Welcome to Adventure Part 2: Food - All the Best Food

One of the best things about the human experience is eating food. It's a human universal need to eat and how we eat can be influenced by our family, location, and culture. People can eat on the go or sit down for an hours long meal with over 20 courses.

I learned in Hong Kong if you order coffee or tea, you get a whole pot to drink.

How, where, and when people pause for a quick bite can vary for culture to culture. The United States, with all of it's regional cultures, does have a few cultural quirks to our eating habits. We occasionally eat on the go, fast casual restaurants such as Panera have risen in popularity, and dinner is our big meal of the day served around 18:00, whereas lunch is typically smaller and eaten as quickly as possible.

These habits are not as typical outside of the US. When traveling in Europe, I've often eaten dinner well after 20:00 and sometimes as late as 22:00 and the portions are a lot smaller than anything I get at a restaurant back home. In Japan, it's considered rude to walk around eating or drinking. If you buy a drink from a vending machine, you stand there and drink it before continuing on your way.

My favorite part of traveling is trying all of the new foods.

Katsu Udon for Nara is a little different from udon made in Tokyo

There are a lot of different types of food that aren't available in all parts of the United States, and even if they are available, they might not taste the same as where I first had them. A lot of international food that's brought to the United States has been modified for American tastes and the available ingredients. That's not even getting into the many regional differences in food from the original country. Italian food from northern Italy can be very different from the dishes served in southern Italy.

An example of Hong Kong dim sum

This is also true when traveling outside of the United States.

My first memories of going to Japan as a young kid was having pizza the first night for dinner. I was told that the pizza ordered was an "American style pizza". It had corn on it. I have never had corn on pizza in the United States. I didn't even know putting corn on pizza was a popular topping.

The corn on the pizza was yummy. This past trip to Japan I tried corn sushi (again, something I had never heard of). It was not the yummiest thing I had on my trip, but I can safely say I tried.

This is corn sushi...sweet corn, mayo, sushi rice, and nori

Honestly, 99% of the food I try is delicious. It's very rare that I eat something I don't like. Sure, it's scary to take a bite of something I might not know exactly what it is, but I find that it's a risk worth taking.

Takoyaki is so good. I usually don't like octopus, but this was amazing!

Though I do have a couple of dietary restrictions, they aren't life threatening and the foods can be avoided. I will admit that it can be challenging making certain I won't accidentally eat something that will make me sick, especially if the menu I'm looking at isn't available in a language I understand.

For people who do have dietary restrictions that are life threatening, it can be a challenge. Thankfully, a lot of airlines and hotels can help travelers out. I was able to per-order my airline meals to make certain that nothing would make me sick several kilometers in the air. I've also had luck at many of the places I've stayed from hotels, hostels, and even Airbnbs at asking people for good places to eat at that have food safe for me to eat.

Part of the adventure of traveling is trying new things, food especially. If you don't have any food restrictions, I recommend trying anything and everything. You might be surprised at what you end up loving. And end up not enjoying something you try, at least you can say you tried it.

Until next week.

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Welcome to Adventure Part 1: I Can't Relive the Past

Happy Easter everyone. I spent the day doing some chores and trying to get back into my usual sleep schedule. I got off of a 15 hour flight just before midnight last night and somehow managed to catch the last train home. Though taking the Vomit Comet (as the last train around these parts is occasionally referred to as) wasn't really how I wanted to end my holiday, it was at least entertaining to listen to the drunk people at 2:00 in the morning.

In my last blog post, I wrote about how I was taking a break from social media. Well I lasted exactly as long as I wanted to (a week and a half), just long enough for me to take a trip to Japan and Hong Kong.

If there is one point in my life I wish I could relive, it was my trip to Japan when I was 11 years old. I spent six weeks with my aunt and uncle and it was definitely I major turning point in my life. It was my first major trip overseas and without my parents. There were a lot of good times and of course some drama (when isn't there when with family).

It took me nearly two decades later to return to Japan. A lot had changed, though riding a bike around the small city my uncle lives in brought back a lot of memories.

I remember bits and pieces from my first trip and this second trip was great, but it was very different from the first. It was just me and my uncle this time and he packed in a lot of trips all over the area. I didn't make it to Tokyo, but got to visit Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Nishinomiya, and Hiroshima again. I saw places I remember going to the first time, but most where new locations.

The Osaka aquarium is really cool and has two whale sharks

Kyoto is still one of my favorite cities and Osaka is probably one of the coolest places I've ever been. Part of me wishes I could have spent more time exploring Japan, but I don't have the same amount of free time I did as a kid. Work takes a priority.

One thing I've gotten better at since I was an 11 year old is travel journalling. My trip to Japan was the first time that I kept a travel journal. My grandmother kept one every time she traveled and I wanted to do the same. At first I didn't understand what that meant and my aunt thought my handwriting was awful. So every day my aunt would have me sit at the kitchen table practicing my handwriting and then every few days (when we were out and about) she would have me write in my journal.

Every trip since, I've kept a journal when I travel. Some of my journals have multiple trips recorded. My current journal is brand new (a gift from a Secret Snow Flake exchange) and now filled with the tales of my latest trip.

I also took around 500 photos.

I am not ashamed.

This trip I was in Japan in mid-April, just in time for the end of the sakura (cherry blossom) season. Everywhere I looked there were beautiful pink flowers. I went river rapid ride on traditional-style boats in Kyoto and I was able to see a whole mountain side of the blossoms. It looked like a water color painting.

And since it was cherry blossom season I was able to try sakura mochi. Mochi in Japan is very different than what I can get in America. Mochi is traditionally sweet rice smashed into a smooth bun and stuffed with a sweet paste (usually red bean). Sakura mochi is made from the cherry blossoms, dyeing the mochi pink and wrapped in a leaf soaked in salt water.

You can only get these delicious treats in April, while the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

Japanese food is amazing. It's not like Japanese food you get in America (a lot less salt for one thing). There are mostly mild umami flavors with lots of noodles, fish, and rice. Bento boxes are by far the best way to have lunch and street food in general is amazing.

My uncle some how gets me to try all the different food available, even when I'm a little nervous about what I'm eating. For example, I typically don't like octopus (it's a texture thing - not to mention the suction cups *shivers*), but I tried takoyaki or grilled octopus balls and loved them. They're a specialty in Osaka and I totally recommend trying them.

If you take the boat ride in Kyoto you can try grilled squid cooked right on the side of your boat.

Sushi is also a little different in Japan. Sure you have the usual tuna and shrimp, but there are some that I didn't recognize. By far the oddest was corn sushi. I tried it. I don't have to try it again.

I might not be able to relive the trip I took when I was 11, but I can keep traveling and revisiting the places I've been before. Everything and everyone is always changing. Japan 20 years ago is not the Japan of today and 11 year old me is certainly not the me of today.

And even if the toilets in Japan are super fancy (especially at the train stations - and so clean), there are still a few places where it's just a hole in the ground that you have to squat over.

There will be more about adventures next week. Until then!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to a Little Break

Guys, I'm taking a break from social media. Starting around Wednesday, I'll be off all my social media sites for a week or two.

I won't be off forever. I need to let my friends and family know I'm alive somehow. Plus I have a lot of poetry and art projects I want to share (*cough* self promote *cough*).

Painting is a great way to express myself and then share it on Deviant Art of Instagram

I just need a break.

For the past several years, I've had almost non-stop Internet access. My phone is a mini computer which I take everywhere. The few times I've gone without the Internet are rare, the last time being an adventure I had in Washington State where I had zero cell service for 90% of my trip.

It was also wonderful.

I loved being able to just stare out the window of the car, not worrying about what was going on in the world beyond the wilderness. I could just experience what was going on around me and be present. Though it was a little scary being miles from the nearest cell tower just in case anything bad happened, the experience of sleeping in a tent next to a river was worth it.

I'm also not here to bash social media. It's helped me keep in touch with people I might not otherwise still speak to.

Heck, I've posted at least 5 times today on Instagram already.

This adorable face had to be shared. It just had to be.

But that doesn't mean that there are a lot of drawbacks to constantly being connected to people. Between chasing likes, fake news, and a weird voyeuristic feeling when looking at other people's lives without really taking part, it can be tough to handle emotionally and mentally.

So for the next two-ish weeks, there won't be any new blog posts from me (either this blog or my food blog), no updates to my webcomic, and no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I will still be answering emails (I can't give up the Internet entirely - not in this high speed world).

If you are thinking about taking a break from social media, I say give it a go. You don't have to go cold turkey. Try deleting your apps for a weekend or a week and see how you feel. Social media is still a great way to connect people and share the best your life has to offer. If you find that leaving social media has a good impact on your life, then see if you can deactivate your accounts.

Have a great couple of weeks guys.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.