For me, of course, one of the more intriguing notions about traveling to Asia was the food. I was not disappointed on that front, we had so many incredible meals, in fact I was a little surprised that I didn’t gain more weight as we ate our way through SE Asia.
Reflecting back, I think it was the fact that most of our meals were loaded with plenty of vegetables, some familiar, some completely foreign, but all were prepared with flavorful herb and spice combinations.
It takes me back to a lesson learned at The Ranch, which is to ensure that your plate is always 3/4 filled with vegetables, not a difficult assignment to accomplish on this trip.
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| This giant zucchini was present in many of our meals, note the scale compared to the egg cartons in the upper part of the image. |
Our final destination on this trip was a boat on the the Island of Flores, in the Java Sea, in East Nusa Tenggara in the Republic of Indonesia where we were meeting up with 3 other families to explore the Komodo National Park.
When I was looking at the globe, trying to scope out a route to get to our final destination, I realized that we had a long, LONG way to go to get to the Labuan Bajo Airport where the crew would be meeting us, and I saw the names of so many compelling places along the way that we would be flying over, so I thought, “why not make a few stops”?
With my globe on one side and Expedia.com at my fingertips I started exploring different scenarios that would get us to where we wanted to go. Influencing the itinerary is the fact that I’m a complete mileage junkie, with a preference towards Alaska Air, our fabulous local airline which partners with some great international airlines.
Our first stop was in Hong Kong, China, where we visited this “wet market” on a hot and steamy Saturday.
We were traveling with another family with whom we shared the ambition of getting up, getting out and getting on our new timeline as promptly and painlessly as possible. One of my number one strategies for breaking through jet lag is to start thinking about my future timeline a couple of days before lift off, and to try to shift my daily routine (primarily my sleeping schedule and my morning cup of coffee) as closely as possible to when I’ll be doing it in my new land.
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I also believe in making the travel a part of the adventure, so I like to indulge in the services and enjoy the opportunity to watch plenty of movies (a luxury I rarely partake in at home).
We took Korean Air over to Hong Kong. We found our business class seats to be some of the most comfortable we’d ever experienced. The extra cost of being able to get completely horizontal bought us the strength to get up and go the next morning,
after indulging in the incredible breakfast buffet, of course.
More on those dumplings coming soon…
Thanks for sharing wonderful information, it is really nice information.
The Black White Residence
Emily you can not imagine how much your travels inspire me…you always find the local flavor!
xoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
Emily-
You always inspire me! You take the most beautiful pictures and describe them beautifully!
Thank agains for taking us along!
Teresa
xoxo
There are many ups and downs in life, but those who struggle never lose, you have written such a beautiful post that I have been encouraged to struggle more by seeing this post, I also want to write good posts like you, the design of this post. It is very beautiful and the content that you have written in this post is even more beautiful..
Thank you, I am so glad that you enjoyed it. I like your philosophy, thank you for sharing.