30+ at 30

What a trip, man, what a trip. I would never have dreamed that it would turn out this way. 122 days of being on the road, of resting in one place for five nights, max, and then moving on. Throughout it all, I kept my sanity and I kept my thread. The great eats I had, and got to chronicle, provided an ever-changing yet still stable anchor for my time with no home.

And the adventures, well, they just piled up. A calm and tranquil temple garden in Kyoto. A sunrise, slow and steady, seen from a volcano top in Bali. A weekend trip to the birthplace of the Malaysian state, Melaka. A night on the open grasslands in Inner Mongolia, just me and Max and the sheep. A float in the magical and astringent Dead Sea. A fantastic, loving, and one-of-a-kind wedding in southern Turkey. A balloon ride to the heavens and back in Cappadocia. A trip to days of Jewishness past in Krakow and southern Poland. A celebration of sport and of beer and of the outdoors with 1,000 friends in Munich. A loss of sight to bring out a stronger sense of taste at a dunkelrestaurant in Berlin. A trip to a community striking out on its own in Christiania. A bike ride that couldn't be beat up and down the canals in Amsterdam. And a short but sweet exploration of Helsinki, land of so much reindeer meat.

And so we are here, blog post number three hundred and sixteen, the last of them for this grand adventure. The blog waxed and waned, with faulty Internet connections overcome throughout. China managed to put a three week delay on the blog that never went away, but that just adds to the nostalgia of each post, I think. Thanks so much to the people that hosted me, that gave me recommendations, that traveled with me. And thanks so much to all of you for reading and for sharing my trip with me.

Now, I managed, barely, to get past 30 countries visited just past the age of thirty (see full list below). However, I don't want to get so far behind, comparatively, next time.

So, time to plan the next trip! Where to?

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Before the trip

USA

Canada

Mexico

Nicaragua

Chile

Argentina

Cuba

Aruba

Spain

France

England

Ireland

Germany

Switzerland

Italy

India

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Vietnam

Singapore

Cambodia

Hong Kong

On this trip

Japan

Indonesia

Singapore (again)

Malaysia

China

Turkey

Israel

Germany (again)

Poland

Czech Republic

Denmark

The Netherlands

Finland

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At long last, the Top 8 meals of the trip!

I figure I've had near 350 meals over the course of this trip. Many got highlighted on the blog. A full 28 got special recognition as memorable. But we have to get even more specific than that. We have to get down to a smaller list, and they will be ranked!

Last to make the list but not least in terms of yumminess, #8 is the fabulous meatballs on a hill in Turkey. Kofte at Yucetepe, a small cafeteria on the top of Buyukada, was spectacularly simple and delicious. The meatballs sang with the combination of freshly ground meat and a small number of spices. They were grilled to perfection, with char marks and a crisp exterior yielding to luscious medium rare meat inside. Superbly fresh veggies on the side, a hit-the-spot pilsner to wash it down, and a view of all of Istanbul's glory made the meal one of complete happiness. Full post here.

Lucky #7 is the brunch at Gugelhof. Were I ever to live in Berlin, I don't know how I'd let a month pass without making it here for brunch at least once. The flammenkuchen showed off the locally harvested chanterelles. The egg dish was simple done beautiful and perfectly. And the choucroute plate, oh choucroute plate, was bite after bite of delicious. The element that took this to the upper echelon, however, was the blood sausage. It was like cake, it was like sausage, it was like a pack of delicious spices. It was all of these things and more, combined to balance on the palate like an egg on a knife's blade. Full post here.

Just out of the top five but still on the list at #6 is the transcendent dumplings at the sidewalk stand in Ha'erbin. Max and I had variably luck, to be sure, but this meal made all missteps worth it. Perfectly cooked dumplings. The exterior, a rice-flavored pasta that had been hand-stretched and cooked until it was tender and chewy, but not sticky. The interior, a mix of pork and herbs that created a juicy flavor explosion with each bite. And the dumpling sauce, simple yet high-quality vinegar and chillies to bring the most out of each of the 16 perfect little pillows. Full post here.

Coming in at #5, the various Turkish breakfasts in Istanbul but, especially, the delightful treat at Kale. My first taste of simit, a sesame bagel stretched to the limit and toasted until crisp. My first plate of marinated olives that were so packed with flavor they didn't need stuffing. My first (and simplest) shepherd salad, with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and Turkish peppers mere hours from being picked. And the bal kaymak, well, about the bal kaymak I can only say that this clotted cream and honey spectacular may have taken some time off of my life but it was well, well worth it. Full post here.

Next up, at #4, the very unknown and very delicious tasting menu at Chaya Mario in Hiroshima. Presented by an ambiance that felt like a homey inn on the side of a travelers' road, I immediately warmed to the place and the two friends running the establishment. Their tasting menu, of which I only have the untranslated Japanese kanji, presented surprise after surprise with a handful of standouts. The first dish, a rectangle of tofu topped with salmon roe, redefined what tofu could be. A clam soup, thick with the grain of a barley, redefined hearty in the Japanese style. Importantly, early on, this meal blazed the trail of a true "What's That?" experience that would be an enduring source of exploration in the months to come. Full post here.

With the bronze medal, at #3, is fresh fish. But not just any fresh fish. The best fresh fish I've ever had. And I only had to wait three hours in the rain in Tokyo to have it, not a bad deal. Piece after piece of amazing nigiri sushi flowed our way. The uni was melting like butter from the sea, an extravagant bite. The spanish mackerel packed a wasabi punch that amplified the fish's own flavors. And the kawahagi, a slice of fish with a piece of its own liver on top, was the chef's recommendation and a truly unique mouthful. I was raving throughout and raving afterwards, and now I still don't know when I'll be able to have nigiri sushi again without comparing it to this fantastic set. Full post here.

Oh-so-close, our runner-up, at #2, the seafood feast at Long Beach Restaurant in Singapore. I knew I would love the pepper crab. And I did, oh I did. Savoring every bite, licking the black pepper flakes encrusted on the crab's shell, it was superb. But then! Out of nowhere! Golden river phoenix fish! Steamed a la Penang! Wow, this fish created new possibilities for what steamed fish could be. It was cooked so that a simple poke with a pair of chopsticks would reveal a luscious bite of fish. The fish itself, sans sauce, was full of great meaty flavor. But the sauce took it to the beyond and back. Tomatoes and scallions to bring flavor and depth and some chillies to add the needed kick. Long Beach is known as the splurge place in Singapore and I can definitely see why. Full post here.

And...

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...the amazing trio of Sichuan dishes I had over three weeks in China. The Sichuan hot pot, half and half yet full of flavor. When the big bold chillies overwhelmed, a brief retreat to the soothing broth would ready me for more. Sliced meats, great veggies, more pig brain, and Kung Fu noodles, definitely a full-on feast. The Sichuan dry pot, a mix and match of pick your own ingredients. The cow stomach, a new favorite for me in China, blended well with mushrooms, bamboo, and others. But, really, they were just a side note to the resplendent Sichuan peppercorn. This little feisty guy doesn't bring the heat, he just makes your mouth numb in an amazing, novel, and let-me-have-it-again way. And, at the top of the list of Sichuan meals, the near religious experience I had eating the slices of beef poached in chili oil. Sure, there were other things on my table, like lettuce and peanut sauce and some Chuan noodles, but the poached beef was king. Each bite transported me to a land I had not seen before, a land full of spice and heat. Each bite also confirmed that my chopsticks would head right back for the fiery broth just as soon as my corporeal body would allow. I walked home delirious from that night, that meal. These won't be the last great Sichuan meals I have. Full post here.

Penultimate food post: Memorable meals from the trip

122 days, 17 weeks, 4 months, a third of a year. Any way you slice it, that's a lot of eating. But what really stood out, what were the memorable meals? To answer that question, I'm going to use only my memory, and leave the blog archives for another time. After this chronological review, I'll sift it all down to a Top 8 of the trip. Here are the candidates:

Japan

Sushi near Tsukiji Fish Market: The freshest, fishiest, most flavorful sushi of my life (details)

Tasting menu at Chaya Mario: Unbelievably good tofu and surprise after surprise hidden away in Hiroshima (details)

Iron Chef Matsue nights: Round after round of local seafood and bizarre creations (details)

Indonesia

Roast pig at Babi Guling: Succulent, spicy, and celebratory, as all roast pigs should be (details)

Mangosteens on Gili Meno: The essence of simple, bursting with vibrancy (details)

Singapore

Intricate Chinese tasting menu: Taste after taste of new eats ending with a hands-on demonstration of a sensational omelette (details)

Long Beach seafood extravaganza: Fantastic black pepper crab and a steamed fish that was even better (details)

Ah boiling at a hawker centre institution: Amazing and amazingly unexpected peanut dumplings in broth (details)

China

Hunanese fish head: A very big fish head with very many chopped chillies, soon reduced to bones and nothing more (details)

Ha'erbin streetside dumplings: After many, many plates of dumplings, these reigned supreme (details)

Sichuan, Sichuan, Sichuan: A hotter-then-hot hot pot in Shanghai, a bowl of chili oil for poaching, and a dry pot so spicy it made me numb (details 1, details 2, and details 3)

Sour cuisine of Guizhou: A big bowl of pig stomach and sour seasonings and, as a side, smelly fish grass salad (details)

Turkey

Kofte with a view: Meatballs and uberfresh vegetables on one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara (details)

Feast at Ak Deniz: Where the food started and just kept coming, showcasing Turkish food done right (details)

Turkish breakfasts: From Kale at the beginning to Caffe Privato near the Galata Tower, a range of treats that makes any morning lavish (details 1 and details 2)

Israel

Home-cooked food from Ima: Delightful starter spreads and a tour through the best of Israeli cuisine (details)

Poland

Zapiekanki to celebrate: A pizza baguette after a fantastic set of World Cup semifinals (details)

Germany

Eating without seeing: Going dark at a dunkelrestaurant with ok food but an amazing eating experience (details)

Biergarten all afternoon: The biggest and best pretzels I've ever seen, raw radishes with lots of spice, sausage and whole fish to boot, rounded out by stein after stein of delicious weissbier (details)

Brunch at Gugelhof: Seriously the best blood sausage and seriously surrounded by three exceptional brunch-time dishes (details)

Doner kebab at Hasir: After one bite, I could feel the new addiction forming (details)

Czech Republic

Redemption at Lokal: Czech cuisine saves itself with fresh horseradish, fresh dumplings, and great beer (details)

Denmark

Arty cafe treats: At the Louisiana, easily one of the best museums I've ever been to, the most beautiful food that was fresh and tasty as well (details)

The Netherlands

Late-night Netherlands: Stuff-it-yourself falafel and vlaamse frites with special sauces end any day well (details)

Bevy of beards, part four

And the last installment of the Track My Beard feature, with faces from Copenhagen and Helsinki. Mysteriously, I made it through Amsterdam without a single beard shot!

Getting cultured with Calder at the Louisiana, July 23, 2010.

Freezing the beard at the Ice Bar, July 24, 2010.

Singing with the pipe organ in a city park in Helsinki, July 31, 2010.

Do widzenia, Auf Wiedersehen, Farvel, Tot ziens, and Näkemiin, Europe: Some thoughts on my time in Central and Northern European cities

The month in Europe has had a different flow from that of the first three in Asia and the Middle East. Instead of two to three weeks in a place, it was more like four to seven days. So my reflections are a bit more numerous and pull from aspects seen in some, but not all, of the places I was in July.

The food can be quite tasty but it can also be wretched: My European destinations were, to put it nicely, not well known for being culinary destinations. But I had some great meals over the course of the month! For example, really tasty German food that was hearty and fresh at the same time (I'm looking at you, Gugelhof). And most of the meals didn't suck. But there were a couple that did (stop feeding me, you bad bad restaurant of U Babci Maliny!)

Lots of the good food has been imported: The flip side of shaky food cultures is that there's room for more. And, with centuries of exploration and contact beyond Central Europe under their respective belts, these places had managed to import some decent food. The Turkish food in Berlin, ah, I would love more doner kebab in my life. The Surinamese food in Amsterdam, a new treat that would get even better the more it was explored. And the list goes on.

World War II has left many scars and they're everywhere: Though I purposely went to Hiroshima at the beginning of my trip, I wasn't expecting World War II to be such a present theme. Yet it was. The unmistakable absence of Jews in Krakow. The horrible terror at Auschwitz. The memorials, some very recent, in Berlin, Prague, and Munich. Even in Amsterdam, where Anne Frank's house serves as a daily reminder to those bicycling the canals.

Cities so livable it hurts: In many ways it was a very urban month. Yet I didn't get any asphalt dreariness. A big part of that comes from the fact that these cities were just so nice to be in. Berlin and Amsterdam, in particular, bring well-rounded places just dying to be explored in depth. I won't soon forget the joys of bicycling Amsterdam. Or the ease of doing so in Copenhagen. These places have put effort into making the human scale the right scale for life in the city and it shows.

The roots of the English language become more clear: Knowing only a bit of Spanish in addition to English, I've been confused before as to the origin of much of English. Sure, some come from Romance languages, but others...? Now it is much more clear, having been exposed to German and Dutch especially. Even when it doesn't look like it, it sounds like, just with a very strange accent and some awfully unfamiliar words in between.

Finnish food at 35,000 feet

Before I know it, it's time to head to the airport. For a plane to the United States! 122 days have come and they have gone. More reflections soon...

But first. Through some quirk and massive luck, my round-the-world ticket was done on frequent flier miles and is in business class. Though I don't much get business class on little flights, on longer flights it is an amazing dream.

My seat even turned out better than the rest. It was the only seat on my side of the aisle, so effectively both a window and an aisle seat. Sweet!

I love the little menus I got saying what we'd be eating. And, the chanterelles on the front looked so good!

I asked for a little champagne to celebrate a really fun trip. I got that, and a batch of fresh strawberries. Wow!

Next came my appetizer plate. A chicken caesar salad, Finnish Emmenthal Black Label cheese and Bla Castello cheese, and cream of black salsify soup. The soup was great, full of earthiness and with a little bit of fresh parsley to brighten it up. I need to learn what salsify is. The cheeses were also spot-on: the blue was gooey and rich without whacking me on the head with it and the hard cheese was nutty and a bit sharp.

Next came my main, which was rolled salmon filet with pepper, Hollandaise sauce, and dill potatoes. This was really quite good for being on a plane. The Hollandaise sauce mixed with the little beans wonderfully. The salmon had a fair amount of flavor and sufficient moisture, hard to do with airplane microwaves (as we all know from Top Chef...). And the glass of French red wine I had didn't hurt.

To end, a raspberry mousse cake, of which the best part was the berries on the side. Fresh berries are the best in Northern Europe!

Awhile later, as we were approaching New York, we got melty ham, bacon, and two cheese sandwiches; potato chips; and more fresh fruit. The sandwich was again surprisingly tasty.

And then we were touching down. My ridiculously lucky and extravagant set of flights were done. So was my trip.

The food and drink in Finland I did manage to try

Ok, so I didn't make it to Juuri's. But what did I eat?

As mentioned, I stopped off for Finnish coffee and cinnamon cake at the Regatta Cafe. Both sadly were let downs. The coffee was really really weak and really really watery, when all I wanted was a stiff cuppa joe. And the cinnamon cake was bizarrely stale. Bizarrely so, as I could see it being made freshly in the back.

I ended up getting a snack at Ravintola Taberna Bacchus, a neighborhood joint that had been there since 1878. I had a lead on a place called Ravintola 10 at the same address, so I thought this would be good.

It turned into pretty straightforward beer and pizza. The pizza was frutti di mare, with some good seafood and some sketchier seafood (tuna, were you canned?). The beer was a barely passable light lager. Not the homespun salmon soup I had been hoping for...

But then things started to look up. I made my way to the working-class neighborhood of Kallio and to the bar named Ravintola Tovari. Inside was a classy beer pub, with books on the walls, games on the shelves, and beer on tap.

The first beer I had was Kesayo Vehnaolut. It was excellent, just really good. A full of flavor wheat beer with an odd northern kick.

By the time I got my second beer, I was well into the book "Those Without Shadows" by Francoise Sagan. I have to admit, when I pulled it off the shelves, I was hoping it would be by Carl Sagan. No luck there, but I did have a nice read of twenty-something French youngsters in the past wondering what life is for. Good existentialism! And the second beer was good too, a Keisari that was a light ale.

Oh, and I almost played Monopoly with Helsinkian towns, too.

The next morning, it was time for my last meal. I decided to explore the Hakaniemi Open-Air Market. Worth it! This market was a mix of everything, from garage sales to cheap clothes to fresh fruit.

And they had stands selling freshly fried little fish, some kind of sardine. They were fried in an unbelievable amount of butter, topped with lemon. And they were unbelievably good. Buttery, full of flesh, bite size, and buttery.

A fabulous food experience just out of my reach

One dining establishment had caught my eye in pre-country research. Juuri Reittio and Baari bills itself as a Finnish tapas establishment. I was very curious and planned it to be the last stop of my walk.

Alas, my walk took too long! And they closed earlier than they said they would! When I showed up at 10:45pm (admittedly, kinda late), they were just closing up (in advance of midnight which the internet proclaimed as their closing hour).

Peeking at their menu, my disappointment grew. "Slightly smoked reindeer heart with gelee made of rowanberry wine"? Holy cow, I want to eat that. "Crayfish-cottage cheese filled cabbage leaves, melted dill butter"? Yes, I want to eat that! "Cold smoked pike with nettle mayonnaise and buckthorn malt bread"? Let me eat that! But it was not to be.

Has anyone ever been to this place? If you go, let me know. And, if you're in Helsinki, you should go.

One evening to get to know Helsinki

A quirk of my plane ticket has taken me to Finland. Helsinki, more precisely, in which I have 18 hours to see the city. And to sleep as well.

Arrival, baggage, transportation, and hotel suck up some of the time. Finally, I am oriented and I am ready to tackle this town. I head out. It is 5:55pm on Saturday night.

Except, it turns out, that all the stores close at 6pm. All of them, except perhaps for some convenience stores. I guess this means I won't do any shopping in the Design District!

I head north in a very random walk.

This statue is the first picture-worthy sight I encounter. I am not sure what it celebrates, but the contrast of the three figures is delightful. As is the weathered green look.

While I don't shop, I do window shop, a bit. One intriguing item is this face that is actually a chair (you sit on the other side). Intriguing, that is, until I see the price tag: 1,019 euros! Whoa...

I had heard about the Nepalese food in Helsinki. Apparently, Nepalese is the stand-in word for typically North Indian food. However, I am not sure what exactly authentic Nepalese fantasies of the culinary sort would be.

More design, this time of of the clothing variety. Looks like she got tangled up in a fisherman's net.

A glass building that tapers on the far side from a normal rectangular building to this cylindrical glass end.

And the first top 10 sight! The Rock Church is a church built into the rock. It was hard to find a good angle from which to photograph this, but it was pretty neat in person. They seem to have concerts every now and then as well, but not tonight.

Up in the northwest part of town, the Sibelius Park contains the Sibelius Monument, dedicated to world-famous composer Jean Sibelius. It is the first time I've heard of him / her.

Shortly, I come to a little cafe, perched on the waterfront. This looks to be a popular little wharf. I have a cup of famous Finnish coffee and a cinnamon bun. I gaze out over the water.

Not a bad respite.

Not sure what happens inside the Biomedicum Helsinki, but the exterior was pretty neat.

I've been navigating long enough now to notice that every street has two names. And those two names are posted at all intersections. My only guess as to what this could be is Finnish on top, Swedish on the bottom. Anybody else know?

Speaking of Finnish, this was the longest word I saw on my walk. It is 24 letters long. I have no idea what it says.

The Olympic complex! The Finns were hosts back in 1952 and have a massive sporting structure to show for it. There's also a hostel onsite, a cheap and easy way to stay in an Olympic village.

I come to the Korjaamo Cultural Center, a refurbished tram station that has been made into an arts center. This would be a good place to come back to during the day.

Public WCs! And, my choice of a pay full toilet or a free "pissoir". The pissoir is, amazingly, unisex. And a steal.

Right at the end of my now-4-hour walk, I am startled when I peer through a window. Psychedelic dinosaur bones all lit up? I hope this is a natural history museum...and not the Finnish version of Jurassic Park!