Food for the adventurous (w/ video)

                               Squid tentacles on sticks at the Phuket weekend night market

Water beetles, snakes, crocodiles, balut (google it), crickets. Last night I added two more things to the tally of what I suppose people would call "weird food" I've eaten. A group of seven of us went to the weekend night market in Phuket - all with different ideas of what we wanted to see/ do. The market, in Phuket Town, is rather large - big enough to get lost in - and has everything you could want - clothes, rip-off DVDs and BluRay discs, knick knacks. But I was here for one thing - the food. Among more standard fare such as fish cakes, fried chicken, and cakes (which were all super good and cheap) and hiding in plain sight was a man in a plain, nondescript stall, wearing a surgical mask flash frying pre-cooked bugs and selling them for 20 baht. I wandered (wongdered) along the rows of food vendors with a friend several times looking for interesting food to try and I completely walked past this guy without noticing. (Maybe I should work on my observation skills). The smell and colours and cooking techniques of the stall holders was immense - almost an assault on your senses...but in a good way. This is what I came here for. At this stage I was a bit underwhelmed by the normalness (to me) of most of the food. For the record I had fish cakes, chicken on a stick, sticky rice, pearl tea and a donut filled with apple jelly. But I was left with a bug-shaped hole in my stomach which needed filling.

It wasn't until we had met up with the rest of the group (we decided to meet near the entrance at a certain time) that someone mentioned seeing the bugs. Perfect. Without hesitation Canadian Eric and instantly put our hands up as volunteers.

Piles of giant water bugs, grasshoppers, crickets and silk worms sat pre-cooked on metal trays ready for the eating. The stallholder still had quite a lot of each, so I'm not sure if he's really the most popular guy in the food hall. Maybe he's just that weird guy that wears a surgical mask and sells bugs every weekend. I don't know. After some consideration Eric and I, with some input from the rest of the group, decided on the silk worms and one giant water bug each. (Eric had said his dad got bitten by one in Canada once so this was kind of payback for that. Yeah, that THAT water bugs.) Twenty baht got us about 100 grams of silk worms and I think it was 20B each for the water bugs.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking - "Why the fudge would he eat that? He so cray!" (because you're gangsta like that.)
But you'd be wrong. I'm not that cray.
If you think about it, people wouldn't eat these kinds of things if it was bad for you. Its just about getting over that mental barrier which is the most difficult bit.
And, pound for pound, insects probably have more protein than some meat.

Standing in front of the stall, the consumption began.

Now even though you're a bit grossed out I know you want to know what it tastes like. The silk worms were firmer than you'd think they'd be and quite filling. The best thing I can think of to describe the texture of them is like eating a cooked fish egg sack, but that's probably not the most relateable things to compare it too. I suppose spongy is the right word. They tasted sort of nutty, and salty. The salt probably coming from what it was cooked in and mixed with. The water bug, which actually look strikingly like a giant cockroach was a bit different. It was clearly an insect - legs, wings, head. At least you could imagine the worms to be something else if that helped you put your mind at ease. They're just oval shaped.

We didn't get a lesson in how to eat a giant water bug, but I remember what my dad taught me about eating water beetles and ripped off the head to pull out most of the guts, but the head just came off. There was nothing left to do but put the whole thing down the hatch. It was a mouthful. A bit of chewing and paste eases itself out of the body. Its quite salty too, again, probably from what its cooked it. Taking another leaf out of the water beetle consumption guide I spat out the mangled, yet still recognisable, bug after I had extracted what was inside.

This is the kind of thing I came to South East Asia for. Mission accomplished.
       

Silk worms

                                       

Giant water bugs

The album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151602623765204.856210.830635203&type=1&l=abf64a9563

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An afternoon with a rather sizeable Buddha

In the south of Phuket, Thailand sits a cross-legged and sleepy looking Buddha looking out over the island. He is under construction at the moment, so its kind of like visiting a construction site - only a bit more spiritual. A roundtrip from Patong costs about 1000B in a taxi which isn't too bad if you go with others. Try and barter with the drivers on the street if you like, but 1000B seems to be the going rate. We only managed to shave of 50B from the fare - a seemingly hollow victory because they wouldn't go less than 900B. On an old laminated piece of card are popular tourist destinations including the go-kart track, shooting range, zoo, big buddha and a jewellery store. Just point and you're on your way. On the way your driver will take you to some other places on the card in the hopes you'll succumb to your spontaneous side and want to do these things. I suppose they get extra baht if they take people to do these activities.

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So this one time, in Thailand...

They filmed part of James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun in Thailand 38 years ago and its still a major tourist attraction. James Bond Island (real name Ko Tapu) forms the crux of many day trips through Phang Nga Bay which leave from Ao Po on the west side of Phuket, Thailand. Perhaps the significance was lost on me, but I don't understand the popularity of this place. The island in itself is what you see in these photos. Its small, but I guess it has a weird shape to it - getting narrower near the base. What you probably don't see in the many photos tourists take of themselves - either posing and pretending to be James Bond (in the film played by Roger Moore) or doing the whole forced perspective thing where it looks like you're pushing the island or holding it up - is the market selling knick-knacks, an ice cream and soft drink vendor and a well established port behind them.

Perhaps the significance is lost on me because 1), I wasn't even alive in 1974 and b) I haven't seen the movie. Perhaps the middle-aged tourists come to this place to fan-girl over Roger Moore in the same way that I would visit say, the set of the Lord of the Rings.

In any case, this may well be the best case of milking something I've ever seen. But hey, if it keeps bringing the baht then why not?

Have you been to James Bond Island? What did you think?

A still image from James Bond: The Man With the Golden Gun in 1974. James Bond Island, left, in Phang Nga, Phuket, Thailand is still a major tourist attraction 38 years later. 

Me not quite ready for the inevitable tourist photo with James Bond Island. 

More photos from the trip in the snapshot page. The day trip was booked through my hostel and cost 1200B (about $48NZD) which included transfers from the hostel, buffet lunch on board and canoeing.

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Welcome to Thailand

I arrive in Phuket under the cover of darkness. My immediate surroundings masked by the night. It's warm. 29 degrees, according to the captain. Muggy,too. I step out of the arrivals area and I'm immediately approached by people offering me a taxi to where I need to go. This was the part I feared the most - fresh off the plane and prime for the ripping off. I get rushed off into a taxi, but God knows whether the driver is taking me where I need to go. Its quite a long trip from the airport, about 45 minutes, mostly along straight highways. Patches of nothing much but road, my driver and the taxi unnerve me a little, but soon we make it back to civilisation. We pass temples and people balanced sometimes precariously on mopeds going the same speed as us. You can tell they've done this before. We reach the city limits of pa tong beach and a sign tells us to slow down as we wind our way through the streets. It seems fairly built up from what I can see in the dark and from out the window. There's a lot more people now. More foreigners. We must be close. Everything still open at 10.30 at night - markets, bars (discotheques) with loud music. Not really ideal after a long flight, but promising for the days ahead. It is only Tuesday after all.

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No turning back

After all has been said and done, the time has finally arrived. Weeks of meeting old friends, vaccinations and planning are over and the adventure starts, well, tomorrow.

Today is my last full day in New Zealand until I get back in December for a wedding. Or possibly until I run out of money. Or get bored. Whichever comes first. All I have left to do is pack proper which to be honest won't take very long. I spent most of Saturday doing an inventory of the things I had and things I needed and realised I have an abundance of large winter jackets which I won't need where I'm going.

I've printed out all my flight and accommodation details and even directions to my hostel (I hope) written in Thai for the taxi driver (please don't rip me off, Mr taxi driver) and its also all on this free app I downloaded called Tripit which keeps all your itineraries in one place, too. Its super fancy. The hard copies are just a back up.

Excitement has been a slow growing thing in this camp, but in the past day or so the enormity of this next part of my life has kinda hit me. From experience (during my travels through North America) the everyday living comes first and the philosophical, big picture "what is life about?" stuff comes later. By that I mean the reflection on what this trip (I'm trying to stay away from the word journey) means for the rest of my life comes later. Fun first. Now THAT'S a good motto. Remember that one, kids.

Now, I'm normally a one-day-at-a-time kinda guy so people are quite perplexed when they ask me how excited I am about my trip and they seem more excited than I am about leaving. ("Yeah, I suppose I am [excited about leaving]. But it probably won't hit me till a bit closer to the time.")

On a semi-related note, I was listening to some songs on my iPod at the weekend which I haven't listened to for a while and there's a song by an under-the-radar and 15-second-of-fame Kiwi band Eye TV (remember them?) I forgot I had. The chorus to one of their songs (I think one of their singles) is kind of fitting and goes like this (sing it with me, now - ah 1, ah, 2, ah 1, 2, 3):

Gotta stop thinking ahead
And start living instead
Lately I've always been
One day ahead of myself

Anyway, here's the video for that song. I've got to get packing, but remember - fun first. 

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One last shot

The only evidence that I'm immune to things and of the $115 I just spent.

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Shots on me, everbody!

My arms have had it. Had enough of these needles (I don't know how intravenous drug users do it. Is the high really worth it? I suppose it is if you do it all the time. I digress.) The needles in my deltoids are all in preparation for six months in South East Asia - an area more prone to some disease and sickness than New Zealand. Rabies, Typhoid, Tetanus, Hep A and B - I'm more or less immune to them all like I have some array of super powers, except I feel no different. But, like travel insurance, people say its necessary. A mass of anti-malaria and anti-diarrhea drugs also ready to be popped and I feel like I'm ready to go exploring.

These vaccines and meds have been the only major preparation I've done for this trip (aside from growing a beard/ mo, but that's a story for another day. Or maybe never.) and I've had to probably get more than what normal people get because I'm not exactly sure where I'll be headed. So far, Thailand, then Vietnam, but intentions to go to Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia. I wanted this trip to be planned as little as possible and I was on the fence for the longest time about getting the vaccines in the first place.

Although I don't have to tell you which side of the fence I eventually fell onto.

My main arguments were cost and time - rabies shots alone cost $115 each and you need at three of them over a minimum of a month. (You mean I have to pay for you to stick a needle in my arm?) The others aren't too badly priced and they last for anywhere between three to 20 years, apparently. I got all but one of the shots my doctor recommended. No Japanese Encephalitis shot for me (though would it be considered irony if that's the disease I actually caught while there?) It was too expensive and the chances of contracting it are slim.

And while some vaccines just need one shot and you're done, others need an entire course (not as tasty as it sounds). As previously mentioned, to become immune to Rabies you need a full course of three shots over a period of time. Ideally longer than the month I had before leaving, but do-able in a shorter time frame. I'm not one to plan things far in advance.

I suppose shots and meds are needed, moreso for that peace of mind that you can get bitten by a rabid dog, or other animal, and still hopefully be ok. Not that I'll now be going out looking for something to bite me. ("Here, doggy! WHO'S a cute little mangy dog? You are!") And like travel insurance, or my mum would argue all kinds of insurance, its necessary - the one time you don't get it is the one time you'll probably need it most.

My arms will just have to cope.

  

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And so it begins

Hello! (Or should I say, Sawatdee Khrab? No? Ok, I'll stick to English.) 

This is the official first post documenting my trip through South East Asia. First stop Phuket (not pronounced as an F), Thailand. You'll have to excuse the lack of content - I haven't left New Zealand yet. You'll have to make do with photos and test posts I did during a week-long road trip around the South Island in January. 

Anyhoo, its two weeks to the day that I leave for Phuket on a one-way ticket to explore South East Asia for the rest of the year. I haven't really planned much so far (aside from about a month in Vietnam) and that's how I like it. Whether the whole non-planning works out is another story.

What will I see? What will I do? What will I eat? What will get stolen from me?

These are all questions I'd like to find out the answer to myself. 

Join me as we go wongdering around South East Asia. 

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