Saturday, November 17, 2012

The art of eating (Japan)

Along with the fact that I experienced this country alone (I met people along the way but it's always different), I'm writing this post separated from the previous one because Japanese food deserves it!! Yes, chinese food, mongolian food, buryat food, russian food they're different from ours, no doubt about it. But only here I ate things and had no idea what they were, not even after I ate them!! Only here I tasted something I had tasted before I asked myself "What the hell is this??!!". Only here I ordered food by pressing a button and didn't know exactly what to expect!
Yes, Japanese food deserves a dedicated post on its own right!

I didn't have to wait long for my first experience. Right on the first night I asked for a nice restaurant near the hostel. They gave me a map where the restaurant was signaled (although not very accurately), showed me a photo of the entrance, wrote the name of it in Kanji and... I still couldn't find it! Maybe I was too hungry, too tired, too something, but I was not able to it at all :P I ended up entering in another restaurant on the same street. On the first glance I knew that one was not the one I had been pointed to, but decided to go inside anyway. Beyond me there was only a couple that was talking with the owners. I sit and the I'm asked (in Japanese) what I wish to eat! As I have no idea what to answer I'm pointed to a list on the wall... written in Kanji! Again I have no idea what to say. So they bring me outside to a panel with photos, I point to one that looks like a soup and he asks me "Soba? Udon?" The first words I understood (thank you Nood!). I choose soba and now I just have to wait for the meal! When it comes the couple gets ready to leave and on their way out they ask me if I want I photo. So, through the kindness of strangers I have a photo of my first meal in Japan. Which was great, by the way! :)

Soba "soup" was my first meal

A few days later I ended up going to the restaurant that had been advised to me on that first day. Maybe because I went with a few friends and they helped me getting there :P. It was actually a good experience where we had to cook our own food, a kind of omelet. Here are some photos:

For one of the orders we needed a bit of help from the staff


We (starving) waiting for the food to cook

And there was a new story, similar to this one, or more to do with the strange looking food I saw, but a new story, almost every day!
Eating food and had to post a photo of it on facebook to understand what it was (its taste was complete new to me); or when I tried one of those places where you make an order by pressing a bottom in a panel (where you also pay) in front of the restaurant and as everything was in kanji I didn't know exactly what I was ordering; or going up and down a food market and being unable to identify around 80% of the food; or even asking for the flavor of a  box of sweets with no success at all! Yes... a big part of the Japanese experience is the food. And although the flavors are often very strange, from time to time, you are surprised with food that is simply amazing, as I had on my last night in Nagoya when I ordered tempura! And thinking of it now... maybe the food reflects the culture and what I have just said, may also be applied to many other different aspects of Japan and its people! :)
So yes, Japanese food more than deserved its own post! :)

Multi-flavoured mochis. I loved the ones I ate in the US but both that I tried in Japan did not make me a fan

Sushi... it is as good as I hoped it would be in Japan!

This is mitarashi dango, a rice flour cake with sweet soy sauce. But I only found that out two days after I ate it! :P

When I bought this I thought it was a sweet. It was salty!

They cook vegetables in very different way

I asked if it was fish and they said yes, but to be honest I couldn't taste it at all!

The one I choose was the one in the bottom left corner.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

The art of eating (from Russia to China)

When you travel, specially to far away places where you don't speak the language, each  new meal can be a true adventure. On this trip (between Russia and China) we had, for the most of the time, someone advising us what to eat so our chances of getting it wrong was a bit smaller but, nonetheless, we still brought back a few stories to tell.
The experiences I had alone in Japan I will leave to another post, just because... well, it deserves a post of its own! Just wait and see ;)

So here are some of the things we ate/stories we've been through along the TransSiberian trip:

RUSSIA
On our first lunch in Russia we had our first "Yes, you're out of your country!" experience. We were told that we should ask for a business menu that was generally less expensive. So, when we could no longer bare our roaring  stomachs we finally chose a restaurant that had one of those menus and went in.
None of the waitresses knew how to speak English and the menus... well the menus were like this:

There was no English menu
After a while (more than 10 minutes, I'm sure) trying to translate the menu using our little guides with a few words of Russian we could understand that there were salads and soups on the menu, but no more than that. As we had to chose one among three options for "Soups", "Entrées" and "Main Dish" and we were three, we asked for one of each. Perfect Solution! Fortunately, the food was great... or maybe we were just very hungry! The point is, we were satisfied at the end! I guess we were lucky :)

We just remembered to take a photo of the food half way through. We were starving!

I was the only one that liked one of the soups, so I ate most of mine and the rest of another one!

On that same day, for dinner, we decided to try a Russian fast food place. How can you tell the franchise was Russian? Because the logo featured a big potato (they eat everything with potatoes). It was basically mashed potatoes with something. It's a good thing that we all like potatoes!

Mashed potatoes and... something else
Russian fast food. Of course, with a potato on the logo!
On the train the menu varied between whatever we could find on the platforms (see Baboushkas post) and the noodles that we had brought we us! It was our first time trying these instant noodles that, apparently are a big thing both in Russia and Australia!
Instant noodles before the hot water
But of everything we ate, nothing tasted better than the home-cooked food at Lake Baikal. Maybe because we were all so fed up with "train food" after 4 days that a plate of soup was just awesome. But then again, after two days, the food was still great, so...
Home cooked food... hummmmmmmm :)

MONGOLIA
We don't have that many photos of food in Mongolia. For some reason we always forgot to take pictures. It was the only place where the food gave me... well... an urgent need to use the bathroom. One of the main ingredients they use is fat, mutton or beef fat. Big chunks of fat! For those used to light meals, Mongolia can be a true challenge. In here too, we ordered things that we didn't know exactly what they were, and didn't get lucky as often... But we survived, I think... at least until this day :P
Images are better than words so I'll post here the (little) photos we have. They were taken during our stay in the gers so it doesn't get much more traditional than this ;). This was how our dinner for that night was cooked. On top of a dang heated furnace and with an additional heat from hot stones. And it was good... Much better than most of the other dishes we had in Ulaanbaatar.

The preparation of the (huge) bowls of meat being cooked

The grey things are hot stones (heated in the furnace) that are essential to cook the meat just right

CHINA
Remember the food you eat in one of the numerous Chinese restaurants in your country (at least in Portugal)? The food here is way different, at least in Beijing. Spicier, not that many vegetables, dumplings (that I've never seen in Portugal) and a few other... well, just plain weird things and tastes).
One of the main attractions of Beijing are the "bug streets". Streets where you can find all sorts of insects (among other animals) that have just been stir fried. And of course, I tried one of them (just one, for the experience!). It was a small scorpion and I was actually surprised 'cause it was actually okay! Not the best thing ever... but perfectly edible, after you get over the fact that you are eating a scorpion, of course!

These ones were still alive on the stick. Afterwards they would  be stir fried

And it was one of those that I ate. As you can see it looks like I was being pushed from a cliff or something similar. No, it was just the scorpion...

Large scorpions, starfish, slugs... you just had to choose.

Apart from that it was a big part of the experience in China to try different things. Which were mostly good! And I even got to drink a bubble tea on the first day! After that we couldn't find them again despite our best efforts (we even tried something that looked similar but... it was not... and it was not a great drink either!). And of course, always eating with chopsticks is a challenge, specially to those among us who were not that used to them (I'm not going to say their names :P).

After bargaining for hours we tried this place where everything was written with Chinese characters.  Thank God for the power of images! It was actually good!

On the same dinner Isa ate dumplings. Here she was trying to figure it out how to eat  such big things with chopsticks :P

This actually looks like a few dishes that we can order on a Chinese restaurant. But it was way spicier than anything I ate in those.

Here Nuno looks like a pro with his chopsticks! On the bottom left corner it is possible to see the kettle for the tea. Most meals go with tea!

On the last night I had a kind of a meat skewer. It had a strange taste, not bad, just strange... all I'm gonna say!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Random Japan

Now that almost two weeks have passed since I arrived it's sometimes difficult to explain how every place felt like when I was there. Specially every place in Japan. The whole country as a whole made a great impression on me. Being a highly developed country I think I was expecting to find more similarities than differences, but I was wrong!
Yes, people go around using an efficient public transportation system like in (most) European cities; yes, everyone has a smartphone like in the United States; people are wealthy and it's easy to find a coffee shop/restaurant/supermarket with ease even in the smaller cities.
But then there are these small details: People bowing to say thank you/goodbye/as a sign of respect; the toilets that are the squat type or highly technological, with buttons for everything! (see pictures below); the contrast of how quiet people and the streets were with the unbearably noisy Pachinka game rooms; the way they mix cute/childish with sexy; the gadgets they have for every kind of thing; the way people respect queues and every other kind of rule. It's actually difficult to explain. It's one of those things that one has to experience to understand, at least it was how it worked for me!
But better than words are images. And here is a collection of them from all across Japan (well, the places where I've been :P)

A squat toilet. This was in a park so it was normal that I didn't find a high-tech toilet here.

But every hostel/coffee/restaurant had them. I call them plugged-in toilets!

In every temple you see people praying or just showing their respect to that specific place.

Considering that Christianism is not at all common in Japan, it's a bit weird to find signs of celebration of Halloween and Christmas. But find the two mixed... It's almost like "The Nightmare before Christmas" came to life

They have beautiful monuments, but the Golden Pavilion (in Kyoto) was the one that won my heart.

Messages of peace could be find in various parks and monuments. It seems to go well with what I've experienced of Japanese people. It's just strange to think of some parts of Japan's history.

This is Tenryu-ji (in Arashiyama) temple. Beautiful buildings, amazing gardens

Me in the Bamboo groove (Arashiyama, as well). One of the most peaceful places on earth... if you can ignore the hordes of tourists!

This image just captured my attention. It looked like it was taken from my imaginary  world of what Japan should be.

Rickshaws in the bamboo groove.

One of the many "fountains" near the shrines (temizuya). You use it to wash and  purify your body. Full explanation here.

On the trains there are a few compartments that are exclusive to women, specially during rush hour.

This is a demonstration Japanese style. 5 protesters (one with a microphone) and two cops (one in the front and other in the back)

One of the things that I loved the most in Nara were the deers. So many! And we could feed them with the crackers that we could buy everywhere.

And with so many around... we could see many nature like things happening 

These sandals are pieces of art. And they're priced accordingly (price in front of it: 100ienes=1euro)

Tons of fans. With multiple color and patterns

Vending machines are everywhere! Like EVERYWHERE!

In one shop, in Takayama, there were these incredible Alien like sculptors! I felt like taking the tables with me... too bad they wouldn't fit in my backpack!

Minimalism! :) My room when I slept in the Temple at Takayama 

This is a grave in a cemetery in Takayama. In Japan it is common to find a cemetery involved by woods. It gives a sense of serenity and  harmony that we can't find in ours

Some sake must be drank hot, but this bottles were being kept in a low temperature

After seeing the bonsais in Japan I felt more reassured that mine is not too big! :P

To protect you from the rain, everything goes. Even if you're a store mannequin without a head

In Tokyo even your umbrella is a fashion statement! Specially in neighborhoods like Harajuku!

From time to time you see "l" switched of for "r" or the other way around. I swear that in the beginning I didn't remember why!

The train system here is both highly effective and really busy, specially in big city stations like Kyoto and Tokyo. And these guys control everything on the platform using a number of signals.