Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 24th: Disneyland. When I was six years old, I made my one and only visit to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. At the time, I quite enjoyed myself. Thirteen years later, I’m glad to say I experienced much of the same enjoyment one comes to know only by having been there for yourself! That being said, apart from the video above, I’m going to try and detail what we did do.

After a two and a half-hour drive down to Anaheim, we arrived at the ripe hour of 9:30 to find parking already beginning to fill up.  Given that Disneyland itself closes at midnight, we had designs on spending the entire day there. And, while we ended up leaving at around 10:30 instead of midnight, I can assure you we didn’t have to work too hard to tire ourselves out =P.

We visited quite a few attractions and rode a ton of rides in both Disneyland and Adventureland:

• Pirates of the Caribbean (in the video)
  • This was a nice opening ride, nothing too spectacular, but Pirates of the Caribbean has always been a nice series.
• Haunted Mansion
  • Similar to the Pirates ride, in that it was another ride where you sit in a car and it takes you through multiple rooms.
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • The second roller coaster we rode. Good fun . The clearance on some of the turns was rather low, lol…had to make sure I kept my head in, and low.
• Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes
  • We had, by far, the best guy ever leading our canoe. Filled with an abundance of wit, his humor kept us entertained throughout the ten minutes or so that we paddled around the lake
• Splash Mountain
  • The name makes it pretty obvious: A few gentle slopes riding in a log before you’re thrust down a fifty-foot drop at high speed. Water rides are always enjoyable, without exception
• Indian Jones Adventure
  • The first coaster we rode. Really fast, with, I might add, quite a thrilling ending where the rolling ball was hurtling towards us before we were thrown down into an abyss.
• Tarzan’s Treehouse
  • A walk through, well, Tarzan’s fictional treehouse. Looking back, those were good movies. I may have to watch them again at some point when I get back.
• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! (also in the video)
  • But…before I watch those, I think I want to watch Monsters, Inc first. Like the Pirates ride, this was basically an abbreviated trip through the film. Mike, Sulley and Boo were all great.
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
  • I was too scared to ride this one in Disneyworld, but not here, haha. It wasn’t nearly as scary as I remembered it, though the drops were quite substantial-substantial enough to make my head hurt a little thereafter from all the jostling.
• Muppet Vision 3D
  • The first attraction we visited at Adventureland, this was a nice 3D adventure directed by Kermit and his motley crew, in 3D, with the occasional water spray getting us in our seats as well. We were a bit sleepy at this point, however, and the dark lights only further encouraged that
• Mulholland Madness
  • Another quick ride in cars, the thrill here was the sheer speed and the breakneck turns at significant heights.
• Soarin’ Over California
  • After spending forty minutes in line to experience a ride we weren’t exactly sure of, we were strapped into the shoulder-type seats, raised maybe a hundred feet in the air, after which we were then treated to an IMAX-like trip through California, with the seats rotating and tilting in sync with the video to really complete the experience.
• Grizzly River Run
  • Normally, you’ve got six people in a massive inner tube strapped in as you barrel down rapids getting copious amounts of water splashing everyone. Imagine that experience, but with only two people, positioned mostly on one side of the ring, and you can imagine that even more water filled our tube =P. This was the last ride we rode, and it was, I must say, quite fitting after a long, hot day walking through the park.

As the day wore on, the park definitely filled up with more and more families. I must say, just as with the Grand Canyon, the wonderful thing about seeing such a large mass of people is that, unlike aimless wanderers and window shoppers in malls—which, I must say, I’ve grown waaaay too accustomed to—everyone, regardless of age, generally had a happy demeanor, eager to explore just as many attractions as the next guy!

One of the nice things they’ve introduced in recent years is the idea of the “FastPass”, which essentially lets you get a ticket to come back to a ride in a few hours, rather than standing around in line. When you do come back, the line you get in is relatively short, assuring a good experience for those who do choose to go this route. FastPass isn’t something they’ve got available on all rides, however, but if you do your planning right, you’ll get a good chance at going on a good number of attractions with as little waiting time as possible. And if you’re lucky, if you hang around the FastPass location unsure about whether its worth your while to get one, someone else leaving the park might just offer their own tickets to you, as we experienced at the Grizzly River Run.

Around one thirty, we decided to get lunch. Who knew it would take so long to find corndogs in Disneyland? After a half hour of searching across the park, we finally found them at the Stage Door Cafe. While I had chicken nuggets, Rafaela had the corndog, which, now that we look back on the experience, wasn’t the best choice: She threw it up a few hours later .

We also made a stop to one of the souvenir stops, to look at hats. I had been eying Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat most of the day since I first noticed it, and by the time we actually went in to try them on, I was almost sure I wanted to get it…which I did, just a few hours later .

Towards the end of the day, after riding all that we had, we made it a point to return to Disneyland (in the latter part of the afternoon we went across the way to Adventureland after spending most of our time at Disneyland) for the 9:30 fireworks show. And, as with most everything else, it didn’t disappoint.

We actually had FastPass tickets for Space Mountain at 10:30, but as the fireworks show ended and we made our way there and got in line at 10:00, we were both a bit tired and decided to call it a day. Another two and a half hours, augmented some by the traffic leaving the park and surrounding Anaheim and LA, and this magnificent day came to a close.

Today’s Flickr Gallery | July 23rd: I left Flagstaff at 8:30 in the am, and finally arrived at Rafaela’s place in Bakersfield around 5:30 in the evening. Needless to say, apart from the Houston-Amarillo drive, this was one of the longer drives thus far.

As has become the norm over the past few days, the day started with breakfast from the hotel. Having devoured the somewhat salty scrambled eggs and a sausage patty, I stopped to get some gas and check the tire pressure, which gave me a chance to snap the friendly hotel greeting:

The drive itself was filled with a variety of landscapes, starting with Seqouia National forest just outside of Flagstaff proper. Usually, when people think Arizona, they conjure images of vast, sweeping deserts and the iconic Grand Canyon. But when you get this high in elevation, you really come to appreciate the beautifully vast forest that its also home to.

That being said, as I continued on Interstate 40, I continued to head to lower lands, which gradually brought me to the more familiar desert. Prior drives through desert hadn’t brought me up close to real cacti, but this time around, as I pulled off the highway onto a dirt road, I finally came across some.

Pressing onward, I continued to westward bound for California. Right around the border, I took a detour about 20 miles south to see what Lake Havasu was like. Rafaela had mentioned it would be great for photos, and it really was!

I spent a half hour there before I came to realize just how hot it had become: temperatures in the area were easily over a hundred degrees. As it was already past noon, I figured I needed to get something to eat, but also wanted to stay on track to make it to Bakersfield at a reasonable hour. I feel like the compromise I arrived at was pretty decent: Even though I’m hardly a fan of McDonald’s these days, their chicken nuggets are a quick bite, made even more accessible by my ripping the top off the box and fitting the rest of it in my cup holder. That meant I could drive and eat without having to focus too much attention on the latter. Woohoo, lol.

A little while later, I finally crossed into California. Along the final leg towards Bakersfield, I slowly moved from desert back to mountains, and while they weren’t nearly as green as the ones from earlier in the day, there’s no denying the views were beautiful.

Sadly, the farther in elevation you get, the reality is that stopping on the side of the road becomes a little more dangerous, especially with the roads being as busy as they were. So I didn’t quite stop to take some major photos, but I think the phone’s camera did a decent job of capturing the sense of the area. Soon enough, I was through the mountains and coming downhill again. As I approached Bakersfield, I made it a point to note a milestone in my trip: 2000 miles driven.

When I finally pulled in at 5:30, I must say it was wonderful to see a familiar face! We spent the rest of the day catching up on life, having a wonderful home-cooked meal (complete with an initially failed-but-hilarious attempt to start the grill ). We also agreed to an early start to the morning so that we’d be able to spend most of tomorrow at Disneyland.

Overall, today was another great leg of the trip! More to come soon, appreciate people sticking with the blog even as I’ve been a little slow to get complete updates in !

It looked like it was going to rain. It did. Quite hard. Then it lightened up. Kind of. Eventually, I did in fact make it to the Grand Canyon, despite my musings to the contrary in the above video. As you’ll see, the bulk of today’s focus was indeed getting to the Grand Canyon.

Two quick things: today’s flickr gallery is here, yesterday’s is here, and you can view the entire Road Trip collection, as it continues to grow, here. The other thing is that you may notice the posts are coming progressively later-this is partly due to the fact that I’m moving further west and turning the clock back, and, I was pretty tired today, haha.

Leaving Albuquerque at 7:30 in the morning, I told myself I would need to make as few stops as possible in order to make it to the Grand Canyon by midday.

I did end up making a few stops, as my camera seemed to have a mind of its own, hitting the brakes and flipping on my turn signal without much work on my part…don’t know what I can really do about that beyond going with the flow .

I didn’t bother stopping for lunch, instead, I munched on this almond-cranberry-cashew nut trail mix that I’m sad to say I’m all out of at this point, but will probably end up getting again once I’m back in Houston and can find a Randalls. I daresay I may even have to make the stop before I pull into my driveway, ’cause it’s really that good.

Anyhow, after having my hopes briefly deflated by the onset of clouds and a brewing storm, I made it back to clear skies and headed up to the Grand Canyon. For those playing at home, this was the South Rim, which I arrived at by taking Highway 64 north from I-40. As you’d expect this time of year, it was quite busy. While I was there I recalled hearing some Japanese, a bunch of Korean, some French, some Spanish, and even a little Arabic.

The view itself is as breathtaking as you’d expect, and I tried my best to capture that sense with a few panoramic and really wide shots. According to one of the displays, visibility today was about 90 miles. I really can’t put all of the shots here since that’ll just take up too much room, but I really encourage you to check out the rest of the shots!

Naturally, when you’re walking around with a tripod, a backpack, and a big ole’ camera with a lens hood on it, there’s an interesting dynamic that plays out: those that come across you seem to give you an extra bit of respect, which is nice when you want to get a good shot. But on the flip side of that, it also means that when you come across people wanting their photo taken, some will jump at asking you for a shot. I think I took three or four shots for other people, which I was more than happy to do. I also managed to snap a few shots of myself.

Even though the area was chock full of visitors, taking a page from a friend of mine, just like a zoo, you get a sense that people are obviously there to enjoy the sights. It’s nothing at all like visiting a mall, where people are just hanging around killing time. So, even though I ended up seeking a quieter place to chill out, I must say that I enjoyed the atmosphere all the same.

A few memorable quotations I happened upon while around walking around the rim:

• “Somebody poisoned the water hole!” (repeated about five times in a two minute span. somebody was having fun, lol. his wife and kids weren’t as amused after the third time)
• “Baby it’s so fucking deep” (…) “I just want to throw shit down there, you know?”—a twenty-something year old woman to her man
• Written on one of the now-defunct displays: “we were skeletons. still virgins. Summer Tour 2K10 (put a map here or somethin!)”

As nice as the view was, I did eventually have to leave. I headed back south towards Flagstaff, pulled off the highway, found myself a KFC (and an Arby’s, Kbenn. I was thinking Arby’s, but then I wanted some chicken), checked into the hotel, recorded the last bit of video, took a two hour nap, woke up to write this post and curate the photos, and now it’s time for bed (edit: It’s 1:30 and the photos finally, finally finished uploading. Now I can publish this in a few minutes. I think I’ve overloaded the post with photos, but, whatever, it’s pretty-looking). Tomorrow I’m headed for Bakersfield where I’ll be staying with my friend Rafaela and her family for two nights. Hope to visit Disneyland down near Anaheim on one of those days! I can’t say for sure when the next update will be, but I going to try and continue to be daily, all else permitting.

At this point, I’m pretty tired once again, but continue to be amazed by all the wonderful things I’m getting a chance to see and experience on this trip. Occasionally while I’m on the road I take a moment to reflect upon the enormity of this journey. I’ve still got eleven days to go, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store. Thus far, the first three have been nothing short of awesome.

Today was the day of the famed New Mexico green chile. I’d been told about it previously, but had to have some myself.

The New Mexico chile is a local cultivar of the species, or subspecies otherwise represented as Anaheim peppers. The large, flavorful New Mexican variety gives the region’s cuisine much of its distinctive style, and used so extensively that it is known simply as “chile”. Green chiles are those that are picked unripe; they are fire-roasted, then peeled before further use. Unlike the ultra-mild canned supermarket green chiles, New Mexico green chiles can range from mild to hotter than jalapeños, and come in grades of spiciness at markets that cater to chile aficionados. (Wikipedia)

Leaving the hotel at 8:30 in the morning, I set out from Amarillo at a rather leisurely pace. The drive to Albuquerque was considerably more straightforward as compared to Houston-Amarillo: I simply headed west all day on I-40, ’till I finally got to the city.

Slated to last about five hours, I made sure to stop at various points to get some shots of the fields, which eventually turned into more undeveloped desert areas.

I also took the time to pull out the tripod to snap some shots of me wearing the cowboy hat, before I left Texas and crossed into New Mexico.

At some point I stopped to grab gas from a Shell station. I haven’t seen an Exxon station in quite literally hundreds of miles. Damn. When I did finally cross into New Mexico, I was greeted by higher speed limits (75 as compared to the 65-70 that I had been used to on most of the Texas routes), and an interesting warning about speeding: according to the sign, instead of sitting out in patrol cars looking to catch speed demons, ’round these parts, they use airplanes to catch speeders. Interesting!

About an hour outside of Albuquerque, I stopped to grab lunch. I was looking for something local rather than another Dairy Queen stop, and sure enough, after passing what must have been fifteen billboards advertising “Clines Corner” and all its wonderful gastronomical goodness, I pulled over. I sat down to a green chili cheesebuger, enjoying both the service and the food. There was definitely a different kind of pop to the green chile. Spent some time browsing the souvenir shop, too—the first of several souvenir shops for the day; more on that later.

Back on the road, the approach to Albuquerque saw me slowly going up in altitude, with a more drastic change in terrain happening in the last fifteen or so minutes just as I approached the city proper.

I got to the hotel at around 2:30, checked in, chilled out for about an hour and a half, and then headed back out to explore Old Town Albuquerque. I guess I should have expected the onslaught of souvenir shops going into it. But there were also a few historical landmarks to walk through and read about, and some interesting restaurants and cafés. I eventually settled on some frozen yogurt, though, ’cause I wasn’t quite so hungry as I was a bit hot.

Eventually, after about two hours of walking through town, I saddled up and headed back to the hotel, which was only a ten minutes drive away. That was about 6 o’clock. Turns out, this hotel, and the ones in Vegas and Green River all have little fitness centers. So I spent an hour or so feeding my addiction on that front, came back to the room, crashed for about two hours, selectively waking up now and again to hear murmurs from the TV, and then finally got the energy to come write this blog post and finish the photo and video uploads.

Overall, another good drive. Considerably shorter than the first leg of the trip, I was able to get in, unwind, do a little exploring, and then get back to continue to unwind. The weather has continued to cooperate thus far, providing clear skies throughout with not an inkling of rain. Tomorrow, I leave for Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. If all goes well, I’ll leave Albuquerque around 7 am, head straight for the Grand Canyon, which should take me to about 1 pm, spend a couple hours there, then drive back to Flagstaff and rest up.

In terms of solitude and disconnectedness, I’m happy to say I’ve touched my email and Facebook only a few times today, mostly necessitated by some Tufts Roundtable work I have to keep up with. Along the way I’m listening mostly to country music with a bit of classic rock mixed in. I’ve got some choice thoughts on identity and what it exactly it means for me to have one that I’ve been working on since the plane ride back from Malaysia. Haven’t decided exactly how I want to pen those out, but when I do, it’ll probably happen sometime on this trip. Maybe when I’m in Green River. For now, catch you in the next update!

The final route for the trip has me headed from Houston to Amarillo, then on to Albquerque, Flagstaff, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Green River (Utah), Denver, back to Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and finally, back to Houston! Also on the agenda are The Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Death Valley National Park, and perhaps a few other things.

Now, back to today: the Houston to Amarillo leg of the trip.

I left home around 5:45 in the morning, and finally arrived at my hotel in Amarillo around 5:30 in the evening. So, a little under 12 hours on the road. Not too bad, I think, considering the numerous short stops to take photos, lunch, and one more stop to stretch early on.

Below are a few photos from my phone, I’m uploading the ones taken with my proper camera at the moment, and the full gallery for today will be viewable at this link.

There were a ton of interesting sights along the way some of which I documented with photos, but I’m way too tired to go through everything right at the moment, so I’m going to let these three (short) videos do a little bit of the talking for now.

Random things worth noting:

• Saw a carnival being transported. Group of about six trucks with all sorts of games and contraptions
• Amarillo’s a little windy.
• Lotta dead bugs on the car. Watching the dragonflies hit the windscreen was quite sad.
• There’s a good amount of road work going on on highways 83 and 287. Mostly re-tarring from what I could tell.

I promise all further posts will be longer and more interesting than this brief status update; I doubt I’ll be nearly as tired! Otherwise, things are going swimmingly thus far!

For the past few years, talk of the US TV news media has been CNN’s decline in ratings even as MSNBC and Fox, while declining at some points, are doing considerably better. Much is made of CNN’s attempt at impartiality in an age where the other two main competitors are entirely upfront about their more opinionated anchors and biases, and the reality that what CNN is pushing clearly isn’t bringing in the ratings. While a good deal of time has been spent discussing these developments, I feel like spending a bit of time discussing why TV news has gone down this road, and what it means in a larger sense.

Prior to the internet age, news media consisted of print, radio, and television. With the advent of each format, different advantages were afforded: with print, no longer did one need to rely on word of mouth to hear of the latest happenings. Further, there was the “reliability” of institutions, rather than mere individuals, collaborating to give you the news. Radio brought us closer to real-time information dissemination, across vast swaths of land. And with TV, the fusion of both visual and auditory awesomeness, again with the relatively instantaneous form of communication, things seemed to have really hit big time. Yes, I’m simplifying a large amount of history here in these few sentences, but, again, my point is that each of these had particulars about them that drove their success.

Back to our brief history. With all this in the background, the internet came along. Though it began with websites based largely on text and a few images, today, thanks to improved connectivity and innovative projects, the internet is now a bustling world of media, disseminating information to the global masses at awesome speed, allowing said users to interact and give offer their own opinions and commentary.

With the dearth of sources of information the internet provides—often heralded as the democratization of information—members of the all forms of media, forever married to the ratings and advertising game, have slowly realized that they have to change up their game, lest they want to be left behind.

So what does this mean in the context of television news? Given that breaking news and updates are now at the public’s finger tips, many news shows would find themselves offering little else to entice individuals to tune in and watch their shows. If anything, the notion of blogging, which has then translated into even quicker quips on Facebook and twitter and other forms of social media, has increasingly made the internet seem like a wonderful In just the same way that radio and print worked to address the introduction of newer forms of media, by offering opinions (read: talk radio, and, the rise of publications with an obvious slant. Even the concept of “reviews” of items and places constitutes opinions) over straight information, TV news has seen the likes of Keith Olbermann, Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, and Sean Hannity rise to prominence. Consider even the anchors of thirty-minute news updates: more often than not, it’s those with a sense of personality and spunk—ones that aren’t afraid to offer their thoughts and commentary on whatever they might be discussing at the moment—that often get the most play.

Now, a couple things need to be acknowledged:

• In no way am I attributing CNN’s precipitous decline in viewership solely to a lack of opinionated commentators.
• Secondly, on the flip side of things, the notion of opinions being interesting and intriguing is nothing new; I understand that.

Said behavior is only destined to continue, presenting us with a question as to whether this is “the right” way to for our society to progress. According to ratings and advertising agencies, clearly, the public is lapping the stuff up. Candidly, I can’t deny that I don’t enjoy watching broadcasters that tend to present the point of view that I most agree with, because, I tell myself, I’m more inclined to trust them and in turn learn most from them. Further, given the fast-paced nature of today’s developed world, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that asking someone else to do the heavy lifting for you, to condense an entire day into just the “important parts”.

But I do wonder if turning to news anchors to do much of the thinking and thought before I myself get a chance to munch on the information is best in the spirit of promoting individual thought. In a sense, are we not handing the media an increased degree of control over our thoughts and actions, in an age where the internet has taught us that individual expression and thought knows no bounds, provided you have some time to spare?

Evidently, I can’t say I have much of a definitive answer on that front, other than making sure that I get the best of both worlds, by staying active with what’s happening on the TV front even as the internet continues to flourish. Hope I got your mind churning a little, for now, that’s the end of my latest bit of musing.

Let me preface this by saying this is a really, really brief blog post. Almost Facebook/twitter status-update esque. That being said, I plan to make a post or two later this week, once I’m done being consumed by studying for my two finals tomorrow.

With that out of the way, I’d like to offer a recommendation for a relatively new track by Nas & Damian Marley (also known as Bob Marley’s youngest son.) Entitled “As We Enter”, it’s the first single from  the duo’s collaboration “Distant Relatives”, set to be released on May 18th (which just happens to be my birthday, wazah!) The track features elements of reggae, with the typical hip hop feel that Nas is known for. From Swahili to Hummers over to Kingston, the song’s references touch upon the shared heritage the two have, announcing their return to the kingdom. If nothing else, the track is chock full of that “we’re taking over” mentality that’s sure to get your adrenaline pumping.

Yesterday, I woke up to my alarms blaring. Yes, alarms: I set two to three each morning, and most of the time manage to sleep through them all, or hit the snooze button until I have just enough time to squeeze in all of my ever-so-important “priorities”.  As I walk to my first class, I’m incessantly checking my email, cycling through four accounts; often, forgetting the content of some of those messages, which ends up coming back to bite me sometime later. I check how the markets are doing at some point during lunch, and make it a point to read the first few top stories on the New York Times. After that, it’s either back to class or time to head over to the gym, both of which I view as crucial to my daily succes. Perhaps I’ll have a meeting or two to attend at some point in the evening or afternoon, after which I’ll then return to my room to try to finish the homework due the next day. Chances are pretty decent that I’ll do so in the company of the bountiful laughter and discussion that’s usually taking place, or, the sounds of gun shots and/or Star Trek, depending on the day—company which I’m entirely a fan of.

To be sure, I enjoy blaring my music at insanely high decibels—decibels I myself can only hear, thanks to my lovely in-ear headphones—as I make my way through the Tufts campus. I easily get lost in the sounds, even if the people around me aren’t. Similarly, I enjoy the calm and out-of-cycle nature I get from an hour or two at the gym. Most weekends, and even sometimes during the day, I find myself able to take a nap or two or just sit down and take some time to assess where my life is going (which, if my timing is right, allows me to author posts like these.)

But, at the same time, when I was sitting in on this week’s Snyder Lecture here at Tufts, delivered by Sherley Turkle of MIT, I began to take stock of all that I’ve listed above, and I came to realize that while I can certainly benefit from a lot in my present lifestyle, a part of me wants to experience a simpler, less involved lifestyle, if only for a week or two. One of the things that I really want to make sure I continue to do is try new things, and while I’ve had a good run with my tech-infused lifestyle these past few years, I’m eager for a break.

To that end, with a relatively empty summer in the way of plans, I’ve resolved to conduct a road trip sometime in late July. Depending on the final route, it’s set to involve at least 4,000 miles covered by car, and close to two days of just driving. It’ll take me through a number of states in the southwest, and give me the chance to make a number of interesting stops, in addition to visiting some cool people I happen to know in the area.

The key for me is making this trip alone. It’ll give me plenty of time to drive through vast, open expanses, pondering some of the more random things about life, but also learning to marvel at the simple things, as I make sure to stop whenever makes sense. Not to say that I’m out-and-out refusing company, mind you. But at the same time, there’s some part of me that feels like I need to do something a little out of the ordinary, and to that end, find a little solitude where I’m relatively disconnected from my modern life, and at the times when I am connected with people I know, I want to make sure they’re more than just through texts and liking their posts on Facebook. Oh, and I’m a cowboy, so it’s only natural that I’d want to go it my own way for a little while before I come back down to reality. Hah!

For now, the trip is in its relatively early planning stages, as I haven’t a clue as to how long I’ll end up being on the road, and where exactly I’ll stop, but rest assured I’ll be bringing my camera along with me to document the entire trip.

For me, few things compare to a good banana leaf meal.

For those who’ve never experienced such a meal, it’s easy to dismiss the picture above as just “some Indian food that happens to be on a banana leaf” as opposed to a conventional plate. And, objectively speaking, you’re right.

Still, there’s quite a bit more to this style of eating than first meets the eye:

• First, there’s the communal aspect. When you’re going to “do banana leaf” at a restaurant, while you can certainly go it alone, more often than not the experience is with a group of people. With you and your companions are sitting side by side using only your hands to nourish yourselves, there’s a sense that you’re closer to a more primordial, simpler way of coming to discuss issues. In a sense, when one chooses to dine at a banana leaf restaurant, apart from the awesomeness that is the food itself, there’s a good amount of an attempt to get up to date on the local happenings.
  • Admittedtly, this point has application to food in general. I guess my bias lies in the fact that, for me, and for those with an exposure to this culture, it really has a certain importance to me, in the way that one might crave the idea of late-night chinese takeout on a friday night, or getting bagels from that local bakery.

• Then there’s the respect for the the food itself
  • When you finish your meal, it’s imperative that you take note of how you fold your banana leaf, similar, in a sense, to making sure one has placed the cutlery in the right position: If you fold the leaf away from yourself, you’ve effectively communicated that you did not enjoy the meal prepared by your servers….whereas if you fold it towards yourself, you’ve indicated that you had a satisfactory meal.
  • Typically, it’s customary to eat with the right hand. Why exactly, I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve been told at various points that keeping the left hand free, rather than having that all messy and mixed in, is advisable.

In terms of how the food is served, most restaurants have one or two servers primarily responsible for dolling out the rice. Depending on how busy and/or popular the restaurant is, either the same server or a few other servers will be walking around with various curries, vegetables, and, if the restaurant isn’t vegetarian only, a selection of meats.

• In the way of curries, one typically has a choice between Sambar, fish curry, and a few other specialties depending on the location.
• As for vegetables and meats, you can expect any and everything under the sun to appear here. Pickles, potatoes, onions, yogurt of some sort, perhaps are just some of the possiblities. Meatwise, I recall seeing fried bat a few times, but usually it’s some form of chicken and/or fish.
• There’s almost always going to be papadum, too, which is basically a crispy “cracker” of sorts made of lentil flour. They’re nice for dipping in the curries, veggies and rice. I often find myself using them as little dishes with which to scoop up my food.

Anyway, I could bog you down with more in the way of semi-informative, semi-reflectory talking points, but, alas, were I to do that, this blog post would likely sit in my editor under “drafts” for more than the 4 days it already has (I know what you’re thinking: It took him 4 days to come up with this junk? Actually, almost everything was written the first night, and I just realized today that I haven’t had much to add in the interim, despite my better thinking.)

So let me just leave you with an image of my favorite banana leaf restaurant in the greater Kuala Lumpur area: The Legend’s Family Curry House. As far as I’m concerned, while my mom and grandma each can cook up delectable sambars, the sambar at Legend’s is, well, rather legendary.