Asia

The Holy River of Ganges – Food Poisoning, Death, and Scams

Varanasi remains to this day one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Grief and poverty, hope of reincarnation and casual indifference to burning human corpses, all blended within a rigid structure of strict funeral customs makes for a stunning picture to an unindoctrinated Westerner. It is a city unlike any I have ever been to – a place where both live and dead are looking for their next reincarnation.
It is not a place I am likely to forget.

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India – Lost Passport and Opium on Christmas Eve

Heading to India both Victor and I were completely paranoid about getting food poisoning which could ruin our entire vacation.  We inspected every plate, fork, and spoon and cleaned it with napkins.  We ate only cooked vegetables, didn’t order any drinks with ice, drank only bottled water, and were very careful not to ingest anything that wasn’t fresh or freshly cooked.  We carried on like this for four full days.   And it was this unparalleled state of paranoia and obsession with cleanliness that made the events of the fifth day so damn funny.

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The Happiest Pizza on Earth

We were in Kampot, walking around the main touristy street, when I noticed a strange abundance of Italian restaurants, to be more precise – pizza restaurants.  All the menus displayed pizza and pasta and a few other Italian/Western dishes, alongside traditional Khmer cuisine.  Every restaurant had the word “Pizza” in […]

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