Fishing part 2

The fishermen had such a huge catch they didn't begrudge the vacationers a fish or two.

Before...


After (fresh sashimi)...

Fishing part 1

Local fishermen took the entire morning to haul in this one net's catch. I counted at least 6 truckloads and 2 20-ft boatloads worth of fish. Think about just how much fish that is for a minute.

Inklings of India

1 - I've been told that the three necessary components of successful driving in delhi are 1) a good horn 2) good brakes 3) good luck. After getting driven around Delhi for four days, I've learned this is not true. The real three main components of driving in Delhi are 1) a good horn 2) a good horn 3) a good horn
2 - Regardless of what you've heard, the bathrooms here aren't that bad, the buses aren't that crowded, and it's not that hard to get around. Ok, ok, I lied on that last bit. Bloody hell, I would rather stay and get hassled by the overbearing tour operator mafia in the hotel than brave walking for more than two blocks.
3 - Delhi belly is for real...but it does not have anything to do with excessive bowel movements. After eating ghee-drenched food for a week, you gain about 10-15 pounds, all of which goes to your stomach. In my case, I went from a twelve-pack *cough* to a six-pack. *double cough*

4 - Have I mentioned the beer in Asia is terrible?

Oh 'Liz'beth, I'm comin' to see you!

Perhaps it wasn't Red Foxx dramatic, but India did get to me in a big way. I predicted it before I left the states, but I miraculously did not get Delhi Belly. Somewhere in Agra (of Taj Mahal fame) I picked up a nasty flu. With a high fever, cough, sinus problems, and sneeze, these cough lozenges were all that were 'prescribed' to be by the local pharmacist in Varanasi. Bed-ridden for 4 days in India (and later 4 days in Abu Dhabi -actually I went to the emergency room in Abu Dhabi when I landed), I read and slept until I could make it to adequate health care.

Rail adventure!

This is the Surayatha Express from Delhi to the holy city of Varanasi. Well, ok, so Su and I didn't exacty rough it riding 1st Class Air-Con, but we did have a 14 hour ride. Well, ok, so we had a plush, private sleeper cabin. But we could not get hot chocolate in our cabin like we wanted. Sometimes travel can get rough.

The money shot

What blog about a round-the-world journey would be complete without a touristy shot of the Taj Mahal? Not a one, I tell you. Thus I submit this picture of Su and myself reluctantly leaving the grounds, dreading each step that takes us back closer to the taxi and the raving lunatic that drove it. That, faithful readers, is a story for another day.

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Indian Sweets

Picked these bad boys up in Jaipur. Usually when you try something new, it's a new ingredient or a different combination of ingredients than you've seen before. And usually it sounds nasty, or at the very least weird. When you taste it though, the reaction is one of pleasant surprise. These were just the opposite. They sounded (and I must say looked) delicious, but most of these tasted terrible. It was like getting a box of chocolates and all of them but one were maple creams (Yes, there was indeed one -just one- good one in this box). Yechhh. One of them was just a formed ball of brown sugar!

1 Slurrp

Royal Enfield

One of these would make a great birthday or Christmas present (hint hint). If you don't mind the import taxes or shipping costs, they're really quite cheap!

My humps, my humps...

...my lovely camel bumps! Got a request from a fan for a picture of half-naked camels. Voila! These curvy camels were resting on the side of the road near our hotel in Pushkar.

Any other requests, within or without reason, will be considered, as long as I feel like doing them.

Lotus Temple

Interdenominational place of worship or set prop from 'Muppets from Space'? You decide.

The real deal

Punjabi food at it's best. My favorite restaurant by far in all of India. Just don't eat the 'pickles'.

4 Slurrps

Ah, Delhi

This picture definitely captures the spirit of Delhi, considering these guys were driving the ox down the middle of the paved road in the middle of the day in downtown Delhi, just minutes from the New Delhi railway station.

Tips on Thailand

1 - What I wouldn't give for a som tam right now.
2 - Ok, so I grew up in New Orleans, right? So I have a palate that can handle spicier foods than most, I think. I won't say I enjoy the Nuclear Wings at BW3's, but I can eat them, given enough time and tissues for my endless stream of tears. So what is 'Thai hot', really? Let's use Tip #1 as an example. I like my som tam Thai with four (4) chiles. It's very spicy. I can not finish it without a copious amount of water. I will brag until the next sentence and say that most foreigners like it with one (1) chile. A Thai person will start with about a dozen (12) chiles and add three to five more, depending on taste. THAT'S Thai hot.
3 - No, I really don't want to buy that annoying noisemaker in the shape of an amphibian you're trying to pass off as a musical instrument.
4 - Man, the beer in Asia really sucks.

World's best airline food

No kidding, this meal was better than 95% of the meals I had on the ground in India. Fly Jet Airways!

4 Slurrps

Budget accommodation

Whether it was the bedding, the brutally cold night mountain air, the veritable livestock farm underneath the house, the drunk and boisterous local guides (rice whiskey apparently does the trick) or the innumerable roosters crowing at 4 am, I didn't get the sleep I felt I deserved after a long day's hike.

How To:

Harvest and prepare wild papaya, brought to you today by our trekking guide, Pan (pahn).

Step 1: pick papaya

Step 2: flay the beast

Step 3: machete into handleable pieces

Step 4: ravish with the passion of a hunger brought on only by a trek under the hot sun through the hills

3 Slurrps

Blood and guts

Or erstwhile known in northeastern Thai cuisine as lahp. Courageously and stupidly ignoring the dangers of eating raw meat (raw pork no less), especially in the ultra-hygenic conditions of an open-air mountain 'kitchen' that gets cleaned only when there's a hard rain, I tried a bit of this on the first night of the trek. I can't explain the dish other than it started with two beautiful boneless pork chops and then the chef (butcher) started mincing and folding in a gelatinized pork blood product, powdered chile, and all kinds of raw pork offal you could possibly think of. When it was all minced and mixed, they called it done. What you see in the picture is the finished product.

LudiCris Rating of 5

4 Slurrps

Kee Chang

I'll let the resourceful readers figure out what the post title means. Let's just say I ran into a lot of it in the elephant riding portion of my three day trek to the Chiang Dao mountain region.

Before & After

Shedding a tear for what my shoes used to be. Stage left is new. Stage right is the current, sad state of affairs.

Jerry & Sue

The world's most gracious hosts. Especially considering neither knew me a month ago. Jerry made sure I got a beautiful European breakfast every day with fresh baked breads and smoked and cured meats (the kind of breakfast I paid €40 for in Amsterdam one surpising morning). Sue (and Jerry) made sure I got to see all that Chiang Mai had to offer, including temples, historical and cultural exhibits, mountain trekking with elephants, and of course the exotic Thai food. I will surely miss this part of the journey, but yet another adventure beckons...

Quick, call Guinness

I think I found the record for the world's largest rice cooker. You'd better be catering if you fire up this puppy, or hungry for 2,374 pieces of sushi. Those of you sushi fanatics who didn't blink at the volume mentioned, shame on you (you know who you are).

LudiCris Rating of 3

Superbowl XLII

Well, it certainly wasn't the most festive Superbowl party I've ever been to, but as an upside I won the pool every quarter. You can see I had all four necessary Superbowl party food groups: beer, cheese, chips, and nuts. The only thing I would have done differently is invited other people. Well, that and delay the game so I didn't have to wake up at 5 am. *yawn*

Som Tam Thai

Ahh, now this is a food item worth writing about. Papaya salad like nothing you've tasted before. No secret, just fresh ingredients and a magical mixture of sweet, sour, and HOT!

5 Slurrps

Thai massage

In the interest of full disclosure, here is the most scandalous massage I've received in Thailand. It was just supposed to be a foot massage, but they worked all the way up to my calves, nearly making me bare my knees. And they used lotion!

Raised eyebrows all around.

Su

This boy named Sue is a sue-per human being. (ungh - even I had to groan at that one) I met him in Hat Yai (in south Thailand) and he invited me to stay with him and his friend Jerry in Chiang Mai. Little did he realize I would actually take him up on it, but he graciously didn't back out of his offer to let me stay. We're having a great time, and he's actually going to come with me to Delhi, so with a little luck you might get to see even more of this man. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures with Sue.

Coming soon...a wacky cast of all new characters, here at Cris World Tour.

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

A lovely local fair that is nationally known. The floats were exquisite, and there were all sorts of standing displays and competitions - orchids, roses, bromeliads, bonsai, cacti(!), you name it. And very interesting street food like these fried crustaceans.

''Git yer tamarind here!''

...is not what this guy was yelling. I think the product speaks for itself. In heaps. Six different ones.