Happened in South-East Asia

Back home, disoriented. It is too soon to gather my experiences properly, there was so much to see and and do. Anyhow here's some uppermost recollections as images. Dr. Who provided cold water, Singapore Flyer and nighttime skyline, squat toilet at a mall, gifts for gods and gifts for friends.

Stray spaceship

Now I know where the missing vessel of Starfleet has landed: Jurong, S'pore.

Early morning thought

Woke up this morning thinking still with night brain: "what if I'm paralyzed during the night?" Immediately day brain thought back: "of course I'm not". But didn't dare to try move my limbs just in case my day brain would've been wrong, just went back to sleep for some time still.

Prosecuted/executed dream

Something illegal was found from my backpack at the airport. It was something major, so I was expecting a death sentence. I was given a chance to gamble for my freedom and life: if I'd win a complicated game played against a professional, I'd be free. If I'd lose, decapitation it shall be. The game was about creating new words or concepts. Didn't really understand the true content of the game, just agreed to play it.

The game took place in a huge amfi theatre, there were hundreds of people gathered to see it. I wasn't taking the prosecution seriously enough, when I climbed to the seat of the accused, I made a lame joke ”is this like [the movie] Hungergames?” The audience was appalled, they booed and shouted to the judge to give me a warning. (After 2 warnings the game would be over.)

We played some time, the rules were complicated and messy, soon I started to make rules of my own. I explained them in complex and eloquent english, again the audience was shouting for warning but obviously the judge liked my hazardous gambling. She sighed and whispered in my ears: ”these ppl always demand I should behave like my age and status implies but I don't want to”.

There was a break in my death penalty trial/game, we had some coffee and cakes. There was time to take pictures and buy souvenirs.

After the coffee it was to be continued. How did it the game end? Don't know, it's ongoing still.

Food porn

This is it. I've reached the crucial point. It's getting really hardcore and rough. I eat out 3-4 times a day plus snacks in between. I'm not going back to Europe, ever. I'll stay right here near Fortune Centre chinese mall with at least 10 veggie/vegan restaurants, cafés, catering firms and grocery stores. Plus I can have my fortune read, my skin whitened, and my buddhist monk acquaintances can have their robes fitted there. Yesterday I hyperventilated over saree silks, today I cried like a baby seeing all the soy products, spice mixtures and dried mushrooms. Singapore has debauched me, totally.

Had lunch at 4th floor, New Green Pasture Café, which was probably the most expensive of the restaurants on site. But it has not only vegan but also organic stuff plus eco groceries and products, good good. I chose tofu rolls and peppermint-honey lemonade. On my way down grabbed two buns, one with blueberries and another one with matcha powder. Would like to say that I shared the buns with D, but I did not.

I've seen a lot of nice things here, so the next post will be abut smth else than food, ok? OK? Now I must end writing this because I need to google a place to dine today. OK?

Veggie Cottage, Singapore

Veggie Cottage is cute tiny european styled restaurant in Little India, serving both western and asian vegan food. The staff was really nice! I tried laksa, it was good and spicy (excluding weird mock fishballs). Obviousl laksa is only served on Saturdays, what a goo luck we had! My friend D had something milder with chunks of tofu. Little India was just adorable otherwise too, going again later to take a closer look at the beautiful fabrics and colorful veggie&spice markets.

edit: my keyboard starts to omit letters, like in singlish. Mayb time to buy a tablet??

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Bye Bye BKK

Would love to return here! And also could try the paradise islands for some time.

Had last meal at the airport lounge, oh I miss the mountains of sweets already! Heading to totally another kind of Asia, Singapore.

Another lunch, another dinner

It's cute and nice to talk, think and blog about food. I think I've gained weight here in Thailand, which is not cute at all. And just now a small fly/mosquito bit me, maybe I got malaria as well? A little homesick and restless, have to admit.

Anyway, Wednesday was a good food day. Delicious lunch and delicious cocktail dinner. Won't even start guessing the ingredients, everything was good. Especially green chili sauce which I had plenty of. And the sweets made of sticky rice, beans, potatos...

Lunch at riverside restaurant, Ayutthaya

 Had marvellous lunch just after being sick :/ Food resurrected me and lift my spirit so I could munch a taro-coconut muffin with sesame later in the evening. Green Thai lemonade with weird sugary-fruity taste was too much, had to left it unfinished.

Really spicy good mushroom soup for starter, followed by mild vegetable dish. It was not curried but sweetly spiced, it also included the same unknown veggie which is not water chestnut but maybe pak choi or it's relative. The other warm dish was something crispy and not very unforgettable. But luckily I finally had a chance to taste Som Tam papaya salad. It was SO good! So much chili and garlic! As dessert fruit plate with pineapple, water melon and green mango. Didn't dare to have ice cream, chicken me.

Daytrip to history: Ayutthaya, Siam

Former capital ruins and temples were really fascinating. The day was otherwise just great but the heat made me throw up. That's why I'll report about my lunch in different post, later.

Unidentified dinner

Today I ate deep-fried somethings and green something, both I didn't recognize. Some beans maybe, water chestnut? Just pointed them with my finger at the food stall. It was a veggie one, so no worries, it wasn't pig snout. As dessert sweet sweet bananas with coconut cream as thick as gravy. Washed it down with jasmin scented iced green tea. Some fresh pineapple, longan juice and pandan-flavoured bun waiting in my fridge when I shall become hungry again.

Busy Sunday

On Sunday I cruised the Chao Phraya river back and forth. Visited Pak Klong flower market, Wat Pho temple and museum of Siam from where the weirdest pics are. Wonderful, if wearing, day.

Ate mushroom curry, drank coconut water and had more spiced tamarind. Later going out to get something to nibble, again. Now munching spiced tamarind. This is all about eating, isn't it?

Not a traveller, no way

If being a traveller means "been there seen this done that" attitude, looking all-experienced and sullen in front of world's most amazing views and talking about places in a too-familiar bit bored tone afterwards, then I don't want to be a traveller (anymore). I've done my share of trying desperately to look cool even being completely lost and bewildered. No more!
To pretend that I'm seeing only the genuine treasures and well-kept secrets is really humbug. Everyone not living permanently in Bangkok is a tourist here. Full stop.

I want to be childishly surprised, delighted and astonished about everything, mundane or noble or something in between. I want to take pictures of sleeping cats, buddha-like fat babies or bananas as well as temples. I am willing to confess that I have no idea about the culture, habits, etiquette around me and I don't want to pretend I do, but I'm willing to learn. I want to ask advice, tips and hints, find out.

Humbly I realize that I'm seeing only a fraction of this city, hardly learning to navigate in the closest blocks around me. But that's good and enough. I am here now, that's enough. Hmm... this sounded badly as dogmatic declaration but I had some negative encounters with hardcore travellers today and I want to differentiate.
 

One night in Bangkok, so far

Been here little over 24 hours, trying carefully not to get overwhelmed which is difficult here. Can't think of any verbs about Bangkok yet, here's adjectives to begin with: smelly, noisy, hot, poor, golden, cheap, smiling, indifferent, beautiful, ugly, tasty, pungent, chaotic, smooth, marvellous. An ongoing carnival.

I'm not sure after not sleeping properly for several days/nights (what time and date is now?) but I think I like this exuberancy. It is too much of everything, but in a far-out, enjoyable, surrealistically kinda too much.

On my way from the airport to the hotel without a map I got irrevocably lost. I didn't mind it at all, it felt nice. I've had the same feeling in some other first visits, and that usually tells me I'm about to like the surroundings. After walking in the heat for dunno how long, asking for contradictory but friendly advices, I finally took a tuk-tuk and bartered intensively about the price.

This is a sentence I thought never would escape my mouth, but I feel a little bit disadvantaged here, being a sensitive-stomached vegetarian. There's SO many weird weird thingies on the street vendor stalls and BBQs to taste! Settling for fresh fruits and veggie restaurants is ok but still... Ok, that's the end of the whining. Today I ate fried rice (not the sticky one yet) and sesame balls (made from sticky rice!) in green ginger tea. Now a siesta and in the evening wandering around Pratunam street market. Maybe durian fruit, jellied coconut or some fruit that I've never seen before. The pic is from my hoods, albeit the hotel is on a quiet side street.

Creating, naming, dreaming

Had a dream about building a tree house, high up in a huge tree canopy. Also dreamt about inventing a new language.

Or it was more than that, it was a dream about naming things and objects for the first time, not just renaming them in a different language. I walked around, touched items and objects and said their name aloud. The only word I can remember was of course tree house = batelica.

How to spend your Sunday properly

I'd like to share and present the guidelines for a perfect Sunday. Not sure if I can repeat it myself following the instructions, but being a one-off maybe makes it even better.

Start with going to Dzban beach (the muddy pond I referred already in earlier posts) and take a nap under the birch. Do not mind the bugs biting your pale skin. Notice that slight hangover, aquired the day before, makes the heat and every sensation even more intense. Eat some liquorice to get your blood pressure up.

When revived enough, have luncheon at Grazing Daysi veg(an/ggie?) restaurant across the pond. The place is just too good to be true, like a spanish hacienda. The interior was ultracool from handwritten menus to lampshades made from aluminium and pallet tables, views and everything. I had salad with kohlrabi, strawberry-orange lemonade and spelt pancake. Lunch companion had beans (sorry, can't remember more precisely), watermelon-mint lemonade, pancake and tulsi tea. Google tulsi.

Only negative things I can come up with was that I didn't see a dog meandering around at the establisment. There should be a dog!

After lunch relocate your towel to the other side of the pond, the one you need to pay. Take another nap. Swim, eat liquorice, nap, count the clouds... Repeat this until it starts to rain sometime in the afternoon. Retreat just before the thunderstorm. Lie doggo in the metro tunnels until the rain ceases. Go home, be happy.

SAPA Vietnamese market

Excursion took place on Saturday in the heavt heat. We travelled the long and dangerous route all the way to Kacerov, from where we needed to rely on the help of natives to catch the bus 113.

Ok ok, it wasn't that far but it was exotic. Really. Not like a market at all but like a small city, half abandoned and still buzzing with life. Like something from tex-mex-italo western movies. We did everything palefaces are supposed to do there: ate pho, drank bubble tea and iced coffee, were berated by angry wholesale sellers when we wanted to buy only one pair of trousers instead of 25. Had some clothes modified by the tailor, bought smelly groceries and went back home satisfied.

Next time at SAPA I'll definitely try vietnamese language bingo. Maybe buy a 25 kg sack of rice or 40 tacky bright colored seating cushions for only 30 (or 300) czk each. The bubble tea pic depicts perfectly the dominant esthetics of the market, it's not a pictoresque spot, no sir. But lots of fun.

The magic circle of tapping the keyboard

I may never become an author or publish more than I've published already. I may never write the masterpiece I'd like to. But today I saved myself from a tsunami of negative feelings solely with writing. And that's something huge. As soon as I stopped tapping the keyboard, I could hear the rush of sadness, disappointment, jealousy, frustration avalanching toward me, ready to drown me and freeze me. So I just kept on writing, without pausing, thinking, analyzing.

After one hour I felt the negativeness starting to shrink, as there was no fuel left for it. I had been diminishing it with writing. Felt better, stronger and ready to face the challenges ahead.

But here's the best part of the whole process: the text I tapped in distress was of course mostly utterly bullshit, but covered in bullshit I could find few sentences worth re-thinking. So in addition to acute therapy, my frantic writing session served also creative purposes.

Raw food and forest at Krymska street

Yesterday conquered the hip ulice Krymska. Raw food at Plevel was good and filling enough for me (the carnivore had to have some fast food later in the evening). Only problem with raw food is my nut allergy as nuts are widely used. At Plevel they omitted the nuts from my dish, but there was only one dish I could have as the others had nuts too fundamentally as basic ingredient. All in all the raw food menu was short, there was also interesting vegan menu which can be tried some other time.

After pizza, spaghetti made of zucchini, apple strudel and weird potato drink that tasted like army or coffee being stored over winter at moist summer cottage, we mooched along Krymska to V Lese (=in the forest) which was a very comfy bar indeed. They have gigs at the basement and the ambience is really cozy. On the way home we found several pieces of furniture from the street, some of them designer stuff, so it was a very productive evening!