Name That Brand

After Thailand and Cambodia, China is the third country on the trip that doesn't use the same alphabet as the English language. Mandarin (China's most widely spoken language) has it's own set of characters to make words and I thought I would attach a few pictures of some snacks you can buy in China. Can you work out which famous brand is which?

Once you have worked it out, have a think. Is it just the name that's important for customers to recognise or are certain colours and the way words are written just as important?

Fast Food Update

It has to be said, KFC are one of the best fast food chains out there in the way that their menu changes around the world. Easily one of the easiest places to pop into for some food and not break my fast food rule of not having something on the menu in the UK.

What you can see here, nearest to the camera, is a 'Flava Roast' burger meal, it came with an Asian-style soup as a side! It was a bit like a warm version of the flavoured chicken sandwich fillers you can pick up at the supermarket. The other meal was 'Chicken Strips With Rice'. Out here in Asia it's very common to see rice served with fast food meals. The pudding was a 'Cream Ball' desert, this is basically that whippy style ice cream with some chocolate flavoured cereal at the bottom and a bit of chocolate sauce.

It may not have been award-winning cuisine but it certainly cured my midday hunger. Plus the drinks are served in glasses!

Street Food

This is a photo of one of the most delicious streets in the world. The buildings aren't made from biscuit and the pavements aren't marshmallow but this road in Thong Lo (Pronounced "Tong-Low") is home to some of the best street food in Bangkok.

Anywhere you travel, street food is always worth checking out because it's always cheap and made fresh. The hostel I am staying in is on this street and I look forward to every dinner time with great excitement as I walk past each brightly-lit stall and choose something on offer as my stomach rumbles excitedly.

Tonight I had a delicious meal of crispy pork with rice (£1.00). The rice was steamed perfectly and covered with a delicious brown-coloured sauce while the many pieces of pork melted in my mouth while I crunched through the perfectly crisp crackling too. For pudding Nads and I tucked into some warm, sweet sticky-rice and mango (£1.20). The mango was so fresh and juicy and the thick coconut milk poured over the top added to the sweetness. I have read that this stall sells one of the best versions of this dish in the whole of Thailand, it's hard to disagree.

Some of the other mouth-watering dishes from this street include pieces of barbequed chicken sticks to dip in a peanut satay sauce from just 50p, gut busting fried dough balls topped with sesame seeds and served with condensed milk and Thai custard dips at only £1.00 for a bagful and traditional Pad Thai, a meal of yummy noodles mixed with fresh shrimp, herbs and fried egg priced at just at just under £1.50!

I might leave this street weighing a bit more than when I entered it but with so much amazing food to sample in such a short time who can blame me?

Odd Yoghurt & The Lesser Spotted Knife

While waiting for our bus back to Bangkok, my friend Reuben purchased a yoghurt snack for his girlfriend, Bex. He bought it thinking it was tropical flavour but it turns out that although it could perhaps be described as 'exotic' it certainly wasn't tropical. What you can see below is the unusually flavoured... sweetcorn and kidney bean flavoured yoghurt!

In other, food related news Nads and I went out for a pizza and saw a knife next to a fork. You might not think this is very unusual at all (Pretty standard probably) but it was literally the first knife either of us had seen in Asia! We have seen plenty of chopsticks, plenty of spoons and plenty of forks but not one knife anywhere since Australia.

Crunchy

Here's a photo of me tucking into a local delicacy, a cricket! I was a little bit nervous before trying it but it actually tasted ok and I ate a second. It had a crunch to it that was no different to a potato crisp and the vendor selling them dusted them with some chilli powder and sprayed on a bit of fish sauce so they were quite tasty, if a little bit too fishy for my own tastes.

They lady that sold them did have a good laugh at the group of us that had brought them though. We were all taking photos of us trying them but eating insects here is no more unusual than seeing someone eating a packet of crisps in the UK.

Did You Know?: They say that if the world's population keeps growing so quickly it won't be many years before we are all eating insects. This is because they take up much less room than cattle etc., there are so many of them and they are actually really good for you (They contain a lot of protein).

Every Little Helps..

Look what I spotted on the way out of a train station! Since spotting this one I've seen a couple more plus some 'Boots' chemists and a 'Body Shop'. Could almost be like home.

Currently trying to decide whether to go up to Chaing Mai or down south to the beaches after sampling a bit of Songkram this weekend (Will blog about that in the coming days) but, first, off to visit some friends from home. They're travelling longer than Nads and I but our trips overlap slightly, we last saw them in Sydney so it will be good to catch up.

Thai Cooking

Today Nads and I delved into the world of Thai cooking by going on a cookery course with a Thai lady called Angsana. We started off visiting a market to pick up all the fresh ingredients and there was so much happening, lots of colours and smells.

After that, we went to Angsana's house to prepare our food. Before we got there we had to pick three different meals from her generations-old family cookbook and we went for a chicken massaman curry and two noodle meals; pat mii gatii and the famous pad thai. It was great learning to cook authentic Thai food with someone who was actually Thai and you can see me pounding chillies ready for the curry in the photo.

I learnt lots too and before today I didn't know that if you have phad thai outside Thailand and the noodles are a reddish colour it means they have used ketchup or too much chilli paste and that means it's not been done in the authentic Thai way (The noodles should be a brownish colour because of an ingredient called tamarind). Now I can look very knowledgable next time I'm out for a Thai at home and you can too!

Did You Know?: Most people think that they should use chopsticks when eating rice meals but in Thailand that isn't the case. Thai people only use chopsticks with noodles and actually use a spoon to eat rice. Angsana said it makes Thai people laugh to see tourists thinking they're doing the proper thing when they're struggling to pick up the rice with their chopsticks!

Other Flavours

Ever since I was little I've always had a slight obsession with having to try flavours of brands from home that aren't actually available at home. I remember just having to buy a coke flavoured Calippo I saw for sale on my Y6 trip to Belgium, for example. I don't know why, maybe I just want to see if what we're missing out on is delicious or disgusting!

Here are two things I had for my lunch that I picked up from a supermarket; a fruity fizzy drink and some seaweed flavoured crisps. The drink, apart from being very green, was just 'alright'. It was pretty much a fizzy banana drink and it's no loss to you guys at home but the crisps were actually pretty tasty...possibly one for the British supermarket shelves.

Challenge: Even though they are written in Thai, can you work out what the brands are from their logos?

Shark Fin Soup

Sadly, I saw a restaurant selling 'shark fin soup' while wandering through Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. This meal is just what it sounds like, a soup with a shark fin in it. It's one meal I won't be trying and I am even going to avoid eating in places selling it whenever I can.

To get the fins thousands and thousands of wild sharks are captured each year and many have their fins cut off while they are still alive before being thrown back in to the sea. No other part of the shark is wanted or used. With no fins the sharks are unable to swim and then drown or starve to death in a lot of pain. Just for a soup! Would you cut the legs off of a live chicken and throw it back in the field to die just for your snack?

Not only is it an incredibly cruel way to make a meal but it's also one of the main reasons why so many shark species are becoming or have already become endangered. If you ever see it for sale please think twice about how it's made before deciding to try it.

Would You Drink This?

Just spotted this in a shop. Amazing name!

What Makes Us British?

You might have noticed in your local supermarket that, nestled down in the 'World Food' aisle, is a section that does lots of food for Eastern European people that live and work in the UK (I personally recommend some of the chocolate bars, very tasty.) and in Australia and New Zealand there's the very same thing but for all the British people that have moved over here.

It's funny to look at the things that seem to be 'typically British'. Things like mushy peas, PG Tips, Marmite and pickled onions amongst others. I didn't know we were so known for our love of Dr Pepper either?

What can you spot that you'd miss if you lived abroad?

Halfway Day!

Today is the day where we officially reach the halfway point of the trip! It's scary how quickly the first two and a half months have flown by but it's also exciting to look ahead to the Asia leg that starts next week, after Brisbane, and getting to see family and friends again in June.

A lovely pancake breakfast seemed the perfect way to celebrate (Especially as the weather is rubbish and it's torrential rain!).

Look At What Ice Saw.

Behold, Coke and Slush Puppy combined; the Frozen Coca-Cola! I'd seen this creation in a few places around Australia and finally decided that it was worth a taste.

The best/weirdest thing is that it tastes fizzy! Thinking about the horrendous chemicals needed to make ice 'fizz' though is not good (My stomach's probably melting away as I type). Aside from that, it's nothing special and tastes a lot like coke when all the ice has melted and it's gone a bit watery. A one time purchase I think.

Aussie Pizza

Fancy an Aussie-style pizza? Just add an egg on top! I'd heard about this before I had ever been to Australia and I've got to say that it was pretty nice. Next time you're making a pizza at home why not be inspired by Australia and ask Mum or Dad if there are any eggs in the fridge?

Not Your Usual Burger

It might look like your ordinary, run-of-the-mill burger but this one's slightly different...it's a kangaroo burger!

Nads found them in a supermarket and because kangaroo meat is actually really good for you (It's nearly fat free and has lots of protein and iron in it) we thought we would try them. It turns out that they're pretty tasty, like a really flavoursome beef burger. It was definitely nicer than the guinea pig in Peru!

Brazilian Table Manners

Do you eat pizza with your hands?

I turns out that Nadia and I accidentally ended up looking pretty rude when we ate our pizza last night. We have just read that Brazilians are relaxed about many things but table manners are not one of them and it says that no one eats pizza with their hands (Like we did) and many Brazilians will even eat a sandwich with a knife and fork if they can! Oops!

I always find it interesting to learn what different things are considered rude in one country but normal in another so I will make sure to read more of this book before going out again and try not to be rude next time, even if it is something that's not rude at home.

The Pantanal & Piranha Soup

I have spent the last few days in the Pantanal and I saw so much wildlife while horseback trekking and boating around the wetlands. Some of the most memorable creatures were; cuddly capybaras, rare tree-climbing anteaters, scaly caymen, colourful blue and yellow macaws and howler monkeys swinging through the trees. When I stop and think about the fact that I saw all of these animals in the wild, not in a zoo, it makes me realise how lucky I have been and certainly made the early mornings worth it!

I was also quite adventurous with my food choices while I was there and even tried piranha soup! Piranha are very common in the Pantanal and it was served on my last night. I am not a fan of soup in the slightest and I am not a big lover of a lot of fish either so the combination did not exactly whet my appetite, however, as it was a local delicacy and it had been prepared for me I did not want to be rude and not even try it at all. I had a small spoonful...it did not taste as 'fishy' as I thought it might but it was not to my taste and I had no more than the first spoonful, I felt glad that I had at least tried it though. Battered catfish, another local fish, on the other hand, tasted great!

Did You Know?: The Pantanal is the largest flooded, freshwater wetland on earth and although most of it is in Brazil it also stretches into Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina too!

The McDonalds Rule!

Earlier in my trip I mentioned my 'McDonalds Rule' and I feel I should explain this rule that I made up myself. It has two parts to it and includes any fast-food place found in the UK like Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut etc not just McDonalds;

Part One: I am only allowed to have a maximum of one McDonalds/Burger King/Pizza Hut etc meal in any country I visit, no matter how long I am there.

Part Two: I am not allowed to choose anything that can be found on the menu back in the UK so that means no McChicken Sandwiches, Whoppers etc etc.

I think it´s pretty good rule, even if I do say so myself, so feel free to use it yourself next time you´re abroad. It´ll mean you can still have a yummy, treat but also try something new at the same time!

I used it today because we had a really long day travelling from Puno to Arequipa on the bus yesterday and Nads got really ill so, after not eating very much at all yesterday, we just wanted something cheap and cheerful that would fill us up. I decided to have a chicken pieces meal which felt like I'd smuggled a KFC into a McDonalds! I also had a Milky Way McFlurry that was made with an American Milky Way which is basically a Snickers without the nuts. This McDonalds is also the first place I have seen vinegar on my trip and you could pour some into the little cups like you can with ketchup back home, yum!

Cuy

Tonight, I finally found a restaurant selling guinea pig and tried it. I must point out, before I get banned from all the pet shops at home, that guinea pigs are a lot like wild rabbits in the British countryside and are very common in the wild here. They are a local delicacy in Peru which means lots of local people eat them (Like wild rabbit in some parts of the UK).

I bet you are wondering; How did it taste? I have to say that I wasn't that keen, I probably won't have it again. The taste is hard to describe but the texture was just like dark chicken meat. I also had a piece of alpaca on my plate which is the Peruvian equivalent of eating lamb (They use alpacas for their wool and meat too) and that was delicious. It was less stringy and more steak-like than lamb but tasted quite similar.

Did You Know?: The Peruvian word for guinea pig is 'cuy' pronounced "coo-oy".

Chocolate Making!

Today, we went on a chocolate making course at the Chocolate Museum in Cusco and it was so much fun. A lot of you know how much I like chocolate!

This part of the world is very famous for it's chocolate because it is one of the places on the planet where the cocao tree grows (It can grow over 15m tall in the jungle!) and this is where you get the cocao bean from. In the photo you can see me and Nadia working hard to create a paste from the cocao beans we roasted ourselves. It was hard work but the teacher decided I made the best paste in the whole group and I got a prize! I was given a whole bag of cocao bean husks which you put in boiling water to make chocolate tea, it is really nice but unfortunately I can't bring any back because it is part of a plant and you aren't allowed to take things like that into other countries.

I can't wait to try the chocolate I made later.

Did You Know?: The Mayans invented a hot chocolate drink but did not invent chocolate like most people think. Hard, edible chocolate wasn't invented until the cocao beans arrived back in Europe with the Spanish travellers that explored South America.