Culture = Food!

Last year I learned a valuable and life changing lesson from fantastic foodie friend.  Culture IS Food! Why stick to the touristy "hot spots" and see a bunch of foreigners when you can sit at a wonderful cafe with the locals and really ingest their culture.  

It's true that food is cultural... but there is a difference between “food=culture” and “culture=food.”  In the first, food is just another aspect of a cultural experience like language or architecture.  In the second, the essence of culture boils down to food.  What people eat, how they eat it, where, with whom, when.  What better way to discover the true lives of people than to enter into their culinary culture.  

Night Food market- great people watching and incredible munching

Eating is more than a means of sustenance...Relationships, politics, social structure, can all be understood around a dinner table (or, in Asia, on stools at outdoor market).  It is for this reason that I now LOVE to search out the best and more traditional tastes of the lands I visit.  I am not to the point of fully abandoning the "big sights" altogether, but eating with the locals holds a lot of weight in my travel itinerary!  

Lok Lok in Penang

Cuddle Fish anyone?

Seafood Laksa- Singapore

My favorite place in Singapore!  Lau Pa Sat food market- everything and anything available to eat!

Conflicted Enjoyment

(the first of many posts on my recent escapades around SouthEast Asia)

I just returned from the wonderful opportunity of traveling around Thailand and Cambodia with one of my best friends. It was an incredible experience: standing in awe of breathtaking nature, savoring unique and tantalizing flavors, being adventurous and crazy... However, mingling with my fascination and wonder was burden and heartache.

The sights of SouthEast Asia revolve around its vibrant culture-intimately tied to its ancient spirituality. I spent days visiting Buddhist temples and shrines. They are beautiful. Ornate. Overwhleming. Glimmering with mirrors and colored glass. Enrobed in Gold Leaf and lavished with intricate engravings. While I can stand and appreciate the artistry of these places and be intrigued by the diversity of cultures around the world, I could not help but sit in the weight of hopelessness embodied by these gilded buddhas.

I found it difficult to enjoy the grandeur of my surroundings when they represented empty promises and powerlessness. My heart broke as I stood in the midst of people purchasing and offering sacrifices, prostrating themselves and praying. I understand cultural differences and love the diversity of this world- but being in so many places of worship to false gods burdened my soul for the Truth to be known and His power and abundant life experienced across culures and borders.

New Kicks!

The 'oh so fabulous JHam' (and her inspiring accomplice Etsy) have recently rekindled my need to create.   And what's more fun than art you can wear!!  A couple days ago while looking for running shoes, the girlies and I found a much more entertaining option than athletic wear- plain white Vans-esk slip-ons.  (i say "Vans-esk" because these particular $5 shoes are actually LeiNiEr brand- the E Asia knock-off equivalent of their more known "Off the Wall" counterparts)

Reminiscent of Jr. High when skaters and skate shoes ruled the school, and the coolest of cool kids customized their kicks with sharpies and white-out pens, we each bought ourselves some new kicks and dreamed at the possibilities of the blank canvas.  

When pen (and paint) finally hit paper (or... canvas) this was the result:  

I suggest everyone go out a design your own shoes.  Its super Fun- I kinda want to make a pair for every mood.

Kaleidescope of Happiness

Vibrant colors make me happy!  

I love walking out my apartment door and having the world at my fingertips.  The curbside market full of bowls, mops, thinga-ma-jigs and whatcha-ma-call-its brings a bright splash of joy to the drab greyness of Asia.

The neat rows of beads and gems always add a little sparkle to my day.  I love taking a gander at table after table of trinkets and goodies.  Whether curbside commodities or indoor accessories, markets make me smile.

                                 

Who says kaleidoscopic art can't be aesthetic and appetizing?! One of the few coffee shops to be found in our neck of the woods offers fruit platters with pizazz!  Tasty and Fabulous. 

When the pollution, persistent smog and concrete everything get me down, I am happy to find a few treasures  to add some vivacity back to my life.  Hope you find something full of color and character today!

Roll OUT

It's a brand new year! So resolutions must be made, and maintained... or at least attempted! And so, in response to my blog happy friends (you know who you are) that need another digital distraction, I am starting up anew! Hopefully I will do a better job this time of staying on top of this thing. I have decided to surrender my hopes at this being an intellectual, thought provoking and intense stream of life's greatest questions, and instead am just going to scribble down my thoughts and experiences as they come. Lower expectations = greater likelihood of actually doing it!

So- let the good times Roll!!