I hope that I don't sound like the kind of instagram-savvy, social-networking oriented kind of person. I know I travel to and share decent amount about various locations that are out of the ordinary, but please know that I don't really do it properly. I am not smart. I don't do things right the first time, nor do I do them close-to-well the second. Fortunately, this is the third time I've been given the chance to visit one of the few remaining Communist countries left in the world (and not to celebrate the glorious achievements of the proletariat). Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and it's northernmost major city.
In case you've seen the episode, Top Gear's Vietnam special sparked my interest with their penultimate scenes in Ha Long Bay, home to a particulary unique collection of tall mountainous islands that make for some great photos.
Vietnam is especially magnetic to me because of the simple opportunities to enjoy myself. I've been lucky to be able to travel to a plethora of places and get a little taste of what each has to offer. Once you find what's best for you, there's not much that can deter you from returning, but that's something that I'll touch more on later. For now, let me show you a bit of food.
The best 'Chicken Noodle' soup there is
Eating is something we all do (I hope). We eat to relax, to savor, or maybe just to keep living. Moving from one place to another, and seeing what and how different countries grow, harvest, combine, prepare and serve their food is a telling tale to the culture of the people. For Vietnam, it's a bare-bones simplicity that combines a few fresh ingredients to make fragrant soups, noodle dishes and fried meats. Vietnam is also a coffee bean powerhouse, second only to Brazil in coffee exports. Their stuff is a little different though, and is certainly worth a try if you're ever out in that neck of the woods. My favourite find was an 'egg coffee', a cappuccino made with condensed milk & an egg yolk. For someone who only started drinking the stuff a year ago, I think I'm justified in buying 3 kgs of the stuff to bring back to Macau (at about $21/kg, I think that's a fair price to pay for some special stuff) Macau doesn't exactly have locally grown food, and most of the Asian cuisine offered in restaurants is more or less similar in terms of ingredients and preparation (a lot of boiled, steamed or fried things served with rice). On a completely different side of the spectrum, nearly every meal offered is made from ingredients within the country (another reason why it's so cheap), which makes the freshness of each dish unparalleled. Combine that with the beautiful simplicity of the recipes made everything unbelievably satisfying.
This is not Italian food
WARNING - HISTORY LESSONS AHEAD I like to use geography as a reference point for how contrasting foods are shared, interpreted, mixed and born. Some basic ideas are shared throughout cuisine worldwide (such as using rice & grains as a simple base for a meal), others are unique and endemic to the area (like sushi/kimbop in North East Asia). Whether you travel to New Orleans, Stockholm or Chiang Mai, you'll find the same basic ingredients, but the availability and cultural influences have produced some tasty products. Chinese food ideas made their way to Italy centuries ago, pasta was an adaptation of Chinese noodles, using wheat instead of rice as the base (pizza was born from the introduction of a type of flat bread brought from China). Foods from the new world were introduced to the old and quickly adapted into the local fare. In Italy, the favourite treats of coffee, cocoa, tomatoes, and bell peppers couldn't be found in Europe prior to international trade. Nowadays, we enjoy pretty much everything that's. I used Chilean avacados, Indian Cumin, Chinese cilantro, Mexican peppers and Australian beef to make Tuesday night's tacos. Not a bad time to be alive eh? South-east Asia has a myriad of types of food, each cuisine effecting the other (noodles, curries, stir fries, buns, fresh & fried rolls, soups & sauces). The Vietnamese share a lot of soup-based & noodle dishes with their Cantonese neighbours, while using the chilies, lemongrass and other potent herbs & spices that the Thai cultures to the west also enjoy.
A typical Banh Mi goes for
about $1-2
There are plenty of toppings
to choose from
History has also been a big factor in the flavours to that comprise Vietnam's iconic foods. Take Banh Mi for example; This is a delicious, unique and incredibly popular Vietnamese food. It's a sandwich comprised of a fresh, crispy baguette, filled with several different kinds of meat, fresh vegetables & herbs, a few peppers and a fantastic sauce that gives the crunchy sandwich a fantastic, juicy center with a myriad of complimentary flavours. Since Vietnam (and Cambodia & Laos) were French overseas territories (colonies), they inherited some of the edible components of the European country. Coffee is served with condensed milk, both imported from the French (the same reason Hong Kong has delicious milk tea).
Beef in a red-wine curry served with french bread
Fried spicy pork meat and broth, served with rice noodles & green stuff
My last day in Hanoi was dominated by a self-guided feast foodie tour. Our AirBnb even had a map detailing all the local specialties in all their various forms, a rented motorbike making the journey between stops easier (and far more entertaining). Even with portion sizes relatively small, it takes considerable inner strength to push through after your first few rounds of lunch. Not the 'master your mind' kind of resilience, more the 'goddamn it I won't be in Vietnam until the spring, I've got to get my money's worth' kind of stubborn stupidity. It was a stomach-stressfully satisfying day, but at least I had a good 9 hours to semi-digest my meals to make room for the others, and plenty of good coffee.
Hue-style noodles with a big knuckle-looking thing
Coconut ice cream for 40 cents
And that makes it for the last vacation of 2016, aside from the upcoming Christmas break in December. While I don't have the travel bug as badly as I used to, to me Vietnam has been a fantastically inviting and satisfying place to spend one's time in, come and see for yourself some time!
(and don't forget to drop me a line on your way over)
For the first few weeks of the school year, I had moved to a new apartment, only this time I had no roommate. Thinking the freedom and newfound sense of independence would be great, I was soon faced with the kind of situations that only Dr Steve Brule would replicate. I think he said it best when it comes to the challenges of living on your lonesome.
Besides those sound pieces of advice, I've come up with a few tricks of myself. They may come in handy to those of you who have finished school and are trying to find your way in the very different adult world.
1. Don't Be Alone To keep the relentlessly-looming loneliness at bay, invite people over to your place constantly. You don't even need a reason, just keep a reserve of tasty food in the kitchen and outfit your living room with games ranging from Dutch Blitz to the Dutch Blitz 8 player expansion pack. If you can make food, use that as bait to entice visitors (which has the added effect of preventing you from eating a whole pizza/chicken/pumpkin pie in one evening). If that doesn't work, go outside and watch people do things until it's time for bed, just don't take too many pictures of them or they might get the wrong impression. In the case of an emergency, consider adopting three or more cats, who's presence should certainly be comforting
2. Make a lot of Noise To prevent a surprise existential crisis, put on music and keep yourself busy with menial tasks. You don't want to be caught in the silence alone with your thoughts, that's never fun. If necessary, buy a good quality speaker loud enough to completely flush out the silence & fill the whole house with old-timey tunes. This also helps you to get familiar with your neighbours, who will quickly learn all about your musical tastes, and might even come knocking at the door to express their feelings about said music.
3. Try not to be a Complete Idiot
Try to keep a healthy state of mind during each day's monumental weight of responsibility. Having a space that you alone
occupy means that if you lose, break or consume (and then forget
about consuming) something, it's definitely your fault. Your mother will also take far less sympathy on you, considering this is not even your first year living outside of the house and you're asking how to use a clothes iron. It won't take long for the truth about your life skills (or lack thereof) to surface. You''ll also have to check yourself more carefully before you leave the house. Does my hair look clean and groomed? Did I put deodorant on? Am I wearing a shirt that doesn't have multiple courses of dinner spattered across it? If you've found that one or more of these things is not true, and you've wandered too far from home, then make a b-line for shelter and do your best to avoid anyone who remotely resembles an acquaintance. But if you really can't get a hold of
yourself...
4. Problem Solve
Not having a roommate also means not having a consultant for important decisions; You'll be expected to figure it out by yourself. If you don't have internet in your apartment yet, because in Macau there is a 3-week waiting list for installation appointments, refrain from texting people with questions such as how swiffer rags onto the pad, or opening a can with those old fashioned type can openers. This is your opportunity to live and learn, and re-learn when you do it colossally wrong. If you don't know how to use the washing machine properly, my best advice is to press a few buttons and leave the clothes inside for a couple of days to make sure it's done its full cycle (make sure you take your earphones out of any pockets BEFORE you do this). If you forget to put soap in, that's okay, you'll remember for next week's load, today rinsed clothes are better than dirty clothes. Got whiteboard marker on your white shirt? Pour extra bleach in, unless it's too much bleach and it turns all your striped socks into blotchy pink socks.
I do not claim to be a smart man, except when I do. Living alone can be a real challenge, but so can living in general. I hope that this has been a help to you, because it certainly has been for me. Also I have a roomie now.
The combination of good people, well-laid plans and reliable transportation (ahem) have produced the opportunity for many a good time. They are the ingredients that make possible camping trips in the wilderness, flights to far-flung countries, and envious adventures that you so often see on your Instagram. In this specific case, it produced a 10-day, 5000 km road trip from Toronto, Ontario to New Orleans, Louisiana.
A few friends and I had thrown around the idea of a big trip together about a year beforehand, we had all finished our degrees and wanted to travel somewhere that offered great music & atmosphere but was still relatively inexpensive. The aptly-named Kals' Pals Adventure Club was comprised of myself and three spectacular human beings from undergrad (AKA jazz school). Meet the team:
The leakiest and thirstiest member of the team,
the Buick
Shealagh found a new pet during
our tour of the Bayou
Kalya was especially excited about
the flight of craft beers in Buffalo
This is Murray. Yes, he's using tent
poles to prop up his smartphone.
Ice cold A/C and the hippest playlists
that only a music degree can get you
While there were some who saw the the Buick and immediately doubted her ability to make the journey across the continent, I now invite them to sit down to a hot cup of 'I told you so' that I brewed fresh this morning.
Everything fits in the Buick
Our first stop was Buffalo to refuel on chicken and stock up on important things like beer, gas and goldfish crackers. Once we hit the American highway system it soon became evident that this wasn't home anymore. There were a few visible differences between the states and the motherland.
This is not Ohio.This is silk compared
to Ohio
As you travel from one state to the next, it becomes evident that each is a little unique and gives different amounts of care to their infrastructure. The highways in one state could me smooth and neatly painted until you reach the state line, and BAM! OHIO SHOWS UP OUTTA NOWHERE AND DAMN NEAR RIPS THE WHEELS OFF THE BUICK.
Eventually we reached Nashville, our first main stop in the trip. We rented a house within 'walking distance' of the core (maybe if you're an Olympic walker) where we could recharge between Bourbon whiskey tastings/torrents of fried chicken, and the nights out with live music and patrons pouring out of nearly every venue on Broadway.
We found a candy store
Nashville certainly had a southern feel, but the type that you'd expect from a mainstream, rural (mostly-white) Southern U.S.
While it may have not been the most diverse city that we visited, we ate well, we explored neat places, and we took in a nightlife that was vibrant, fresh and widespread. It was an absolute blast.
The next leg of our trip meant a drive through the deeeeeeep south. You start to notice the differences between Canadian and American culture as you travel deeper into the bible belt. The attitudes, the accents, even the different kinds of things you hear on the radio. Magnolia trees, SUVs, and ice-cold A/C that blasted you through nearly every entrance way. We got a taste of proper sweet tea, biscuits and gravy and a very interesting take on a garden salad (with more cheese than what the average deli has in stock). It almost felt like a foreign country (do we even have waffle houses in Canada?), and definitely had a different thing going on than our stops in Buffalo and Louisville.
Murray picked the Airbnb,
he's proud as punch
After a long drive, including a time I almost drove off with my laptop on the roof of the Buick, we arrived in the Big Easy; New Orleans, Louisiana. To sum up the city for you, our AirBnb seemed like a complete NOLA experience. The house itself was in a neighbourhood that was a mix of dive bars, local bakeries, and the odd abandoned, boarded up house. Maps and old records decorated the walls, and the living room featured a Wurlitzer Organ, drum kit, all-steel resonator guitar and a collection of odd instruments some of us hadn't seen before. The host left us some local beer in the fridge and chatted with us about things going on in the city, as well as noting that we seemed like 'normal folks', saying that he was glad to have us as long as we didn't party so hard that we set fires in the house and play the drums at 3am with the doors and windows open (apparently that was a thing that had happened before).
I suppose I could type and type about the different things that we saw and did, but I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking for now.
mmhmm
The bayou
Cajun, Creole, Southern or just plain tasty
Someone even got to celebrate his birthday in town
The St. Charles street car line was a personal favourite of mine.
Nighttime activities
New Orleans was an entirely and completely different city than what any of us had experienced before. A city that was both lively yet tired, beautiful and ugly, welcoming but at times seemed unfriendly. Without sounding too abstract, it's a place that in all its aspects seems thick and full with a diverse history, culture and people. We were definitley huge fans, and I think we'd all jump at the chance to visit again. Between the fantastic food, live music, long drives, beautiful places and interesting characters, I'd say we had a swell time. If you have a chance to get on the road with a few pals and explore a new place, even for a couple of days, there are few things I could recommend more highly (even, I dare say, better than the Buick?). The possibilities that lie in a trip may seem unknown or unfamiliar, but it's a fulfilling experience that you'll carry with you always.
Kal's Pals indeed
There's something to be said for travelling with your friends on a trip like this. Even when you've known them for years, there are times when you learn a little bit more about who your friends are, or get to share a moment in a unique setting. I feel pretty lucky to have friends like that, whether we shared a 10 day road trip, week at camp, or tasty lunch. It's pretty special.
In Mom's defense, it's hard to pose
for a photo when you can't see the screen
And so now it's time to get back to work on a new school year. I'll hear from some of you folks on WhatsApp, otherwise you can check up on the Interlude to see what colossal disasters I've caused (or find better uses for your time, of which there are many). The uncertainty of a new year with new kids, people and places is holds many possibilities, but the conclusion of the summer means the bittersweet trading one home for another. You folks take care of yourselves until I see you again (or don't, most of you are adults).
In case you've seen the episode, Top Gear's Vietnam special sparked my interest with their penultimate scenes in Ha Long Bay, home to a particulary unique collection of tall mountainous islands that make for some great photos. 
Vietnam is especially magnetic to me because of the simple opportunities to enjoy myself. I've been lucky to be able to travel to a plethora of places and get a little taste of what each has to offer. Once you find what's best for you, there's not much that can deter you from returning, but that's something that I'll touch more on later. For now, let me show you a bit of food. 
Vietnam is also a coffee bean powerhouse, second only to Brazil in coffee exports. Their stuff is a little different though, and is certainly worth a try if you're ever out in that neck of the woods. My favourite find was an 'egg coffee', a cappuccino made with condensed milk & an egg yolk. For someone who only started drinking the stuff a year ago, I think I'm justified in buying 3 kgs of the stuff to bring back to Macau (at about $21/kg, I think that's a fair price to pay for some special stuff)
Macau doesn't exactly have locally grown food, and most of the Asian cuisine offered in restaurants is more or less similar in terms of ingredients and preparation (a lot of boiled, steamed or fried things served with rice). On a completely different side of the spectrum, nearly every meal offered is made from ingredients within the country (another reason why it's so cheap), which makes the freshness of each dish unparalleled. Combine that with the beautiful simplicity of the recipes made everything unbelievably satisfying. 
South-east Asia has a myriad of types of food, each cuisine effecting the other (noodles, curries, stir fries, buns, fresh & fried rolls, soups & sauces). The Vietnamese share a lot of soup-based & noodle dishes with their Cantonese neighbours, while using the chilies, lemongrass and other potent herbs & spices that the Thai cultures to the west also enjoy. 
