Vegetarian – Kuala Clare

USA! Chicago and Milwaukee

This is quite a diversion from my otherwise mainly Asian escapades, but taking things chronologically, my next significant trip last year was to the USA. I had been to Chicago before, so this time was less about seeing the sights and more about going to a wedding and catching up with friends and their dogs. I really love the city and recommend visiting.

One interesting part of this trip was my solo journey from Kuala Lumpur to Chicago, via Shanghai. I use the word “interesting” purely in hindsight, to be clear. It was severely dull at the time. I believe it took about 37 hours in total, including a 2 hour delay on board the plane at KL airport (ugh), 6 hour flight to Shanghai, overnight in an airport hotel, then a 14 hour flight to Chicago. I remember the time zones bamboozling me and totally destroying my body clock, as I was due to take off in Shanghai around 12 noon and land in Chicago approximately one hour later, local time. The time difference was about 13 hours, so basically completely upside down and back to front. It seemed like a lifetime of horrible plane food and bizarre movies, but I was very happy when I finally arrived!

In Chicago we went to a wedding – a weird one for me, as I hadn’t met the bride or groom before (they’re Joe’s friends, I’m not the world’s most dedicated wedding crasher) so I won’t write too much about their wedding here. Their photographer did use us as models (or you might prefer to say dummies) for the official photos though and look how cute we are! I’ve also added a couple of snaps of us dancing because I think they’re quite funny.

We stayed the whole time with my friends from Northern Ireland who moved to Chicago. I visited them in November for Thanksgiving a few years ago, which is when I did more of the tourist things (and a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, a.k.a. the turkey trot).

One activity which I was happy to repeat again was the architecture boat tour on the Chicago River. You get loads of great views, some information about the history of the city and famous buildings that make up the skyline, and this time (June) it wasn’t freezing! We also went to see two different shows – one was called ‘Ms. Blakk for President’, about America’s first drag queen presidential candidate (it was as fun as it sounds but also moving) and the other was “She the People”, a really funny (and all female) sketch show, which was also brilliant.

I love a walking tour anywhere, so we did one of those focussed on the gangster history of the city, drank wine, ate pizza and played with my friend’s adorable dogs.

We then went for a few days to Milwaukee, which was about 3 hours away by car in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee is known for a few things, two of which are beer and cheese. The timing was pretty good for me, as I didn’t drink beer before moving to Malaysia, where I’ve acquired quite the taste for it on a hot aftern… evening. And I’m still not a fully fledged vegan, despite my occasional efforts, so I fully indulged in the cheese as well. We went on two brewery tours – the Lakefront Brewery, which was fun, quirky and served fries with beer cheese sauce (as good as it sounds), and the Pabst Brewery, which gave a more historical educational tour, and also served beer and cheese.

All hail the queens of cheese!

On the way back to KL, we stopped for 6 days in China, so that’s up next!

March 31, 2020March 31, 2020 by kualaclare Categories: Cheese, Chicago, Illinois, Destinations, Food, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Travel, USA, VegetarianTags: Chicago, Milwaukee, Travel, USA 1 Comment

Adventures in India, Part 2

Coming to you from an (almost) lockdowned Malaysia, at a time when it’s least likely that anyone will be interested in my trip to India almost a year ago. But here it is, the long awaited Part 2…

Agra (Uttar Pradesh)

Let me be honest first about Agra in general – it was very dirty. If you can imagine what a quite underdeveloped, busy, hot city with a barely functioning sewage system and cows doing as they please all over the place might smell like, well, you can imagine the scent of Agra. It was quite shocking for the city boasting India’s most famous attraction, but even the street where we stayed right beside the Taj Mahal was “squiffy”, as my mummy would say.

But I don’t regret going here. The Taj Mahal really is magnificent and beautiful. I was really amazed when I saw it for the first time, because it’s one of those things that is almost a figment of your imagination until you see it, and it actually looks like it does in pictures (except bigger and better). Unlike pretty much everything else around it, it’s pristine and glowing. I said magnificent already, but I’ll say it again. Magnificent!

A few more positive things that I’d like to say about Agra is that people were really nice, the food was good (but this was basically true everywhere we went in India), and they have some quirky rooftop bars. Not swanky rooftop bars. Haphazard little things on relatively small buildings about 4 storeys high where you can sometimes see the Taj and always hear the chaos of the streets below. One night we were sitting on one of these and saw a little boy on a roof a few streets over, just sitting there. I thought he was too far away to notice us among all the other rooftops and sights, but then he gave us an adorable little wave and it made my night.

Jaipur (Rajasthan)

Jaipur was very hot, humid, and overall pretty fun. It is famous for shopping and I really did love the markets. I read that you simply must haggle with the traders. If you show any interest in an item at all, expect the hard sell. I soon realised that having a general browse like I might do at home isn’t really possible, because when you genuinely don’t want something and try to walk away, the price reduces drastically and the pressure to buy is amped up. But always a fan of a bargain, I enjoyed playing the game, pretending not to want a pair of colourful Rajasthani slippers with actual bells on (as if I wouldn’t want these) and now can occasionally be seen and heard wearing them around Kuala Lumpur.

Jaipur is also full of very grand old buildings, forts and temples. We visited Nahargarh Fort up on the hills, the Hawa Mahal (an old pink stone palace) and sat by the lake at the Jal Mahal (palace in the middle of a lake). We initially planned to do more, but it was very hot, around 45 degrees centigrade, and humid. And I was growing impatient with the constant unwanted attention from locals taking photographs of us, with or without speaking to us or acknowledging that we were not just inanimate objects that had been placed in the city for peoples’ amusement. It wasn’t everyone, but it was a lot. I can understand children being innocently interested in some foreign looking people, or locals being generally welcoming and friendly of course, but I don’t think following someone around taking pictures of them because they look different is cool behaviour from fully grown adults. So if you ever see photos of me looking like a sweaty version of the unimpressed-sideways-glancing emoji, they’re probably from Jaipur.

In summary, India…wow. What a place! This was a trip that I’ll never forget and I’m so glad I had the chance to explore this country a little bit. It can be quite a stressful place to be and was undoubtedly a culture shock for me, but I would like to go back. Thankfully there’s quite a large population of Malaysians who are Indian or Indian-origin so I can keep enjoying the delicious food, for now.

March 19, 2020 by kualaclare Categories: Agra, India, Indian, Jaipur, Taj Mahal, Travel, VegetarianTags: Agra, Asia, India, Jaipur, Taj Mahal, Travel 2 Comments

Adventures in India, Part 1

It’s been a long time since I wrote about anything on this blog. I don’t think I’ll realistically catch up on everything, but one trip that I want to record is India. These so-called adventures (normal trip to India) took place in April. This is going to be in two parts, because there’s so much to say.

We spent about 2 weeks in northern India – starting in Amritsar, then moving on to New Delhi, Rishikesh and Agra, before finishing up in Jaipur. If you don’t feel like reading on I can summarise with the following: India was hot, chaotic, fascinating and a vegetarian’s dream. Oh and it’s true that there are cows everywhere. I was also asked some interesting questions like, “are those your original eyes?” For anyone else wondering, they are.

Amritsar (Punjab)

This was my first taste of India, and oh what a taste it was! Speaking literally, the food was fantastic here. Speaking culturally, I can only describe it as a shock. In fact, I would say the entire experience of India was a culture shock like no other for me.

When we first arrived, I was struck by the number of stray dogs roaming the streets, the madness of the roads, the noise, the dirt and encountering some very poor people living on the streets. These are the things that shocked me and which I had never seen to such an extent before.

Getting Indian SIM cards was an ordeal and a half, but aside from the SIM cards which we eventually got, the process also involved a guy taking these delightful mugshots of us after about 4 hours of scurrying around in the dusty heat trying to understand literally anything.

But it was definitely not all negative. In fact, Amritsar was probably my favourite place in India. We stayed in an Airbnb with a lovely couple who served us fresh aloo paratha (basically potato bread with some spices) each morning with some chutneys and yoghurt, arranged a driver to take us to main sights in the surrounding area and generally treated us very kindly. I really loved the food here. One of the local specialities is makhani dahl (black lentil dahl) which is now a favourite Indian dish of mine!

Amritsar is an old city. I saw no high rise or modern looking buildings at all. There was nothing familiar to me in any sense, but after the initial shock and feeling of being overwhelmed, I really appreciated the history and culture here.

The highlight was the Golden Temple, which is the most important temple in the Sikh religion. A close second was the Partition Museum, which was really interesting and well presented. We had a local driver arranged by our hosts who took us around the main places of interest, and as a Sikh himself he was a great companion at the temple and made sure we behaved ourselves and saw everything! Although we still had a language barrier, I would definitely recommend having a local driver or guide, as getting around in India alone as foreigners can be quite difficult and intimidating.

Another unexpected highlight was going to the India-Pakistan border from Amritsar. I don’t believe the India-Pakistan border is generally a safe place to be, but this one part called Attari-Wagah is fine. They conduct a ceremony there every night, which involves military displays on either side and then very briefly opening the gates between the two. The most surprising part of this was the build up. It was, like so many things in India, insane. Speakers blaring out what I would describe as Bollywood style music (although I’m no expert), the crowds going absolutely wild with India flags waving and painted on their faces, and just general mayhem, in a very joyous energetic way. At one point the main area between the viewing stands was cleared for women and children to come down and have a big raucous dance. Of course I joined in and it was such a funny happy experience, all the gals dancing together away from those pesky men for a change. Then the ceremony itself was fascinating. We couldn’t see too clearly on the Pakistan side but the uniforms and the style of marching etc. seemed very similar. The main difference I could see in the crowds was that the India side was extremely colourful and rowdy, whereas the Pakistan side appeared a bit more subdued.

Chandigarh (Haryana) & New Delhi

From Amritsar we took a bus (again with the help of our hosts) to Chandigarh, which was the most modern and “familiar” feeling city we visited in India. We only spent one night here to go to a cricket match, my first ever! It was actually pretty fun, the Indian fans were so full of joy and energy, I didn’t have to understand the game too much to enjoy myself.

From Chandigarh to New Delhi, where we met friends to celebrate their wedding. We had limited time here and the only thing we really did was attend the Mehndi ceremony for the wedding, which is when the bride and the female guests get their henna designs for the big day. The bride had the most intricate designs on her hands, arms, legs and feet, and the rest of us had some on our hands and wrists only. I absolutely loved this, as you can see from my excited little face and the number of photos I took of my own hands. (Also check out my gorgeous outfit, made to measure in Little India, KL!)

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Rishikesh (Uttarakhand)

The wedding itself took place in Rishikesh. The Indian airline we were meant to fly with went bust the day before, so we took a 7 hour taxi instead. We took several inter-city taxis in India and they were all ridiculous experiences. They were very cheap for the distances and length of time the journeys took, but the driving in India is truly outrageous. There seems to be no concept of lanes, lots of horn-tooting, and the main tactic to avoid collisions with other vehicles is to SPEED UP and dodge. Still traumatised.

The wedding itself was extremely colourful, beautiful and fun. It was unlike any wedding I’ve ever attended. The groom entered on horse and cart, following a parade of dancers (including yours truly) down the street with a live band. There was no alcohol and honestly it didn’t matter. And finally, the food was all vegetarian and was bloody delicious.

Rishikesh

Joe in his turban

Before the outfit change

Posing on the Ganges

Bride and groom

Aside from the wedding, Rishikesh was actually a disappointment for me. I found it really dirty, noisy and crazily busy. Cows with big horns roamed small winding streets, in what I considered to be a menacing fashion. It was a very stressful place to be. This is the alleged birthplace of yoga. At the very least, it’s a big hub for yoga lovers and teachers, even if its not the birthplace. And while it’s a naturally beautiful place, I just didn’t get any of the secluded peace you might expect to find there. I didn’t look terribly hard, to be fair, but I was honestly pleased to get out of Rishikesh after a few days of the mayhem.

We also went to the famous ceremony along the Ganges which ends with everyone lighting little baskets of flowers on fire and setting them into the river, but bizarrely I don’t seem to have photos of that. Must have been having a spiritual moment or anxiously avoiding some cows. But here’s a view of the Ganges taken from a small hike we did into the foothills of Himalayas.

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I also got some great pictures of the monkeys who invaded our balcony too.

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That’s all for now. Adventures in India, Part 2 (featuring Agra and Jaipur) coming soon to a blog* near you!

*this one.

November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by kualaclare Categories: Amritsar, Chandigarh, Destinations, Food, Ganges, India, Indian, New Delhi, Rishikesh, Vegetarian 1 Comment

Veganuary in Malaysia

This post is a little bit different because it’s specifically about food, which is another important part of my life in Malaysia and my #1 favourite thing. Specifically, it’s about my attempt to go vegan this January, or VEGANuary, as people are calling it. You can only really say this word by completely mis-pronouncing the word vegan, but that’s ok.

I am already a vegetarian and have been for just over a year. This “decision” was based on nothing more than a month-long experiment to see if I could do it, with no particularly strong ethical basis, health concerns or conviction. My journey began when I still lived in Belfast, where I was surrounded by familiar ingredients and cooking facilities, as well as plenty of excellent restaurants with vegetarian options. So I didn’t have to compromise on taste, variety or treating myself.

So, it’s possible that I would have continued to live a meat-free life without further educating myself, because it was easy. But I did start to read more about the benefits of a vegetarian diet, not just for me but for the planet (and obviously the animals). I’m not going to go into loads more detail on this, because I don’t want to preach about the ethics of it all, but it’s pretty convincing. I am just going to talk about my own choices and efforts to move to veganism in a non-judgemental and honest way.

Veganuary: why?

My views on and commitment to being vegetarian are always becoming stronger. I feel that, for me, there are many good reasons to give up meat and only one selfish reason to keep eating it. But that reason (wanting to) was based mostly on habit and has now disappeared. At the minute I have no desire to eat meat so it’s easy to be veggie. It’s what I want, in every sense.

But what I do still want is milk, cheese, cream, eggs, butter and more butter. But the reasons I believe in vegetarianism also apply logically to veganism. It’s the same argument and I actually think it’s the right thing for me to do, based on what I’ve learned about the dairy industry. Once I started to really think about this, I had to try it.

Veganuary in Australia

I started while in Australia, specifically New South Wales. Very little effort is required to be a vegan here. With a dark chocolate coconut milk ice cream in hand on day 1, I felt pretty good about it.

During the trip, we stayed with a lovely couple along the Great Ocean Road who kindly offered to cook dinner for us. We didn’t think it would be fair to accept the offer and then ask them to cook a vegan meal. This isn’t a great story for me, because by coincidence the vegetable pasta dish they made DID happen to be vegan, apart from the parmesan cheese I voluntarily, though absent-mindedly, sprinkled on top. Oops.

But this was a small blip as far as Australia was concerned. If I had stayed there longer, I’m fairly sure I’d have continued Veganuary with relative ease and pleasure.

Veganuary in Malaysia

The food scene is amazing but a little bit more complex in Malaysia.

The cheapest way to eat in KL is to eat out. Food is a really important part of Malay culture. For example, I’ve learned that “dah makan?” (have you eaten?) can be used as a general greeting instead of saying hello, or how are you.

The food of KL is particularly diverse. You’ll find a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines, but it’s also pretty easy to find Italian and other western food. They just love FOOD, all of it. Here we are enjoying an 8 course tasting menu at a vegetarian Mediterranean restaurant in KL (with a Malay twist, i.e. more spicy than expected).

A vegetarian can survive eating in all kinds of places here, but my favourites are the Indian restaurants. There are loads of them, where the food is cheap, delicious and in most cases, completely or mostly vegetarian.

This isn’t the best example of banana leaf curry, but it’s the only picture I have, taken in our first few weeks here. You usually get LOADS of rice which they’ll top up unnecessarily, 3 vegetable side dishes, sometimes dips and pickles, and not pictured here – they finish off with 3 vegetable curries that they’ll pour over the rice. I would say the average cost for one is about RM6, around £1.

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However, a lot of the Indian dishes are probably not vegan. I say “probably” because I often adopt a policy of blissful ignorance when eating out. I have been more aware and careful about my choices since January, but I’m sure I’ve still eaten dairy.

Since Veganuary, I am vegan when cooking or eating at home. We cook our own versions of local dishes and sometimes make a nut roast and all the (meat-free) trimmings on a Sunday. I’ve replaced milk with various alternatives like soy, almond or coconut milk and they’re all perfectly yummy in coffee, with granola, or whatever. Did I mention that I have always LOVED drinking milk? Well, I have. I think there’s nothing better than something rich and chocolatey with a glass of cold milk. So if I can replace milk with non-dairy alternatives and still enjoy life, it’s possible for anyone.

What I’m finding more difficult is identifying things which contain dairy, but not in an obvious way. Not eating an egg is a simple choice, but when it comes to pastry, some types of pasta, condiments, sauces, soups and, tragically for me, lots of Indian food, it’s not so obvious.

My future as a vegan?

I cannot strictly call myself a vegan, because I know that I have eaten dairy and will most likely continue to do so, at least occasionally, while I’m living in Malaysia. But this will mostly be accidental and/or relatively incidental. I am still a vegetarian and at the moment I’m happy to have cut down significantly on dairy, because it moves me in what I see as the right direction, and will make more of an impact than not trying at all. I don’t think I’m going to change the world on my own, but my conscience is (relatively) clear in the knowledge that I’m trying.

Here’s a collage of some food I’ve taken pictures of recently, at home and eating out, including various Indian dishes, our vegan roast dinner, Malay spicy fried rice, and the world’s most delicious big samosa (probably not vegan, sigh).

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February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 by kualaclare Categories: Chinese, Food, Indian, Indonesian, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysian, Plant Based Diet, Vegan food, Veganuary, Vegetarian 1 Comment

Bali: what’s the big deal?

Unlike the stereotypical Bali traveller, I wasn’t on a spiritual quest to “find myself” or party hard, but I was on a quest to have fun and relax after the weird misadventures of Lombok. And I was quite hopeful, because at least people go to Bali and, with it being so popular, I assume they enjoy it. I have even heard real-life humans say they love Bali.

People famously go to the island to “eat, pray, love”. Or in my case, eat badly, pray not get scammed, and love leaving. Overall I didn’t actually hate it, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it or understand the hype. Some of its best attributes were overshadowed by its worst ones.

Those best attributes include gorgeous sunsets, unique cliffside temples, beautiful scenery and some cute animals. I saw two monkeys having a HUG for goodness sake. These things are definitely to be enjoyed and appreciated.

I also met another sweet cat here, who did things like steal my breakfast and drink water from the swimming pool. What a weirdo.

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Bali’s worst attributes, in my experience, include some really poor food, dodgy taxi drivers and a general culture of taking advantage of tourists. And also some (different) monkeys terrorising and biting people.

Our first experience after clambering elegantly off the boat from Lombok was being approached, surrounded, shouted at and then followed by a mob of pushy taxi drivers as we tried to order a Grab (the Uber of Southeast Asia). I prefer Grab because you know who your driver is and the price is fair, agreed beforehand, and based on distance/time of day, rather than how much of a mug (i.e. tourist) you appear to be. It turned out that Bali has similar rules to Lombok, in that some areas are off limits to Grab and only local taxis are available. So, with tails between our legs, we eventually gave in to one persistent driver and haggled with him over the price to take us to our accommodation. Feeling that we were being overcharged but without any other choice, we went on our way.

He stopped along the way insisting we try some local coffee for free at some place he “recommended”. Tasting was free, but with a sales pitch and presumably set up so that we would buy this stuff and he would get a commission for having brought us. We didn’t buy any because we didn’t want any. This kind of thing isn’t too objectionable, but I don’t like it and on a long journey, it was a waste of time. I mean, just taking us to our destination would have been fine… oh wait, he didn’t even do that!

Arriving in the town where we were staying, he suddenly asked us to either pay more or get out here. His reason was that he didn’t know the address of our accommodation. We calmly and, I thought, quite reasonably, explained that we would tell him the address. You know, how ALL TAXI JOURNEYS WORK. He said he’d do that if we paid more. We explained that we negotiated the (already inflated) price on the understanding that he would take us to our actual destination. He wasn’t having it, and I was afraid that things would get more heated if we insisted, so we got out and at this point were able to order a Grab.

Throughout our stay, several times we were asked to pay more than the stated fare for a taxi for stupid reasons, including “bad traffic” before having set off on a journey that was then devoid of traffic. One driver who reluctantly agreed to accept the original fare then drove us to the wrong place. We didn’t rent a scooter because we read that police often target tourists and fine/ bribe them to avoid getting into trouble for minor violations or made up offences. We probably would have been ok, but I was getting the heebie-jeebies about Bali and didn’t want to take any chances.

There is so much advice online about all the ways you might be scammed here. What annoys me most is the attitude behind some of these posts, for example, almost proudly informing you that you WILL get scammed on your first visit, as if it’s a rite of passage. An inevitable thing that you have to go through to be part of the experienced-Bali-traveller club. A badge of honour. Or that, because it’s well documented, it’s your own fault if something bad happens. Umm…NO! It’s not fair, it’s not acceptable and it’s not “cool” to say you’ve been through it. I don’t think it should be encouraged or accepted as part of the deal. And what about those poor souls seeking inner peace and the meaning of life? Do they all end up nervous wrecks, realising they can only find happiness (on Bali) by being hyper-alert and suspicious at every turn while en route to the nearest wellness retreat to recover?

Maybe I let it get to me too much, maybe we were unlucky, but I can’t understand how so many people, especially those looking for some space and calm in their lives, really enjoy this place. We did get around different parts of the island, and some were better than others, but I feel like even on a good day, it’s quite nice at best.

Well maybe comparing it to a grey rainy day in the UK, looking at a spreadsheet and eating a soggy sandwich at your desk, it’s a better place to be. But comparing it to other destinations very nearby, where you can also experience a mix of culture, history, temples, beaches, cliffs, forests, and monkeys that might bite you at any moment because you looked at them sideways – it doesn’t stack up. I’m pretty confident that you can achieve all of the above with a little more fun, affordability and peace of mind elsewhere in Indonesia.

One thing I haven’t talked about much on this blog is being a vegetarian, but I would like to say that travelling as a vegetarian in Indonesia is generally a very easy and delicious experience. Exhibit A: tempeh. It’s the yummier version of tofu, made of fermented soybeans and with a much nicer texture and flavour. I know it might sound gross, but it’s not. Just trust me, it’s great, and the whole world should be eating it. Anyway, I did eat some nice food in Bali, but we went to some highly rated vegetarian spots and found them really disappointing.

Let’s end with the positives again, because it truly wasn’t all bad. Pictured below in no particular order are some of my favourite things that I would recommend in Bali: the temples at Uluwatu and Tanah Lot, learning to make coconut oil, the monkey forest and the Ubud water palace.

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….and AS IF I didn’t take a picture of the hugging monkeys!

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February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 by kualaclare Categories: Bali, Hindu temple, Indonesia, Lombok, Sunset, Vegetarian 4 Comments

This little piggie went to Jakarta

I may as well have been an actual little piggie if the reaction of local people was anything to go by. One of my lasting memories of my first day in Indonesia will be the crowds of children following us around the old town square trying to practice their English and take pictures of us. It was quite intense but I don’t want to complain about it because they were very endearing, sweet and polite. Except that girl who kept calling me “mister”.

What made me uncomfortable was that adults also openly stared at us, took photos of us often without asking, without attempting to say hello or speak to us like the children did. I saw one man pointing us out to his friends, by literally pointing at us. It’s hard to believe that we are that unusual a sight in a huge city like Jakarta. It is possible that there aren’t many tourists in the city, or that it’s just become socially acceptable to point at us here – the more people do it and we awkwardly smile, the more other people will do it. And there is a chance that I am the palest person in Indonesia, even with my “tan”.

We only had one day here so we spent time in the old town, including Fatahilla Square, the History Museum and the Wayang (puppet) Museum. Puppet theatre is big here, and I’m hoping to go to a puppet show somewhere in Java after seeing the museum. They are very artistic and intricate; some of them cute, some of them downright sinister.

Then we took a tuk-tuk (actually called bajaj in Jakarta but I wanted to say “took a tuk-tuk”) to the National Monument. We went inside but the tickets to the very top were bizarrely sold out. I don’t really understand this as it was still early afternoon and didn’t seem very busy, but there was quite a good museum inside on the history of Indonesia, so as a nerdy traveller I enjoyed this.

Finally, I have to mention the absolutely delicious vegetarian food in Indonesia. The most popular street foods here generally involve spicy peanut sauce, deep fried crispy things, or both. Need I say more?