For Lack of a Better Heading, I Will Call this entry "Food"
*Warning* THe following blog entry is quite long. You may want to pace yoruself when reading this... take your time... eat a snack once or twice in the middle so that you don't starve as you read. You may even choose to read this over a couple of days.
Although the title of this entry in my blog is called "Food" that is not where I will begin. Instead I will tell you about an Idea I had on the plane. Three movies were shown during the flight, and I thought It would be great to watch all three Extendended LOTR (that's an abreviation for Lord of the Rings by the way) movies on a long flight. THen I thought it would be excellent to watch these movies on a flight to New Zealand (where they were filmed) along with a plane full of other LOTR fans. When you got to New Zealand you could have maybe 10 days of tourist type travel to important locations where they filmed the movies. On the flight back you could watch either the extended features on the DVDs, or watch the movies with the commentary. I think it is a great idea... maybe I should sell it to PJ (Peter Jackson), of course, now that it is on the internet anyone could use it.
Let me see. What can I tell you about food. It is all very good. My first Thai meal was the morning after my flight. we had breakfast at the hotel, and I ordered some sort of rice soup with shrimp. It was excellent, and I added chillies, fish sauce, and vinger (which they provided) It was quite spicy, but I enjoy spicy food. Rice is the main food here, but noodles are also common. There are a variety of different things that are served to be eatten with the rice: meat, different sauce things, soy sauce, chillies, fish sauce, etc. So far I have like just about everything I have eatten (I am sure that is difficult for you to imagine... Luke NOT being picky about food! *sarcasam in Luke's voice*) I have also had noodles with little octopus or squid, and steemed chicken (you just pick it off with yoru hands) and pickled ginger root (which was very strong in flavor... for those of you who know what eating ginger is like, just imagine a cross-section-slice of ginger that has been pickled... kind of looks like a slice of pickled beet... but VERY strong in flavor. I had sticky rice for the first time. It is a different variety of rice, and you eat it with your hands, squeeze it into a ball, and dip it in different sauces. The other day I had fried frogs legs... they were quite good, but not al that much meat.
Fruit here is much more interesting than in America... more than just apples and oranges. One fruit looks like a big spiky melon... The Lao people call it the king of the fruit. It is called Durian (note: all spelling of foreign words on this blog will be incorrect. Any correct spelling is pure coincidence and not intended. Spelling is based on how the word sounds to Luke) I tried it, but didn't think it was too special... after Jay tasted it, he said it wasn't the best Durian he has ever had. It had a bit of an onion taste which is not normally supposed to be there... I assume I will get another chance to taste it later. I also had Mango, and another fruit called Mangosteen. This one, The queen of fruit, is round and smaller than an orange. you cut the outside shell around the middle and pop off the top, and inside is the fruit. It looks kind of like aclove of garlic. you scoop out the middle and eat it... there is one pit inside. This fruit is delisious. I like it very much. it is very sweet. Another fruit that I had last night was red with green spiky hairs all over it. you cut it open and eat it the same way as the mangosteen... very good.
Driving here in Laos is interesting. The rules of the road are not very strict at all. you drive however fast you want, and can drive on either side, although generally people stay to the right. THere are lots of bikes and motercycles, and tuk tuks (pronounced took took... like the oo in boo) The tuk tuk is a motercycle that has three wheels and has a space in the back for passangers... a type of taxi. There are old trucks and cars, and new very new trucks and cars... it doesn't seem like there are many "in-between" cars. like from the 90's... either old or new. veicals are all over the road, for example there may be two motorcylces and a car coming toward you, and the car comes into your lane as it passes the motorcycles, and you need to pull over to the cide and not bump the motorcycle to your right. Oh, I am learning to drive Manual Transmition... not having to much trouble really.
It is interesting talking with Jay. We have noted how America is quite an odd country. It is the only country that does so many things. For example there is the metric system. America is the only one who won't adopt it. America is also unique when it comes to elecicity. Everywhere else has 210 Volts. but america has 110. So electric machines work everywhere except crossing from America to other countries and other coutnries to America. Here is another thing... Automatic Transmition. Jay says that most countries use manual transmition because it is less expensive and uses less fuel (but automatic transmitions are more durable) We just mentioned another one: carpet. Jay says it is very dirty. All sorts of bacteria, dust mites, mold etc. it is hard to keep clean. I imaine especially so in hot humid climates. So the floor is tile and wood here. I guess in some of these things Canada and Australia might be the same.
A note about what I do with free time... some of it is spent journaling, and some of it reading the Coune of Monte Cristo (wshich so far is only about 10% like the movie... of course I am only in the third chapter)
I think I have adjusted to the time mostly. On the plane I switched my watch to the new time and pretended like it was 7:00 in the morning instead of 7:00 at night... so I stayed awake for a long time, and when I got to Thailand is was tired because I had been up so long, even though back home it was noon back home. So I have been sleeping quite well. Going to bed around 10:00 PM and getting up at about 7:00 AM. So I am doing very well, although in the afternoon I get a bit sleepy... maybe because I just ate, and it is so very hot. (today about 40 Celcius... i think that is 100 Farenhite. (how do you spell that word?) or maybe because it is 2:00 AM back home.
I think I have written quite enough for now... I will write some more about today's events tomorrow.
-Luke
Postscript: For those of you who pay attention to the time at the bottom of these entries, It is not correct... i have yet to figure out how to get it to the correct time... right now it is 4:20 PM my time.
Although the title of this entry in my blog is called "Food" that is not where I will begin. Instead I will tell you about an Idea I had on the plane. Three movies were shown during the flight, and I thought It would be great to watch all three Extendended LOTR (that's an abreviation for Lord of the Rings by the way) movies on a long flight. THen I thought it would be excellent to watch these movies on a flight to New Zealand (where they were filmed) along with a plane full of other LOTR fans. When you got to New Zealand you could have maybe 10 days of tourist type travel to important locations where they filmed the movies. On the flight back you could watch either the extended features on the DVDs, or watch the movies with the commentary. I think it is a great idea... maybe I should sell it to PJ (Peter Jackson), of course, now that it is on the internet anyone could use it.
Let me see. What can I tell you about food. It is all very good. My first Thai meal was the morning after my flight. we had breakfast at the hotel, and I ordered some sort of rice soup with shrimp. It was excellent, and I added chillies, fish sauce, and vinger (which they provided) It was quite spicy, but I enjoy spicy food. Rice is the main food here, but noodles are also common. There are a variety of different things that are served to be eatten with the rice: meat, different sauce things, soy sauce, chillies, fish sauce, etc. So far I have like just about everything I have eatten (I am sure that is difficult for you to imagine... Luke NOT being picky about food! *sarcasam in Luke's voice*) I have also had noodles with little octopus or squid, and steemed chicken (you just pick it off with yoru hands) and pickled ginger root (which was very strong in flavor... for those of you who know what eating ginger is like, just imagine a cross-section-slice of ginger that has been pickled... kind of looks like a slice of pickled beet... but VERY strong in flavor. I had sticky rice for the first time. It is a different variety of rice, and you eat it with your hands, squeeze it into a ball, and dip it in different sauces. The other day I had fried frogs legs... they were quite good, but not al that much meat.
Fruit here is much more interesting than in America... more than just apples and oranges. One fruit looks like a big spiky melon... The Lao people call it the king of the fruit. It is called Durian (note: all spelling of foreign words on this blog will be incorrect. Any correct spelling is pure coincidence and not intended. Spelling is based on how the word sounds to Luke) I tried it, but didn't think it was too special... after Jay tasted it, he said it wasn't the best Durian he has ever had. It had a bit of an onion taste which is not normally supposed to be there... I assume I will get another chance to taste it later. I also had Mango, and another fruit called Mangosteen. This one, The queen of fruit, is round and smaller than an orange. you cut the outside shell around the middle and pop off the top, and inside is the fruit. It looks kind of like aclove of garlic. you scoop out the middle and eat it... there is one pit inside. This fruit is delisious. I like it very much. it is very sweet. Another fruit that I had last night was red with green spiky hairs all over it. you cut it open and eat it the same way as the mangosteen... very good.
Driving here in Laos is interesting. The rules of the road are not very strict at all. you drive however fast you want, and can drive on either side, although generally people stay to the right. THere are lots of bikes and motercycles, and tuk tuks (pronounced took took... like the oo in boo) The tuk tuk is a motercycle that has three wheels and has a space in the back for passangers... a type of taxi. There are old trucks and cars, and new very new trucks and cars... it doesn't seem like there are many "in-between" cars. like from the 90's... either old or new. veicals are all over the road, for example there may be two motorcylces and a car coming toward you, and the car comes into your lane as it passes the motorcycles, and you need to pull over to the cide and not bump the motorcycle to your right. Oh, I am learning to drive Manual Transmition... not having to much trouble really.
It is interesting talking with Jay. We have noted how America is quite an odd country. It is the only country that does so many things. For example there is the metric system. America is the only one who won't adopt it. America is also unique when it comes to elecicity. Everywhere else has 210 Volts. but america has 110. So electric machines work everywhere except crossing from America to other countries and other coutnries to America. Here is another thing... Automatic Transmition. Jay says that most countries use manual transmition because it is less expensive and uses less fuel (but automatic transmitions are more durable) We just mentioned another one: carpet. Jay says it is very dirty. All sorts of bacteria, dust mites, mold etc. it is hard to keep clean. I imaine especially so in hot humid climates. So the floor is tile and wood here. I guess in some of these things Canada and Australia might be the same.
A note about what I do with free time... some of it is spent journaling, and some of it reading the Coune of Monte Cristo (wshich so far is only about 10% like the movie... of course I am only in the third chapter)
I think I have adjusted to the time mostly. On the plane I switched my watch to the new time and pretended like it was 7:00 in the morning instead of 7:00 at night... so I stayed awake for a long time, and when I got to Thailand is was tired because I had been up so long, even though back home it was noon back home. So I have been sleeping quite well. Going to bed around 10:00 PM and getting up at about 7:00 AM. So I am doing very well, although in the afternoon I get a bit sleepy... maybe because I just ate, and it is so very hot. (today about 40 Celcius... i think that is 100 Farenhite. (how do you spell that word?) or maybe because it is 2:00 AM back home.
I think I have written quite enough for now... I will write some more about today's events tomorrow.
-Luke
Postscript: For those of you who pay attention to the time at the bottom of these entries, It is not correct... i have yet to figure out how to get it to the correct time... right now it is 4:20 PM my time.
2 Comments:
You were magnificently descriptive.
I am so excited that you got to try durian (and you did spell it right--isn't that special?). Did it smell nasty? What was the red and green spiky fruit? When you get back, you should write a book called "The Eating Adventures of Luke in Laos and China" and sell the movie rights to the Food Network.
The LoTR idea is excellent. Let us begin planning it now. When we're all rich and famous and can afford it, we'll do it. Or when you're rich and famous (a missionary, rich? Ha!), you can take us all.
I think the not having speed limits is a lovely idea. But I don't think the having 100 degree Farenheit (that is how you spell that) weather is a lovely idea.
I am quite excited to hear more.
By
Anonymous, at 8:55 AM
I LOVE MANGOS! Farenheit, I believe, is how it is spelled. Though the "i" might be first. I'm surprised that you weren't one of the first in line to watch Michael Moore's Farenheit 911. :)
By
Tia, at 4:59 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home