Monday, May 09, 2005

ra-ra soup and fried potatoes

Like I mentioned before, food was a serious focus of the trip. This was because Nepalese tea houses do not do fine dining. This is fair enough. One of the things that you become very aware of in the Himalayas is that everything is either sherpa or yakked in, and sherpa or yakked out. That is a very physical, tangible existence. The sight of men carrying huge tins of tuna on their back climbing ahead of us was most disconcerting, and you certainly couldn't begrudge the tea houses their lack of choices. However, eating the same food for 14 days does begin to wear. And the choices were - rara noodle soup, fried noodles, fried potatoes with vegetables, spaghetti, momos, and some soups, and a lot of omlette. Oh, and dal bhaat. Each person had their own personal favourites, although we tried to mix it up as much as possible. Like I said, meat was off the menu. I have to say, my favourite meal of the day was definitely breakfast (hello porridge - dad would be proud of me. Maybe not the copious amounts of sugar I put on as "energy"). Anything after that was just perfunctuary eating. That's why coming back to Kathmandu and eating a chicken basket today, and steak last night, has been positively thrilling. The best thing about Kathmandu so far has been Mike's for breakfast. It was this place recommended to me by Nepali native (Patrick) and we had to walk through a fairly slummy neighbourhood to get there. Just when I was beginning to lose faith, I saw this green sign with the label Mikes, and we found this little oasis of colonial style. And the best breakfasts ever. David got the most huge huevos rancheros I have ever seen, I got waffles, corn bread and bacon (I was overwhelmed by choice and had to get it all!), and every one else got other such culinary delights like eggs benedict. It was less of a breakfast and more of an event. And just perfect for warding off the slight hangover that I had from last night's partying and early start today. My body clock for some reason thinks that 6am is a perfectly reasonable time to get up. Grr. Might well be going back tomorrow.

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