Surf's Up

Camel Estuary, Padstow, Cornwall

One of my favorite places to surf turns out to be the cold, rainy, wind swept northern coast of Cornwall. I know I just sold the destination to you with that description, but bear with me. Cornwall is the English Florida. When you go off season it's mostly you and a lot of pensioners (English word for retirees), but that means its quiet and easy, which I prefer. July and August get a bit crowded, but any other time of the year and Cornwall is a wonderful, kinda magical, with a coastline dotted with extraordinarily pretty beaches, and, as it turns out, great places to surf. 

I have a very soft spot for Cornwall as its where I spent many formative summers freezing my little half-French bum on the beach until I was about 13 and decided I'd rather spend my summers in a country where it actually gets hot, like France. I did have one major advantage over all the other children, I tanned when the sun came out. Nothing marks you out like a healthy brown glow in a sea of angry pink. So the place is full of beautiful beaches, if slightly dodgy weather, and more importantly to the gastronomically inclined, this is the spot to get the best Cream Teas on planet earth. A Cream Tea (I'm capitalizing this on purpose, it deserves respect) for the uninitiated is comprised of a big pot of your favorite tea - I go for Darjeeling now - a mound of warm buttery scones, a shimmering sweet pile of fresh strawberry jam, and a large dollop of creamy cllotted cream. Clotted cream is basically impossible to find outside of the West Country in the UK, it doesn't export well and there is something very 'terroir' about the local cows and the quality of the cream. I should also mention that Padstow, the local attraction, is the headquarters of the Rick Stein empire, the man who taught the Brits how to cook fish again. It's a pretty little village, nestled in an estuary with a picturesque port and two Michelin starred restaurants.

To be able to eat as many cream teas as my digestive system would let me, I had to find a corresponding physical activity. As you can imagine, these babies aren't exactly low fat. (I've learned that if anything is both shimmery and creamy at once, then its probably damaging your arteries. Oh well). A few jogs on the coastal path were not going to cut it so, dragging my brother off the links course nearby, I signed us up for a couple of hours of surfing.

You have to wrap yourself up in a thick wetsuit, and it rained for at least one of our days in the water, but it was amazingly fun. No sharks or coral to worry about, a softly angled sandy beach, so no scary neck-snapping breaks, and, for the non-believers out there, some serious waves. For beginners like us we stayed close to shore and cut out when it got to big, or we got too cold. The beach we surfed on was Constantine Bay and neighboring Booby's Bay (yep, not a typo that's the name). At the top of Constantine, some local entrepreneur has set up a little espresso stand and never has a latte tasted so good. As my father has finally admitted, gastronomy has arrived in England. Quelle bonne surprise!

Saigon by Vespa

Before jetting off for old Blighty*, I had one more stop to make on this Asian leg of my trip, Saigon. Two days after arriving, I've realized I did not put aside enough time for Vietnam, with the result that this country is now at the top of my list of reasons to go back.

Actually, if I think about that list of "reasons" just a little (I'll get back to Saigon in a moment), I fall down the rabbit hole of never-ending travel. I see why you meet people who have set off on trips for just a few months and end up still on the road a year later. Travel is the ultimate of life's Pandora's boxes, once opened it unleashes all the good and the bad that makes life interesting. I've been tired on this trip, irritable, frustrated with local customs (lines people! Orderly lines! And why can't we disembark in a calm and, again, orderly way. Try it, it's a lovely way to live), unsure, lost and sometimes a bit lonely in all these new places. But at each stop, by the time it came to leave, I wanted to see more, eat more, talk more, stay longer, engage more with the culture, and in most places I daydreamed of finding a flat and staying (Bangkok especially). My trip had to come to an end though, nothing like an expensive and uncancelable plane ticket to motivate you to get at least half way back to the beginning.

Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, or both as the locals say, was a treat to end my trip on. I found the place young, fast, beautiful, colonial, new, definitely original, and rather unbelievable considering that 40 odd years ago it was bombed to hell and back. It's a rare country where I don't get a pass with at least one of my nationalities. Example, in Brazil, I need a visa on my US passport, but not my French one (again, score). In Myanmar, being American is a big plus ('merica!), English, mmm up for debate. In Vietnam I was stuck, and after a visit to the War Remnants Museum, felt pretty damn terrible. This museum is a powerful place, and worth a visit. Every where you turn you see well documented proof of the atrocities committed by the French and the Americans (and in my mind at least, the complicity of the Brits for not having done anything to stop their allies). The museum isn't, shall I say, very critical of the north Vietnamese regime for rather obvious reasons. But that's the thing about war, the winner gets to be the one who writes the history books (and in this case, curate the museum). Yet, the Vietnamese, in what I suspect is a very unique example, have moved rather rapidly and definitely beyond the past and accepted America and the ex-colonial powers as new global BFFs. At no point did I feel any animosity, rather the opposite, and this was confirmed by others who have spent much more time in Vietnam than I have.

What did I enjoy the most? Well the food obviously. It's a close race between Thailand and Vietnam. The two have a surprisingly large divergence in flavours, ingredients, and palates considering their close proximity. I haven't decided a winner, and it may just have to involve a trip back for a full proper match up, but what the Vietnamese do with spring rolls is pretty close to divine. Fried or fresh, with noddles or dipped in sauce, they should be a unique food group on that USDA food pyramid. Unlikely, but a girl can wish.

I had the luck of staying with friends which always helps to make a city make sense faster. On their recommendation, on my last night, I signed up for a Saigon after Dark by Vespa tour. I highly recommend it. This is not a city you get by walking around it, or even being driven around, it's a city defined by its immense scooter-riding humanity and insane traffic. At night, on the back of a Vespa its exhilarating.

Enjoy & see you next in Europe.

* London

Malaysia, truly Asia (the best ad campaign for an Asian country ever)

After our stop in Mae Sot, my travel sidekick and I headed to Malaysia. Our first stop was the food capital of Malaysia - George Town, Penang. Our second stop was two lazy days on a beach in Langkawi. I'll spare you the boring description of our amazing beach resort (amazing - The Datai) and just talk about food, food and more food! (Hmm this is maybe a reoccurring theme).

Our goal was to eat as much as we could, with a heavy emphasis on Roti, as we could in the 24 or so hours we allocated to our visit to the island of Penang. In many ways, Penang is quintessentially Malaysia and, yet, very much not. One of the three Straits city states along with Singapore and Melaka, it was a major crossroads for the Dutch and English spice trade and colonial presence for hundreds of years. George Town, the main city (though not the capital of Penang state, that's Butterworth across the channel and on the mainland), is a combination of colonial mansions, Chinese shophouses, Indian curry houses, and Muslim mosques. A true blend of the cultures that have plied their trade in the South Asian seas for centuries. Penang is heavily Chinese - usually south Chinese who speak Hokein, Cantonese and Hakka - which tones down the muslim influence in what is actually a majority Muslim country.

This lovely balanced and respected multiculturalism is one side of Malaysia that makes it rather unique in the world. Truth is Malaysia is also a pretty fiercely Islamic country and unfortunately becoming more strict in its interpretation - recent laws have passed that effectively help to reduce the rights of women. The Malays, who make up just over 50% of the population, and the Chinese, about 30%, haven't always gotten along and with this last election it's pretty clear that there are important unresolved issues around economic and political participation between the two communities.

That little bit of reality check behind, it is a fascinating place with one of the most diverse food cultures around. Take Chinese food, Indian food, South East Asian food, and local Malay food, and blend it together. The result is tasty and varied, and makes Penang one of the best places to visit just to eat.

I had visited the island about 10 years ago and since then the city has received UNESCO recognition and subsequent protection. Just in time too because your first impression is one of skyscrapers and ugly 1980s era buildings. As you get into the city and start to wander around you realize that there is a whole warren of beautiful streets lined with old buildings. It is a great little city to get lost in, you can go from expensively renovated Chinese homes to little winding streets with still-working shophouses to raucous little India for a lunch of Roti Canai.

We stayed at Muntri Mews, which I highly recommend, and had dinner at their big sister hotel 7 Terraces. Our day started with Kaya Toast (coconut jam and white bread) with Nasi Lemak (steamed rice with chilli paste, an egg, and tiny fried anchovies) for breakfast, chicken and rice Chinese style for lunch, about half a dozen Rotis for 1st dinner, with actual dinner consisting of pan-asian food at 7 Terraces. Not bad.

Ahh Rotis. The crepe of Malaysia yet so much more varied. Roti is a chewy, stretchy, flaky flat bread made to order. Singularly Malaysian it is a local take on a South Indian bread, and can be eaten with curry, ghee, honey, bananas, basically anything. When you come to Malaysia, do yourself a favor (if not to your waistline) and eat as many of these as you can.

Next stop, KL.

Mae Sot or food, food and more food

My next stop was a bit of a detour. Sue kindly invited me to join her on a visit to her friends' home in the small thai border town of Mae Sot. It is a pretty, run of the mill, sort of town, except for two interesting facts. It is the big cross border trading town between Burma and Thailand and the closest town to many large refugee camps housing people fleeing either political or sectarian violence in Burma.

The presence of Myanmar so close to town means the town has a distinctive Burmese feel and It was nice not to feel like we had left Burma completely behind us. That said we spent most of our time gorging ourselves on Thai food.

One nice little discovery about the town was the presence of multiple very affordable and fantastically stocked antique stores. The shops are full of early 20th century furniture, all in slightly rough nick, but now I know why that mid century modern cupboard costs $7,000: it was bought in Burma, sold in Thailand and shipped to San Francisco. A surprising thing to find on the main highway into Myanmar.

There isn't a real tourist reason to go to Mae Sot, but I would say its nice to get off the track and see normal life. We mostly ate - both myself and my luggage are now officially over the intra-Asian weight limit - and it's a toss up for favorite between Son Tam (papaya salad) and Fried Chicken or Khao Soi (north thai spicy coconut and noodle soup). Okay I'll stop now and show you some pictures. Next stop Penang.