Travel Adventures

Gokyo to Dhole 4200mKitchen is still running on a skeleton staff Mary and I offer to help they think we39re a bit crazy but I actually wouldn39t mind I haven39t done a single domestic task for a couple of weeks now. We eat our interesting porridge at 7 having been ready for about an hour. Warren39s tea smells like garlic and yep it tastes like garlic we think the powdered milk h

Most visitors would never know it, but the Washington DC area is actually one of the best areas in the country for really authentic international cuisine. You name it, we’ve got it, from Bolivian to Chinese to Ethiopian, all fairly cheap and bringing total realness. From the make-up of downtown DC however, the city seems to consist mostly of chain restaurants, cocktail bars and overpriced fusion places. I mean, we have the most pathetic Chinatown in probably the entire world: it’s colorful gates are flanked by a Hooters and a Fuddruckers. Not exactly inspiring. There are plenty of great, popular mid-range restaurants in DC, but I’m not talking about them today. I’m not even going to recommend individual restaurants, just try to steer you in the right general direction. To find the really, really great food you have to look a little closer: the local neighborhoods and the suburbs, specifically the suburbs of Northern Virginia which are full of ethnic communities. For this, it really helps to have a car. Even if you don’t however, there are a lot of areas you can check out for a taste of the real, global DC. We’ve got a little bit of everything. Here is where to direct your stomach:  Little Ethiopia CC rock_creek Did you know that DC has the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia, at over 200,000? That means that there are tons of legit Ethiopian restaurants in the area, the highest concentration of which can be found in the Shaw neighborhood at 9th and U street. Here you can find about a dozen Ethiopian restaurants as well as an Italian-Ethipian fusion place (which I definitely need to check out). Columbia Heights- Salvadorian Food I mainly know Colombia Heights and Mount Pleasant as the gentrifying area where all my downtown friends rent houses, but it’s also a hotbed for Salvadorian cuisine. Cheap and tasty pupuserias (pupusas are a kind of stuffed tortilla) abound as well as sit down places with cheap beer and local specialties. Local Markets DC has a couple of really great local markets with interesting food. Eastern Market is a really great place to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning shopping for crafts and local produce, as well as a place to munch at street vendors (the elusive crepe man is legendary). Inside the market itself are a few more pricey but delicious local restaurants. I haven’t yet been to Union Market but it’s high on my to-do list. It’s open Wed-Sunday and is a new revitalized spot for artisan food shops and eateries, including pop-up restaurants. A pretty great example of DC’s rising local fresh food scene. Food Trucks Then there are the food trucks- a rising and exciting trend in DC that is going to warrant an article all it’s own, maybe next week. These mobile restaurants serve everything from pho to tacos to chicken satay, and many of them actually hang around downtown, making a nice alternative to eating at Cosi. You can track the many trucks on the Food Truck Fiesta website. Unique DC Foods When I was working on Eat The World I realized that despite having amazing food, DC doesn’t have many distinctive food specialties to call it’s own. There are a couple of DC dishes to look out for though: The Half-Smoke- If you do end up eating at one of those ubiquitous hot dog cars around the Mall, at least order a half-smoke, DC’s unique hotdog of choice. It’s half-beef, half pork, and is usually chopped with chili. The most famous place to eat a chili dog is of course Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street. Jumbo Slice- available only in Adams Morgan, these are the biggest slices of pizza you will ever see in your life, bigger than your head. Sadly they are only good when you are drunk (oh but if you ARE drunk, they are delicious- I ate more of these in my early twenties than I can count). Now: if you have a car, or a friend with a car, head out to NoVa for the real good stuff (and I’m not just say

Halong BayThe whole purpose of coming to Hanoi was to see Halong Bay..The bus picked me up at 0800 hrs collected a few others and we headed off to Halong Bay before 0900 hrs. It was slow progress as there was lot of traffic moving slowly.after an hour and a half we stopped at an artists39 center. There were a lot of statues of great quality and also a hadicrafts emporium and jewellery making w

Even after travelling in different parts of the world the airport security never ceases to amaze me. Every airport is slightly different you can never fully anticipate what what you exaclty need to do. May be that is intentional to keep those targetted guessing I don39t know. Some places you can keep your computer in the bag other places they have to be scanned seperately. Some require you t

Today39s hike up to the volcanic crater rim of Gunung Sibayak was quite tame compared to yesterday39s burner up Gunung Sinabung. Both are manageable day trips from Berastagi where I have based myself since flying from Malaysia to Indonesia last Saturday. I arrived in Medan North Sumatra 1100 a.m. local time and immediately began plotting my departure from the furnace that is coastal Indon

Today we have arrived in Jaipur the pink city. Our drive was relatively long and provided us with a very intimate look at the lives of locals. Driving here is like taking your life in your hands at first then you sort of adopt a fatalismtrust in the clusterfuck of a tornado you see on the roads. It39s madness but it works as our driver informed us you must have four things to drive in Indi

The Taj Mahal is a dream come true. Set in the city of Agra aka the city of love this mausoleum built by Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife is truly one of the few sites around the world that lives up to the hype. Built of beautiful marble the Indian people work diligently to ensure its beauty remains. You39re required to wear booties over your shoes and they don39t allow outside

This is the first motel I stayed in that had a hot tub. I sat in the hot tub instead of writing my blog. Will update when I get a chance.

First and foremost HAPPY 42ND ANNIVERSARY LES AND CAROL CONGRATULATIONS Thank you for sharing your special evening with us xxxDespite the odds with the weather over the last few days we made it to the Atlantic Ocean tonight We are not quite to St. John39s yet or the easternmost point of Canada and North America Cape Spear. We will save that celebration for tomorrow. We are privileged to b

as the morning fog cleared the relatively young troubadours awoke to the reality that battle was imminent. on one side of the battlefield of demise stood the kangakilts on the other the pom tea scones opposing. if it wasnt unpleasant enough to have woken with an irritable battle of death to fight it was amplified by a 30hr flight half way round the world a night full of restless sleep s