Two weeks in Asia surprisingly left me with a huge craving for Mexican food! I am normally a big fan of Asian cuisine, but I’ve never tried to eat it 24/7 for two weeks straight. Only a few days into our trip I wasn’t sure how much more rice I could handle. And I felt a little guilty about it, but on our very last night there, which was in Hong Kong, we actually went out for Italian food! How silly is that? Silly or not though, it was some of the best ravioli I’ve ever had in my life (my husband had total entrée envy). So I guess what they say is true…Hong Kong has amazing food to offer no matter what you are after.
This trip was of course a tour of Asia though, and we had the opportunity to sample lots of amazing local cuisine as well. We were fortunate enough to visit Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong on our travels and here are the highlights from each location…
Singapore
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My cousin is currently working abroad in Singapore so that was our first stop.
One of the first things I noticed was all the amazing tropical fruits that I’d never seen before. I enjoyed trying everything from dragon fruit to longan fruit to lychees to passion fruit. And I loved seeing these options almost everywhere we went because I knew they were native to the area and probably locally sourced.
Singapore felt like a melting pot of cultures and, like Hong Kong, offers a wide variety of cuisine possibilities (except for Mexican LOL). One traditional Singaporian meal we tried was Nasi Lemak, and it could easily be found in what they call “hawker stalls,” which is basically an outdoor food court (pictured). Nasi Lemak is a chicken and rice dish with a deep fried egg on the side. And apparently this dish is all about thesauce so the better the sauce the more popular the food stall.
Thailand
We loved experiencing the vibrant culture of Thailand and while we were there we of course came across plenty of traditional dishes like pad thai and green curry. I was particularly surprised though to learn of their love for fried chicken legs. I thought it was just a Southern thing, but apparently the Thais are big fans as well. You can see what I mean in the pictured picnic spread above that was served to us during an “elephant ride” excursion, which was quite the experience by the way. The wrapped up bamboo leaves each contained different flavored rice dishes including some sweet ones for dessert. This was one of my favorite meals on the trip!
Aside from riding elephants we also spent the day at a Thai Farm Cooking School, which was located on an organic farm! On the way there we had the opportunity to check out one of the local food markets (pictured). Enclosed supermarkets are also available, but most locals shop at the individual vendors in these open-air markets on a regular basis. And when I say “regular” I mean daily. Apparently you won’t find many Thais stocking up on a week’s worth of groceries all at once like a lot of us do here in the U.S. They like everything very fresh and just like some of the other Asian countries we visited "fresh" sometimes means still alive.
Indonesia
We mainly went to Indonesia to experience some of the best scuba diving in the world, so we pretty much only stayed and ate at our hotel (which was all inclusive). They served us a variety of food with a heavy Asian influence including the pictured traditional Indonesian spread. Sometimes the language barrier prevented me from fully understanding what I was eating and this was one of those occasions! One of my husband’s favorite dishes while we were there was a delicious Indonesian beef broth soup (from the airport) that tasted as though it was flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Hong Kong
Like Singapore, Hong Kong is well known for its amazing cuisine, a lot of which has a strong Chinese influence. In both cities we enjoyed “dim sum” for lunch (pictured). You can either order a bunch of little dim sum dishes off the menu or more traditionally the dishes are transported around the restaurant on little carts so each table can make their selections. Some common dim sum offerings include steamed BBQ pork buns, shrimp and/or pork dumplings, and egg rolls. We loved being able to try so many different flavors at one meal!
We also saw a lot of “moon cakes” for sale (pictured above). These expensive, handmade cakes come out annually in celebration of the Chinese “Mid-Autumn Festival,” which happened to be around the time we were there. The cakes come in all sorts of flavors, but I was told that the “lotus” version is the most traditional.
Unusual Foods
Food that might be unusual in the U.S. is commonplace elsewhere including: fried bugs, frogs (pictured above - these are sold live and not next to that set of knives by accident), organs like livers and hearts, skinned chickens with heads and feet still attached, swallow birds’ nests (made from bird saliva), snakes, bats, rats, and even cats and dogs. We also came across our fair share of unusually flavored chips and crackers including a variety of seafood flavors (pictured).
Whole Foods
While I do believe traditional Asian cuisine is generally better for you than some American food (think burgers and fries) it was hard to come across whole grains on our trip. The rice and noodles were pretty much always white, and if by the off-chance we came across some “whole-grain” bread it was not even close to 100% whole-wheat. With that being said, I couldn’t help but notice that obese Asian people are pretty much non-existent so apparently they are doing a lot of things right. Aside from the refined grains portion of their cuisine (and the occasional deep fried dish) I felt most everything else was “whole” including lots of fresh produce, meats and seafood.
Our entire trip was one big adventure, and I feel extremely lucky to have experienced it! We missed our daughters so much though and being away from them for two weeks felt like an eternity. But I knew how much I would enjoy telling our children all about the “other side of the world” and showering them with dozens of little foreign gifts once we got home safe and sound. And after almost 80 hours of total combined travel time (to/from home and to/from each country) and more airplane food than I care to remember I feel like I never want to go anywhere other than home again! Well, at least at the moment and hopefully the next time we decide to leave the country our daughters will be old enough to join us and truly appreciate what we find once we get there. In the meantime we will just continue teaching them about different food cultures in our own kitchen!
Rhonda says
Wow..that is a super fast trip! I know exactly how you feel. I love food, all food, really, but when my husband and I took a 14mth backpacking trip around the world in 2007-2008 we found our cravings took on a whole new level! We are so incredibly spoiled here in the US (and especially we here in the Pacific NW) with the bounty of ingredients and ability to basically eat anything we want when we want it. As much as I love India food, for example, after a couple of months there I would have given my left arm for a good Mexican burrito, and so on with every country we traveled to. It was an excellent education (after having previously only spent 2-3 weeks in a country at a time) at how nice it is to have diversity
Feed 5000 says
You made me laugh out loud with your first sentence! I'm a Filipino and as a chef I love different types of food. But I have to admit that even just a few days in the US or Europe make me crave for rice! Haha! I've been lurking here for quite some time. Great site -- very informative but never boring! I'm a culinary school teacher and I've always wanted to teach Real Food here in Manila. Yes, Asian food is definitely a lot healthier but I worry that it won't be for long. With the busy lifestyle, more people resort to eating out or using instant mixes at home! In fact, some people (the younger generation) don't even know that our favorite dishes can be cooked without the mixes we easily find in the supermarkets! It's a tough battle but I'm hoping to fight it in my own little way. Thank you for your inspiration!
Liz says
I just came back from Thailand a few days ago myself. Were you at the Patara Elephant Farm? I think I recognize those outfits and the picnic lunch lol. The food was amazing. I felt like I was eating constantly and I still lost 6 lbs on my trip.
M says
The first photo is maybe of rambutan (ngo in thailand) not lycheethough the fruit inside is similar...
Marlize Dippenaar says
I burst out laughing when I read about the "Whole wheat" that is also white! I lived in South Korea for 3 years. I actually changed my whole lifestyle around while living there. And the worst thing for me was the white EVERYTHING!! I'm used to eating whole wheat and rye breads. The other thing about Korean food, was that everything is sweet!! The white bread, the McDonalds, Even the tomato juice (100% apparently) was sweet!!! Eugh!!
Courtney says
My son LOVES dragon fruit!
Amanda says
Thanks for sharing your pictures, I really enjoyed hearing about your trip! It's totally okay to eat other cuisines during your trip! The best Italian food I've had was in Japan...funny how other countries seem to do Italian better than America! I'm rather opposite of you, in that I always crave Asian food! My heritage is Vietnamese, so when my family and I travel out of state, we feel like we can't go even a few days without eating rice!!
100 Days of Real Food says
Thanks for sharing and you are right because I am still thinking about how amazing that ravioli was in Hong Kong...so it was not a mistake! Also, my girlfriend's heritage is also Vietnamese and she tells me all about their daily consumption of rice. I guess it works if you are accustomed to it!
Samantha says
Great Post!!! I travelled to Singapore and Vietnam with my family (my parents are from Vietnam) when I was six years old and we have not been back since then. I miss the fresh fruit (like lychee, rambutan, mangosteen, longan) and the atmosphere!! Thanks for sharing!
-Sam
P.S. In the first picture, the red fruits on the right are Rambutan.
C says
Ooh hello, I'm a Singaporean girl who stumbled across your blog :) I'm trying to nix processed foods from my diet, and your blog is of great interest to me. Glad you enjoyed Singapore! P.S. Wholegrain/wholemeal is pretty common here, you just have to look in the right places... although we do love our white rice :D
Ashley says
Lisa, I'm a huge Mexican food fan too. Do you go out to eat at Mexican restaurants as a treat or do you make it yourself? I've tried your crock pot refried beans and love them. Do you have any other "real food" Mexican recipes?
100 Days of Real Food says
To be honest I like my Mexican food better than what I usually find at restaurants. :) Here are some other recipes I've posted so far although I am sure there will be more to come!
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/31/recipe-vegetable-quesadillas-on-whole-wheat-tortillas/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/01/recipe-pork-carnitas-tacos-with-tomatillo-salsa/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/21/recipe-fajitas/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/14/recipe-chicken-enchiladas/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/
Annette says
We traveled to China nine years ago to adopt our daughter. After ten days (with lotus root included every day!)they planned for us to have Pizza Hut pizza. It was the best pizza we ever had! (At least it seemed that way at the time)
Jennifer says
I enjoy your blog very much. I noticed that you called the red
"hairy" fruit pictured with the dragon fruit a lychee. It is a rembutan--a cousin of the lychee.
100 Days of Real Food says
Oh...could be an error in translation. Thanks for the info!
The Lindbergs says
My kids and I spent the spring in Europe and had terrible cravings for Mexican food! We tried to make a taco salad one night in France when we found some corn chips - it was a bust. We figured we could make a fortune by opening a Mexican restaurant over there - sounds like it might do well in Asia too?
100 Days of Real Food says
No kidding! I wonder what they would think of that? :)
Andrew @ Eating Rules says
I didn't know you're a SCUBA diver! Your coolness rating just went up by seven. (I'm way more jealous about the diving than I am about the food!)
100 Days of Real Food says
LOL :)
We aren't certified, but we still enjoyed several scuba discovery dives while we were there (and have in other locations as well). If you are into diving you should definitely try to go to that part of the world. It was absolutely amazing!!
Pam H says
Your comment about craving Mexican food cracked me up - last time I spent a few weeks in Thailand I craved the exact same thing. I love Thai food, but after a few weeks I found I wanted variety!
100 Days of Real Food says
It's so funny how many people experienced the same thing! A few on facebook said it too.
Denise says
I live in Beijing, so the next time you come to Asia, you need to come a little bit further north. Living in the Captial of China means we have a ton of good food from all over the country. And it is also an Embassy city, which means we have food from all over the world too.
I personally LOVE going to Thailand and I love that you took your trip to this side of the world! Thanks for taking us along. Too bad we could not have joined you for all the good looking food.
Renee says
Although asians are generally thinner than Americans, some countries (e.g. Philippines) do struggle with other health issues (diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension) due to the high intake of refined rice / wheat products, fried foods, and salt. As they combine their traditional diets with the expanding western options available, they too will soon have significant health challenges that their medical systems are not prepared to manage. It's definitely not just a western concern.
sally cloud says
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful trip~! This "arm chair" traveler relished your photos & savory adventures~!
jen@foodfamilyfitness says
Sounds like a once in a lifetime trip!
Jessica says
Looks like an amazing trip. Glad your home. I have been going through withdrawls from your wedsite :)
Terri says
Welcome home! Thanks so much for sharing your pictures with us! They look awesome and amazing!
Jeanne says
I lived in Taiwan during my high school years and my husband works regularly in Hong Kong and China (although we live in Texas now lol). I love love love any kind of asian food. The people are wonderful, the countries are beautiful and complex, well, I could go on and on. That is great that you could go to the local stalls in Thailand. Tours usually bring you to "western friendly" spots.
And I agree with you - Hong Kong has some of the most amazing food! I had the best dim sum in Shanghai. There is no rule that when in Asia, you have to eat Asian...they have some extremely talented chefs there. I actually had the best italian wood fired pizza in Paris once at a cafe. So, there you go!
erica thompson says
great pictures and it sounds like an amazing experience. I love the way they use big local leaves to display and wrap the foods. Very eco friendly.
100 Days of Real Food says
Talk about eco friendly...all the food we didn't eat (with the exception of the chicken) we fed to the elephants! They even ate the leaf tablecloth too. It was very cool.
susan says
you went to a lot of places in such a short time. i've been to all of these places and the food is amazing. the fantastic smells of little india in singapore that lure you in. sampling green curry from different regions in thailand and the dim sum in hong kong-wow. did you go on a tour or travel independently? you usually get better food if you travel by yourself, tours tend to bring you to very mediocre but 'western friendly' locations.
100 Days of Real Food says
We went with some extended family members who helped plan the trip...and I agree we ended up in some great spots!
Marcy says
Great pictures! It was fun hearing about your trip.
Lisa says
I love this post, thank you! What a wonderful experience... eating the food the locals eat is one of the best ways to get to know a culture, I think. Putting Asia up a bit higher on my list now.
Melanie says
Ohhhh dim sum how I love you! I lived in Korea for a year and it was by far my favorite food! It cannot be found where I live (at least any good). And I understand the craving for Mexican food. That was all I wanted when I got home. Don't feel too bad about Hong Kong...I ate Mexican while I was there!
100 Days of Real Food says
That makes me feel better! :)
The Table of Promise says
So amazing. What a blessing to have had such a trip!
Tanya @ Vegan Faith says
What an amazing experience!
Dawn Riddle says
Nice photos! Looks like you enjoyed your trip. I have read that a lot of Asian's have an allergy to wheat. Well now I am looking at cooking up us some Jasmine Rice with our dinner tonight...keep up the great work!
Sara says
Cutest. Picture. Ever. :)
100 Days of Real Food says
Thank you!
Cali says
I'm so jealous. And now very hungry. LOL! Welcome back. :)
Jessica B says
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! It is fun reading your post, I could tell you really enjoyed the experiences :)
Carolyn says
Welcome back! Great to hear all about it!
Delores says
It's really too bad that you ate Italian food in Hong Kong though because Hong Kong, in my opinion, has the best chinese food in the world. You could try asking for noodles instead of rice.
100 Days of Real Food says
We had Chinese for lunch (the pictured dim sum) so it wasn't a total loss!