriously remiss in not sharing some or all of the fantastic tasty tidbits we encountered along the way.

So stay tuned. Pics and recollections (as best as I can offer), will follow in the days ahead. I'll go back to the beginning in Thailand and make sure I didn't miss anything. Working my way forward - I promise to give you all I can, so you can enjoy each bite, belch and hiccup along the road with me on my global gourmet extravaganza these last 7 months.

Feedback - as always - is most welcome. What would you like to see more of ?

In Berlin

Why I like Germany !!

Taken in the food halls of the famous KaDeWe Department Store.

Oktoberfest !

Pictures speak for themselves!

Buuuuuurrrrrrrrp

Images from Bali (an older post I missed putting out there a while ago)

So now we've been here a month. Three towns/areas, three villas, three very different experiences. What follows is a randomized selection of color and perspective from the last month. As they say - a picture says a thousand words.....

Ubud - up-county from the coast. Cooler in every way. 

The Royal Palace

OUR Royal Palace (the villa in Ubud)

 

Who doesn't love a parade ?? The annual Ubud religious & cultural festival:

 

   

 

Snax At the Festival

 
 

Hangin wit my Homeys back at the villa

 
  
 

 

   

PRINGLES - Update from Turkey

For those of you keeping track, you may remember my previous rant from Thailand re: nasty international Pringles flavors. Here's two more new ones from where we are on the Turkish Coast. There was a third flavor too - "Paprika" but I couldn't bear to by three cans of this shit. Of these two, one sucks (cheesy) - tastes like old socks with a bit of cayenne. The second one is pretty good, surprisingly hot and a little vinegary but very salty. GET ME ANOTHER BEER.

SALAK

This my friends is a salak. OK, it's 4 salaks. The salak is a special fruit native to Indonesia (only, I think). Pretty amazing. The outside looks and feels JUST LIKE snake skin. Dried dead off the snake - snake skin. The flavor is kind of like pineapple and here's where it gets interesting. Inside it's consistency is like a giant head of garlic minus the papery wrap around each clove. Oh yeah, add a small woody pip to the center of each segment. The flavor is nothing like garlic. Getting it? So imagine a big clove of crunchy raw garlic only it tastes like pineapple and it has a pip in it. Whew! That was hard......

 

Tamarillo? Tamarindo?

I couldn't understand the Balinese fruit seller. They taste like a cross between a tomato and a passion fruit and a kiwi. Savory And sweet/tart. Pretty yummy.

BAD Monkey !!!!

 THOSE ARE MY GLASSES !!! PRESCRIPTION GLASSES !!!

Goddamn little monkey ran past me on a fence and zinged my glasses off my face before I even saw him!

He proceeded to eat all the plastic parts.  Fortunately, a local guy threw the little prick a bag of peanuts and he dropped my glasses long enough for me to grab them. I replaced the plastic parts (had extras with me), and with the exception of a set of teeth marks on the bottom of one lens - they are usable.

I wanted to neck punch the little bastard off the cliff. We happened to be at the Uluwatu cliffside temple - here:

 

 

 

From my perspective

Here I sit. Having moved to the third new home here in Bali, I finally have Internet connectivity after an entire month of being dark. Pulling up and out of a locally sourced cold, I hope/plan to get a delayed post or two out in the next week. All is well. Now in the Seminyak area of Bali much closer to the beach. Not too shabby. Off this afternoon with visiting friend Robert from Seattle to see some temples followed by a seafood feast at Jimbaran beach. Tables and toes in the sand. A kilo or two of barBQ'd prawns for yours truly while watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean. Things are good.

Leaving here tomorrow. Headed for the coast

NO INTERNET OR WIFI IN #$%^@%$!#$%! BALI

In Bali now. Villa I'm at has no internet.  A blessing and a curse. Been pretty much unplugged since July 1. Nice spot in the middle of the rice paddies half way up the volcano. Lots of critters all around. Bugs, geckos, bats ducks, chickens, 18 kinds of ants, lizards, snakes, butterflies the size of a dinner plate. I go to sleep each night under mosquito netting and it sounds like I am in the rainforest canopy. Pretty cool. 

Sorry - no internet. Will catch up in the next week or two as connectivity allows. My current residence:

 

The view from the deck:

TA TA for now......  

After 3 months of only Asian Food...

Nothing says happiness like a top shelf German Restaurant, Octoberfest size mugs of authentic German Pilsner followed by a HUGE plate of SAUSAGES AND SAUERKRAUT. A giant side of mashed potatoes with crispy fried onions on top to boot just makes me smile.

After tomorrow night's dinner at Morton's here in Singapore, we should be fortified for our upcoming 6 to 8 weeks in Indonesia.

Oh yeah, we been eatin at McDonalds too. I'm weak, I'll admit it.

Mango Snow Ice

On a 99 degree day in Singapore, nothing beats the heat like a 10 inch tower of mango ice topped with chunks of fresh mangos and fresh mango syrup.

And yes, I ate the whole thing.

The Future is NOW

Meet George Jetson, doo doo do, dee dee dee, dah dah dah,

Jane his WIFE - dee dee dee, dee dee dee, dee dee dee, dee dee dee...

Anyway - you get it.

Just toured this building in Singapore today - it just opened a week ago.  WOW. Look it up on line:

The Sands Marina Bay:

  

Up on the top deck - at the left end of the last photo

 

The new-ish Performance center on the Marina. They call it the "Durian"

 

The view at the top looking out over the pool. WOW

 

Concept plan photo from the lobby of Tower 3. Pretty accurate !!!

 

One of the cooler things I have seen in my nearly 50 years !!!

 
 

 
 

 

Bleeeeeccchhhhhhh.....

I WANT A BIG MAC

Not much to say here

Needless to say, we haven't used these guys.

The hotest day of the whole trip

102 degrees. With humidity - heat indexed to 117 degrees. My big sweaty ass is seriously suffering today. Adding insult to injury the city govt here in Hue (Vietnam) has been cutting the power across the WHOLE city for 6 - 8 hours each day.

After a day of dragging ourselves out to look at Royal Tombs today, I feel like I would like to crawl into one right now. Returned to the hotel literally dripping at 2:30 to find there is no fucking aircon. Our room is on the top floor/roof of the hotel. You do the math.

Taken refuge at a floating restaurant on the Perfume river with Mr. Heineken. It's not working. Power is due back on at 5:00.

Dreaming of Minnesota winters. HELP.

In-flight meal. Vientiane,Laos to Hanoi

I actually ate this. Too many weeks on the road. I'm slipping.

Vietnamese Moonshine

A longer more detailed post to follow. All I can manage now is this:
We went to the source today where the local "rice wine" is made. 80 proof "wine".
Copped a liter for 78 cents.
Let's just say for now that the pigs were even drunk (and I don't mean us).
Stay tuned.....

Mmmmm Grey Desert

On a recent flight from Thailand to Vietnam. Grey bean goo on top of sweet rice with a few coconut shavings that reminded me of fingernail clippings.

Vietnam

So we escaped Thailand just about the time the shit hit the fan there. No real problems for us as we just transited through the Bangkok airport on from Koh Samui headed to Vietnam. We get to Hanoi no problem. Vietnam Airlines is no where near as scary as I imagined it would be - although our plane wore dentures.

We get met by our hotel driver at the airport and it's a 40 minute easy drive into the center of the city. Staying in the "old quarter" is where its at. Narrow twisty streets. Millions of scooters (literally). Honk, honk, honk honk, honk. If your horn doesn't work - you wont be able to drive here. We are wishing we had hand held air horns as pedestrians - would be a laugh. 

 

So we settle into our very nice little hotel - The Golden Sun IV

http://www.goldensunhotel.com/gs4/  

Amazing service from the staff - no task is a problem - these guys are amazing. Helping with restaurants (great - more on that to follow), booking day trips and tours. Getting a box load of crap sent home, you name it. All yours with breakfast included for $50 bucks a night. Love it.

Before we left Thailand - I asked person I booked the room with if she could help us with a trip to Halong Bay. For those of you unfamiliar with it - it is an incredible island filled bay, 4 hours east of Hanoi just north of Haiphong Harbor. Listed as one of the "7 natural wonders of the world" by whoever keeps track of that shit - it's well worth the time and effort to visit.

 

TO BE CONTINUED..... Heading out for the day. First Stop - Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Breakfast followed by an embalmed corpse.  
 

Dr. Fish

YES - it's as weird as it looks. So we have been seeing these places ALL OVER Thailand. So we finally worked up the liquid courage to try it the other night. Here's my nasty feet - dinner for the fish.

 

It's hard to describe the feeling. It tickles, it's repulsive, it feels like a million squirmy bugs are attacking your feet. Thoughts go through your mind about the last hundreds of nasty feet these little babies have been feeding on. All-in-all, not highly recommended. They suggest a 30 minute treatment. All we could handle was 10 minutes - and that was AFTER happy hour here in Samui.

Just Plain Creepy.......

 

  

 

A Trip to the Market for Breakfast.

This is the best damn stuff I have ever found all together in one place at one time.

Pineapples - NO acid. The sweetest I have ever had

Mangos - OMFG. I am a slobbering mess just thinking about tomorrow's breakfast.

All the rest - right up there with the best....

 

Grandmother and Grandfather Rock

These are a MAJOR tourist attraction here on Koh Samui. 

I ain't got nothin more to say.

Gran-Pappy

Granny