Tag Archives: Food

Sicilian Markets

The markets in every town we’ve stayed in Sicily have been fantastic. They’re full of interesting sights, lots of bustle and fresh local produce. We’ve stayed predominantly in apartments which it turns out is usually a cheaper accommodation option than guesthouses or even hostels and also allows us to save money on food by cooking for ourselves most of the time. In turn this means that we can more fully immerse ourselves in the markets by shopping there too.

Markets tend not to be in a large building or an open square but arranged through streets. They consist of a mixture of stalls, shops, and stalls spilling into the street as extensions of shops.

Vegetable stall in Mercato il Capo, Palermo

In the winter months, both globe artichokes and cauliflowers are abundant. Confusingly the Italian name for these green cauliflowers is ‘broccoli’!

There are many different kinds of tomatoes available in the Sicilian markets – ‘normal’ round ones, plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (both round and plum shaped), and these ribbed beef tomatoes

One of the main crops in Sicily is citrus fruits and winter is the main season. The markets were full of different varieties (clockwise from top left): knobbly citrons are used for making candied peel; we like that the oranges are sold with leaves attached (you can also see prickly pear fruits in this photo); lemons; blood oranges

The Fish Market in Catania – bustling in the morning, just a few drifting carrier bags and gulls picking up scraps in the afternoon

Swordfish was one of the most common (and easily recognised) fish that we saw in Sicily. We were surprised by how big the individual fish are

Salt cod (baccala in Italian) is a Sicilian specialty. These fillets are drying in the sun but we saw it for sale completely dry, with a salty crust and stiff as a board, or pre-soaked for shoppers who hadn’t planned so far ahead

We enjoyed watching the butchers preparing the meat. They also make delicious sausages and parcels of meat or chicken stuffed with, for example, pistachios or ham and cheese before being neatly tied with string or assembled onto skewers

We spotted this roast suckling pig on top of a butcher’s counter in Palermo

While shopping we learnt that we needed to listen for scooters zipping through the market (just like in Vietnam)

Delicatessens sell a range of cheese as well as cured and cooked meats. We found a good trick was to ask for our parmesan cheese to be ‘macchinato’ – the shopkeeper would then weigh the block before putting it through a pulverising machine behind the counter. Much fresher than the dry parmesan dust from the supermarket and better than we could manage at home as none of our rental apartments was stocked with a grater

I love this stall as it’s packed with so many Sicilian specialties – sundried tomatoes, dried herbs and chilli flakes, olives and salted capers, preserved fish (salt cod, smoked herrings and anchovies both salted and jarred in olive oil)

The owner of this olive stall in Siracusa thrust a spoon containing two olives towards us and said in his incredibly gravelly voice “Eat this. It’s good.” He was right

Walnuts are also locally grown. This stall was in Catania

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a country which has influenced the whole world’s coffee culture, freshly roasted and ground coffee is easy to come by

There were a few non-food shops here and there in the markets such as this knife sharpener hard at work in the Vucciria Market in Palermo

Gozo Highlights

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As well as doing a Segway tour on Gozo, we explored some of the island by bicycle and then had to return for a third day, this time travelling by bus, as we weren’t able to cover as much ground as we’d hoped by bike, hindered both by the exceptionally hilly terrain and the shockingly poor condition of the gears on our rental bicycles.

The small island of Gozo is a 25 minute ferry ride north of Malta

Cliffs and countryside

We spent much of our cycling day around the southern coast exploring the beautiful coastline and riding down narrow lanes between fields separated by dry stone walls. Most of the fields seemed to be grassy but I don’t remember seeing any livestock, although sheep would be the most logical inhabitants based on the terrain. We did spot a vineyard though and a few fields of vegetables.

The beautiful Ta’ Seguna cliffs on the southern coast of Gozo

We had a map of the island which showed a roughly coastal route and gave approximate times to either walk, run or cycle four separate sections. We encountered our first problem when approaching the section just to the west of the ferry port – it was a footpath. Hmm, I guess we have to detour by road then… Unfortunately the map only had the major roads marked so we had to rely on the GPS maps on Andrew’s camera to find our way. The second problem was that the suggested times would probably only apply if you were riding a decent bike on a flat, smooth road, taking no account of interest in surroundings or requirement to get off and walk up hills.

Clockwise from top left: Andrew walking a steep uphill section; Terraced fields in southern Gozo; Surf on the beach at Xlendi; the Maltese Wall Lizard has four subspecies endemic to the islands

Cittadella

Gozo’s capital city, Victoria, contains a walled town known as Cittadella, similar to Mdina in Malta but even smaller. Disappointingly for us, it’s currently undergoing extensive renovation works which mean you can’t fully explore the inner streets and walls, although from the areas where you can get onto the walls there are good views to all sides of the island.

The Cittadella towers over the centre of Gozo. Currently it looks better from a distance from where you can’t see all the scaffolding and piles of building materials.

Cannon on the Cittadella walls

Rabbit stew

We spent one night on Gozo and that evening, feeling a little saddlesore from a day’s biking, we went out for dinner determined to try the rabbit stew which the Maltese islands are famous for. We weren’t disappointed, with rich gravy and meat so tender it was falling off the bone it definitely lived up to the hype.

Delicious rabbit stew at Pulena in Marsalforn

Ggantija Temples

Similarly to the temples at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, the Ggantija temples were built by the Maltese Temple Culture around 3600BC. They are the oldest known manmade stone structures on the planet predating Stonehenge by at least 500 years and the Egyptian pyramids by 1000 years.

The Ggantija Temples are situated on a hilltop commanding magnificent views over the south-east of the island

Prior to their excavation in the 1820s, local people believed that the ruins which lay under the earth mound were the remains of a tower built by an ancient race of giants, hence the name which comes from the Maltese word for giant. The complex consists of two temples side by side inside an outer wall and, like the other temples we’ve visited, there are some huge stones used in the construction. Having struggled to move our own weight up some of the surrounding hills, the mind boggles at how the prehistoric builders moved everything into place.

Altar arrangement in the South Temple

Us inside the inner room of the North Temple

Dwejra Bay

We were aiming to arrive at Dwejra Bay on our cycling day but, although we were within sight of the sea, we got lost amongst the narrow unsignposted back roads and eventually had to give up so that we wouldn’t be riding in the dark. When we finally arrived by bus, we ate our picnic lunch on the rocky beach overlooking the choppy sea around the Azure Window, a natural rock arch which protrudes from the cliff side.

The Azure Window is a natural rock arch

We were hypnotised by the waves crashing on the rocks below us and had to drag ourselves away to climb up the hill to visit Dwejra Tower. Here we watched a short video explaining the history and ecology of the area as well as getting some terrific views along the coast from the roof. The watchtower was built during the reign of Grand Master Lascaris in 1651, principally to safeguard ‘Fungus Rock’ a small islet in the bay which is home to a plant that was believed by the Knights of St John to have medicinal properties. It was interesting to finally have a look inside one of these coastal defence towers as we have seen a lot of them on our travels around the islands. It was surprisingly small inside due to the thickness of the walls and had only one room on each level.

Dwejra Tower flying the flag of the Order of St John. When the flag is raised the tower is open for visits.

Dwejra Bay was formed when the roof of a huge cave collapsed. Fungus Rock is the remnants of the wall which separated it from the sea

On the other side of the cliff which forms one side of the Azure Window is a different kind of geological phenomenon. A doline called the Inland Sea which, like the almost circular Dwejra Bay, was formed by the collapse of a cave roof millions of years ago. Nowadays it is a popular spot for sunbathing and swimming as well as the jumping off point for boat trips through the tunnel connecting it to the open sea, though in early December with a chill in the air and rough waters assaulting the cliffs none of those activities was in evidence.

The Azure Window and Inland Sea (centre right) from the top of Dwejra Tower

We’re really glad we didn’t miss out on a visit to Dwejra Bay, it was a beautiful end to our explorations and different to anything we’d seen on Malta itself.

Self-guided food tour of Istanbul

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Food tours are an excellent way of finding the local delicacies and the little out-of-the-way places that make the best versions of them. They’re also great for presenting things that you wouldn’t ordinarily try, such as the prawn cakes made from whole prawns that we enjoyed so much in Vietnam that we went back for seconds when Jo came out to join us!

Approaching the busy ferry port of Eminönü in Istanbul – the start of our self-guided food tour

As we knew we’d be spending a bit of time in Istanbul, we looked for a street food tour but were quickly put off by the prices – some as high as $145 USD, about £92 GBP. Each. Yes, this is a big, bustling city but we didn’t want to pay big city prices. A little bit of research later and I had compiled a list of foods to look out for while we strolled around.

Here then, is our list of what to try and where to find it presented in a vaguely sensible order that has been curated over the course of weeks, and could be tackled in a day or so depending on your appetite..

First though, a quick summary of what you’re about to eat, and how much (roughly) it’ll cost.

	Cost (Turkish Lira)
Coffee and baklava	10
Spices, dried fruit and lokum (Turkish delight)	20
Borek and çay (tea)	9
Simit on the ferry	2
Balik ekmek and turnip juice	6
Turkish ice cream (two scoops)	5
Kokoreç and ayran	9
Delicatessen	~20
Coffee	8
Dinner at either Kadi Nimet or Çiya Sofrasi	~50
Total (TRY):	~119
Total (GBP):	~£34

Eminönü: Coffee and Baklava at Develi Baklava

First stop - coffee and pastry at the tiny Develi Baklava. Click for a map

First stop – coffee and pastry at the tiny Develi Baklava. Click the image for a map

The best way to start the day with the one-two punch of strong coffee and sweet, sweet baklava – a small Turkish dessert made of pastry, nuts and soaked in honey!

Directions:
Starting in Eminönü, in the square outside the Yeni Cami and the Spice Bazaar, keep the Spice Bazaar on your left as you walk up the right-hand side of it, then take your first right up a small alley – there’s a very busy coffee shop that sells fantastic freshly ground Turkish coffee on the corner (we’ll be back this way soon, so you can try it first and buy some on the way back). After about 150 metres look out for the green neon of Develi Baklava, a little coffee shop with astroturf and two little tables outside. Pop in and choose 2 or 3 different baklava from the counter to go with your Turkish coffee. Try to grab one of the outside tables as this alley is great for people watching.

Eminönü: Spice Bazaar, Spices, Dried Fruit and Lokum

Time to graze on nuts, dried fruit, spices and Turkish delight in the ever-busy Spice Bazaar. Click for a map

Time to graze on nuts, dried fruit, spices and Turkish delight in the ever-busy Spice Bazaar. Click on the image for a map

We’re in Turkey, so we are obligated to try the other sweet they’re internationally famous for, Lokum or Turkish Delight.

Directions:
Head back towards the Spice Bazaar, stopping for a take-away bag of ground coffee from the shop on the right-hand corner if you wish.
Next, we’re going to wander through the Spice Bazaar, but if you’re after lokum or Turkish Delight then the best place is actually on the outside of the Bazaar – it’s the on the street to your left, along the side of the Bazaar, called Kesekler (it’s the 3rd shop from the end). Why’s it the best? The plain lokum is less than half the price you’ll pay inside the bazaar (7 TL/kg) and they sell a lot so it’s fresh too. The lokum is at the back, be sure to point at any of the logs of nut, flower or chocolate covered lokum and they’ll offer a free taste! (the logs are 46TL/kg, or about 8-10 TL/kg per log)

The Spice Bazaar is a big ‘L’ shape, so follow it along stopping to sample the nuts and dried fruits or smell the spices, teas and soaps, and exit from the long end, near the back of Yeni Cami.

Eminönü: Borek and Çay

The best Istanbul breakfast - borek. Brilliant. Click for a map

The best Istanbul breakfast – borek. Brilliant. Click on the image for a map

Time for breakfast! Borek is a traditional Turkish dish that consists of layers of pastry and cheese, a bit like a light cheese-only lasagne. And it’s a great as it sounds!

Directions:
Exiting from the Spice Bazaar, turn left and you’ll see Yeni Cami again. When you reach it, turn right past the Sultan’s entrance (the long ramp up the rear of the mosque) then take the next left. Follow ‘Arpacilar Caddesi’ round to the left then look out for the red sun-shade of ‘Sariyer Borekcisi’ (No 10). Pop in and order borek and çay (pronounced “chai” – tea!). The tea is served quite differently to other countries we’ve visited. Here it’s served in a small handle-less glass cup, without milk and is very strong. We rarely managed a glass without adding sugar and we like strong flavours!

Eminönü to Kadiköy: From Europe to Asia

Let's go to Asia - and don't forget to pick up a Nutella simit in case you're still peckish! Click for a map

Let’s go to Asia – and don’t forget to pick up a Nutella simit in case you’re still peckish! Click the image for a map

Do as the İstanbullu do and sip çay while reading the newspaper or catching up on email and Facebook as you cruise across the Bosphorus to the Asian side of the city.

Directions:
15 metres further along Arpacilar Cadesi and you’ll be at Eminönü tram station. Use the crossing to your left to cross the road, the tramlines and the road again until you’re at the water’s edge and look for the ferry terminal to Kadiköy – it’s the one on your right with Kadiköy written on it. If you’re still a little hungry, pick up a simit for the journey – they’re a small, crispy, round bread covered in sesame seeds. For another Lira you can have it filled with Nutella! The ferry to Kadiköy takes about 25 minutes.

Kadiköy: Balik Ekmek and Turnip Juice

It’s not quite fish and chips, but it is very tasty indeed! We found this place because we stayed in an apartment next door, or rather, I should say that the smell of frying fish found us.. Click the image for a map

Time for a spot of lunch and one of our favourites: Balik Ekmek literally “fish bread” or fish sandwich, washed down with the traditional accompaniment of turnip juice. Yum! The fish is pan-fried mackerel, and does contain some bones.

Directions:
The place we recommend is about a 15 minute walk, which gives us chance to work up an appetite! Exit from the Kadiköy Ferry terminal and cross the big pedestrian square in front of you – keep the bus station to your left and the only building in the square to your right – just follow the crowds from the ferry – everyone heads for ‘Söğütlü Çeşme Caddesi’, the main street. Cross over to the right-hand side and follow the tram tracks up the hill, then cross the tracks as they veer right up a cobbled road. Continue straight and downhill on ‘Kuşdili Caddesi’ past the busy bus stop, past the banks and rows of clothes shops and take the right at the crossroads onto ‘Hasirci Başi Caddesi’. There’s a fancy cake shop on the corner and a car park opposite. About 5 or 6 shops down on your right is Albatross – order your balik ekmek, find a table inside and help yourself to a turnip juice from the fridge. Oh, and say hi to Mehmet for us :)

Kadiköy: Turkish Ice Cream

Amazing Turkish chocolate ice cream. Save yourself the walk back and just order two scoops the first time.. Click for a map

Amazing Turkish chocolate ice cream. Save yourself the walk back and just order two scoops the first time.. Click on the image for a map

There’s always room for ice cream, and Turkish ice cream is some of the best in the world – thick, creamy, and intensely flavoured.

Directions:
Watch your step as you leave Albatross, continue up ‘Hasirci Başi Caddesi’ and take the first right – not the first small turning, the one with the corner shop on the corner of ‘Süleyman Paşa Sokaği’. Walk uphill until you reach the tram tracks on the cobbled street, cross them and the road, and you’re on the top of the hill. Immediately to your right, the 2nd shop along is our destination. The scoops are small, which is enough of an excuse to order two. I’d suggest two scoops of chocolate unless another flavour takes your fancy!

Kadiköy: Kokoreç and Ayran

Kokoreç washed down with ayran at Kokoretto in Kadiköy. Click for a map

Kokoreç washed down with ayran at Kokoretto in Kadiköy. Click the image for a map

Lunch isn’t over yet, it’s time for another Istanbul speciality – Kokoreç (pronounced ‘kokoretch’) washed down with ayran. If you’re reaching bursting point, maybe get one to share or ask for a taste.

Directions:
Continue downhill on the same street, and at about the point where you run out ice cream, you’ll find ‘Kokoretto’ on your right. Kokoreç is cooked outside like a kebab, but it’s horizontal as opposed to vertical, and cooked over charcoal. Ayran is a great accompaniment, it’s a light yoghurt drink, similar to Indian Lassi, though it’s not as sweet. What is Kokoreç, you ask? Hmm.. I think I’ll tell you after you’ve eaten it. All you need to know now is that it’s tasty!

Kadiköy: A wander around the delicatessens

Take your time to wander through the deli counters on delicatessen street. Click for a map

Take your time to wander through the deli counters on delicatessen street. Click on the image for a map

This next area doesn’t involve eating, though you’re welcome to sample or take some home for later, in fact, it would surprise us if you didn’t!

Directions:
Staying on the same downhill street, keep going as it twists a little left then a little right until you cross the road into the steeper, narrower pedestrian (and occasional scooter) alleyways of the old Kadiköy market area. The clothes and mobile phone shops are replaced by cafes and wholesale dried goods, and at the next junction you’ll be surrounded by fresh fishmongers – we’ll call this fishmonger junction for future reference.

There are a few delicatessens on the perpendicular street – ‘Güneşli Bahçe Sokaği’, so pick a direction (either left or right) and pop into one or two for a good look around. One of our favourite things to do is buy 5 or 6 different dishes and a fresh baguette to create our very own Istanbul meze dinner – great if you’re staying in an apartment or for a picnic in one of the city’s many parks or a trip to the Princes’ Islands.

Kadiköy: More Turkish Coffee!

Turkish coffee at its finest served at Fazil Bey. How do you know it's Turkish coffee? The lokum gives it away.. Click for a map

Turkish coffee at its finest served at Fazil Bey. How do you know it’s Turkish coffee? The lokum of course! Click the image for a map

There are plenty of little cafes in this narrow, compact area of Kadiköy, and the most famous of them is Fazil Bey where we’ll soak up the cafe culture until we find ourselves ready for a spot of dinner.

Directions:
Return to the fishmonger junction, and turn downhill along ‘Serasker Caddesi’ from the smells of fresh produce to the smells of freshly ground coffee. Fazil Bey is just before the next junction on your right, find a seat and you’ll be presented with a menu.

Kadiköy: Dinnertime – Meat or Fish?

Your choice for dinner – fantastic fresh fish dishes at Kadi Nimet Balikçilik (top); and remarkable regional specialities at Çiya Sofrasi (bottom). Both feature in the Lonely Planet Click on the image for a map

It’s eating time again! There are two very good restaurants just around the corner, one ‘Kadi Nimet Balikçilik‘ specialises in fish and the other, ‘Çiya Sofrasi‘ (pronounced ‘Chiya Sofrasi’) specialises in family recipes from around Turkey and is where a few of the guided food tours end up for dinner. We’ve eaten at both and they’re both great.

Directions: Kadi Nimet Balikçilik
Head back up the alley to the fishmonger junction and Kadi Nimet Balikçilik is on the corner on your right. There are plenty of seats inside and upstairs though it does get very busy. I can heartily recommend the levrek dolma or stuffed sea bass meze and the stuffed mussels (pictured above) – the sea bass is amazing!

Directions: Çiya Sofrasi
Head back up the alley to the fishmonger junction and turn right down ‘Güneşli Bahçe Sokaği’, Çiya Sofrasi is about 130 metres along on your left. This place also gets busy and for very good reason. They have 3 restaurants in this street that specialise in different styles of Turkish food but Sofrasi is the one to choose. They have a great salad bar and a wide selection of vegetarian dishes. Definitely order the ‘puff lavash‘ because it sounds funny (and it’s tasty)!

Fin.
That’s it, do you have room for a mint? It’s only a tiny little thin one.

Further eating..

You want more? You piggy! I like you! Clockwise from top-left: Doner Kebab – beef or chicken are the most common and they’re made from pieces of meat and cut with a long knife rather than the sheared mince back home; Menemen – tomatoes, eggs, cheese and spices; Pide – Turkish pizza; Lahmacun – thin crispy pizza-like base with a tomato and minced meat paste, tasty!; Gozleme – cheese and spinach wrapped in a soft tortilla; Julie enjoying a freshly squeezed orange juice from an uncharacteristically shy juice vendor

Here’s a list of some other Turkish specialities that you can look out for while strolling through this great city:

Doner Kebabs – they’re everywhere, and very tasty. Our favourite options are ‘lavash’ which means in a wrap, ‘portion’ where you get chips on the side and ‘pilav’ which comes with rice
Menemen – tomatoes, green peppers and eggs cooked with onions and spices. The best can be found in Beyoğlu at the Setup Cafe just up the hill from Kabataş tram stop. Add the feta – you will not be disappointed
Pide – this is what I call Turkish pizza. That’s enough of a reason
Lahmacun – usually found alongside pide, it’s like a very thin crust pizza without the cheese, and makes a great pre-pide starter!
Gozleme – this is one of our favourite lunch-time goto’s, a soft tortilla-like bread usually filled with feta and spinach or potato and cooked on a big domed hotplate by women with big wooden paddles
Fresh orange or pomegranate juice – you’re never far from a cart selling freshly squeezed orange or pomegranate juice, and at 2 TL a cup they’re a great thirst quencher after you’ve just walked up one of the many hills and need an excuse to stand still for 5 minutes to catch your breath

Ahh yes, kokoreç.. if you don’t know what ‘sweetbread’ is then I suggest you maintain a state of blissful ignorance. And definitely try it before you look it up.

Food of Uzbekistan

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We weren’t expecting much from Uzbekistan’s cuisine, fearing that it might be a little like Mongolian food, and although there is a resemblance we found it to be more vegetable oriented, and tasty if similarly heavy on the mutton. That said, most local restaurants seem to have pretty much the same menu and some days we felt like we were eating the same thing again and again.

At the Fayzulla Khojaev House Museum in Bukhara there was an interesting kitchen exhibit including a list of national dishes by season

Bread

The ubiquitous round breads called ‘non’ smell incredible and when fresh you don’t need anything with them (though a smear of butter is not a bad thing). They’re served with every meal and are especially good for mopping up the sauce from a soup or stew. We found that there were small variations in every city we visited, for example, in Bukhara they seemed particularly thick and dense, whilst in Khiva they were almost flat, all crust and very little middle.

Pram trollies of bread for sale in Tashkent’s Chorsu Bazaar

Plov

Plov is the national dish of Uzbekistan. Basically it is mutton cooked with rice and shredded vegetables (chickpeas and raisins sometimes feature too). There are slight variations around the country, my favourite was the Bukhara version with lots of juicy plumped up raisins, but the Fergana version with brown rice was good too. It’s usually eaten at lunchtime and is cooked and served from massive cauldrons especially around the town’s market.

Plov for lunch, served with bread, tomato salad and tea

Salad

‘Salad’ is offered with every meal and the most basic version consists of chopped tomatoes, cucumber and onions liberally sprinkled with dill. In any restaurant fancier than a hole-in-the-wall cafe there were a selection of tasty and interesting salads to choose from, from stuffed slices of fried aubergine to pickled carrots to mayonnaise heavy chopped salads. Tomatoes and cucumbers must have been in season when we visited as the markets were full of perfectly ripe piles of them, we used them as an easy, healthy and cheap addition to a picnic lunch.

Uzbek salads and piles of delicious juicy tomatoes in the bazaar

Somsa

Somsas are basically Uzbek pasties. Although the name comes from the same root as the Indian samosa they are baked not fried. They became our go-to lunch snack with tomatoes and cucumbers on the side. The filling was most often meat and onions but we also had a potato version and a delicious pumpkin version in Samarkand.

Shashlik

Finding a shashlik stand is easy, not only is it one of the most commonly available street foods, but the smoke and the aroma waft down the street. It is grilled kebabs of meat and occasionally vegetables, especially tomatoes and green peppers. The meat can be chunks of beef or mutton, or mince pressed around the skewer. They are served with a big plate of raw onion which we usually didn’t touch.

Doner kebab

The other kind of kebab, doner kebab, is chicken or beef stacked up into a huge pillar and cooked next to a vertical grill with the outer layers being carved off as they cook. It was possible to get the meat in various kinds of bread but our favourite way was rolled with salad, mayonnaise and ketchup in a huge flatbread called lavash and warmed in a sandwich toasting grill. Yum.

Our favourite doner kebab stand in Chorsu Bazaar, Tashkent

Laghman

Laghman is a hearty noodle soup with meat and vegetables and became a firm favourite of ours. The noodles are somewhere between Japanese udon and Italian linguine, and the broth is meaty and flavourful. We also had a dry version where the noodles were fried with the meat and vegetables.

Soups and stews

Laghman was what we found most often but we had a variety of other soups and stews as well.

Clockwise from top left: beef with vegetables; shurpa (soup) was like laghman without the noodles; shivut oshi is mutton served on dill noodles, a specialty in Khiva; ‘bivstroganof’ was a slightly greasy potato and meat dish

Naryn

Cold noodles mixed with horse meat and heavily seasoned with salt and pepper. Much tastier than it sounds!

Golubtsi

When I did a bit of online research about these I found that the name usually refers to a Russian or Ukrainian dish of cabbage leaves stuffed with seasoned mince and rice. The Uzbekistan spin seems to be to use green peppers instead of the cabbage. They were sometimes served in a soup and it was a nice change to have the vegetable as the central part of the meal (although obviously they’re not vegetarian).

Fruit

Uzbekistan’s very sunny summers produce some incredibly good fruit. We had unbelievably sweet and juicy melons, peaches and grapes and they were very cheap – a whole melon cost only £0.40! Dried fruit such as apricots and raisins were good for snacks.

Melons for sale at a market on the road between Tashkent and Fergana

Drinks

In Uzbekistan, drinks can be divided into three categories:

Tea – the drink of choice, made from loose leaves and about a 50:50 split between green and black tea

Soft drinks – on our first afternoon in Tashkent (actually on the way to our guesthouse from the airport) we spotted a familiar looking bright yellow drinks wagon by the side of the road. When we realised it was the rye bread drink, Kvas, which we’d first enjoyed in Sergiev Posad in Russia, we immediately bought a bottle. As well as Kvas, a fruit based drink called Mors is also popular and sold from the same kind of wagons

Alcohol – although Uzbekistan is a Muslim country, there was no stigma attached to drinking alcohol. Beer was our most common choice but we tried the local vodka and wine too – even doing a wine tasting in Samarkand.

Chengdu, China

Aidao Nunnery Lunch

The Aidao Nunnery, small and very tasty!

Having read that it was possible to eat with the nuns at the Aidao Nunnery, we headed there with time to spare before the 11:45 commencement. Not sure of where in the Nunnery it took place, or at exactly what time, we only knew for certain we were in the right place because of the amazing vegetarian smells coming from the kitchens around the back.

11:45 came and went, but just before 12:00 we saw a few people helping themselves to two bowls and a pair of chopsticks, so sheepishly we did the same and followed them into the large hall at the right of the complex.

Vegetarian lunch at the The Aidao Nunnery, Chengdu, China

A budget banquet in a bowl! Our vegetarian lunch consisted of umpteen different and delicious dishes and a bowl of rice

After a short prayer (and a little guidance from one of the friendly servers), out came the food – vat after mouth-watering vat was presented and scooped into our bowls until they were almost overflowing.

The food was delicious, plentiful, some of it was spicy, and there were 2nds, 3rds and even 4ths on offer! Best of all, it cost an embarrassingly low ¥5 – that’s just 50p!

Oil lamps in the Aidao Nunnery, Chendu, China

Beautiful bronze goblets being used as oil lamps

Afternoon tea in the People’s Park

The Shao Cheng Tea House in The People’s Park, Chengdu. Of the 5 tea houses in the park, we chose at random and just happened to pick the cheapest one!

Allow me to preface this with a warning about tea ceremonies in China. There are a number of stories where foreign tourists are approached in the street by 2 Chinese students who, with excellent English, make small talk and then invite them to take part in a traditional tea ceremony. The tourists do indeed receive tea, but are locked into the building until they pay over £100 or more per cup (and we’ve heard stories that run into thousands of pounds or dollars).

There must still be money to be made in this scam as we were approached twice while in Shanghai, the second time the invitation was to the Shanghai International Tea Festival (which does exist, but had finished some 2 months prior). The approach was the same: “would you take our photo please? Thank you, where are you from? etc..”

Locals playing Mahjong in one of the tea houses in The People’s Park

While tea ceremonies are for very special occasions, drinking tea is even more ingrained in the Chinese culture than the British. We have seen so many Chinese tourists wandering around with what look like water bottles full of tea leaves, and they routinely stop to top them up with hot water – indeed, the only drinking water flight-side that we saw in Beijing airport was from a boiler for just this purpose!

As if I need present more evidence, Chengdu’s People’s Park has 5 tea houses. We chose one at random, and were seated at a table next to a delightfully peaceful pond in an enclosed courtyard with only the sound of mahjong tiles and tea cups being placed on the large stone tables.

Waiting for Tea in the People's Park, Chengdu

Julie and I waiting for our tea to arrive

We each chose a different teas from the small, worn, laminated card which thankfully was in English, and soon our tea sachets arrived together with two small cups and a single, large thermos-like canister full of hot water for us to top up our tea with.

Julie's jasmine tea in The People's Park, Chengdu

Julie’s jasmine tea. The price per cup includes a seemingly unlimited supply of hot water, and we agreed the 3rd or 4th cup was just about the right strength

We spent a very enjoyably relaxing 3 hours in the tea house, at which point the tea was just about the right strength. Had we not been seated next to the fascinating Jeff from California who teaches English to Chinese teachers (and reminded me a lot of my Dad – hi Dad!), the hours would have dragged as there’s only so much mahjong you can watch everyone else playing when there isn’t anyone to explain how it works!

Leshan Buddha – the biggest Buddha in the world

The Leshan Buddha, the biggest statue of Buddha in the World (notice the people in the top-right of the photo for a sense of scale..)

The biggest Daibutsuden or Buddha house in the world is in Nara, Japan, and even if it stood at at its original size instead of the current ¾ it still wouldn’t accommodate the largest Buddha statue in the world – the 71-metre (233 ft) giant seated Buddha of Leshan.

A very easy day trip from Chengdu on public transport, we arrived expecting just the main event and found a park of caves, statues and pavilions on the mountaintop that the Buddha is carved into.

The Leshan Buddha, viewed from shin-level

The route starts level with the Buddha’s head, and narrowly twists back and forth as it descends to the small viewing platform at its feet. Niches along the way are carved with Buddhist motifs, and the changing perspective means the queue moves slowly because there’s always another photo to take!

Julie at the foot of the massive Leshan Buddha statue

The passageway out was longer than the descent down, and brought us out at the south gate and an unexpected highlight of the day – the Mahao Cave Tombs Museum..

The tunnel-like cave tombs of the Eastern Han dynasty nobles in the Mahao Cave Tombs Museum

The Mahao Cave Tombs museum is quite small having only 2 rooms of artefacts, but the main attractions are the wonderfully lit cave tombs themselves. These tomb caves date from the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25-220) and were built to house the remains of local nobles.

Sichuan Opera

The curtain call of the Sichuan Opera in Chengdu

A few years before we set off on this trip, I’d seen a short film about face changing opera, where the performers would change their masks so quickly that it was unperceivable to the watching audience’s eye. Having forgotten the name, I had originally recalled this as being a Chinese art, but when we didn’t find it on our first trip to China, I thought it might have been Japanese. Both China and Japan have an opera style called Noh, and while this does involve mask changing, the changes are done between acts or scenes. Imagine my delight when we arrived in Chengdu to find a sort of cabaret performance that culminated with Bian Lian – the very mask changing performance I had hoped to find!

Bian Lian performers in the middle of their piece

The show we saw is clearly designed for tourists with Chinese and English introductions, a giant electronic subtitle board that almost kept pace with the action, and distinct set-piece acts very much like a mini caberet or variety performance.

The highlight for our hostel-organised group was undoubtedly the Bian Lian. Saved for last, 7 artists came on stage and wowed the theatre with their skill and speed. One, after the typical wave of the arm or slight head turn to trigger the change, almost dared us to see how fast he was by looking straight at the audience and simply giving a little skip – we didn’t blink and we still missed it. Audacious, unbelievable and spectacular.

Bian Lian performer with an extra 5 masks

As well as ‘normal’ Bian Lian mask changing performers, there was a puppet Bian Lian, and this performer with 6 synchronised masks!

¹ What’s the best Chinese dish? Peking Duck of course!