Shopping in a foreign country. This can be an amusing or otherwise experience. Sometimes not recognising what it is that is being bought and taking pot luck. I bought some sweet and sour mango, which when eaten must have left me with a pretty astonished look on my face as I gasped, retched and muttered what the hell was that! I even tried giving it away with no success. Finding something as simple as a decent tea bag can be interesting. There is a huge assortment of fresh and exotic vegetables and fruits. Durrin for one smells like a rotting carcass but tastes completely different. There is a vast assortment of fungi available in stores, far more than I’d ever seen before. Mushrooms are best purchased dried, for the boat anyway, then all that is required is to soak them before cooking. When buying food from the road side stalls and the person even implies that it is hot – believe them! Otherwise, you could quite easily feel that you had just sucked on napalm or white phosphorous, and an iceberg of glacier would not sooth the heat.
Finding a suitable beverage is one of the more pleasant challenges. Langkawi being duty free alcohol is very cheap. The cheapest beer Skol is drinkable in desperation, Carlsburg is better, then an icy cold Tiger beer is much better. In Thailand I drank either Singha beer or Chang. Chang being around 6.5 percent alcohol. One way of drinking less beer is have a few Chang, conversation soon becomes impaired due to the sudden thickening of the tongue. I had trouble finding Bundaberg rum, my favoured tipple, and eventually settled for Mount Gay Rum at 55 Ringit (AU$22.00). I had tried Captain Morgan rum at around 30 Ringit (AU$10.00) and probably won't do that again. Even the Thai Rocket fuel rum called SangSom 80% proof, of what I’m not sure, was better. Sadiqi used to have a reasonably stocked wine cellar when in Australia. The wine now comes in a cardboard box. The South Africa Drostdy-Hof Claret Select, five Litres has been a real success. Good thing about Chateau Cardboard is one is not compelled to drink to stupidity, as one does not have to finish the bottle once opened, then again 5 litres maybe not such a good idea when in good company. The Western Cellars Californian Chateau Cardboard that I purchased was not a great success as for some reason, not for quantity of wine drunk; it left me with a nasty headache.
Finding a suitable beverage is one of the more pleasant challenges. Langkawi being duty free alcohol is very cheap. The cheapest beer Skol is drinkable in desperation, Carlsburg is better, then an icy cold Tiger beer is much better. In Thailand I drank either Singha beer or Chang. Chang being around 6.5 percent alcohol. One way of drinking less beer is have a few Chang, conversation soon becomes impaired due to the sudden thickening of the tongue. I had trouble finding Bundaberg rum, my favoured tipple, and eventually settled for Mount Gay Rum at 55 Ringit (AU$22.00). I had tried Captain Morgan rum at around 30 Ringit (AU$10.00) and probably won't do that again. Even the Thai Rocket fuel rum called SangSom 80% proof, of what I’m not sure, was better. Sadiqi used to have a reasonably stocked wine cellar when in Australia. The wine now comes in a cardboard box. The South Africa Drostdy-Hof Claret Select, five Litres has been a real success. Good thing about Chateau Cardboard is one is not compelled to drink to stupidity, as one does not have to finish the bottle once opened, then again 5 litres maybe not such a good idea when in good company. The Western Cellars Californian Chateau Cardboard that I purchased was not a great success as for some reason, not for quantity of wine drunk; it left me with a nasty headache.
