7NNT-Day 0: Prep

Lagman, shivit oshi, khao soi, pho, banh canh, pancit, jook-sing, laksa, hor fun.

It’s time to travel again. Case is packed, I know where my passports are, a new playlist has been synced to my venerable ipod mini, and the world awaits. Uzbekistan, Thailand, Viet Nam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore, 5 weeks of sun, fun, walking, touring, sweating, drinking, and of course, eating.

Some of these places I’ve been before (this is my 5th time in Viet Nam) while others are completely new and unknown, places I’ve only seen on maps, or read about, or, in the case of the first stop, gone from almost zero knowledge to at least being able to find the wikipedia page. While finding a wikipedia page is good, procuring an airline ticket is what’s important, and I’ve got that sorted. Tickets, passports, a theme, and a logo. Sorted.

This trip itinerary fell together fairly organically, bringing together places and events that made some sense to join together. Finding a theme was harder, as there are many things each destination has in common with most of the others, but with one or two exceptions. How do you link Uzbekistan, one of two double-landlocked countries in the world, with the Philippines, a nation comprising hundreds if not thousands of islands; or Ho Chi Minh City, where the sprawling chaos will be temporarily tamed for celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Viet Nam’s reunification, with Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous post-colonial island state under the eye of Viet Nam’s big brother, China?

In the end I’ve gone with noodles, that delicious staple that pretty much every country finds their own expression: dry, soup, dill infused, mixed with fish roe, tumeric yellow, deep fried, wheat-based, rice-based — in the hands of resourceful peasants there are no limits (I could, and probably should argue, that this tradition continues to manifest to this day in the cramped kitchens of poor uni students around the world).

So noodles. On this trip, no noodle dish will be deemed unworthy without sampling, no noodle soup shall go unslurped, no proffered dough coil will be turned away. There will be yellow noodles, green noodles, thick noodles, thin noodles, square noodles, flat noodles, round noodles, heck, for all I know there may even be pool noodles (though I won’t eat those).

So the quick version of the itinerary is as follows: L and I start in Uzbekistan, doing a bit of a tour around the main cities and attractions; then L heads home and back to work, and I head to Chiang Mai for a few days of wats and the like; then I head to HCMC for the huge communist party to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnamese reunification, which should be a sight to see; then I head to the Philippines, where I’ll hike Mt Pinatubo, see some crazy traffic, check out Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection, and wander where Magellen spent some of his last days; then it’s Hong Kong, to check it out; and Macau, same deal, with the added avoidance of casinos; wrapping up with a weekend in Singapore including some Mayhem with Lady Gaga.

Five weeks of living out of a suitcase, hopping planes and trains and buses and ferries, all the while sharing my generally ill-informed attempts of understanding and respecting cultures old and new and eating anything that stays still long enough. As always the Henry Rollins quote, “Smile, you’re travelling” will be front and centre, in every delayed flight (we’re kicking this whole shebang off with a 3 hour delay), every flight of stairs I’m having to carry my case up or down, every bump in the road (literal and metaphorical), every early morning start, and every crazy fluctuation in exchange rates (I’m not even going to try to predict these).

Along the way I’ll also be voting from overseas for the first time, eating large amounts of bread (Uzbekistan) and deep fried pork (Philippines), catching some awesome drag shows (and lamenting the closure of Singapore’s Tuck Shop bar), sampling amazing whisky, catching up with some pals, and generally trying not to be that annoying old white guy who only wants to eat with the clown under the golden arches while drinking imported beer. That ain’t how I travel. Day by day this blog will have random stories and musings on the world, different cultures, and other things that come to mind. There won’t be any paid endorsements, “influencer” bullmerde, or AI generated anything. That I promise. There will, hopefully, be more photos in these posts, this time around.

There will be noodles. Lagman, shivit oshi, khao soi, pho, banh canh, pancit, jook-sing, laksa, hor fun.

All of these and many more await.