Day 6: The Day I Gained 10 Pounds in an 2 Hours
Today as the last day for scavenges in Myanmar. We had the whole day mapped and planned and were ready to roll out by 6:30. Like a boss.
First we went to Shwedagon Pagoda. The scavenge was to go at dawn or dusk, so we chose dawn. When we were there we had to find a pagoda in that pagoda and some big bell. One problem, we couldn't find anything because it was all Burmese. No surprise there since we're in Myanmar but its still poop on a stick. So that scavenge took longer than expected but luckily a tour guide had come up to me, randomly, and offered his help since he could speak english. Although, when Dad told him we were chinese he kept trying to incorporate mandarin in his english sentences. I guess, he was trying to be nice or something.
After we finally found everything, we went to visit some pagodas and the national museum, which was not the best. It was very dim, even for me. Don't worry Mom, I didn't read anything in there. Anyway, after that we went to the Tangizai Market. This is a very crowded, four block, outdoor market. It was super cool and Dad was acting like a stereotypical tourist mixed with a Justin Bieber fan girl; excited, energetic, taking a bunch of photos and blocking the crowds flow.
He unfortunately made me watch a vendor aggressively chop up chicken meat. Not the best sight, if I do say so myself. Once we left the yucky chicken chopper vendor, we bought huge grapes. They were absolutely delicious, juicy and sweet. Don't worry Mom, we washed them; which is more than I've done at home. I know you're so proud of me, I'm so mature.
Once we finished the grapes and looked around a bit more, the gaining weight process began. First we went to eat some shah sticky noodles, which were really good and sticky, hence the sticky name part. Then we went to a fancy teahouse place where we got yummy chocolate samosas. They were pretty small but stuffed with warm, melted chocolate. Unfortunately, due to the samosa fullness, both me and Dad may have accidentally exploded the samosa with just one bite. Fortunately, it was a chocolate explosion that only required some licking to clean.
After the exploding samosas, we went to a japanese restaurant called Gekko. When I first saw the scavenge I thought it said to eat a gekko and that was a firm no; luckily, Dad clarified the scavenge for me. By that time I was pretty full from the noodles and samosas, but I had to eat another meal there, gaining another few pounds.
After those food scavenges, we went on a super crowded ferry, visited some gardens and went to a super tall building. Once those were all done, the eating scavenges were back on. Although, I hadn't fully recovered from the three previous mini meals, but its all good in the neighborhood.
Second to last eating mission, we went to a restaurant to order the same meal as some famous chef. Apparently, a famous chef traveled the world to eat a bunch of meals and talk to locals. When Dad first told me, my response was, "he must be super fat." No offense to him, but traveling the world to just eat would make you a little bigger, but apparently he's super skinny. I seriously need to learn that dudes secrets so I can eat a bunch of ice cream but still be a hottie pilate.
Last eating scavenge was super fancy, which is fine by me. We went to this hotel for something called High Tea Time, which is a three layer fancy plate thingy with different foods on each layer. Unfortunately, it was so fancy I didn't actually know what I was eating, but it looked super snazzy so I was kinda judging a book by its cover for this scavenge. Which you should never do for anything, especially books!
It was a good last day of the Myanmar adventure and the next destination is .... (cue drum roll).... Abu Dhabi! I've never heard of it, but I'm still excited to see what happens.
First we went to Shwedagon Pagoda. The scavenge was to go at dawn or dusk, so we chose dawn. When we were there we had to find a pagoda in that pagoda and some big bell. One problem, we couldn't find anything because it was all Burmese. No surprise there since we're in Myanmar but its still poop on a stick. So that scavenge took longer than expected but luckily a tour guide had come up to me, randomly, and offered his help since he could speak english. Although, when Dad told him we were chinese he kept trying to incorporate mandarin in his english sentences. I guess, he was trying to be nice or something.
After we finally found everything, we went to visit some pagodas and the national museum, which was not the best. It was very dim, even for me. Don't worry Mom, I didn't read anything in there. Anyway, after that we went to the Tangizai Market. This is a very crowded, four block, outdoor market. It was super cool and Dad was acting like a stereotypical tourist mixed with a Justin Bieber fan girl; excited, energetic, taking a bunch of photos and blocking the crowds flow.
He unfortunately made me watch a vendor aggressively chop up chicken meat. Not the best sight, if I do say so myself. Once we left the yucky chicken chopper vendor, we bought huge grapes. They were absolutely delicious, juicy and sweet. Don't worry Mom, we washed them; which is more than I've done at home. I know you're so proud of me, I'm so mature.
Once we finished the grapes and looked around a bit more, the gaining weight process began. First we went to eat some shah sticky noodles, which were really good and sticky, hence the sticky name part. Then we went to a fancy teahouse place where we got yummy chocolate samosas. They were pretty small but stuffed with warm, melted chocolate. Unfortunately, due to the samosa fullness, both me and Dad may have accidentally exploded the samosa with just one bite. Fortunately, it was a chocolate explosion that only required some licking to clean.
After the exploding samosas, we went to a japanese restaurant called Gekko. When I first saw the scavenge I thought it said to eat a gekko and that was a firm no; luckily, Dad clarified the scavenge for me. By that time I was pretty full from the noodles and samosas, but I had to eat another meal there, gaining another few pounds.
After those food scavenges, we went on a super crowded ferry, visited some gardens and went to a super tall building. Once those were all done, the eating scavenges were back on. Although, I hadn't fully recovered from the three previous mini meals, but its all good in the neighborhood.
Second to last eating mission, we went to a restaurant to order the same meal as some famous chef. Apparently, a famous chef traveled the world to eat a bunch of meals and talk to locals. When Dad first told me, my response was, "he must be super fat." No offense to him, but traveling the world to just eat would make you a little bigger, but apparently he's super skinny. I seriously need to learn that dudes secrets so I can eat a bunch of ice cream but still be a hottie pilate.
Last eating scavenge was super fancy, which is fine by me. We went to this hotel for something called High Tea Time, which is a three layer fancy plate thingy with different foods on each layer. Unfortunately, it was so fancy I didn't actually know what I was eating, but it looked super snazzy so I was kinda judging a book by its cover for this scavenge. Which you should never do for anything, especially books!
It was a good last day of the Myanmar adventure and the next destination is .... (cue drum roll).... Abu Dhabi! I've never heard of it, but I'm still excited to see what happens.
Fancy High Tea
Crowded Market
Shwedagon Pagoda
Big Grape (Washed though, Mom)
What a scavenger of Food. Glad to know you washed the grapes before you ate them; you should do that here too. Do the people there seem happy? Hard-working?
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ReplyDeleteI think it’s day 6? Glad to know you make wise safety decisions without me there. My job is done.
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are great! That Pagoda is beautiful! Curious - Japanese restaurant over there - here in the states Japanese is my absolute favorite (hibachi) - I wonder how it compares to the Japanese restaurant over there?!?!
ReplyDeletemyanmar, yangon, it was all awesome. from a scavenge perspective, the whole leg was very workmanlike. we picked a path at the outset that - due to luck and timing - didn't have any big home run scavenges. the only real option to be competitive was to do a TON of the small scavenges, essentially all of them. that made for a lot of fun and a lot of work getting from place to place. there's no better way to learn a place and people than scrambling through the backstreets and inner paths looking for obscure places and things. we definitely did that!
ReplyDeleteanthony bourdain ate at the restaurant emory mentioned, feel myanmar. we had his meal of deer, catfish, and mutton.