World Flavor

Yesterday’s Indie 30 prompt was about where you’re going in 2012.

This would’ve been a great time to announce that I’ve booked my ticket to Malaysia for February, but actually, I failed to do so last night. There was some problem with the website or something, so I wasn’t able to.

But I’m still planning a trip to Malaysia from February 11-25. I know I want to explore Kuala Lumpur a bit, head to Penang, check out Melaka, and dip into Singapore for a day or two. Langkawi was recommended to me so I’m considering it.

So far, though, we haven’t done much planning. Maybe we won’t do a lot. Mostly we want to eat and see cool stuff. My boyfriend really likes trying new fruit, so we’ll search for good fruit. Other than that… I don’t know.

I would love suggestions for (peninsular) Malaysia and Singapore!

I’m sure I’ll go other places in 2012 too, but we haven’t gotten there yet, because they’ll be in August or later. I’m hoping to have some exciting announcements about it in the next several months or so.

I’d also like to take this, the last day of Indie 30, to reflect on the past month. I really enjoyed participating in the 30 Days of Indie Travel. The prompts didn’t go up until about 5 or 6 PM local time here in Korea so usually, I was a day late with them according to my time zone. But I managed to write something for every post!

It was great to have inspiration and motivation to write something new every day (even if I didn’t love every prompt). It’s going to take a lot of self-discipline to keep up that momentum. But I want to try.

Something that this project made me realize was that I don’t want my blog to be a place where I just talk about Korea. Of course, I will write about my Korean adventures (I have a lot of catching up to do!) but I also want to pull travel memories from further back and write about them. I want to write about everything, and have helpful guide-type posts. So thanks, BootsnAll, for hosting a project that really help me realize what I want my blog to be – not to mention it was a lot of fun!

Pimento cheese grits at Dogwood in Atlanta, Georgia. Easily the best grits of my life.

Yesterday’s Indie 30 prompt: What does travel mean to you in one word?  

Without further ado, the word is:

adventure

This is some music from the Herb Medicine Festival I attended in Seoul on October 15.

Yesterday’s Indie 30 prompt was about your favorite piece of travel gear.

I have several items of gear that I like, but for now, I’ll make this short and sweet. The coolest piece of travel gear I’ve bought recently is the ScottEVest Women’s Essential Travel Jacket.

For one thing, it’s comfy and looks good. I got mine in black. It’s great for layering and can be used in a wide variety of settings and temperatures – the sleeves even zip off to make it a vest.

The best part, of course, is the pockets. I seriously would have needed another bag if I hadn’t had this while moving to Korea! It has 18 pockets, and they’re mostly not obvious. With this jacket, you don’t need a purse – and I am really a purse person. There’s a pocket for everything. And it’s made not to look full of stuff when it is. I can actually hide a paperback book in here – no one will know the difference. If all the pockets are full you can tell, but not as much as you’d think!

This is seriously the coolest travel jacket I’ve ever seen, and I absolutely love it. I can’t wait to take it on the road – but I’m also wearing it now, of course.

ScottEVest is having a Cyber Monday sale of 30% off right now, so grab it while it’s cheap!

A hummingbird on a feeder at the entrance to the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve near Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Yesterday’s Indie 30 prompt: Share a photo or video that just makes you want to GO. RIGHT. NOW

At the moment, two countries are really drawing me in – Turkey and Croatia. Here’s a picture that might explain why Turkey.

Photo by ismaSan

I so want to see Cappadocia for myself. As well as many other places in Turkey. In Croatia, I want to see the city of Dubrovnik and Plitvice Lakes. And I also really want to go on a horse trek to Mongolia.

There are a couple of people I know who are amazing photographers, and whose photos will inspire intense wanderlust in you.

The first is Mary Tanner, who was my roommate at EPIK orientation. Go look at her pictures now. Seriously.

The second is Samuel Jeffery of Nomadic Samuel. I also met him at EPIK orientation and his pictures are great too.

Now I’m going to daydream about traveling to different places…

Yesterday’s Indie 30 prompt: Post a photo of your favorite place and tell us what you love about it.

My favorite place. That’s a tough one. It could be somewhere near home like the farm (which since has no more horses), or somewhere abstract like in Jeff’s arm or on a horse. But I’m going to choose from places abroad I’ve been. Okay, maybe it’s not that tough. My favorite country so far has been New Zealand.

There are many amazing places in New Zealand, but only one place really stole my heart, and felt like home. That place was Dunedin. There’s the downtown with its beautiful architecture and delicious restaurants. The Botanic Gardens in all their majesty, with a duck pond where ducks will eat out of your hand. There are several very climbable mountains nearby that give breathtaking views. The Otago Peninsula with its wealth of wildlife and beaches. The quirky university scene with all its crazy partying, trashy bars (and nice bars), and plenty of cool people to meet. I’m not a partier, so I was worried about the fact that Dunedin is known as a party town. But I loved its energy. I embraced being a Scarfie (seriously, I wore a scarf every damn day – that’s what I get for going in mid-winter). I loved it even when some really weird stuff happened – I just embraced its strangeness.

Someday soon I’ll have to really write about Dunedin and all the things you can see and experience there. But for now, I’ll leave you with this picture.

I think this Tiger Tea ad, painted on the wall of a shop on George Street and covered with a little graffiti, really brings back the feeling of Dunedin to me. Note the striped utility poles.

I want to go back to Dunedin someday, and not just for the fries. It’s a city that really grows on you, if you let it.

Well, I’ve fallen a little behind here. Friday’s Indie 30 prompt was: Family shapes who we are, but sometimes the family we create plays a bigger role in our lives than the one we were born into. Tell a story about how either of your “families” have impacted your life and your travels. 

My parents are not exactly world travelers. They are in fact not hugely interested in going abroad, since, they say, there’s so much to still see in the US. This is certainly true. My mom also is afraid to fly so it limits their destinations.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not travelers. We may not have gone off to Europe together as a family, but we still went on plenty of trips.  We went to Orlando twice when I was little. For several years we took an annual vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We went to Salisbury, Maryland, or Ocean City, Maryland, or the Hampton Roads Area of Virginia nearly every weekend, whether it was for shopping, to see a movie, to compete in a horse show, or to walk on the boardwalk.

So they definitely instilled in me a love of going new places. Today they cruise around the country on their motorcycles. They definitely have their own wanderlust, it just takes a different form than mine. Me, I want to learn new cultures and taste new foods and see new places. Really, so do they – only they choose to do it within their own country.

How has your family affected your travels?

Hidden away in Washington DC’s Shaw neighborhood is a truly amazing gem of a Thai restaurant. Thai X-ing is in the basement of a row house, and when I went there this past summer it was largely obscured by vines – just hunt for the house number, you’ll find it.

Chef Taw Vigsittaboot puts out a chef’s choice menu every day but Monday. Tuesday-Thursday it’s $30 per person or $40 per person for large groups, Friday it’s $40 per person, and Sunday it’s $30 per person. Sunday is the vegetarian and vegan day. Any day you can make your dietary restrictions known and they will accommodate you. Being in a cramped, tiny, basement, reservations are essential. You should make them at least a week in advance.

One hot summer Sunday, Jeff and I took our newly married friends, Steph and Greg, out to a vegetarian feast at Thai X-ing. We had wanted to try it for ages and here was a great excuse!

We got there and sat in the quite hot and dimly lit basement (though they had fans) and were given water in a frosty metal pitcher. There’s no ordering – they just simply begin serving you. As course after course arrived, the sounds of the city street fell away and we were transported to somewhere – somewhere not in the middle of DC, maybe not even somewhere in America. Watching the dishes being assembled in the kitchen was like getting a glimpse into another world – maybe even Thailand.

The first course was fried tofu and spring rolls with chili sauce. I finally understood why other places try to make fried tofu, because it can be absolutely amazing. The spring rolls (fried) were crispy and delectable.

Next a rice soup with mushrooms and other things I can’t recall arrived. It was quite delicious.

After that, we got some Som tam or spicy papaya salad.

Next up was pumpkin curry. I still dream of this pumpkin curry – it was that good.

After that, sweet and sour tofu came. I didn’t like this one the best but it was still yummy.

An eggplant dish came next – being allergic, I didn’t try it, but I heard it was good.

Wide noodles with tofu, egg, and veggies came out after that. Tasty.

Finally, there was mango with sticky rice. This is the dish that convinced me mangoes can be good. You just have to eat the yellow ones.

We were totally overwhelmed with the amount of food given us. Every time another thing came out we thought, ‘this must be the last one.’ When the last thing actually came it was clear since it was a dessert. It was quite the adventure to not know what we would get and sometimes, not have a clear idea what we were eating. I apologize for the photo quality (I only had my camera phone) and for not knowing the names of some of the dishes.

I would wholeheartedly recommend going to Thai X-ing if you live in the area. It’s a great value – 8 amazing courses for $30! – and the food is incredible. If you don’t live nearby, well, guess you’ve got a reason to visit DC now…