The Conclusion of my A-B-C's for my Round-the-World Trip.
N is for New Meats
My second day in Cape Town I had crocodile ribs. That opened the pandora's box of strange, new meats to try out. Crocodile became Ostrich, which became Warthog, which became another dose of Crocodile, which became Gembok (an antelope like thing), and all of this was just South Africa. Africa as a continent has some really unique fauna, and I tasted most of them (I don't think they eat Elephant or Hippo or Giraffe), but my tour of meats didn't end there. The most bizarre meat was still to come, and that happened my last day in Cambodia, where I went to one place that is notable for a crawling little appetizer. When I first saw turantula on the menu, I was excited. When they brought those 8-legged things to me, I was disappointed at how small they were. When I tasted them I was excited at how good they were. I finished off this tour in Australia with Kangaroo, another tender, red meat that I wish we could have in the US.
O is for the Oxford Art Factory
This is the only entry about a night spot, mainly because there was a witness to what happened that night anyway, in my cousin who was in Sydney at the time. We left an already decent bar near the Sydney waterfront that had lively music, a livelier crowd and view of the harbor on a beautiful night. I was a little skeptical of this place on Oxford Street being as good, and although I'm not one to leave a good thing too easily, since he was paying, I left without too much of a fight. The entrance to the Oxford Art Gallery gave off a really 'club' vibe, and a large area of the place was a nightclub, but that was closed off to ticketed guests only because some DJ was playing there. Instead, we had to hang at the bar, which had a dance floor, a giant projection screen playing music videos (that weren't the same songs as the ones playing out loud), a long bar and a ton of young people. It was an interesting night out with my cousin, and I learned a lot, like how seriously they take trying to keep out people without a ticket from the many side entrances to the club, to the fact that in Australia, they might not know what an 'Irish Car Bomb' is, and instead charge you for Guinness and Jameson separately. It was a long night, but a damn fun one.
P is for Phang Nga Bay
I was sick for each of my first two days in Phuket, but our last day there, I braved my still pulsating stomach illness to join my Mom on a boat tour of Phang Nga Bay. We ended up going for a nicer (in terms of price) tour than originally planned because instead of two tours we were just doing one, and while we did miss out on the other tour, I can't say that this tour was anything but incredible. The view of the small rock islands jutting out of the crystal-clear blue water, the winding caves that we were taken in by kayak, made to duck to avoid the glistening limestone formations on the ceilings, the umpteen photo opportunities. Everything combined for a memorable day out in the Andaman Bay. Somehow, despite all that was excellent with this tour, my most lasting memory is having to pass over the free, ice-cold coke bottles that the rest of the people on the tour boat were gulping down as an antidote against the oppressive heat because of my stomach.
Q is for Quality Family Time (yeah, I know, boring)
Obviously, the main attraction, in terms of getting to spend time with family, is to visit my long lost family in Australia. I had met them all before eons ago, and met my cousin Lisa in the US two years previously, but this would be meeting them on their turf; spending time at their home. I would also get to spend some time with the part of my family that is trapped in India (I kid about the 'trapped' thing). What I didn't expect was to meet another cousin who lives in the US in Sydney, or meet cousins of my parents in Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai and other places. The height of this history lesson came at a party in Bangalore at my Mom's cousin's house for his daughter's communion, where my Uncle Anthony basically pointed out each person and told me how they were connected to me. Because of how Mangalore worked, all of my 2nd cousins on that side of the family (My Mom's paternal family) are basically my Mom's age, so that added to the confusion. The last family members I met on my trip were my Aunt and cousin who used to live in Boston, one last reminder of the family I left behind in the US and the long litany of them I had met on my voyage.
R is for Rendang and Roti (Canai)
I wanted to go to Malaysia mainly for the food. I would say the cuisine encompassed about 75% of my reasoning to go to Malaysia. My favorite part of the cuisine experience in Malaysia was probably the seafood in the night markets in Penang, the stalls that sold fish, squid, clams, scallops adn shrimp by the ounce with any sauce you want, delivered to your table as you sip a Tiger Beer listening to the music. That's life. But this is about Rending and Roti Canai, my two mainstay Malaysian dishes I eat in the US. Roti Canai was a little hard to find since it is a breakfast food there, but I was able to get it at a Muslim eatery across our hotel in KL that stayed open all night. Rendang was more plentiful, and although none of the Rendangs we sampled were what we have in the US, we tried a few of them and all were quite good. Some were more spicy, some were more saucy, some were just totally different, but the various versions of Rendang was almost the connecting line for our time in Malaysia. I went to Malaysia for food, and if I go back, it will be for food. I'm sure there are more authentic restaurants serving Rendang that we didn't try out last time.
S is for Sushi!!
From one food to another. I didn't only go to Japan to eat sushi, but it just so happened that I eat a metric ton of sushi.I had expected the sushi in Japan to be good and to also be expensive, but only half of that statement turned out to be true. Of course, there is very expensive sushi, and I would classify one place I went to as moderately expensive, but the scores of 'Kaiten Sushi' places, with their conveyor belt, generally gave me good bang for my buck. The best of those places served all their different types of sushi, which encompassed most of the ones anyone would generally want, for 126 yen (about $1.25). Another had most for 115 yen, and then a few in the 165, 199, 250, and 450 yen categories. I ate at these places too many times that by the end I was able to request what I wanted to the sushi chef (by yelling at him, which is what everyone does) in Japanese. Although the real revelation in Japanese cuisine was the Japanese Korean BBQ, sushi was what really sustained me. Sushi became a part of me.
T is for Table Mountain
Table Mountain has the distinction of being one of the Top 10 tourist attractions worldwide according to Tripadvisor. I knew this going in, so my expectations were damn high for Table Mountain. My Uncle also told me it was the best tourist attraction in Cape Town, one of the best tourist spots in the world, so my expectations were a little higher. Somehow, Table Mountain exceeded them. The view on the cable car up to Table Mountain was incredible,, but that was merely an appetizer for what was on top. Table Mountain is situated directly behind Cape Town, creating a perfect view of the entire city. There is also the view of the Western Cape down South of Cape Town. The best part may be the size of the 'Table' top, making Table Mountain a perfect place to get some exercise walking up and down the rocks. I haven't seen enough of the world to say if it really is one of the 10 best tourist attractions, but I can't see how anyone could possibly be disappointed with spending some time atop of Table Mountain.
U is for the United MileagePlus Program
When I first started researching the logistics of how this trip would work, I found that each of the three major alliances gave round-the-world tickets. Of course, those came with about a $6,000 price, so those were quickly forgotten about. Then, I found that United offered a round-the-world mileage ticket for 180,000 miles, but the amount of stipulations on that were about three pages of text, and nearly every itinerary I wanted was not allowed for one reason or another. I finally settled on two seperated mileage tickets, and then the fun began. United and its Star Alliance partners can basically connect any two places in the world, but the fun is maximizing the stopovers, layovers, airlines and airports. I was able to get everything I wanted. Somehow, despite Johannesburg creating a nearly perfect triangle with New York and Ho Chi Minh, it was acceptable to use it as a stopover, making Cape Town fall into my lap. The amount of iterations and mock-itineraries I made on United.com's MileagePlus page; the amount of combinations and permutations of airlines and airports from Melbourne to Tokyo to Bangalore. I finally settled on getting a flight on All Nippon, because why not try All Nippon. United MileagePlus gave me 12 and 16 hour layovers in Singapore. It gave me everything I wanted. You rarely get a chance to say this to an American airline (and you rarely want to), but thank you United Airlines, for making your Mileage program a joy to use.
V is for the Victoria & Albert Waterfront
The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town was basically my city center during my stay on the Western Cape. It helped that it was a beautiful 15-20 minute walk away from my hostel. The Waterfront encapsulated everything I loved about Cape Town in one smaller than you would think area. There was great food with interesting meats, especially at City Grill, a place that gave me the royal treatment when I decided to go a second straight day. There was a mix of interesting people with awesome South African accents. There was great beer (Milk & Honey - which was so good it deserved its own letter). There was an incredible view of Table Mountain off in the distance, and there was the nervousness of leaving the place at night in fear of being attacked. If I had to do Cape Town again, I might stay closer to Long Street, but staying near the V&A Waterfront gave me an incredible start for my trip, energizing everything that had to come.
W is for Wine Tastings
I'm not really a wine fan. I choose to drink beer, or scotch, or mostly anything over wine. But going to two of the more exotic wine producing countries, it was hard to avoid the lure of taking a lazy trip into Wine Country. My first experience was a tour to the Stellenbosch wine region of Cape Town. Given the nature of the trip (me and about 10 other mostly 40+ year old folks), that day was more about the odd entertainment of conversing with older married folk who joked in German, Danish and (for my sake) English. The other trip was near Melbourne, it a more picturesque area, with rolling hills of wineries, glowing under a purely sunny day. I still remember the names of the Melbourne wineries. There was De Botoli, there was Helen Hills, where we had lunch and I had one of the meatiest lamb legs I've ever had, and then Chandon, which was as nice as you would think, given the brand. Even after all the wine tasting, I'm still not the largest wine fan, but at least I enjoyed them enough that I can see me doing an adequate amount of wine tasting with my future wife at some point. My interest in wine will grow greater with age, much like the wine itself, but these trips to the wine regions of South Africa and Melbourne were a nice catalyst to get this process going.
X is for Xacuti
This trip to Goa was a slight disappointment, mainly because of where we chose to stay. Instead of staying at the more active North Goa, where we stayed in January 2011, we stayed in South Goa, which is quieter, but supposedly more beautiful. That may or may not be true, but if I go to Goa again, I'm definitely staying in North Goa. Anyway, back to South Goa. Because getting shack food was a little tougher and demanded driving some distance, I had more normal Goan food this time. Xacuti, a Goan curry used to cook beef, lamb, prawn and everything else in, represents those authentic Goan flavors. It took a while to get into the groove in Goa, but the food helped. Shack food was and still is great, but having Goan curries, headlined with Xacuti, on the beach with a beer, all for around 5 dollars, is still about as good as it gets in India.
Y is for Youth Hostels
You may be asking where did I stay when I was alone. You probably aren't, but you could be. And the answer, for every place where I was alone and didn't have family living there, was Youth Hostels, courtesy of Hostels.com or HostelWorld.com, or Booking.com. I had certain rules for any place I stayed. Firstmost, was to be in my own room. I lived through a 10-bed dorm-style room in Madrid in Spring 2010, and I was never going to do repeat that harrowing experience. My second requirement was air conditioning, because staying in Cambodia or Vietnam without it would have meant certain death. The final one was Wi-Fi, which most hostels give for free. All of these qualifications were met in a lot of places that were a lot nicer than what many would expect from the term 'Youth Hostel'. My hostel in Siem Reap (The Lotus Lodge) was actually a beautiful hotel, with giant rooms, a beautifully decorated pool with a bar and lodge area near it. The ones in Japan were modern, devilishly clean buildings. The best part, though, of Youth Hostels are the youth; the people there to meet. I would have never known how fun Colombians are, or never hung out with Brisbane-ites, or never met scores of other people if not for youth hostels.
Z is for Zero Regrets
When I left JFK on February 25th, on South African Airlines flight SA204, aboard a beautiful Airbus A340-600, with three seats all to myself, I was excited, obviously, but also extremely nervous. It was daunting to be away from the US for so long, especially since I was going to be alone for about half the trip. Since these are the 2010s, with Wi-Fi everywhere, I wasn't really alone, but what if I didn't make friends at the hostel? What if I got sick? What if I got injured? What if I didn't plan this well? Luckily, other than the sick part, none of those fears were realized. Only my dreams were. This trip was a great gift from a dad who I gifted with not having to pay for an 8th term at NYU. But more than that it was a chance for me to do a trip that I would never really have the chance to do again at an age where I don't have mortgages or car leases or any other real 'adult' strings holding me back. This was an opportunity to experience three continents, nine countries and countless cities. It was a chance to do anything I wanted, within the bounds of the law of course, and eat anything I wanted, and drink anything I wanted. When I left I was dreaming of eating a black pepper at Jumbo Seafood and then telling the cab driver 'Changi Airport' while telling myself 'Home'. But when I reached Jumbo Seafood on June 7th, and finished my black pepper crab, I instead of wanting to go home, wanted to start it all over again. You only get one chance to do this sort of trip, and I had my chance. Thank God I loved every part of it.
N is for New Meats
My second day in Cape Town I had crocodile ribs. That opened the pandora's box of strange, new meats to try out. Crocodile became Ostrich, which became Warthog, which became another dose of Crocodile, which became Gembok (an antelope like thing), and all of this was just South Africa. Africa as a continent has some really unique fauna, and I tasted most of them (I don't think they eat Elephant or Hippo or Giraffe), but my tour of meats didn't end there. The most bizarre meat was still to come, and that happened my last day in Cambodia, where I went to one place that is notable for a crawling little appetizer. When I first saw turantula on the menu, I was excited. When they brought those 8-legged things to me, I was disappointed at how small they were. When I tasted them I was excited at how good they were. I finished off this tour in Australia with Kangaroo, another tender, red meat that I wish we could have in the US.
O is for the Oxford Art Factory
This is the only entry about a night spot, mainly because there was a witness to what happened that night anyway, in my cousin who was in Sydney at the time. We left an already decent bar near the Sydney waterfront that had lively music, a livelier crowd and view of the harbor on a beautiful night. I was a little skeptical of this place on Oxford Street being as good, and although I'm not one to leave a good thing too easily, since he was paying, I left without too much of a fight. The entrance to the Oxford Art Gallery gave off a really 'club' vibe, and a large area of the place was a nightclub, but that was closed off to ticketed guests only because some DJ was playing there. Instead, we had to hang at the bar, which had a dance floor, a giant projection screen playing music videos (that weren't the same songs as the ones playing out loud), a long bar and a ton of young people. It was an interesting night out with my cousin, and I learned a lot, like how seriously they take trying to keep out people without a ticket from the many side entrances to the club, to the fact that in Australia, they might not know what an 'Irish Car Bomb' is, and instead charge you for Guinness and Jameson separately. It was a long night, but a damn fun one.
P is for Phang Nga Bay
I was sick for each of my first two days in Phuket, but our last day there, I braved my still pulsating stomach illness to join my Mom on a boat tour of Phang Nga Bay. We ended up going for a nicer (in terms of price) tour than originally planned because instead of two tours we were just doing one, and while we did miss out on the other tour, I can't say that this tour was anything but incredible. The view of the small rock islands jutting out of the crystal-clear blue water, the winding caves that we were taken in by kayak, made to duck to avoid the glistening limestone formations on the ceilings, the umpteen photo opportunities. Everything combined for a memorable day out in the Andaman Bay. Somehow, despite all that was excellent with this tour, my most lasting memory is having to pass over the free, ice-cold coke bottles that the rest of the people on the tour boat were gulping down as an antidote against the oppressive heat because of my stomach.
Q is for Quality Family Time (yeah, I know, boring)
Obviously, the main attraction, in terms of getting to spend time with family, is to visit my long lost family in Australia. I had met them all before eons ago, and met my cousin Lisa in the US two years previously, but this would be meeting them on their turf; spending time at their home. I would also get to spend some time with the part of my family that is trapped in India (I kid about the 'trapped' thing). What I didn't expect was to meet another cousin who lives in the US in Sydney, or meet cousins of my parents in Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai and other places. The height of this history lesson came at a party in Bangalore at my Mom's cousin's house for his daughter's communion, where my Uncle Anthony basically pointed out each person and told me how they were connected to me. Because of how Mangalore worked, all of my 2nd cousins on that side of the family (My Mom's paternal family) are basically my Mom's age, so that added to the confusion. The last family members I met on my trip were my Aunt and cousin who used to live in Boston, one last reminder of the family I left behind in the US and the long litany of them I had met on my voyage.
R is for Rendang and Roti (Canai)
I wanted to go to Malaysia mainly for the food. I would say the cuisine encompassed about 75% of my reasoning to go to Malaysia. My favorite part of the cuisine experience in Malaysia was probably the seafood in the night markets in Penang, the stalls that sold fish, squid, clams, scallops adn shrimp by the ounce with any sauce you want, delivered to your table as you sip a Tiger Beer listening to the music. That's life. But this is about Rending and Roti Canai, my two mainstay Malaysian dishes I eat in the US. Roti Canai was a little hard to find since it is a breakfast food there, but I was able to get it at a Muslim eatery across our hotel in KL that stayed open all night. Rendang was more plentiful, and although none of the Rendangs we sampled were what we have in the US, we tried a few of them and all were quite good. Some were more spicy, some were more saucy, some were just totally different, but the various versions of Rendang was almost the connecting line for our time in Malaysia. I went to Malaysia for food, and if I go back, it will be for food. I'm sure there are more authentic restaurants serving Rendang that we didn't try out last time.
S is for Sushi!!
From one food to another. I didn't only go to Japan to eat sushi, but it just so happened that I eat a metric ton of sushi.I had expected the sushi in Japan to be good and to also be expensive, but only half of that statement turned out to be true. Of course, there is very expensive sushi, and I would classify one place I went to as moderately expensive, but the scores of 'Kaiten Sushi' places, with their conveyor belt, generally gave me good bang for my buck. The best of those places served all their different types of sushi, which encompassed most of the ones anyone would generally want, for 126 yen (about $1.25). Another had most for 115 yen, and then a few in the 165, 199, 250, and 450 yen categories. I ate at these places too many times that by the end I was able to request what I wanted to the sushi chef (by yelling at him, which is what everyone does) in Japanese. Although the real revelation in Japanese cuisine was the Japanese Korean BBQ, sushi was what really sustained me. Sushi became a part of me.
T is for Table Mountain
Table Mountain has the distinction of being one of the Top 10 tourist attractions worldwide according to Tripadvisor. I knew this going in, so my expectations were damn high for Table Mountain. My Uncle also told me it was the best tourist attraction in Cape Town, one of the best tourist spots in the world, so my expectations were a little higher. Somehow, Table Mountain exceeded them. The view on the cable car up to Table Mountain was incredible,, but that was merely an appetizer for what was on top. Table Mountain is situated directly behind Cape Town, creating a perfect view of the entire city. There is also the view of the Western Cape down South of Cape Town. The best part may be the size of the 'Table' top, making Table Mountain a perfect place to get some exercise walking up and down the rocks. I haven't seen enough of the world to say if it really is one of the 10 best tourist attractions, but I can't see how anyone could possibly be disappointed with spending some time atop of Table Mountain.
U is for the United MileagePlus Program
When I first started researching the logistics of how this trip would work, I found that each of the three major alliances gave round-the-world tickets. Of course, those came with about a $6,000 price, so those were quickly forgotten about. Then, I found that United offered a round-the-world mileage ticket for 180,000 miles, but the amount of stipulations on that were about three pages of text, and nearly every itinerary I wanted was not allowed for one reason or another. I finally settled on two seperated mileage tickets, and then the fun began. United and its Star Alliance partners can basically connect any two places in the world, but the fun is maximizing the stopovers, layovers, airlines and airports. I was able to get everything I wanted. Somehow, despite Johannesburg creating a nearly perfect triangle with New York and Ho Chi Minh, it was acceptable to use it as a stopover, making Cape Town fall into my lap. The amount of iterations and mock-itineraries I made on United.com's MileagePlus page; the amount of combinations and permutations of airlines and airports from Melbourne to Tokyo to Bangalore. I finally settled on getting a flight on All Nippon, because why not try All Nippon. United MileagePlus gave me 12 and 16 hour layovers in Singapore. It gave me everything I wanted. You rarely get a chance to say this to an American airline (and you rarely want to), but thank you United Airlines, for making your Mileage program a joy to use.
V is for the Victoria & Albert Waterfront
The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town was basically my city center during my stay on the Western Cape. It helped that it was a beautiful 15-20 minute walk away from my hostel. The Waterfront encapsulated everything I loved about Cape Town in one smaller than you would think area. There was great food with interesting meats, especially at City Grill, a place that gave me the royal treatment when I decided to go a second straight day. There was a mix of interesting people with awesome South African accents. There was great beer (Milk & Honey - which was so good it deserved its own letter). There was an incredible view of Table Mountain off in the distance, and there was the nervousness of leaving the place at night in fear of being attacked. If I had to do Cape Town again, I might stay closer to Long Street, but staying near the V&A Waterfront gave me an incredible start for my trip, energizing everything that had to come.
W is for Wine Tastings
I'm not really a wine fan. I choose to drink beer, or scotch, or mostly anything over wine. But going to two of the more exotic wine producing countries, it was hard to avoid the lure of taking a lazy trip into Wine Country. My first experience was a tour to the Stellenbosch wine region of Cape Town. Given the nature of the trip (me and about 10 other mostly 40+ year old folks), that day was more about the odd entertainment of conversing with older married folk who joked in German, Danish and (for my sake) English. The other trip was near Melbourne, it a more picturesque area, with rolling hills of wineries, glowing under a purely sunny day. I still remember the names of the Melbourne wineries. There was De Botoli, there was Helen Hills, where we had lunch and I had one of the meatiest lamb legs I've ever had, and then Chandon, which was as nice as you would think, given the brand. Even after all the wine tasting, I'm still not the largest wine fan, but at least I enjoyed them enough that I can see me doing an adequate amount of wine tasting with my future wife at some point. My interest in wine will grow greater with age, much like the wine itself, but these trips to the wine regions of South Africa and Melbourne were a nice catalyst to get this process going.
X is for Xacuti
This trip to Goa was a slight disappointment, mainly because of where we chose to stay. Instead of staying at the more active North Goa, where we stayed in January 2011, we stayed in South Goa, which is quieter, but supposedly more beautiful. That may or may not be true, but if I go to Goa again, I'm definitely staying in North Goa. Anyway, back to South Goa. Because getting shack food was a little tougher and demanded driving some distance, I had more normal Goan food this time. Xacuti, a Goan curry used to cook beef, lamb, prawn and everything else in, represents those authentic Goan flavors. It took a while to get into the groove in Goa, but the food helped. Shack food was and still is great, but having Goan curries, headlined with Xacuti, on the beach with a beer, all for around 5 dollars, is still about as good as it gets in India.
Y is for Youth Hostels
You may be asking where did I stay when I was alone. You probably aren't, but you could be. And the answer, for every place where I was alone and didn't have family living there, was Youth Hostels, courtesy of Hostels.com or HostelWorld.com, or Booking.com. I had certain rules for any place I stayed. Firstmost, was to be in my own room. I lived through a 10-bed dorm-style room in Madrid in Spring 2010, and I was never going to do repeat that harrowing experience. My second requirement was air conditioning, because staying in Cambodia or Vietnam without it would have meant certain death. The final one was Wi-Fi, which most hostels give for free. All of these qualifications were met in a lot of places that were a lot nicer than what many would expect from the term 'Youth Hostel'. My hostel in Siem Reap (The Lotus Lodge) was actually a beautiful hotel, with giant rooms, a beautifully decorated pool with a bar and lodge area near it. The ones in Japan were modern, devilishly clean buildings. The best part, though, of Youth Hostels are the youth; the people there to meet. I would have never known how fun Colombians are, or never hung out with Brisbane-ites, or never met scores of other people if not for youth hostels.
Z is for Zero Regrets
When I left JFK on February 25th, on South African Airlines flight SA204, aboard a beautiful Airbus A340-600, with three seats all to myself, I was excited, obviously, but also extremely nervous. It was daunting to be away from the US for so long, especially since I was going to be alone for about half the trip. Since these are the 2010s, with Wi-Fi everywhere, I wasn't really alone, but what if I didn't make friends at the hostel? What if I got sick? What if I got injured? What if I didn't plan this well? Luckily, other than the sick part, none of those fears were realized. Only my dreams were. This trip was a great gift from a dad who I gifted with not having to pay for an 8th term at NYU. But more than that it was a chance for me to do a trip that I would never really have the chance to do again at an age where I don't have mortgages or car leases or any other real 'adult' strings holding me back. This was an opportunity to experience three continents, nine countries and countless cities. It was a chance to do anything I wanted, within the bounds of the law of course, and eat anything I wanted, and drink anything I wanted. When I left I was dreaming of eating a black pepper at Jumbo Seafood and then telling the cab driver 'Changi Airport' while telling myself 'Home'. But when I reached Jumbo Seafood on June 7th, and finished my black pepper crab, I instead of wanting to go home, wanted to start it all over again. You only get one chance to do this sort of trip, and I had my chance. Thank God I loved every part of it.
