Winter [Food] Holiday

What would travel be without eating?  Today's post is featuring some of the food and drinks I encountered in China, Thailand, and Laos.

Before diving in, it occurs to me that maybe I should say a few words about the reason I take and blog about these long trips each winter.

First, I know this type of "Hey everyone, look at my vacation photos!" post doesn't have a very broad appeal, so if you're not interested, come back next week.  I have one or two more travel posts I'd like to do and then it will be back to China life.  If nothing else, this is a good way to show photos to my family.

I also hope I don't give the impression that I take lavish, unnecessary tropical vacations at the drop of a hat.  The winter holiday is a time when everyone in China goes home -- it's the largest migration of humans in the history of the world (several hundred million), and it happens each year.  Crazy!  This leaves the foreign teachers with no work for two months, but it's not practical to go to the U.S. because it's so expensive and because our organization hosts a required annual conference in Thailand.

For me and my friends, the clear solution is to see as much as we can, as cheaply as we can, on our way to and from Thailand.  It's also a time to connect with and encourage friends from our organization, as well as others we meet along the way.

All right -- let's eat.  Get ready for a lot of rice noodles, and some other tasty treats.

Rice noodle soup in Guilin, China

A different rice noodle soup ("Over the Bridge Noodles") -- my birthday meal in Kunming, China.  (You're supposed to eat noodles on your bday to give you long life.)

Mango smoothies -- one of my favorite things about Thailand

Banana pancakes: a Thailand tourist staple.  That's not frosting, it's sweetened condensed milk.

Sara and I took a Thai cooking class!

Pad Thai (a stir-fried rice noodle dish with eggs, peanuts, and awesomeness.)  I made this one, with a lot of hand-holding.

Grinding peppers and spices to make massaman curry paste

Sara and her curry

My massaman curry, cashew chicken, and rice.  Thai food is SO GOOD.

Our last dish: Fried spring rolls and some Thai iced tea (which I LOVE -- sweetened condensed milk makes another appearance)

Now we're in Luang Prabang, Laos, where this riverside restaurant served up a chopped chicken dish called lap (loaded with cilantro and lime juice), a very fishy/spicy papaya salad, and sticky rice.  Use your hands to use the rice to pick up your food.

A Lao rice noodle dish whose name I forget -- reminded me of Vietnamese pho

The cone-shaped baskets in the very front bottom are used for steaming sticky rice over the fire.  Then you put it in little containers like those at the very top (or smaller) to serve.  Sticky rice is everywhere in Laos.

Visiting a coffee farm.  (Interesting note: They are trying to build the coffee industry to replace one of Laos's former cash crops, opium.)

Coffee

Tea.  I ate a leaf.  It was not delicious.

Tea

One memorable food experience was trying snacks at the village festival we happened to visit one night in Laos.  It was just like fair food -- lots of things on a stick, tons of fried treats, and beer everywhere.  My friend got a surprise when she bit into a boiled duck egg and realized it was the kind with the embryo still inside.  Yikes!

Winter [People] Holiday

Some favorite people photos from the last six weeks:

Card-playing in the cold in Yangshuo, China

Bundled up in Yangshuo, China

Toddler and aunties on a trike in Yangshuo, China

Selling odds and ends in Xingping, China

Some of my third-year buddies celebrating in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Saying goodbye in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Our friend/host and her student in Pakse, Laos

At the minority village museum near Pakson, Laos

Eating meatballs with Joy at a village festival near Champasak, Laos

Getting schooled in Lao dance at a village festival near Champasak, Laos

With my awesome roommate and traveling companion at Wat Phou, Laos

Playing UNO at a picnic at a waterfall on our tour in a place I whose name I forget, Laos

Travelers and guide near 4000 Islands, Laos

 

Elephant driver somewhere in Laos

School-children on a village road in Laos

 

Fortune tellers and palm-readers in Vientiane, Laos

Meeting up with a friend from training (center) in Vientiane, Laos

Public transportation in Vientiane, Laos

Students on campus in Vientiane, Laos

Stephanie's students studying in their classroom in Vientiene, Laos

Stephanie's students showing off their uniforms in Vientiane, Laos

Stephanie talking with two of her students in Vientiane, Laos

Three of my wonderful former students near Houhai, Beijing, China

Winter [Nature] Holiday

I prefer nature destinations to any other, so I was happy to see some beautiful things outdoors over the holiday.  I've already blogged about my China destinations (Yangshuo, Dali, Lijiang, and Tiger Leaping Gorge ), so here are some favorite photos from Thailand and Laos.

Sunset at Kata Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Sunset at Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Inter-island snorkeling tour near Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

View from Bamboo Island near Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Bamboo Island near Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Inter-island snorkeling tour near Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

Growing rice on the Bolavan Plateau, Laos

Champa flowers -- They're everywhere in Laos!

The mighty Mekong River at Pakse, Laos

River and forest, Laos

Awesome waterfall, Laos

Same awesome waterfall, Laos

4000 Islands, Laos

It's a Small World After All

In my six weeks of traveling, I got to see lots of friends from my time in Asia.  Some meetings were planned, and others were positively providential.  Check it out:

Unplanned Meeting #1:  Sara and I took an early-morning shuttle from Lijiang to the Tiger Leaping Gorge trailhead at Qiaotou.  The shuttle stopped at several other hostels.  As we sat chatting, a guy behind us interjected some comment.  Sara turned around to see a vaguely familiar face.  It turned out four of the guys on the shuttle were from our teachers' organization, and had the exact same hiking plans as we did.  We were able to hike together and had a great time.

Sara with our newly-discovered co-workers and hiking companions

Unplanned Meeting #2:  In our second day on the trail, a girl stopped me:  "Do you remember me?"  (I didn't, but I sort of tried to pretend I did.  Oops -- awkward...)

It was one of the American teachers who started teaching this year at my old campus.  We've met a couple times at university functions, but I never expected to meet someone from Qufu on a random January morning in Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Fellow Qufu Normal University teachers

Unplanned Meeting #3:  The most unlikely meeting came when Sara and I were on her motorbike, riding back from church through the busy streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I thought I heard someone saying, "Alison! Alison!"  I turned around to see a girl waving out a car window several cars behind us.

"Sara, can you pull over?  I just saw a friend I haven't seen in years!"  (We had been on a Belize trip together in 2004.)  It turns out this friend had just moved to Chiang Mai a week ago with her husband, who had obligingly followed us all over town when she thought she spotted me on the back of the bike as we left church.

Random roadside meeting

Planned Reunion #1:  Sometimes Facebook is more than just a time-waster.  I happened to see the French teacher from my old campus posting that she was in Chiang Mai.  I had just arrived.  We agreed to meet up and enjoyed a mangolicious breakfast before she left town that afternoon.

A girl from America and a girl from France who met in China share breakfast in Thailand.

Planned Reunion #2:  My Beijing training roommates are all still in China, and we had some fun times together at our annual conference.  One of the best parts of conference is seeing friends from around the country!

Jenn, Lauren, me, and Sara

Planned Reunion #3:  Last year, my team in Qufu often shared Mexican meals in our apartments.  So it was fitting that when we met up at our conference, we went to a Mexican restaurant.  Now we are in three different cities in China, so it was good to be together again.

Team Qufu 2010-2011

Conversations

I arrived back in China two nights ago, but it took me until noon today to actually get home.  Since there's no airport in my town, I flew into Beijing and waited 23 hours for the next train to Rizhao and then spent 12 hours on the train and now I'm here.  Hooray!

Between taxis and trains, I've spent a good bit of time chatting with Chinese folks in the last few days and thought it might be fun to translate a few conversations.

Alison:  I need to go to this place.  <shows business card>
Cabbie #1:   jskhfkjhjhew
Alison:  I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Cabbie #1:  eowiureiwfjdsk

So that conversation was a bit of a bust.  His accent was totally beyond my comprehension, which happens sometimes.  Another time, I was answering a cab driver's questions about my life and work in China.  Soon the conversation turned to the inevitable topic of my boyfriend (who, although he does not exist, would be flattered to know how much he comes up in my conversations in Asia).

Cabbie #2:  Maybe you can find a Chinese boyfriend.
Alison:  I think the cultures are too different.  Maybe it would be better for me to find an American boyfriend.
Cabbie #2:  It's very common for Americans to date Chinese!  American men find Chinese wives.  American women find Chinese husbands.  Many, many people do this.
Alison:  Yes, there are many people who do this.  <Side note: I hear of many Western men dating Chinese women but almost never hear of the reverse.>
Cabbie #2:  What year were you born in?
Alison:  1984.
Cabbie #2:  You should find a boyfriend.

We talked on other topics for awhile.  Then, as I was getting out of the cab, he told me he hoped I find a very good boyfriend soon.  Here's another conversation with the same guy:

Alison:  Is it difficult to drive a taxi in Beijing?
Cabbie #2:  Not difficult, but very tiring.
Alison:  What time do you start work?
Cabbie #2:  From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day.  Very tiring.

I hear this a lot from taxi drivers.  They frequently ask me my salary and I usually ask them the same question back.  It turns out that we often make about the same salary, but they work like 12 hours a day every day, while I'm blessed with a much easier schedule.

While I was on the train this morning, one of the female staff was lingering around my berth and looking at me.  Finally I asked her what was up, and she sat on the bunk and started talking to me.  Her English was pretty good and this conversation was about half in each language.

Train worker:  Where are you from?
Alison:  America.
Train worker:  I know some people from America.  They believe in God.
Alison:  Are they Christians?
Train worker:  Yes.  Are you a Christian?
Alison:  Yes.
Train worker:  So you became a Christian?
Alison:  Yes, since I was a child.  I think it is very good to believe in God.

She said she had been approached by an American lady on a bus who started asking her about her beliefs and later introduced her to some other American friends who continued the discussion.  Later in the conversation, she got off on a long tangent about race:

Train worker:  I don't like black people. 
Alison:  What?  You should like all people.
Train worker:  Black people have a bad character.  They like to use force.
Alison:  I think white people, black people, yellow people all have good and bad.  We can't say that one is better than the other.  <Here my Chinese didn't allow me to say anything more sophisticated.>
Train worker:  I like Americans.  But I don't like ones that came from other places.  I only like English Americans.
Alison:  In America, we think it is good to have many kinds of people mixed together, like a big soup.
Train worker:  I like white people.

I was a little at a loss.  I thought I ought to try to point out that this is a racist view, but I have no idea how to say that in Chinese.  So I had her look up the word "racism" on her pocket Chinese-English dictionary, but it didn't come up.  Alas.  Later we exchanged numbers and I got off the train.

My taxi driver from the train station to my apartment was quite nice and chatty.  We talked about the usual topics -- where I'm from, what I do in China, how long I've lived here, and how I studied Chinese.  I asked my usual questions -- Are you local?  Do you like living here?  How did you learn English?  (He remembered some from high school, which is cool because most people forget it.)

Anyway, there's your window into my world for today.  Tomorrow I'll probably start posting a few photos from winter holiday.

Welcome to Laos

My sweat-soaked legs stick to the vinyl tuk-tuk seat... Welcome to Laos.

Early each morning, locals kneel before mats containing their daily alms of rice and food for the monks.  Welcome to Laos.

Our friends from our teaching organization invited us to sprawl on mats on their floors so we could save money on lodging... Welcome to Laos.

Two people sleep in a less-than-twin-sized bunk on the overnight bus... Welcome to Laos.

Tattooed tourists saunter by, weighed down by backpacks and dreadlocks... Welcome to Laos.

Each waterfall is more beautiful than the last... Welcome to Laos.

I roll a little ball of sticky rice between my fingers and use it to pick up a new favorite dish called lap...  Welcome to Laos.

The tour company advertised a visit to a see a tiger who has actually been dead three years...  Welcome to Laos. 

We are everywhere greeted with warm smiles and a friendly "Sabaidee...."  Welcome to Laos.

Two awesome students (friends of our friend) skipped their first day of class to accompany us on our travels... Welcome to Laos.

Many of the students don't show up during the first week anyway...  Welcome to Laos. 

We stopped at a village festival and it felt like a county fair... Welcome to Laos. 

A monk rides by on a motorbike with his orange robes flapping... Welcome to Laos.

Welcome to the land of traditional skirts, temples at every turn, and sour green mangoes in the market.  Welcome to the "land of a million elephants," where dozens of minority tribes live in remote mountain villages.  Welcome to one of the most-bombed countries in the history of the world (mostly American bombs from Vietnam era). 

Welcome to homes where you might leave your light on for fear of ghosts, streets where you can get your palm read, and altars where the wax from your proffered candle runs down to join the hardened wax from hundreds of others who have knelt before you.

Come, if you have a chance.  Tomorrow is my last day in Laos before heading back to China.  Goodbye, Laos.

What Lost Looks Like

Imagine you're driving around a car at 2:00 a.m. with no headlights and no clear idea of where your destination is.  You're lost.

Imagine you're walking down a path on a moonless night, holding tight to the hand of a witch doctor who will not release you.  You can't see the path, and you don't know where you're going.  You're lost.

Imagine you are in a dark room filled with drugs, sex, and partiers.  You may or may not know the way out of the room, and you don't care.  In a way, you too are lost.

The Word uses the word "lost" to describe someone who is far from the Father, like the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.  As I've been traveling these last few weeks, there have been several times where I've been struck with the thought, "This is what 'lost' looks like."

Some of the people I've met in my travels have been like the first example -- driving the car of their own lives.  For example, one of my hostel roommates in Phuket was an Italian girl who talked with us about spiritual things for several hours.  Her philosophy about life was just a mish-mash of truths and half-truths she'd cobbled together over the years -- things like, "Jesus is all about love,"  "People invent religions to help them survive in the environment they're in," and "My grandmother was a very religious person, so I prayed for her to give me a sign about whether or not I should travel."  This roommate was a wonderful, vivacious woman, but it was clear that she was lost.  She didn't have a fixed point that gave her life meaning or direction.

Some of the people I've met have been like the second example -- caught in the web of spiritual forces that control much of southeast Asia.  In Thailand, every home and little business has a "spirit house" where the spirits live and receive offerings of snacks and flowers.  Many of our students and friends in Southeast Asia are bound by their obligations to ancestors and spirits, and many of them make important life decisions based on the words of witch doctors and fortune tellers.  For example, we heard about a whole country that had chosen the location of their capital city on the advice of a fortune teller.  These spiritual beliefs appear sort of quaint and mystical on the outside, but they are usually accompanied by a heavy sense of obligation to please the spirits and fear of what will happen if they don't.  A fellow teacher shared about an Asian friend who told her, "Your belief gives life, but mine makes me exhausted."

Some of the people I've met have been like the third example -- content to live mired in depravity.  I took a cooking class awhile ago and met an older Australian ex-pat whose stories all included either large amounts of alcohol, beautiful Thai girls, or someone going to jail; it was disturbing even to talk to him.  Many people come to Thailand just to participate in sex tourism, and it's said there is a street not far from our hotel where people can go to find young boy prostitutes.  There is a dark, twisted underworld here that is populated by both locals and foreigners.

The Father wants to rescue his lost sons and daughters.  The above stories are what "lost" looks like, but there is also a picture of what "found" looks like, seen in the story of the prodigal son:

   “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.    

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’    

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate." (Luke 15:20-24)

Another great story of lost and found is John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace.  In his lost state, he was a slave trader.  After giving his life to the Father, he wrote, "I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see."