This picture from Khlong Toey Market in Bangkok, Thailand, showcases the chicken for food hierarchy.  This woman owns live chickens that run around a pen before losing their lives for a family in order to make a meager income.  The income is then wisely spent on food or other livelihood necessities.  On top, the woman nonchalantly eats from a Styrofoam container.  The chickens may not know, but the woman surely knows, that this is the process of life (little does Harry know that he is bound to be next in the Styrofoam container and there’s no redemption).  A little morbid, but such is the Life of a Chicken in Thailand!

For more Thai food check out 100 Best Thai Food!

-Migration Mark

Unless you happen to dwell or grow up on the islands of Papua, the Maluccas, or Borneo, you will certainly hold Sago palm tree starch and the accompanying meal as a brilliant culinary novelty.

In Brunei Darussalam, the sago is a local staple and is known as Ambuyat.  After searching out a traditional location to eat Ambuyat in Bandar Seri Begawan, I joyously ordered the combination meal from a cheerful family serving out of a food court eatery.

As the smiling waiter emerged from the kitchen with Ambuyat in hand, an overwhelming feeling of happiness swept over my being and I knew I was ready to have another great cuisine experience in the far-off and unique Brunei.

Here is a short video of how I managed to eat Ambuyat:

The transparent glue paste (ambuyat) is eaten with a utensil that is a double pronged bamboo stick (Candas), resembling a pair of amateur chopsticks where the two sticks automatically spring back together. The sticks are twirled into the ambuyat to create a bite size peice and dipped into the sauce.

Along with the sago paste, the meal deal came with a fish based soup (Ikan Rebus), a green leaf boiled vegetable (Sayur Bayam), and the craziest tasting sauce in the world (Cacah Binjai).  The cacah binjai sauce is made from the binjai fruit which resembles a mango but has been neglected throughout much of world except in parts of Borneo and is still thriving in Brunei.  The sauce was one of the more intense flavors that I have ever come across in my life.  Try to imagine this; cream of fermented mushroom soup blended with a super shrimp paste, mixed with pickled sour ginger, and doused with a dash of vodka, just enough for a sharp bite.  I was left speachless at the mercy of the powerful cacah binjai and loved every bite of super pungent excitement.

Much like a durian buffet, an ambuyat feast in Brunei is an imperative move for a gourmet guru. 

-Migration Mark

Japanese Hot Dog (Japadog!)

by Bret Ahmed from TheJetpacker

Location: Japadog
Address: 530 Robson St.  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada  V6Z2K6
Cost: $3.50 – $6.75 CAN
Website: (beware — Engrish ahead): http://www.japadog.com/en/

Imagine the flavor profile of a hot dog combined with sushi.  Sounds disturbing, doesn’t it?  Yet for a reason that defies all logic, hot dogs topped with Japanese condiments are delicious (albeit confounding).

The Japadog street cart has become so popular in Vancouver that it’s spawned two more street carts and one storefront.  But that hasn’t stopped the long lines.

When we were in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, we waited for over an hour, which made me hungry (and delusional) enough to try three of their 17 varieties:

Oroshi — a pork bratwurst covered in a sharp-tasting grated radish, sweet and savory “special” soy sauce and chopped green onion.

Ume — a bratwurst drenched in a sweet and tangy plum sauce and garnished with raw red onion.

Okonomi — a kurobuta pork sausage blanketed by fried cabbage, tangy bonito flakes (dried flakes of fish), Japanese mayo and Okonomiyaki sauce (a flavorful sauce that embodies umami: soy sauce, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sake, ginger and rice vinegar).  Once you get your head around the faint fishy flavor, you realize it compliments the savory hot dog well, like surf ‘n turf.

There is also a spicy cheese terimayo dog (a hot dog topped with thin strands of seaweed, jalapeno cheese and teriyaki sauce), an edamame dog and a Kobe beef dog.  Any of them work well with a squirt of wasabi mayo.

Makes ketchup and mustard seem bland, doesn’t it?

Bret Ahmed is the brains (clearly not the looks) behind The Jetpacker, a fun travel blog that features humorous tales, lists, deals, tips and strange stories from the travel universe. Follow him on Facebook or @Jetpacker and have a blast!

Interested in a short Rule of Engorgement guest post on Migrationology?  Email me: migrationology[at]gmail[dot]com

No other natural phenomenon that sprouts on this green earth comes close to the body altering, emotion heightening, crazy feeling, and flavor bursting sensation of the world’s ultimate natural gourmet high; the Durian.  It is truly a fruit that transcends all fruity competition and boasts as monarch in a world or natural delicacies.  Somewhere down the road a Malay genius deemed it necessary to create a buffet of the craziest possible food on earth.  Don’t ever underestimate an all you eat Durian buffet, it will force you to bow, respect, and possibly punish you a little…

Please enjoy the video!

Location:

Durian SS2, 1,jalan ss 2/75,47300 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (located a little outside the center of Kuala Lumpur),  you will notice a number of tents on the side of the street with pungent aromas filling the surrounding air

SS2 Durian Buffet Contact: Ah Wai (the Don), 012-234-5619, durianss2@gmail.com

Check out the map here!

All gourmet fundamentalists, food fanatics, or just average people, should consider the life mandatory Durian pilgrimage to Kuala Lumpur to tackle the Buffet.  I can guarantee this is one of the great intense intimate culinary journey’s the world has to offer!

-Migration Mark

Name: Bird’s Nest Soup (Rang Nok)

Location: Yaowarat Chinatown in Bangkok, Thailand

Cost: 200 THB (6.21 USD) for the cheapest bowl

It’s not everyday that you get to recline on yellow sofas surrounded by jars of illuminated spit, get spoiled by your waitress, and sip on the finest Swift saliva.  Well, actually, we got the cheapest bowl possible, but it was still a great foodie experience.  Swift nest’s are formed by the birds regurgitating their spit and letting it harden.  Depending on the quality, bird’s nest can fetch anywhere from about $5 to $1000 per bowl.   After eating over 100 Thai foods, bird’s nest soup was actually dreadfully plain.  However, if the purposed health benefits like curing lungs, boosting blood circulation, rejuvenating the skin, warding off tuberculosis, helping people recover from giving birth, and not to mention it’s aphrodisiac effects, the lack of flavor is hardly to complain about, right???  The waitress cracked a raw egg into our soup, splashed in a hint of honey, and told us to eat it with the small water chestnuts provided.  Yes, this is by far the most I’ve paid per bite of food in Bangkok, and, No, I probably won’t buy it again, but it was a high society experience that left me feeling like a culinary pro!

-Migration Mark

From growing up in Africa and traveling through many countries, I’ve obtained a respectable transcript of outlandish edibles ranging from ambrosial to grotesque. Congolese snails in the reincarnation of rubber tires, grubs, unknown testicles, a scientific assortment of winged bugs, balut fetus, rats, and a host of interior animal organs, are among a host of the weird delicacies that have been sandwiched between these two extremes. Throughout it all, I have been able to mastermind an eating strategy when faced with freakishly weird awesome foods.

Fried Rat in Laos

1.  The Adventurous Mindset

The adventurous mindset erases an automatic negative attitude and cry’s out to partake of the most outlandish edibles around. A great attitude goes a long way when attempting to eat weird foods. With an adventurous mindset you can be happily munching what you first thought might be repulsive.

2.  Be the Peer Pusher

Friends should push other friends to try weird foods. This is a healthy peer pressure exercise and I am all too often the guilty culprit who enforces the tasting of everything to the sometimes delight or pain of friends.  A group all trying something is less intimidating than sampling by yourself.

Smelling a chunk of the tender King of Fruits (Durian)

3.  Take Small Bites

A giant mouth full sometimes triggers an unpleasant regurgitation as constant chewing is necessary to avoid choke-age. Try small bites that are easy to chew and therefore faster to swallow and keep down.  I’ve tried big bites and small bites, but I think small bites makes it easier.

4.  Think Delicious

The mind is quite a powerful tool and can be manipulated by itself.  Think delicious thoughts when widening your lips for the first bite of an utterly weird something, and it will probably be much better than the initial thought.

Eating Balut in Manila

5.  Don’t Over Think

Hesitation causes bad thinking. Bad thinking causes food worrying. Avoid hesitation by getting in there and sampling something without thinking too hard about it and just going in!

6.  Actually…It’s A Delicacy

Have a realization that to many local people, the ultra bizarre food you are about to eat is probably not weird at all. In fact, many weird foods to us, and vice versa, are local delicacies that are prized eating possessions that should be respected when munching.

Grub Worm in Ecuador

7.  Tell A Story

Everyone I’ve ever met adores hearing about extremely weird foods that I have sampled in my life. Other than eating, there’s no greater satisfaction than telling a story about eating an exceptionally bizarre food that everyone is absolutely grossed out by.

8.  Don’t Kid Yourself With Textures

Do not think about or even contemplate or hesitate the texture of a weird food.  All too often it is not the flavor, but the texture that grosses people out.  If you simply focus on the flavor and try to completely ignore the texture, the food will be much easier to handle.  Durian, known as the king of fruits, is neglected stricly for it’s texture, but the fruit is actually brilliant!

Mystery Soup Number 5

9.  Someone Eats It

How can you be afraid of a food when there is someone that eats it?  There is reason to be scared if you are eating something completely new that no one has ever tasted.  However, almost all freakishly weird foods are eaten and therefore cannot be abnormally unhealthy.  Don’t be afraid, it won’t harm you!!!

Deep fried 1 day old Chicken

10.  Last Resort: Block Taste Buds/Don’t Fully Chew

In a last resort case where the food simply causes an involuntary gag reflex, it’s best to chew while blocking the passage between the nose and throat and then swallowing with haste. Immediately chase with whatever beverage is nearest.

Duck fetus balut

In the end, there’s no way to absolutely love all freakishly weird foods from around the world. However, it is a wonderful asset for any traveler to be able to relish a few odd entrees and thrive to tell about them!

I know you have all eaten some freakishly weird foods, I would love to hear some comments!

-Migration Mark

From spending 24 Hours at Angkor Wat to aimlessly walking around the capital of Phnom Penh, in order to fit in to the Cambodian lifestyle, you will need to follow a few or possibly all of these tips.

1.  Parkas and Gore-Tex

If you venture outside or somewhere onto the street, whatever you do, don’t forget the North Face down parkas.  Locals don’t appreciate the glorious sunshine.  I saw numerous people rocking the latest in mittens, leggings,  scarves, and long johns.

2.  100cc Family Vehicle

The Dodge Caravan is no longer the family of 5 vehicle of choice.  Rather a family of five or six (and 2 or 3 generations at that) comfortably manages to finagle their way onto a 100cc Honda motorbike and cruise from place to place as a routine activity.

3.  Guerrilla Marketing

Local Cambodians have taken guerrilla marketing to the highest of world levels.  If you have something to offer, offer it at a price (includes advice).  If you have a 2 seater motorbike, ask everyone if they need a ride, even if it’s obvious they don’t.  If you have scissors, offer a haircut.  If you have hands, just start massaging unsuspecting victims.  And by the way, getting rejected 5 or 6 times is absolutely “NO” reason to give up.

4.  Wear Pajamas

This mostly goes to females and is directly correlated with the winter gore-tex.  Women love pajamas.  It is a frequency to see ladies dodging across traffic on streets, riding side saddle, or vending, all while  sporting the latest in Berenstain Bears or Digimon.  If you leave the house, don’t forget to “NOT change,” or if anything, add a parka, mittens, and a scarf to the repertoire.

5.  Invent the Remix

You better be up on the latest rap and pop songs, because they need to be remixed in Khmer, ASAP.  As I heard very familiar rap songs blasting on buses and in restaurants, very unfamiliar voices were projected.  If you are good at remixing, a video must also be produced, like Ghost Ride the tuk tuk in Bangkok.

6.  Overload Your Vehicle

If you have a truck, it is mandatory to load it to capacity, then add a few more tons of cargo, then add a couple family vehicles on top (100cc’s), and then add a couple generations of families to the very top.  This must be done even if no one really wants to go anywhere.  After completion of loading, you can get more advice from how to successfully drive a car in Indonesia.

Overloaded Truck in Phnom Penh

7.  Play House

Get comfortable on microscopic tables and chairs and sometimes using tiny utensils or other “play house” essentials.  The toy food sets and furniture I played with when I was a kid, become a full grown adults reality when eating outstanding cuisine on the streets of Phnom Penh.

8.  Chill Out

If there is not much to do in the afternoon it is required to take a nap on the back of a motorbike, in a hammock, on a fence pole, or with your leg vertically propped in some position that looks ridiculously uncomfortable.

If you can master these daily norms you will easily fit in and possibly even start to become a local Cambodian.

-Migration Mark

Forever Snacks in Manila

To follow Thanksgiving, I thought it might be appropriate to introduce a small nameless store I stumbled upon in the heart of Quezon City, Novaliches area in Manila, the Philippines.

Ironically, I had just taken a jog in Manila, when my wonderful couchsurfing friend and I decided to invest in some “treats.”  Little did I know we were about to enter a stuffed cavern of highly creative and very processed nibbler’s paradise.

On the side of Quirino highway, we crouched on hands and knees into a tiny cave opening.  I tried to stand, but my head hit packages immediately, forcing me to constantly hunch over.   When my eyes had adjusted I could see a small light in the corner illuminating millions of snacks.

Snacks in Manila

My squinting eyelids instantly jumped into my brows as my eyes overdosed in a whirlpool seizure of nothing more than packages and packages of crunchy snacks. It took five minutes before I shook to reality and was able to appreciate the endless quantities of unique and quirky labels.

How about a package of Boogeyman Crunch, PeeWee’s, or a handful of Bangus.  Can I interest you in a couple Munchers or a bag of M in M’s?

Manila Snacks

One could easily spend minutes, hours, or quite possibly a lifetime, observing, taking notes, sight seeing, and munching, in this tiny little establishment in the heart of Novaliches.

I spent about an hour in the store and let me tell you, I wasn’t even close to reading all the brands.

-Migration Mark

Related:

• Jogging in Manila is Like Smoking A Pack of Cigarettes
• Feasting on Fetus: 5 Steps to Eating Balut
• KFC Can’t Compete With This Fried Chicken!
• Trek in Mayoyao Rice Terraces

As I exit my van back to Bangkok, I get out to urinate and see a pick up truck with something massive in the back.  After nearly choking in my awe, the vehicle begins to maneuver its way out of the parking lot.  It is literally a small Nissan Frontier with an 18 wheeler truck load in the bed.

We don’t really know, this guy could have figured out how to drive a car in Indonesia, maybe he loves to booty shake in Bangkok, or eat durian buffets; but there is one thing we can safely and easily assume:

“this guy cut down an entire jungle and neatly fit it in the back of his 1996 Nissan Frontier.”  That takes talent.

Check out the Video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Kq5nRm4dU

I hope this will inspire you to add that extra load to your vehicle next time, push the limits.

If you’ve seen a larger load on a smaller truck, pleeeease share it!

-Migration Mark

Jogging in Manila requires that all human senses be maximized to full potential and then some.  You will surely be evaluated and put through a personal examination that will fully test all human capabilities.

Just so you know, you will be forced to kick a few cats, hurdle countless stray dogs, and scatter aimless looking roosters.  One minute you are scattering a zoo and the next minute you are swag surfing through a muster of hawkers.

A waterfall will surely form at the tip of your nose and run down the entirety of your body getting trapped in your apparel.  Your skin and clothing will instantaneously be sopping with salty wetness.

You will be harassed by wires that are invisible until they have strangled  your neck.  You will be forced to dodge craters in the sidewalk, extra re-bar that managed to stick out of nowhere, and you will need to navigate the sidewalk or road that resembles a music equalizer from the side.  Along these roads you will pass convenience stores, mechanical shops, and the highly daunting (as you are jogging in jeopardy) funeral service homes.

While avoiding various obstacles, you will accidentally brush up against a man urinating into a fence and he won’t look the least bit surprised or embarrassed.  You will unleash a smile and continue onwards.

Your lungs will instantly char from the rancid spewing of everything from mega buses to homemade vehicular devices.  The stench of rotting garbage will coat your inner nostrils as you putt, putt, along.

As you gag for you next choke of oxygen, one breath closer to emphazima, is when you will think to yourself,

“I may as well be smoking cigarettes, instead of jogging in Manila, one essentially reaps the same consequences.”

But then you think again while peering out of your half closed shuttering eyelid and start to realize that because your senses are forced to be so acute, that there are many cultural and valuable things that open right before your eyes if you have the energy at this point to be attentive.

People we be sprawled out in the most peculiar positions but looking so comfortable while catching a random power nap.  You will hear the cries of children, the agony of the much less fortunate, and the laughs of excited boys.

Men will be hanging out and when you zoom past they will call out a random country they suspect you could potentially possibly be from such as “Netherlands.”  Without any energy to chat, you will nod and continue jogging as the men cheer or laugh at you.

You will see a mother with young ones orbiting around her while selling rice-licious deserts from a tiny wooden stall.  The kids will scream and possibly chase you as you go past.  You will watch as people bite the heads off 1 day old chickens, dip their squid balls into vinegar, and swat flies from pork carcasses.

You will see people living lives, some doing well, others struggling.  But hopefully it will open your eyes, help you to realize whats going on around you, and encourage you to help others directly or indirectly.

Taxi drivers will attempt to get your business as you continue to jog.  They either think that you will collapse soon and need a ride or that you will go from a straight run to hopping into the backseat of their car.  When you give the driver the thumbs down, he will eek out a smile and realize that this time instead of being lazy, you are trying to perform a little exercise.

At the end of your adventure you will be ecstatic you survived a jog in Manila.  Your body will feel slightly paralyzed and you will want to curl into the fetal position somewhere under a tree.  Your feel as if you sat around smoking a package of cigarettes.  Then you will realize that your jog unquestionably had many many more valuable benefits.

-Mark Wiens