the Malaysian Cowboy

(You’ll notice this is quite a long clip, there’s some editorializing and random thought in the second half of the video, depending on your mood, you may or may not enjoy that )

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 30th: Denver to Amarillo

The drive today was somewhat of a homecoming, in the sense that my journey would be bringing me back to good ole’ Texas, and I’d put up at the same hotel in Amarillo that I spent my first night of the journey. Down through Colorado I went, passing through New Mexico for a little while before entering more familiar territory.

Like most of the journey, the clear skies through most of the drive afforded me lots of wonderful photo opportunities. This first set is just outside of Denver, just off Interstate 25.

I continued down I-25 for much of the drive, at one point pulling a fair distance off the highway a little north of Pueblo. Again, the fields, clouds and general atmosphere were a far cry from the concrete jungles I usually frequent when I’m not driving across the southwest, and, had I the option, I probably would have spent the night out there looking at the stars….however, I did have a schedule to keep to!

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The Flickr Galleries: Day 1 | Day 2 || Denver: July 28th & 29th

After a good night’s rest and a late breakfast, our first stop was Casa Bonita, a wonderful dining experience similar to a Rainforest Café, only better. Now I must tell you that Julia and her mom went to great lengths to inform me that the food there was pretty bad, and, really, we were going for the experience over anything else. Obviously, being familiar with the numerous Tex-Mex dining options in Houston and Texas, while I can’t say I’m a connoisseur of good Tex-Mex, I can certainly tell good food from the bad stuff.

As it turns out, the food wasn’t really as bad as I’d expected (in fact, the nachos were pretty good, if not rather filling), and the rest of the experience was really cool (check out the video clip for a better idea)!

Having watched a few of the cliff diving shows and a pirate duel, we finished our meal and explored Black Bart’s hideout, which took us through a windy cave filled with lots of interesting creatures and sights.

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Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 25th: Bakersfield to Las Vegas

I began the day with some delicious waffles. Up to this point, given that most of my breakfasts have consisted of eggs with too much salt, bland cereal, and sausage patties, this was certainly a welcome change. I also had a simple-but-awesome smoothie of sorts, which consisted of milk, banana and wheat-germ. Like I said: simple, but with an awesome taste. I’m going to be making more of those when I get home! I said goodbye to Rafaela and her family’s wonderful hospitality, setting off to find some gas.

The drive to Vegas was slated to take about 7 hours, including a planned stop at Death Valley National Park. As you’ll see in the video, this leg did indeed end up taking 7 hours including all my photo stops, but I didn’t end up making it to Death Valley. More on that in a bit.

Though I didn’t quite know it as I pulled out of Bakersfield, today’s route would allow me a rather breathtaking trip through the Sequoia National Forest.

Initially, it seemed I was in more of a valley, with the mountains off in the distance, but that soon changed. Winding through the hills, while the drive down California Highway 178 was at times slow going, it was anything but boring.

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Hello long-overdue blog post! Today I finally began my long-awaited road trip. It’s been a while since my original post about the trip. In that time, I’ve been rather busy, spending close to two months in Malaysia (for which there are blog posts I still haven’t written, but do plan to), in addition to planning for this trip.

The final route for the trip has me headed from Houston to Amarillo, then on to Albquerque, Flagstaff, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Green River (Utah), Denver, back to Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and finally, back to Houston! Also on the agenda are The Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Death Valley National Park, and perhaps a few other things.

Now, back to today: the Houston to Amarillo leg of the trip.

I left home around 5:45 in the morning, and finally arrived at my hotel in Amarillo around 5:30 in the evening. So, a little under 12 hours on the road. Not too bad, I think, considering the numerous short stops to take photos, lunch, and one more stop to stretch early on.

Below are a few photos from my phone, I’m uploading the ones taken with my proper camera at the moment, and the full gallery for today will be viewable at this link.

There were a ton of interesting sights along the way some of which I documented with photos, but I’m way too tired to go through everything right at the moment, so I’m going to let these three (short) videos do a little bit of the talking for now.

Random things worth noting:

• Saw a carnival being transported. Group of about six trucks with all sorts of games and contraptions
• Amarillo’s a little windy.
• Lotta dead bugs on the car. Watching the dragonflies hit the windscreen was quite sad.
• There’s a good amount of road work going on on highways 83 and 287. Mostly re-tarring from what I could tell.

I promise all further posts will be longer and more interesting than this brief status update; I doubt I’ll be nearly as tired! Otherwise, things are going swimmingly thus far!

For me, few things compare to a good banana leaf meal.

For those who’ve never experienced such a meal, it’s easy to dismiss the picture above as just “some Indian food that happens to be on a banana leaf” as opposed to a conventional plate. And, objectively speaking, you’re right.

Still, there’s quite a bit more to this style of eating than first meets the eye:

• First, there’s the communal aspect. When you’re going to “do banana leaf” at a restaurant, while you can certainly go it alone, more often than not the experience is with a group of people. With you and your companions are sitting side by side using only your hands to nourish yourselves, there’s a sense that you’re closer to a more primordial, simpler way of coming to discuss issues. In a sense, when one chooses to dine at a banana leaf restaurant, apart from the awesomeness that is the food itself, there’s a good amount of an attempt to get up to date on the local happenings.
  • Admittedtly, this point has application to food in general. I guess my bias lies in the fact that, for me, and for those with an exposure to this culture, it really has a certain importance to me, in the way that one might crave the idea of late-night chinese takeout on a friday night, or getting bagels from that local bakery.
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Yesterday, I went into Harvard Square. After some good Thai cuisine courtesy of 9 Tastes, a friend of mine recommended Sweet Cupcakes. Needless to say, this small, quaint store quickly had me hooked. The store’s design is rather plain and simple, drawing your eyes to the variety of cupcakes on offer.

Whether you go with the Boston Cream Pie (Sweet chiffon cake filled with homemade pastry cream topped with chocolate ganache and a frosting “cherry”), or, perhaps, the Cheesecake (Creamy homestyle cheesecake with its own mini graham cracker crust. A dollop of cream cheese frosting inside and atop and finished with a light graham cracker dust; what I had, see image below), you’re definitely in for a treat. As you can tell from the ingredients, these cupcakes are anything but your average, run-of-the-mill stuff.

Personally, I think the experience is probably best if you stick to just one cupcake, rather than having a whole bunch in one sitting. Just make sure to savor the experience. For that, I recommend slowly devouring your cupcake with a provided fork =P.