Nepal: Part 1

We're now two weeks into our Manaslu-Tsum Valley trek and, miraculously, they have wifi at one of the guesthouses. They also have beer, often electricity, and beds - all of which has definitely made this easier. When we set out, there was a bad, unseasonal storm that dumped a couple meters of snow on the mountains and passes in the Manaslu and Annapurna areas. Sadly, many trekkers, guides, and local people died in avalanches and from exposure. We have changed plans accordingly, and are not attempting any of the high passes or snowy areas.  Instead, we're going up and back a few valleys, and playing it safe.  We'll send a full report later, but we're enjoying the hike so far, and feeling just a tad beat up after weeks on the trail.  But then again, at least they have beer...

The Moment

Tomorrow we start our trek in the Himalayas. It's been a hectic few days in Kathmandu as we organize our gear, struggle to find working ATMs, buy last-minute supplies, and meet with our guide. But at this point, we're as ready as we're going to get.

Sometimes it's hard to believe we've come this far. When we left home in January, Nepal seemed a lifetime away. It's been nine months since then, with adventures spanning three continents and eleven countries. There were times along the way when we'd talk about this trek, or about going home, as if those things would never really happen. 

When you're traveling, you become consumed by the present, whether it's finding your way around a new city or simply sorting out a morning coffee. Every event is it's own little challenge, and while you must plan for the future, buying tickets and booking hotels, it's the now that seems to matter most. That can be a really wonderful thing, and we've tried as best we can to live in the present.   

And right now, the present is the dirty chaos of Kathmandu and a 5-am wakeup tomorrow to begin the longest hike of our lives. And truth be told, we're a bit nervous. First, we're tackling the Manaslu and Tsum valleys over about 23 days. Then our guide will head home and we'll continue on our own for 10-15 days across the Annapurna circuit. We did make a last-minute call to hire a porter for the first leg, and the Annapurnas are fairly civilized with teahouses and lodges available, but 30-40 days on the trail is still a long haul. 

We're also a bit daunted by one simple fact: this is It. The culmination of our year of travel, the last stop before we fly back to the US and family and jobs and all the rest of it. At the same time, we're psyched. We're getting more and more excited to see the world's greatest mountain range, and coming home in a few weeks means we get to see much-missed friends and family.

So you might not hear from us for a while, while we're out on the trail. But we'll be out there, walking, doing our best to stay present, but with an eye towards home.

The century egg, revisited

"Wimps". That's what a friend called us for not trying the century egg, which he claimed was actually quite good. We couldn't let that stand, so we took advantage of our three day stopover in Kuala Lumpur to dig into a century egg.

Thanks to a strong Chinese influence in Malaysia, century eggs are easy to find. We picked up a four pack at the local grocery store, which had a selection of duck, chicken or quail eggs. We chose chicken.

Century eggs are eggs that have been preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks or months. This process turns the whites of the egg a lovely brown while the yolks become greenish. The egg smells a bit like ammonia.

After peeling and rinsing the egg, all that was left was to give it a try...

The texture of the egg wasn't great - the whites are (after weeks of "aging") firm and gelatinous, requiring you to chew while simultaneously threatening to slip down your throat without warning. The taste, though, wasn't too bad for Erin. In fact there wasn't much of a taste at all, so long as you didn't take a big whiff of the egg while eating it. Brook thought it was akin to munching on, well, a pickled rotten egg...

In the end, we think the century egg is best as an novel accompaniment. Perhaps sliced with a salad or chopped up in a sandwich. We probably won't be buying more century eggs for our flight to Nepal, but we're glad we're not wimps anymore...

Recharging in Japan

Japan surprised us. Despite a fast-paced tour of Honshu and Hokkaido - breaking our three night minimum rule a few times - we found ourselves rejuvenated at the end, and very sad to leave.

We kicked off our Japan tour in the Kobe area, hanging out with Erin's high school friend and her awesome family. We visited local tourist sights and got to experience a little of normal Japanese life.  We learned, for example, that all school kids wear the same, standard issue and remarkably fashionable backpack, and that learning to ride the unicycle is compulsory. Builds coordination. We also got to sample Kobe beef, conveyer-belt sushi, and visit a grocery store to figure out which snacks we like (Brook voted for ramen chips, while the kids were begging for dried squid - we got both).

We also got a large dose of Japanese history on a 24-hour whirlwind tour of Kyoto, which has more temples, palaces, parks, and museums than you could possibly visit in one go.

After Kobe, we started to make our way north on the train, which is every bit as efficient and clean as you might imagine. We spent a few days soaking in luxury at an onsen (traditional Japanese hot springs bath) in Hakone, then ventured to Tokyo to see more friends and check out the famed fish market. Here's a link to some photos from Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo:  https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6067444215233432497

Fortunately we found Japanese trains comfortable, because after Tokyo we had a 10-hour, four-train ride up to Otaru, a small town on the north island of Hokkaido. 

We arrived in Otaru on the perfect cliché of a dark and stormy night: town seemed deserted (it was only 7 or so), it was pitch black, and an icy rain was lashing down. And unlike Tokyo, which has lots of signs in English, this small town was very Japanese. Which means we reverted to what Brook calls medieval mode. Functionally illiterate, we rely on pictures. If a shop has a picture with a chicken in a

pot, chances are you can get chicken in a pot inside. Carving of a foamy beer? Good bet there's beer, and maybe food on offer. Applying that technique, we spotted a shop with a steaming bowl of noodles on its sign. Cold, wet, and hungry we wandered in, and were greeted by the nicest, most welcoming person in Otaru, the owner's father, Shin.  Shin, a former air traffic controller (with near-perfect English) chatted us up, bought us beers, insisted we take home a bottle of sake on the house, lent us maps, and also cooked a mean bowl of ramen. We stayed a while.

In addition to ramen, Otaru has some great hiking trails along the coast and up local mountains. We got in two solid day hikes with some great scenery. We also got stopped by the cops while walking back from a hike through a very local neighborhood. We're assuming someone called and warned them that two  honkeys were wandering about and

looking lost. Now, we almost never carry our passports, preferring to lock them

up in the hotel safe, but by chance

we had them on us that day. So after a quick (and apologetic) passport check, the officers made sure we weren't lost, bowed, and sent us on our way.  We really enjoyed our stay and, like most places in Japan, were sad to leave Otaru. Here's a few photos from our hikes there:

https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6068086914767661137

After Otaru we visited Daisetsuzan National Park for a few days and hiked as much as possible with foggy weather and snow on the ground. Daisetsuzan is amazing. It's sort of like the White Mointains: similar size peaks, great fall foliage, lots of good day hikes. But it's way more badass. Instead of black bears, they have grizzlies. And instead of rocky ridges, there are steaming volcanoes.  We had a great time, and again didn't want to leave... Here's some shots of the scenery on our hikes:  https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6068085000566997633

We wrapped up our Japan tour in Sapporo, which, being near a volcano, home to the first brewery in Japan, and seemingly obsessed with flannel, is appropriately the sister city to Portland, OR. 

You can't always anticipate which places will help you recharge. You may think that lying on the beach is what you need, but find that time with friends, meeting the friendliest ramen noodle shop owner, or just hiking up a snowy mountain proves much more effective. Of course, ubiquitous hot springs and heated toilet seats don't hurt either. Whatever it was, Japan gave us a little extra boost before we start the final leg of this adventure: Nepal, and five weeks of trekking in the Himalayas.

On food and an unrequited love of spice

The first few months of our travels were, from a food perspective, bland. Sure, we had wild venison in New Zealand, more avocados than we could eat in Chile and the opportunity to try Australia's coat of arms, but when our plane landed in Kuala Lumpur, we were ready for some real spice and a little more flavor.

Over the next 4 1/2 months we got it, and a few times it got us back. Our willingness to try (almost) anything, along with a large supply of tums and pepto, led us to some delicious food discoveries. Below is a round-up of some of our most memorable eating experiences:

The Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast seems like an appropriate place to start, and is the meal where we were most out of our comfort zone. It's also the meal where we discovered some of our new favorite dishes. For example, roti canai in Malaysia - a delicious Indian-inspired flatbread often served with ayam, a chicken curry dipping sauce, or filled with banana and coated in honey. Best served with Teh Tarik. 

Another favorite breakfast were the dumplings with fried bread in China. We think the dumplings had cabbage and egg in them, but aren't sure. Regardless, they were delicious. 

And, of course, the multi-course Japanese breakfast that includes broiled fish, pickled vegetables, some type of egg and mysterious but tasty tofu logs. And, of course, rice (or rice porridge).

New Favorite Foods

This could be a long list, so here's just a few. 

Chicken rendang from Malaysia - an excellent example of Nyonya cuisine, which is a happy marriage of Indian, Chinese and Indonesian food. 

Fish amok in Cambodia - a coconut leaf filled with fresh fish and an aromatic coconut sauce that you will want to put on everything. 

Banh xeo in Vietnam - a rice pancake filled with greens, pork and shrimp, wrapped in rice paper then dunked in a fish/soy sauce. We started ordering this at any restaurant that would make it for us. Even if it wasn't on the menu.

And, of course, öröm from Mongolia - at first we were scared of this homemade yak milk cheese/butter spread, but once we tried it we couldn't get enough. Best served with sugar and fried bread. Healthy!

Happy Rediscoveries

We eat a lot of Asian food at home and one thing we've realized while traveling is that most of it is really quite good. For example, sushi in Japan is no better than sushi in New York, Boston, or Portland.  But there are a few dishes that we though we knew, until we went to the source.

Green curry in Thailand - You think you like green curry? You have no idea what you're missing. Green curry in Thailand is just better, much better. Maybe that's why the Thai government is investing in this important project: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/bad-thai-thailand-creates-taste-testing-robot-to-authenticate-cuisine/article20862979/?

Ramen - Sure it's trendy now and everyone ate it in college. But have you had ramen in a homemade pork broth with a perfectly cooked egg and homemade noodles?  Or with a soy broth and chunks of slow-braised beef tendon? It's a totally different food.

The Untested, and the Untried

We admit, there were a few things our stomachs just couldn't fathom, and we weren't brave enough to try. Like...

Dried organ meat in Mongolia: At several gers, the host would pull a plate of dried yak(?) organs from under the bed and offer them up as a snack. We always refused, but our horse riding guide would whip out his knife and start slicing off bites. In our defense, we did try some of the freshly boiled organs and learned the Mongolian words for heart, liver and intestines in the process.

The century egg: We first saw this example of Chinese cuisine in a Malaysian market. It's an egg preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks or months (thank you Wikipedia). On the outside it looks like an egg covered in charcoal, but on the inside it has a dark green/grey yolk surrounded by brown gelatin. Yummy.

Scorpions, tarantulas, or any other insect: We consider these "tourist food" - who, besides tourists really eats this anymore? Or maybe we're just hiding our fear behind a veneer of traveler superiority. Regardless, we didn't eat any insects in Asia. Yet.

For now, we're quite happy with our nine course Japanese dinners.

Loving Japan

We're enamored with Japan. It's totally foreign to us, yet oddly familiar. There are beautiful, wild spaces, but plenty of civilization. The food is great, the hotels have hot springs baths (or "onsen"), folks are friendly, and the trains are awesome. Here's one of the famed Shinkansen, or bullet trains, which we've taken a few times:

We're on the north island of Hokkaido now, after visiting Kobe, Kyoto, Hakone, and Tokyo. It took us four trains to get up here from Tokyo, but only about 9 hours to cover the 1300 km (800 miles), including traversing the world's longest seabed tunnel -- over 50km long and 240 meters below sea level -- in this cool train:

Tokyo was a good stop, but fundamentally a big, global city. After living in and visiting so many cities, we're finding them all a bit the same in the larger ways, but different in the smaller ones. We stayed near the famed fish market, ate lots of sushi, wandered around a lot, and drank too much beer at one of the local brew pubs. Turns out Tokyo has an emerging craft brew scene. Here's the river near our hotel:

And here's a cityscape from the top of the Metropolitan Building (unlike in NYC, there's no charge to visit the top):

We also caught a glimpse of our future selves (in maybe fifteen years) while boarding a train at a Tokyo Station:

The ride north from Tokyo was beautiful, with some rural areas and weather rolling in:

And here's the platform in Sapporo where we changed trains for the fourth and final time that day.  Because the trains in Japan run precisely on time, you can actually make a 5-minute connection with no problem...

The ride went smoothly, and we arrived in Otaru at 7 last night in a driving cold rain.  Otaru is an old seaport on the north coast, about 45 minutes west of Sapporo. It's a destination for Japanese tourists, but only a few westerners visit, so very few people speak English.  But it's got some great hikes and a cool old downtown area complete with canals:

Wandering around town last night (wet, hungry, and cold) we stumbled onto a ramen place owned by the friendliest guy in town, Shin, who happened to speak English with a Sylvester Stallone accent. That conversation, along with his delicious ramen, the free beer, free sake, and loaned maps and guidebooks, made for a great night.  

Today, we explored the coast on a nice five hour hike. We also got stopped by the cops for the first time this year (not counting Brook's automated speeding ticket in New Zealand). Just a routine passport check, with a polite bow from the officers. Then another hot springs soak, sushi, some local beer, a little sake, and this blog post. Yep. Japan's a pretty great place. We could get used to it...