FOOD

And it's time again for an edition of " what is that weird stuff you are putting in your mouth, Emrys?"

China definatly raised the weirdness quota a few notches. I think perhaps the duck tounge or the sheeps udder and mint soup take the cake, so to speak. The yak butter, yak cheese yak tea weren't to bad. Though the yak cheese did give me a dose of the runs.

Laos threw up every possible combination on the cooked bannana. Roasted, fried, curried and with coconut.

Almost every petrol station in Thailand has a 7/11 shop. In each of these is an ice coffee dispenser. Its amazing how well a litre and a half of cafine and sugar can make you cycle. It becomes slightly addivtive though as the only way to avoid "coming down" is to keep drinking the stuff!

Malaysia with its mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese certainly had choice. Though the choice was great it was all somewhat santised, rather like the rest of Malaysia. Good, flat roads but kind of boring too.

And now i am about to have another dose of Indonesian fried goodness. Last night my hosts ( a young man and his family) gave me Redang- kind of like beef jerky in Tamrind juice. The was also the ubiqutus chilli fried fish. Its slightly disconcerting when the catchfish looks at you!


Bon Appetite

Update:

I have just crossed the Equator which runs thorugh the middle of Sumatra. I am headed for Bukatingii, some volcanic lakes and a day off. From there i will head to the west coast and down towards Bandar ampung on the very southern tip of the Isaland. I will catch a ferry from there to Java and some more manic traffic. There is cycling in Indonesia and there is death....so far i am staying on the right side of the line!