Ohnno Kaukswe- Burmese wheat noodles in coconut chicken soup

WIth some friends, we were invited today for a typical Burmese fare that apparently can be found at food stalls in every corner of Burma or Myanmar. I think it is called Ohnno Kaukswe or it sounds like that. It really is very flavorful,  a bit like a cross between mee jawa and mee rebus.

I hope this is not shaping out to be a food blog rather than a travel blog. :-))

You start with a tray of condiments from ( clockwise) coriander leaves, onions, chili, fish sauce, salt and lime juice. You add all these condiments according to your preference to a bowl of noodles.

More condiments ranging from boiled egg, crackers made from noodles, a 'lentil' like from the bean family ( this was yummy and can be eaten on its own) and a bowl of chicken cooked in a secret (?) ingredient sauce.

You then add the gravy which is made from coconut milk, chicken stock, pea powder on to the noodle. The fried stuff like the crackers can be added in after the soup so the condiments are not so soggy. The noodle was really authentic.

Voila...the finished product for consumption.

We were then offered a tray of most interesting after meal 'desserts'. 

On the bottom left was fried garlic. Clockwise, we have ginger in lime juice ( takes getting used to), followed by fermented tea leaves ( apparently plucked as young shoots and then buried in a jar in the ground for several months to ferment the tea leaves) , fried dried shrimps , sesame seeds and in the middle of the tray broad beans. We were supposed to mix all together. The combined mixture complemented each other and was very edible unlike the sampling of the individual ingredients.

A lovely way to spend an afternoon experiencing a different food culture. Thanks to April Guess.

Anecdotes on China

A sea of local tourists at one of the tourist sites in Xiamen

Some observations
Unlike 10 years ago, where foreign visitors easily outnumber locals at most tourist attractions, visiting China these days is really something else.With a decade of economic growth and better incomes,the locals are traveling and visiting their own tourist sites in record numbers. You will be confronted with a sea of locals at all major attractions so taking photos is really a challenge and requires great patience. Often you are forced to take a picture filled in with many 'unknown' Chinese faces. You acquire an  instant family whether you like it or not. Picking a choice position to take your award winning shot is not possible because, hey, everyone has the same idea and you have to wait your turn to take that shot. Welcome to the new reality. Patience and forbearance and a sense of humor helps. :-))

Toilet queues for ladies are long and the hotels are all full and the ride up to the tourist attraction is all jammed up with buses filled with local tourists. We thought choosing our tour during weekdays will mean less crowds but this is a myth. There is a sea of people everywhere 7 days a week.

On hotels
Generally, whether 4 star or more, do not stay in a local hotel that is more than one year old because the maintenance standards are very much suspect. Locals ignore the signs that say no smoking in the rooms and so some of the rooms really stink. Check if the hotel is under renovation because every other local hotel seems to be renovating to upgrade or expand the number of rooms so dust and noise are your constant companion.

Because the locals have a nasty habit of taking everything from the room when they check out, the hotels are mean with their supply of toilet rolls, kleenix tissue and other toiletries in the hotel rooms. The housekeeping staff swoop into your room the minute you vacate it to check if you have 'accidentally' taken their towels or lamps or God knows what. You descend the lift to hand in your room key on check out and you are confronted with pandemonium at the checkout counter as hotel guests argue with the hotel staff on the extra charges for items taken from the rooms! Welcome to China! Quite comic actually.

On tour guides and tours
Because the tour guide and bus driver are not paid a salary,they will take you to many shopping stops as they hope to earn some sales commission from the shops when you buy some Chinese products there. The guides will whisk you through the tourist attractions in record time, extol on the quality of this or that product which are good for you and before you can say 'Michael' , your tour has been turned into a shopping tour! So do choose your tour operator carefully and do pay better prices for the tours to ensure they do not turn out as described.

We count ourselves lucky ours was a private tour and we only stopped at 3 shops for the  5 days trip.   Though we have told our Malaysian tour operator we do not want to stop at any shops along the tour, the local Chinese guide still managed to slip in 3 stops at shops on our tour!

On China progress today
Everywhere, new road links and railway lines are been laid for better infrastructure so expect a certain amount of  noise and dust and road diversions. By 2012, you will be able to travel from Beijing to Shanghai in 3 hrs!

Toilets are much cleaner now but they are still squatting toilets so old folks be forewarned.

The villagers in the Tulos were quite friendly and not at all rude so that is a plus point that they have as yet to pick up the ways of their 'cousins' in the cities.

Despite all this,with a bit of patience and humor, we had fun and learning about the cultural differences is surely one of the objective of travelling.

Scenes around Xiamen and in Yongding county

Random pictures

Pu'erh tea. Supposedly good for regulating blood pressure,lowering cholesterol and assist in losing weight. :-)) Mixed with honey,it is also supposed to be good for insomnia. The older the tea, the better the potency and the more costly it is. Can keep forever like wine?????

The ornate South Putuo temple in Xiamen

South Putuo temple. This building houses Kwan Yin statue.

Sunset at Gulang Island

Xiamen city viewed from Gulang Island

Bronze staues everywhere on Gulang Island. In the olden days, the expats prefer to live on the island so many colonial buildings abound.

Salted fish drying in the open on Gulang island

Another statue on Gulang island. Island is popular with the locals. Need a 5 mins ferry ride to the island.

Mother and child bronze statue

One of the many stately colonial buildings that are now neglected due to the squatters who have squatter rights in the buildings on the island.

Many brides ( we counted 7 brides) go to Gulang island to use the old stately buildings as props for their wedding photos

A very sweet bridal couple

Selling rambutans and custard apple 

Many vendors still use old traditional hanging baskets to sell food

Statues abound in the many landscaped gardens that dot the city of Xiamen

Traditional folk dance in Meilin town

Drying padi in Meilin town

A vendor at one of the Hakka tulous. The government apparently pays the residents of a Tulou as much as 4,000  to 100,000 renminbi   per family per year to  continue to stay in the Tulous to lend authenticity to the Tulous which are now very popular tourist destinations. The fee varies depending on the importance of each Tulou site.

Typical river facing a Hakka tulou with the mountains at the back

Harvesting padi in the countryside. Typically, 2 crops per year are possible.

Beautiful countryside scenery

A hakka napoleon in the making??

A 500 yrs old turtle that is fed on pork and carrots! A hakka turtle????

A hakka resident of one of the Tulous

Another proud hakka who showed me the tiny room where he stays.

Signboards in Xiamen

The signs speak for themselves. :-))

I would like to stay in a Bargain price room!

Xiamen & Fujian typical food we sampled.

We hear so much about the wonderful food of  Xiamen but unfortunately the food we had, a mixture of  local cuisine and typical Hakka dishes, were quite disappointing after all the hype.

Be the judge.

Sweet potatoes and chestnuts sold everywhere in Xiamen

Prawns in Chinese wine but not so good. Prawns not fresh at all.

Stir fry preserved bamboo shoots with fungus. Quite tasty.

Yam noodles. The color is enough to warrant caution. The noodles were quite tasteless.

Carp in chiili oil. Okay but I would not die for it.

Unlike previous times when we were in China where we had more vegetable dishes and only one miserable fish dish always floating in a  brackish suspicious looking sauce , seafood is now a regular feature on the menu and quite tasty. 

Tilapia in soya sauce. Surprisingly fresh and tasty.

Prawns in wine sauce. Eatable.

Typical breakfast spread of porridge with lots of  preserved vegetables

vermicelli with spicy tofu

Lotus root with fuchok

Tea on the day we arrived was a yam pudding ( very nice), some cold dessert, Fujian version of Hokkien mee ( tasty - yum,yum) and a jelly stuffed with small sea slugs  ( ugh!).

Crunchy soyabeans with pork ribs. Supposedly typical Hakka dish? Pretty tasty though!

Tofu. Quite nice.

Fresh bamboo shoots cooked with preserved vegetables. Tasty actually  without the usual bamboo shoots smell.

Fatty pork with preserved vegetables. Good.

Glutinous rice balls with  sesame seeds. A bit sweet but delicious.

What we did not try which was a good thing!

Tortoise dish???

A soup of lamb head and fish head???!!! Yucks!