3 Great Productions You Probably Missed: HMS Pinafore, Once on this Island, Dogfightby Randi / September 5, 2019Last week, we were finishing up some wonderful sightseeing in Merida, seeing Uxmal, the Choco-Story chocolate museum, the Museo del Mundo Maya, and of course our favorite thing: cenotes. You may have noticed/I told you we were saving the most important aspects of that part of our adventure – vegan food, hotel, pools, beaches, you know, the fun parts – for today. We went to Mexico almost entirely for the food (I’d say 70% food, 60% sights, 40% non-food cultural experiences, 50% cenotes…math checks out) and our culinary adventures through Merida and the Yucatan post-Valladolid supported our decisions.
Catch up on the Yucatan adventure!
Part 1:
Part 2:
A long, hot drive to Merida led us to our hotel for three nights (absurdly long for us) called Casa Lucia, a lovely little boutique hotel with a giant, clean bed, a good shower, and most importantly, a lovely pool area. When in Mexico in the summer, you need to find lodging that has a pool, that’s just the rule and we don’t support rule-breakers here.
Although the poolside bar service didn’t really work (where did that phone actually call??), the pool area was just what we needed after our long days of tourism. It was empty a few times, but mostly there were just 3-4 other guests using it, the benefit of a rather small hotel. I loved attempting to relax in the hammock even though I never trust them.
The rooms were spread around this courtyard on 2-3 levels, and everything felt really spacious and private. Here’s my standard hotel bed picture!
i love bed
Since we were staying at Casa Lucia 3 nights, and when we travel we normally don’t have that much time at one hotel, I like to make the most of longer stays by unpacking COMPLETELY. Every sock, every extra ziplock bag, everything gets unpacked if I’m in a place longer than 2 nights. It’s honestly one of my top travel tips because it brings me some weird sort of peace, like feeling at home.
For our first night in Merida, we had a decent list of all the vegan-friendly restaurants we wanted to try, but guess what – it was Monday, and like Dave says in the movie “Dave” but the exact opposite, “Everything is closed on Mondays!” Ughhh. Well what would be our favorite restaurant in the Yucatan, Distrito Vegano (infra!) (I’ve never been so excited about an infra before but I am! it’s a good one! (it means below/later in this writing)), was open but it’s outside the city center and we didn’t feel like driving any more. So our only real option was the chain restaurant 100% Natural, which I obviously called Mr. Natural. It has easy-for-tourist menus with pictures, English versions, and vegan options clearly marked, and since we were beat (BEAT!) it was a good simple option. The food was whatever but it was exactly what we were after – quick, easy, no-thinking. I got a bowl of kale soup that was Not Good, but I also got mushroom tacos that were Very Good, so it averaged out to be a fine dinner.
After dinner, we walked through the main square, saw the requisite dancing in the square as one does throughout the Yucatan and as one learned in previous posts, and…went to church. No but our hotel was on the same block as this cute lil church so we took a picture and crossed ourselves? and went on our merry way.
Our merry way included some stops in other cute lil places, namely cute lil shops, including one where I got THE FUNNIEST coin purse I’ve EVER seen and will post in my instagram stories for you to enjoy, and one where I found mamey flavored bolis! Bolis are like bags of flavored water ice – you just bite the corner off the plastic bag and it’s like a big ice…bar…kinda jawn. I’m so glad I got to try something mamey flavored. So good!
lol that hand is twice lifesize on my desktop
The next day, we went to Uxmal and the ChocolateLand (Choco-Story museum), which you already read about. What you didn’t already read about was that, there’s not really any food out there. Luckily, we brought sufficient snacks (bananas, Justin’s peanut butter packs (ALWAYS when traveling!), lime nuts, chips/salty things of all shapes and sizes) to get us through the day, but that’s a big day, and in this heat, oof, we were pretty hungry. Luckily, we had made a reservation for that evening for dinner at Lo Que Hay, the vegan restaurant inside Merida’s Hotel MedioMundo.
The owners of Lo Que Hay were very helpful and friendly (and fluent in English). I believe one is originally from Lebanon, and so the set menu varies between Lebanese and Mexican food. The night we booked was Lebanese night, which is fine, but we really were after Mexican food all day err day. If you’ve been in Mexico for a while and need a break from Mexican food, this would be absolutely perfect because it was delicious, but we were the tiniest bit disappointed to miss an opportunity for MOAR MEXICAN FOOD.
It was good though, and it was outside in a lovely setting. For 200 pesos, or $10, we got a nice spread (though not as much food as we expected/hoped, it was probably a normal amount for normal people).
We started with a mezze plate with hummus, babaghanoush, tabouli made with quinoa, falafel, and pita.
All the components were great! The falafel reminded us more of kibbeh, not that it mattered since it was all good. We just like…wanted more. And we wanted it to be Mexican food. Lol that’s OUR BAD. It was really good though, truly.
Next was mjadara, or lentils with basmati rice, plus a purple cabbage and lemon salad.
The fried onions were amazing with the lentils and rice, and like everything else it was really good. Just unexpectedly not Mexican food. Okay okay you get it!
Dessert was lemon sorbet, which was fine (you know how I feel about sorbet but when it’s a hot destination like this it’s fine, I’m fine) and not pictured because guys it was hot out and it was melting!
I definitely recommend going to Lo Que Hay for a lovely dinner, but make sure you are cool with whatever menu they have going on your night because you might not get the tacos your body desperately needs.
Our third day in Merida was a doozy. We decided to enjoy a beach day at Progreso beach, about a half hour from Merida, after we visited the Mundo Maya museo. Progreso is a very normal-life beach – not really built for tourists (good!) but for locals and people who generally can figure shit out on their own. We can figure shit out on our own and don’t need luxury or anything, but Progreso still wasn’t my favorite because…it was windy. I know you’re like oh boo hoo the beach was windy? the Mexican beach you got to visit? But guys, it was like, RULL windy. Like glasses and beer bottles (not mine) and silverware and menus blowing off the tables of beachside restaurants and cafes windy. Like Arabian nights sandstorm looking jawn windy. And most importantly, like ohh this is how people get swept out to sea in harsh rip currents windy. We went in the ocean but it was rough, and it was kinda scary. Yeah there are lifeguards but they’re not like, life guarantors. And it was kind of too windy to enjoy ourselves. We tried to swim, we tried to sit at a little cafe table and enjoy horchata, we tried to really do anything but all we could do was fight the wind (with eyes closed). It was too windy to take our phones out and take pictures! This is literally the only photo we took the entire time!
So, our day at Progreso was a bust. It might have just been an off day, but I figure if you are going to Mexico for the beaches, you got off the bus long before you reached this point in the Yucatan, so stay in Tulum or whatever, or commit to having a non-beachy holiday.
The saddest part was that we went out here in large part to eat at vegan-friendly restaurant Milk Bar, which has amazing reviews. SO EXCITED! SO WORTH THE WIND! We did not expect that Milk Bar’s closed day of choice would be Wednesdays. Yup you guessed it, this was a Wednesday. Dammit! We had a heck of a time walking around the little streets trying to find a restaurant with vegan food. We finally find one called La Antigua and the entire staff was so nice in trying to feed us enough, and they definitely did. I don’t even know if they ever had to deal with a vegan before but they really tried to make me happy and succeeded, which given the rest of the experience in Progreso was a g-d miracle.
Of course, we got guacamole, which was great. They also made this gigantic pear and pecan salad (it seemed like a salad-trustworthy place, and I did not get sick), grilled mushrooms, and black bean dip.
So it worked out well, food wise. It seemed like they felt bad about not having vegan stuff on the menu so they made and brought out everything they could think of! It was so much, and all really good. I just wish the beachy part of the day had worked out as well!
Luckily, that night, our final night in Merida, was The Time.
The Time for Distrito Vegano, the best restaurant in Merida. AND IT’S ALL VEGAN! I’m so excited just remembering how great this place was.
WE GOT SO MUCH FOOD. OK not really we got a normal amount of food but I have a lot of pictures. The special El Xolo hot dog, made with lentils and seitan, was great. The tacos, of any variety, were great. But the torta, MY GOD THE TORTA. It might be because it was my first torta (ever!) (baby’s first torta!) but it was AMAZING. Everything honestly was amazing. I wish I could go to DV every single week. The place was cute, the service was great, and the food was sensational. I LOVED it. I may have just been overexcited at the idea of the first all-vegan Mexican restaurant of our trip (not the last!!) but man alive this was all epic.
Distrito Vegano is a bit annoying to drive to – it’s outside the city and you have to drive on the highway to find it, and it’s like in a random spot, but it’s SO worth it. We finished dinner with peanut ice cream that was just as impressive as the rest. I really want a torta now!
Back in the main/old part of town, we strolled along the enormous fancy boulevard Paseo de Montejo, home to palace museums, rich people, and a well known cafe with a Chevy Impala just like perched on top.
This boulevard at night is also PRIMO DOGGO SPOTTINGO land. We met an older lady leaving her super-gated compound with THREE count em THREE good boys and we chatted and got to meet them. But then we like kept running into her on our walk and I think she thought we were following her and got scared and I SWEAR I wasn’t following I just get like magnetized towards dogs, I think? We mean no harm.
Anyway, we had such a great time in Merida and the Yucatan, and that brings this particular adventure to an end. The next morning, we would fly to Mexico City for even more amazing sights, vegan food, and good dog sightings (in increasing order of importance).
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Yangon (Rangoon) & Bagan, Myanmar (Burma): Gritty, Golden Lands
Bagan, Burma
Before I went to Myanmar, better known as Burma, last year, my knowledge of the military-ruled country came courtesy of J. Peterman on Seinfeld. I assumed that when I arrived, I’d be able to buy melons off of boys’ motorbikes. While this was essentially true, I also learned so much about this very problematic yet alluring country, and had the time of my life.
First off: My boyfriend and I consider ourselves intrepid travelers and we like to plan everything ourselves in the most authentic way possible. However, all of our initial research about traveling in Burma recommended having a private company book everything in advance in order to avoid common problems with corruption and bribery. Considering how difficult the decision to actually go to Burma was, since we’d be supporting the horrible government with at least some of our dollars, we had the great people at Santa Maria Travels & Tours book our hotels, internal flights, and activities. Using a company like Santa Maria helps ensure that you stay in privately owned hotels, rather than state-owned, so a small percentage of your money would go to the government, rather than all of it. Having contacts in the country to help us should problems arise (and arise they did) definitely helped make this challenging trip a bit more manageable. (Also, what finally convinced me to take this trip? That President Obama had decided to go there, arriving just when we were leaving. Also, Anthony Bourdain came around then too.)
Immediately upon landing in Yangon (Rangoon), our first guide met us and took us to Shwedagon Paya, the most famous pagoda in Myanmar. (Ok, you are correct that I keep switching between Myanmar and Burma. Myanmar is the official name, changed by the military government in 1989, but many people we met were not happy about that. So I’m going to go with whatever sounds best in each sentence.) The most sacred pagoda for the Burmese Buddhist people, Shwedagon Paya is also the grandest and most famous.
First off: My boyfriend and I consider ourselves intrepid travelers and we like to plan everything ourselves in the most authentic way possible. However, all of our initial research about traveling in Burma recommended having a private company book everything in advance in order to avoid common problems with corruption and bribery. Considering how difficult the decision to actually go to Burma was, since we’d be supporting the horrible government with at least some of our dollars, we had the great people at Santa Maria Travels & Tours book our hotels, internal flights, and activities. Using a company like Santa Maria helps ensure that you stay in privately owned hotels, rather than state-owned, so a small percentage of your money would go to the government, rather than all of it. Having contacts in the country to help us should problems arise (and arise they did) definitely helped make this challenging trip a bit more manageable. (Also, what finally convinced me to take this trip? That President Obama had decided to go there, arriving just when we were leaving. Also, Anthony Bourdain came around then too.)
Immediately upon landing in Yangon (Rangoon), our first guide met us and took us to Shwedagon Paya, the most famous pagoda in Myanmar. (Ok, you are correct that I keep switching between Myanmar and Burma. Myanmar is the official name, changed by the military government in 1989, but many people we met were not happy about that. So I’m going to go with whatever sounds best in each sentence.) The most sacred pagoda for the Burmese Buddhist people, Shwedagon Paya is also the grandest and most famous.
The main stupa of Shwedagon Paya
The grounds of the sacred Shwedagon Paya were crowded even in the early morning.
 Burmese people praying to the Buddhas at Shwedagon Paya |
 My favorite – a Burmese man meditating under a bell |
The exterior of Sule Pagoda
Next, we went to Sule Pagoda, located in downtown Yangon. It was suspposedly built before Shwedagon Paya, and is 2500 years old. To reach it, no matter your mode of transport, you have to risk your life and cross the most insane intersection in the eastern hemisphere. So scary!
A stall in one of the food markets of Yangon.
We visited a few other pagodas in Yangon, and then we finally ate! I didn’t have much trouble finding vegan options in this Buddhist country: The main way of eating is a varied spread of curries, and you can just request the vegetarian curries. There are also salads served, but don’t eat raw vegetables or fruit here that you can’t peel! Danger! (Take it from me and my few days wasted from what I thought was cholera. I knowwww.) Our first meal was soupy noodle bowls made in 2 minutes on the street. Street food is the best, right? It was so good.
 First meal in Burma, noodles on the streets of Yangon. |
 The noodle bowl stand on the street. I think the food came to like 40 cents in USD. And it was delicious. They were really nice, and while they didn’t speak much English, we figured out the vegetarian thing. |
Most of the streets are covered with vendors of all sorts, but mainly food. We tried as much as we could, and most of it was good (all of it was interesting!).
 Part of the food market  A stand selling sugarcane juice. It was good! A little warm though (haha, it was like 100 degrees out everyday, everything was warm)  This was gross |
 A man selling jackfruit; I wish I could have tried this!  Ohhh the bananas in this part of the world. The best About that red food to the left, oh my. It’s some kind of very popular candied fruit we tried at the behest of our guide, who ate a ton of it. I thought it was tomato, my boyfriend thought it was plum. Our guide didn’t know the English word for what it was. There probably is no English word for what this was. There will never be an answer, and you could not pay me to try it again. Well, maybe you could, I’ve had grosser things in my life. |
The Colonial-Era Strand Hotel, where most of the fancy people stay. If you really need a salad or something raw (like I did after several days), this place would probably be safe – probably. The lobby is also a gorgeous place to sit and cool off (AC!).
The busy, overcrowded streets of Yangon. This view is more representative of the city than the shiny gold pagodas. The cities, the everyday lives of the Burmese people, are gritty, and so much money (so much) goes to beautifying the pagoda sites, covering them with gold leaf while most people live in poverty.
We stayed at the decent Panorama Hotel in Yangon. It was pretty comfortable and clean, and it had wifi! I sent my first tweet ever from this hotel! This is the view from our window. You can see Shwedagon Paya in the background. Not bad! Such a lush expanse.
Our time in Yangon/Rangoon was eye-opening and really special. It was a great introduction to and preparation for the rest of the country. However, nothing could prepare us for our second stop of our journey – one of the most beautiful places in the entire world, Bagan, Burma.
This is Bagan, Burma. It is stunning, with vast fields covered in thousands of ancient red brick pagodas. The beauty is astounding. My favorite part of the trip by far.
The Bagan airport
Bagan is an unbelievably special place. If you are coming to this part of the world, you need to go to Bagan. Oh, about traveling within the country: You can get around by train and bus, but flying is the way to go. Trains and buses can sometimes take days, seriously, because of frequent delays, so air travel is the most common form. The flights are short from town to town (our longest was probably an hour), and they are usually on time. However…they are frightening. I was white-knuckling it during each of four or five flights we took. Luckily, we safely arrived each time. I don’t want to dissuade you from flying (you do not want to miss so much time with ground travel), but you should be prepared for these bucket-jumpers.
The main thing to do in Bagan is visit some of the beautiful red brick pagodas pictured above. (I won’t be sharing many pictures of the insides and the Buddhas – it’s possibly sacrilege.) We went in so many, by the end of the first day I was begging to never see another pagoda in my life. However, the next morning changed everything…
The main thing to do in Bagan is visit some of the beautiful red brick pagodas pictured above. (I won’t be sharing many pictures of the insides and the Buddhas – it’s possibly sacrilege.) We went in so many, by the end of the first day I was begging to never see another pagoda in my life. However, the next morning changed everything…
The view of Bagan from a hot-air balloon. Best experience ever. (Taken with an iPhone too; pretty impressive if I may say so!)
Taking off in the balloons at dawn
If you are going to Burma, you MUST go to Bagan, and you MUST take a hot-air balloon ride with Balloons Over Bagan, a company run by an Englishman named Lee. This was the most incredible experience, and you will not find any better view that this! This is the #1 reason I want to return to Burma. (It didn’t hurt that I was in the balloon with Lee! Such luck!) I’m going to share a crap load of pictures with you, because I can’t do justice to this experience with words.
 Beginning to fill the balloons |
 This operation was so fun to watch! |
You don’t really appreciate fog until you are in a hot-air balloon
Can’t take credit for this picture; I know for sure boyfriend took it. The others though are fair game 🙂
Hot damn, am I right?
The markets all throughout Burma were also incredible. In Bagan, we saw the most varied types of produce, nuts, and even tofu for sale. The main thing they sell to tourists are the longyis, the type of garment most people wear (like kilts, or sarongs).
 We also had some great food in Bagan. I enjoyed the family-style spread of vegetable curries available. Burmese curries that I had were very different from, say, Indian curries, in that there’s little of the familiar spice blend. The curries are more akin to just ‘dishes’ of different varieties, from root vegetable soups and noodles to stir-fried green vegetables, all served with white rice (and salad; don’t eat it!).
|
 At left, women in the market sell thanaka, or cosmetic paste made from tree bark. Women all over Burma paint this paste on their faces, usually in circles. Use of thanaka is a cultural, cosmetic thing, but it also provides a bit of sun protection.
Above, bowls of betel nuts and betel leaves are for sale in all markets. Burmese people chew on the nuts wrapped in the leaves like it’s their job. You’ll see many people with the telltale red-stained teeth.  These are the traditional Burmese end-of-meal (can’t really call it dessert!) plates. You’re given a bowl of jaggery, or palm sugar candy, the sweetest motherf-ing tooth decayer on the planet. I know some people love it, but yeesh. On the right is the traditional combination of ginger, fried beans, and fermented tea leaves. Very interesting! |
Bagan is a convenient jumping off point for visiting Mount Popa, a beautiful volcano (inactive, I hope) with a monastery atop it. It’s a few hours drive from Bagan, and then a really long climb to the top. Bear it mind that the climb is done barefoot, as you cannot enter any pagoda or sacred space in shoes. The walk was covered with monkey poop thanks to the guys at left and their friends. It was worth the trouble though! Cutes! But don’t touch them! Diseases!
On the walk up, there are also people (mostly children) selling all kinds of things, from longyis and food to the same old tourist souvenirs being sold outside every pagoda. (It takes something away from the experience, to encounter the throngs of impoverished children everywhere you go and not be able to really help them.)
On the walk up, there are also people (mostly children) selling all kinds of things, from longyis and food to the same old tourist souvenirs being sold outside every pagoda. (It takes something away from the experience, to encounter the throngs of impoverished children everywhere you go and not be able to really help them.)
Mount Popa
One of the coolest things about Mount Popa? At the top, they have little plaques commemorating all of the donors to the pagoda. Imagine my delight when I saw one for Burma Super Star, the great Burmese restaurant in San Francisco! So fun!
All in all, Bagan was just an incredible experience. We stayed in a bungaloo at the Kumudara Hotel, which as far as I can remember was the best we stayed in in all of Burma. I definitely recommend it – it had a pool! And, check out the view beyond the pool below. It’s amazing. Stay tuned for posts on the rest of my journey through Burma!
From the hotel pool, you can see (and freely go towards) some of the red brick pagodas in the fields. Amazing!
Nukus, Uzbekistan: I Finally Find Pretzels (And Also Interesting Art)
After our time in Khiva, we decided to stop in the tiny town of Nukus, Uzbekistan for one purpose: to see its art museum. Now, you might be wondering what kind of art a museum in the middle of nowhere might have to bring a person so out of their way. A rare Picasso? A beautiful Monet? (I know only the most famous artmakers apparently.) You crazy if you thought that; this is the middle of nowhere Uzbekistan. No, the Nukus Museum of Art houses the second largest collection of Russian avant-garde art in the world. I know it doesn’t sound great, but it’s a very cool thing and I’ll tell you why.
So once upon a time there was this man Igor Savitsky (“accordion genius, plays weddings at 7-years-old” anyone?), who was a Russian painter and archaeologist. Igor visited the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan (where Nukus is located) in 1950, and somehow was like hey this place rocks/is dust I’m gonna stay. He moved to Nukus and started collecting all kinds of crap. After he amassed quite a collection of jewelry and artifacts and carpets and such, he convinced the place that they needed a museum to house all of it. They were like why don’t you keep all your crap in your attic like normal people and he was like just trust me on this and they were like I guess man. So the authorities established a museum and made Igor the curator, and once he had that sweet sweet position locked down, he started focusing on collecting the art of Central Asian artists and those whose work had been banned in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Igor specifically directed his efforts at finding these artists and displaying them in his museum in order to give them the representation and acclaim they never got to enjoy because Stalin was such a buzzkill at art too. Because the museum houses such politically important work, and so much of it (only St. Petersburg has a larger collection of Russian avant-garde), the Nukus Museum of Art – actually called “The State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after I.V. Savitsky” (yes the ‘named after’ is part of the full legit name omg) (and then also like is it named after him or not because it looks like the real name is The State Art Museum of the R of K right and if it was actually named after him it would be The Savitsky Museum am I right like you can’t just say ‘named after’ if it’s not actually named after??? how do words work) – has become a must-see attraction for tourists in Uzbekistan. And that is why we went.
the view from our car
To get there from Khiva, though, there’s not really good transit. We had to hire another car and driver through Sultan at Avantour tour company. He told us that the ride would take about 4-5 hours. So on our last morning in Khiva, we woke up at 6am, planning to leave about 7am, arrive in Nukus by noon, have lunch, and then have a few hours in the museum before our train that evening. Ahem. We left at 7am and got there at 9:45. JFC I could have slept for two more hours. JFC even more, we had to WAIT for the museum to open! Man alive. I guess it’s better than being in a car for longer but like come on guys get your facts straight. He didn’t even speed.
Our driver dropped us at the Nukus train station, where we stored our bags. The people looked at us like wtf are you guys doing here there is not a train until tonight (one train town) and we were like hayyy please don’t steal our stuffff. They didn’t give a receipt or anything for the bags but they said (without using words) ‘we’ll know this was yours, nerdy white people’. Then we went to the museum and it was pretty interesting. I thought it would be more political art, like on its face, but it was more regular art but by people who challenged authority. Or maybe it was challenging authority for its time, but nowadays we are used to much more blatant opposition and much more in-your-face offense so I couldn’t tell that these works were crossing a line since we are so far past where that line was 50 years ago. The line is a dot to you.
Pictures weren’t allowed in the museum and I don’t break worthwhile rules, so if you want to see some of the works on display you’ll have to go to Uzbekistan HA HA ARE YOU? There were guard ladies who were supes annoying, following us around the whole time. I didn’t notice if they followed others too but it was really uncomfortable. Maybe they chose us because we were the youngest and yoots usually cause trouble? There were lots of other visitors to the museum (a surprising fact, considering I thought we were the only people in the whole town) but they were all older and mostly in big tour groups. Anyway it was a pretty good museum, but oh my god we were so tired. This trip was catching up with us and we were getting a little delirious. We were still able to appreciate all the interesting art, but I was just laughing the entire time (not appropriate) as I do when I’m overtired.
The museum is actually in two buildings (second largest collection n the world and all that) and you have to check your bags, even wee purses, which is kind of lame. So much art!
After all the art, we walked around trying to find food. This was hard because Nukus is a tiny little desert town and there was not much happening. We passed a few important-looking buildings but no one was around for us to ask what they were, and I tried googling but to no avail. I’ll share the pictures of said buildings with you so you can also wonder forever what they are (or be better than I am at googling).
And yes I did try googling ‘jaslar awqami’ but it’s not helpful. you go look at all the stuff that comes up. I hope it just means public pool because awqami sounds like aqua-me. and also it would be hilarious if this super official nicest building for hundos of miles was just a pool with a capital p that rhymes with g that stands for go like let’s gooooo
Finally we found a place that sold non-fast food that was open. This very random Uzbek restaurant with a separate small Korean food menu (?) was called Sheraton but was unrelated to the hotel chain. It was full of those older tourists we saw earlier, I guess because it was ostensibly the only decent restaurant open. I was so excited to see that the menu had a variety of vegetable dishes! Also, one was translated as Pine Forest, which was the name of my camp, so that seemed like a good sign.
Unfortunately, most of the salads were dairy-based and/or covered in mayo, but I found one that seemed safe for vegans, translating roughly as garlic and greens. I was so excited to get what I expected was a plate of garlicky sauteed greens. I hadn’t had greens cooked like that in so long! I was so pumped.
My phone notes from this travel day literally just say ‘this country is complete bullshit’
Alas.
It was literally a plate of raw garlic, raw UNCUT spring onions, and lots of herbs. Oh and plus green bell pepper, the one vegetable I hate. COME ON UNIVERSE. I guess it was a companion piece to one of the Korean stews or something but like y’all should have SAID SOMETHING.
Sigh. What a disappointment. We had hours left before our train, to wander around and see all the sights (no more sights) and buy water for our 3 day train train (we’ll talk about that next post), so we wandered. It was very hot and dry and dusty, and the main road was destroyed with ongoing construction (as we expect everywhere in this country), so it was kind of harrowing to walk down it when like, suddenly there would be no more road and cars were coming. Luckily, there were lots of little convenience stores, and luckily, one had a nice babushka selling all kinds of baked goods in bulk – including hard pretzel sticks! I’d never seen pretzel sticks sold in bulk and I hadn’t seen pretzels in weeks so this was a dance dance dance moment. My pretzel babushka was the one nice person we came across in Nukus. Why is everyone there so mean? Is it because they are so bored and also had a real weird lunch?
So that was our day in Nukus! I know right. The Savitsky (I’m going for it) Museum was pretty cool and I’m glad we got to see such an important museum. But I was a little jealous of those old tourists who got off a big bus, saw the museum, and then got right back on the bus. If you go, make sure you don’t have too much time to spend wandering the town. After our too-much-time, we boarded our longest train in months – two nights from Nukus, Uzbekistan to Volgograd, Russia. It’s a doozy so look out for the next post!
