Travel and International Telecommuting
Cupcakes are a big deal in New York …
Big in more ways than one. The good news is that calories don’t count on Valentine’s Day.
To top off our heart-day wishes for you, enjoy this latte. A bit of foam espresso art should warm your heart.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
There’s no denying that one of the best things about New York is the food. Not only can you get anything you want at any time of day, but the entire experience is usually a treat. Here are some of the highlights.
On one of our first nights in New York — back when we were sleeping on an air matress — we were out looking for food when it started to rain. We ran into The Chicken Festival to escape the weather, and we’re so glad we did. It’s since become one of our favorites. Reminds me a little of the food we ate in Panama. (Rice, beans, and roasted chicken. Yum.)
The Today Show introduced us to the Vendy Awards — an annual contest where the people of NYC vote on the best street food. We were so impressed by the idea that we had to try an Indian kati roll at the Biryani Cart in Midtown. As Jason said: “It was so hot it almost burned our faces off.”
It looks harmless, but its pretty darn spicy. And delicious!
Of course, we’ve sampled our share of Chinese food since visiting NYC. Our favorite is the Grand Sichuan, but on our anniversary we visited Our Place on the Upper East Side. This is a picture of the “Amazing Chicken” dish I ordered (chicken on right, some sort of beef on left). I’m not sure if it was truly “amazing,” but it was certainly worth a photo.
And then there is our dining/tourist attraction meals. While it was fun to visit the same Tom’s Diner you see on Seinfeld, the food isn’t all that great (sorry, Tom). If you are here, we recommend you stop by for a cup of coffee and then move along to Sip, just right down the road, for a great brunch.
We spent five days in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Well, three full days and two travel days. But whatever, that’s not the point.
The point is that we had a great time just hanging out. It felt good to take some time off of work and to see more of Central America.
Bocas Town is the main center there among the nine-or-so islands that compose Bocas del Toro (mouth of the bull). Many of the buildings are built on stilts and sit over the water. While most everything in Bocas Town is within walking distance, making it to the other islands and to the beaches is done by water taxi.
This is Jason in a water taxi on our way to Starfish Beach. (I hope he was wearing sunblock — look at that shine!)
One of our favorite things to do while we were in Bocas was the eating. There are so many good restaurants close by that it was hard to choose. So we decided to try several different restaurants each night and do an appetizer at each one — bocas in Bocas is what we liked to call it.
Here I am patiently waiting for my martini and yummy bocas dip.
The water here is very clear. We spent a day snorkeling at Starfish Beach, we rented a sea kayak and explored the mangroves, and we made the journey to Red Frog Beach. Guess what they have there?
Little red frogs! Well, they looked more orange, but no one asked me. So whatever … it was great no matter the color.
You might be thinking … what kind of trouble? Sara, did you have a run-in with the Colombian drug cartel? Are you stranded on a tropical island with nothing to eat but coconuts and mangoes?
Unfortunately, our trouble is nothing that exciting. But it is exciting none the less.
For starters, when we left Costa Rica for Panama last Saturday we had to leave an entire suit case worth of belongings behind. This is partly because I might’ve overpacked for our 4-month trip to Costa Rica and didn’t want to pay the fees for the extra suitcase on our flight to Panama. I also left a lot behind because I was tired of wearing some of the same clothes over and over again, and I couldn’t really justify bringing gallon bottles of soaps and shampoos along.
Mental note: Sometimes buying in bulk is not a bargain at all.
Once I managed to part with all that crap that I don’t really need anyway, we made our way to the Liberia Airport. Our first flight was on a small plane that was knocked all over the Costa Rican skies thanks to a wind sheer from these small hills that they call mountains. Although Jason was convinced it was going to be the last flight of his life, we did manage to land in San Jose just fine.
Our connecting flight to Bocas del Toro, Panama, was a bit of an adventure too.
We were the only ones on the plane to Bocas. It might be the first and last time I am able to fly on a “private jet.” I had to snap a picture of Jason to prove it too. Pura vida, honey.
As we descended on Bocas del Toro we couldn’t help but notice the partial fence that surrounded half of the airport. It was also hard not to notice the baseball field and baseball playing men located just past the the landing strip and within the boundaries of the fence. I wonder if baseballs pose a risk to take off and landings?
Anyway, we exited the plane and then aimlessly tried to find our way into the airport. There were no clear signs and no airport staff paying close enough attention to tell us where to go. After finally figuring it out, we waited in a small room with two doors.
One door said customs and the other door said immigration. Next to the doors was a desk where a man sat with his legs up while he slept. Apparently the immigration officer was on a lunch break and the guard was on siesta, so we just sat and waited for 15 minutes.
Once that was all taken care of and we had paid for the pretty Panamanian tourist stamps to be stuck in our passports, we headed out to find a cab. Cabs cost a $1US in Bocas, but wouldn’t you know it…we spent our last dollar at the immigration office.
So off to the ATM we went where we discovered that my ATM card did not work and that Jason’s ATM card was MIA.
Bummer.
In the end, we got everything all worked out, but it was an exciting six hours. All was forgotten once we unpacked our bags and started to explore all that is Bocas Town.
Last weekend we took three days to visit Montezuma, which is on the bottom tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. We had some really good moments and some not so great moments.
Of course, the road to Montezuma was tough – loud, dusty, slow-going. But the views were excellent.
Here’s Jason eating pie for breakfast. We stayed in a cute little hotel (El Sano Banano) that served great breakfast. Most everything in Montezuma is vegetarian and organic, so needless to say, Jason was hungry.
Jason takes most of the photos you see on the blog, but every now and again I luck out with a good photo of my own. This photo I managed after an iguana scurried down from a tree I was resting under.
Later that day we saw the infamous white-faced capuchin monkeys for the first time. Caught up in all the excitement, I started taking shots like crazy, but none turned out that well (a/k/a all the pictures are just plain bad) and the monkeys were being naughty, which didn’t help.
The water was an amazing blue color and it was clear! But the waves were strong and the rocks made it almost impossible to swim and snorkel.
The next day I drug Jason out of bed at 6am to go on a hike to see a waterfall. He got stung by a bee (twice) and slipped on a rock. Our little adventure wasn’t the highlight of his trip. I think he would rather have been eating pie.
I’ve noticed over the course of the last six months that many of our friends and family ask about the food on our travels, and I don’t blame them. I’m asking about food a lot myself.
Is it expensive?
Are you sure it’s chicken?
How spicy is it really?
What sort of beer will go best with this dish?
Food is important to all of us, and for that very reason I’ve decided to devote this post to food in Costa Rica.
For starters, we have our own kitchen in our cabina so we’re able to cook a lot of our own food — both American style and Tico style. We discovered pretty quick that American food is a total rip off here (my mom and I purchased a case of Diet Coke for $12 and my dad is still a little upset about it) so we’ve done our best to eat local cuisine both at home and when we go out.
What is the local cuisine, you ask? Rice and beans. There might be eggs or some kind of meat with that, but the “typical” Costa Rican meal is all about the rice and beans.
Thank goodness we like rice and beans.
Yes, there is a lot of good seafood to be had, but I think that goes into the category of “food only the tourists eat” and therefore is tough to come by at a reasonable price.
Next on the list of delicious Costa Rica items available for consumption is the coffee. Yum. We love coffee from Costa Rica. Negro for Jason and con leche for me.
Other foods/drinks we like eating/drinking here:
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008. We left Singapore today (boo) and flew to Penang (an island about 600 miles northeast). Penang is part of Malaysia, but very much like Singapore, it was colonized and developed by the British Empire. Our guidebook says it offers all the best of Malaysia, and we’re quite excited.
First, can I tell you how great both Singapore Airlines and Changi International Airport are? The airline is great – super friendly staff, everyone wears smart uniforms (the flight attendants looked hot), and even though our flight was only 45 minutes long, we got two drinks and a nice little sandwich as a snack. Asian airlines blow their U.S. coutnerparts out of the water when it comes to service.
Changi International Airport was amazing as well. It looks nice, it’s huge, it’s very open and friendly feeling, it’s pretty easy to navigate, and they have one of the smartest security setups I’ve ever seen. Once you check-in, you can do whatever you like in the main concourse (like Bangkok). Security is a breeze because each and every flight has it’s own security team. When it’s time to board your aircraft, there’s an x-ray machine and security staff waiting for you at the gate. It doesn’t take long to get through security because the only people you’re waiting on are also on your flight. If there’s a problem in security, good news – YOUR FLIGHT WON’T LEAVE. Everyone that’s on your flight will be waiting, just like you. Very smart indeed – but I imagine it takes more people to provide security to each flight, so I doubt I’ll ever see this in a major US aiport.
Once we landed in Penang and made the long drive from the airport to Georgetown, we were hungry. Penang has a large variety of Hawker centers (like Singapore), but they aren’t as clean and nice. While searching for a place to find a nice meal, it occured to Sara and I that Thanksgiving, the famous U.S. holiday, was tomorrow. We started thinking about finding a real Thanksgiving meal, and we got a little homesick I think. What happened next, well, it’s funny but I’m a little embarassed.
WE WENT TO CHILI’S! There was one right down the street from our hotel in Georgetown (unbeknownst to us), and when we turned the corner and saw the sign, we both knew that’s what we wanted.
We justified it by saying it was “almost Thanksgiving” and we deserved some food from home. We ordered queso dip and chips for the appetizer, Sara had a rum and coke and chicken fingers, and I had an “Oldtimer with cheese.” My burger tasted like fish a little bit (they must have just cooked fish on the same spot on the grill that my burger cooked on), and Sara’s rum and coke was a huge task (you have to order them separately), but BOY OH BOY WAS IT GOOD.
Chili’s for Thanksgiving – not the high point of my life but certainly not bad. You try being on the road in Asia for 9 weeks…you miss some things you never realized you liked that much. Like Seinfeld re-runs, smooth sidewalks, clearly marked road signs…and Chili’s.
Friday, November 21st, 2008. After a full day of flying – from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Singapore – all Sara and I wanted to do was grab a meal and crash. Like most couples, finding a dining option that is mutually acceptable is as much a negotiation as an art form. For example, here’s a common pitfall:
Jason: “What sounds good for dinner?”
Sara: “I don’t know, anything I guess.”
Now only a fool would interpret Sara’s response to mean that “anything” is acceptable. “Anything” is most certainly NOT acceptable – the actual meaning (a translation, if you will) is “I’m hungry, but not hungry enough to know exactly what I would like and I am open to suggestion. Still, I have some strong opinions about what I will and will not eat.”
Being that I’m an experienced dinner negotiator, I’ve learned to respond to Sara’s statement with “Well, what doesn’t sound good?” Then, using a process of elimination, we arrive at a cuisine that’s mutually acceptable (albeit not exactly what either wanted). Such is life.
HOWEVER, while visiting Singapore, we’ve discovered a way to both get exactly what we want without compromise. The solution, known as a “hawker center,” is a large food court that offers at least 12 dozen types of food at ridiculous prices.
Sure – I know what you’re saying: “Jason, I’ve been to a food court before.” Well maybe so, but you’ve never seen this kind of variety of quality, fresh-cooked food. I’ve been to food courts too, and between the Sbarro and McDonalds and the Pei Wei I usually find in a U.S. food court I’m rarely enthused. Most of that food is already cooked, fatty, and bland. Not so at your average Singapore hawker center. The ingredients are prepared as you wait.
These food courts are called “hawker” centers because food vendors call out to you as you walk by their counters, shouting out their best meal offering to you in the hope that you’ll acknowledge them. You must take care when responding to these unsolicited offers – even the slightest acknowledgment is considered a commitment. Instantly, this “commitment” results in a flurry of activity. When you correct the hawker and tell them that you’re not interested, they feign confusion while wearing a very sad look on their face.
This has nothing to do with this post, but isn’t this a cool-looking building? It was a block away from our hotel.
For the un-initiated Asian traveler, this display will often cause a flood of guilt followed by a purchase of food you didn’t really want. Once you come to learn this is nothing more than a scam – a ploy to get tourists to buy food they didn’t order – you can begin to appreciate this highly developed sales technique.
Still, don’t let my comments give hawker centers a bad name. If you want to find a wide variety of quality food like you would find in a restaurant, for obscenely low prices (nothing was more than $5), a hawker center is the way to go in Singapore. Just watch out for the hawkers…
After Phuket we traveled to Chiang Mai, which is in northern Thailand and surrounded by mountains. Chiang Mai was an excellent stop and a place we wish we could’ve stayed longer.
Our first night there we walked from our hotel through the night markets, across the river, and to a restaurant called The Good View.
Beers are only $1 in Thailand and chicken curry is only a few more. Needless to say, it was a nice, inexpensive dinner overlooking the river.
About half way through our meal I looked up to the sky to see this huge orange light moving pretty fast. We started taking all these pictures because we thought it was a meteor or something. Then a few minutes went by and we saw six more and they were right on top of each other. We were freaking out a little not knowing what it was.
Jason finally turned around and asked a guy (who happened to be from Germany) what they were and he laughed at us, I mean really laughed at us. Apparently these were balloons of some sort that are lit on fire in order to make them float. Every year in November the Thai people celebrate the full moon and the coming dry season. This is part of that celebration.
Anyway in between bouts of laughter this guy said something like, “So did you think the Russians were coming?”
Well, yeah, something like that. Either that or the world was about to implode into a fiery mess.
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Holiday Gift Ideas for the Traveler
If you are shopping for holiday gifts for a friend or family member who loves to travel, check out the Our New Office travel packing list. We’ve got some great ideas for you.
I was watching the movie Benny and Joon the other night and couldn’t help but laugh when Joon said: A culture can be defined by its relationship to cheese.
I’m not exactly sure what that means, but as far as we can tell, most Asian cultures don’t value cheese and are therefore defined as a cheese-less culture.
That’s fine, but my culture is cheesy-loving kind and I miss it.
I don’t need a lot of cheese, just a little bit for my eggs and some good melty cheese for some chips would be good.
