Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!
Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!
Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.
So, how’s it going?
I went to Malaysia and had KFC. I remember ordering the zinger burger and being disappointed that it tasted the same as anywhere else.
I also find it’s good to try the food that the locals actually eat, not just what’s traditional. Had some boring food in Indonesia before working that one out!
I also learned about Bali street dogs ending up sold as chicken in street food only after going there, though I don’t think we had any in Bali, just in Jakarta and surrounding areas we visited. Bali was so super touristy, easily my least favourite place to visit. I’d rather take the driver in Jakarta that doesn’t speak English taking us to a Buddhist temple that half burnt down, and the other half was full of awesome diorama things as tributes to different deities, where everyone there was friendly but no one spoke English.
Glad to hear that, cos it’s pretty much all I have ever got to do. My travel was when I was a student (mostly alone, my trips were paid for by grants) so I didn’t have much money and would mostly just follow down-at-heel locals to see where they ate that was cheap/good.
Some of the coolest was when I would just queue up behind people and copy what they asked for, with no idea what it was going to be since nothing was in English. Also sometimes people just give you stuff.
Would love to visit SEA countries like you have. I’ve only lurked in their airports.
In my case it was visiting friends or family. I had family living in Malaysia for a few years and took the opportunity to visit and stay with them while they were there.
Indonesia was for a friend’s wedding.
Singapore is just the place the planes go but I like it (except the guards carrying guns in the airport. I have to say I always feel the least safe when there are guards carrying guns).
I haven’t left the country since before my eldest was born, but I have a friend who’s been living in Vietnam for years but we’ve never visited them. I’d like to go some time before they leave.
That would be cool, I hope you get to visit them. Places are even better when you know someone there and you’re sort of seeing it through their eyes. Even normal stuff like shopping.
People carrying guns omg yes, it’s freaky isn’t it. I think the first time I ever saw that might have been Changi airport too.
I agree on the knowing someone there point. I love the smaller, less touristy places that you get to go when you know someone there. It’s much harder to find them as all the little known places don’t show up on trip advisor, and if they do then suddenly they are all touristy.
Plus it’s nice to go to the museum with 50c entry and the guy doing free shadow puppet shows in order to hopefully get you to buy one of the shadow puppets he made, or having a $2 meal instead of a $30 one.
Though I did have banana juice at a restaurant. I have no idea what it was but it was good. What it wasn’t, is it wasn’t a smoothie. It was nearly 10 years ago now but I’ve never worked out what it was I drank (since if you’ve ever put a banana through a juicer, you’ll know they don’t really have juice)
Weird I wonder what the juice was… did they juice the skin maybe???
I agree touristy things are not great, they’re bad enough right here in NZ. I’ve never looked at trip advisor, but it’s a long time since I travelled, things have changed. Back then I only used to bring a dumb phone and paper maps, omg!
I remember once using someone else’s map and there was this X on it in ballpoint pen so I went there … it was really weird, just a tangle of undergrowth in the middle of a hill a bit like Mt Roskill. I think if I’d been able to see into the future I’d have done more tourist things though.
I doubt it was banana skin. It was sweet and bananary. Probably some amount of banana mixed with something else. Really no idea though.
Trip advisor is what comes up whenever you search for stuff. Super annoying because you have to sign in or something to see anything other that the list.
One time we went to Vancouver and looked the map up before going. The subway stop came up onto the street the opposite way than I was expecting, and we walked almost an hour in the wrong direction. I’m pretty happy there is google maps these days 😆
And did you at least dig in the spot marked X?
Ha ha no, without gps it’s hard to tell whether you’re within 10 metres of an X in the middle of a reserve. Also it was hot and very still and a bit creepy way out there tbh. Must have missed out on treasure! But more likely to belong to mafia than pirates, so I’m good with that.
Normally I have an innate sense of direction (I assume it’s just your brain subconsciously keeping track of your movements, sun or stars position, etc - weirdly I still have it even though I no longer do much as a pedestrian) but subway exits can be disconcerting!
Banana essence, in coconut water or apple juice is my new guess.
Ooh, it came in a glass at a restaurant but maybe it was something like this? I can’t find ingredients but it seems to be apple juice with banana puree in it. I guess that would give you a thin drink not like a smoothie, but would be sweet and bananary?
Honestly it feels like two lifetimes ago so I’m not sure that I’d be able to know if it was the same even if I tried it today, I just remember it was sweet, bananary, thin not thick and creamy like a smoothie, and that I ordered a second one because I liked it so much. It seems to make sense that it might come out of a can. It wasn’t further explained, so I guess it’s a bit like ordering a coke.