Hoi An is known for two things: custom tailored clothing and cooking classes (an excellent combination if you ask me). Chris was concerned that I’d over indulge in the clothing, so to “distract” me, he searched around for a cooking classes that we’d both enjoy. After checking out a few of the hundreds offered, we committed to a class that seemed to offer the most variety, flexibility, and friendly service (after all, that’s what all Americans look for isn’t it?).

We started the day meeting the chef over coffee. We looked over the menu and talked about what dishes would be best to prepare. After some debate, we decided on the following:

• Banana flower salad
• Fresh spring rolls
• Banh xeo (Vietnamese pancakes)
• Grilled fish in banana leaf

Then the chef surprised us each with traditional Vietnamese hats to wear to the market. The first phase of the class was visiting the local market to identify and purchase the ingredients we needed. Our first stop, the veggie section, was filled with women donning their silk pajamas and traditional hats crammed behind their baskets overflowing with red chilies, fresh morning glory, garlic, aubergine, carrots, etc. There were tomatoes stacked neatly in piles, purple onions flowering the walkways, and bright green bean sprouts scattered between several different tables. The chef pointed out the vegetables specific to Vietnam and bought the ones we would be using in our food later that morning.

The fruit section was filled with the standards: apples, mangos, bananas, oranges and more, but one local fruit, the dragonfruit, always caught my eye (if only it taste as good as it looked).

Next, we snaked our way through the small aisles fighting the bustling local crowd to the fish. It was right along the river, but being out in the open didn’t help whisk away the hot, muggy, fishy smell. There were large fish and small fish, live fish and dead fish, there were fish that were being filleted and even fish being ground into fish cakes. We picked our cuttle fish quickly and kept moving (trying to dodge the fish guts on the ground with our sandals).

Finally to the meat market, where in addition to the standard cuts of raw meat (not refrigerated of course), we found live chickens in their cages, full size pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and numerous other animal parts including hooves, ears, intestines and brains. It had less of a smell than the fish market, but seeing the pigs squealing as they were being pulled from their pen by their hind legs didn’t make me feel any better. Finally, we stopped to pick up a few lovely smelling spices on our way out of the market.

We headed back to the restaurant where we were given our chef jackets and hats. We worked our way through the process of making each dish. First chopping and slicing the ingredients, then mixing the sauces, filleted the meat and finally preparing the dishes. To top it off, we were even taught a few tips on food presentation. By noon, we had successfully prepared 4 beautiful dishes each! And of course we saved the best part for last… sitting down and enjoy our freshly prepared Vietnamese meal!

If you’re interested in any of the recipes, feel free to email us at contact[at]withoutaguide[dot]com and we’d be more than happy to send them to you!

It all started about a month ago, when my friend Joe Stump started tweeting about how his friend shot an RPG in Cambodia. Sure enough, when I got to Phnom Penh, it was all I could think about. So we headed to the ATM and then told a tuk tuk we wanted to go to the shooting range. To our surprise, the shooting range was actually in the back of a military base. In fact the whole shooting range operation was run by the Cambodian military. I was expecting to pay around $150 to shoot an RPG, but when I saw the price was $300 (after our tuk tuk negotiated the $50 discount from $350), I had second thoughts. However, my good friend Austin Bryan gave me $100 to spend on something I wouldn’t normally use my own money for. That dropped the price to $200, and for something I surely wouldn’t get the chance to do ever again, it was definitley worth it.

We drove another 45 minutes to a remote military base where we loaded the trunk with weapons. While I was just there for the RPG, our car mates were there for the RPG, Grenade Launcher, Hand Grenades and K57 Machine Gun. Finally we arrived. With a propane tank on the horizon (which we all missed) I set the RPG launcher on my shoulder, put on ear protection an pulled the trigger. It was an awesome experience! I actually felt like I was inside one of the hundreds of video games I’ve played where shooting an RPG is routine. It might have cost $300, but I’ll certainly have a great conversation starter for years to come!

Here’s the video:

For some unexplained reason, Chris and I love trying new and sometimes outrageous foods while traveling. In the past, we’ve enjoyed, devoured and sometimes just barely swallowed foods like duck tongue, blood clots, bone marrow and moving lobster heads. Since we’ve been to SE Asia, we’ve already opened up to our crazy taste buds in the Cambodian markets.

The Bug + Spider Lady

Today, we decided to explore the Khmer cuisine, looking specifically for one thing: fried tarantulas. Not knowing where these creepy crawlers were hiding, we got lost in the labyrinth of the Central Market of Phenom Penh where they have women butchering carcasses of animals next to manicure chairs, oiled car parts next to undergarments, and fruits and vegetables next to turtles, frogs, and fish (both dead and alive). The rain found it’s way between the tarp roofs very quickly and before we knew it, we were wading around in a mix of muddy water, fish guts, meat shards, and vegetable peelings. Needless to say it was not pleasant but we knew it’d be worth the effort. After asking several local workers where the “a-ping” was (the word for spider in Khmer), we were finally pointed in the direction where we finally located the bugs… right next to the jewelry of course!

Our Bag of Bugs

There were two women sitting on small plastic foot stools with 4 sacks in front of them: tarantulas, crickets, mealworms and king-size cockroaches. I was excited for the adventure but when I finally got up close and personal with these massive bugs, I was no longer enthused about the thought eating them. They looked too alive to be dead much less edible but we couldn’t turn away now. We ordered a bag of assorted buggy goodness and thanked the women for helping us fulfill our strange desire. By now, I was not hungry nor impressed with the bag I was holding. I looked to Chris, who had a massive smile across his face, and while I tried to give off a quick grin, deep down I was sick because I knew what came next… eating them. For those of you who don’t know, I’m deathly afraid of spiders so holding this huge tarantula amongst other huge bugs was already creepy for me.

We weren’t ready to eat our new delicacies yet, so we carried them around for the rest of the day. Finally, after a few beers at a bar, it was time to open the bag. Chris started with the *main course* (the spider), first trying one of the legs, and finally taking the plunge to eat its massive body. In his words: “It’s good. It doesn’t taste like much more than something fairly tasteless that’s fried. I’d definitely eat another!” I couldn’t bring myself to eat a spider, but I did try a mealworm, cricket and part of the giant cockroach. They definitely weren’t the worst things I’ve ever tried, but I won’t be eating them again any time soon.

To top off the night, our waitress noticed we had many leftover bugs that we weren’t going to finish and called the other waitresses over. They all started to chow down like they hadn’t eaten all day. I guess it’s a good thing someone loves those little guys (or should I say big guys). I’d much rather them be eaten than be running around my $10 hotel room!

As you all know, we’ve been traveling now for over 5 months now. There are days where I feel like leaving it all behind and getting back to a comfortable routine and my productive day to day life. After several “insane” moments along the journey, I’ve taken time to think about the things I’ve done to stay sane along our travels. The following are things that every long term traveler should consider (they have definitely helped me along the way):

1. Take time apart from your travel buddy. Whether it’s just for a few hours or several days, it is a necessity.
2. Reward yourself when you feel the world is getting the best of you. Stay at a place with a hot shower or take yourself out to a nice dinner. Trust me, it’s worth the money once in a while.
3. Take care of yourself. If you feel you need to a good rest after sleepless nights on the trains and buses, then make a point to not set your alarm. Even take a sleeping aid if you can’t get good rest on your own.
4. Stay connected to things that interest you physically, mentally and emotionally. Always have a hobby that you can turn to even if it seems completely bogus at times.
5. Learn. Learn. Learn. There are so many cultural experiences available to anyone who’s interested. Learning about different countries and their customs provide a whole new appreciation for things that may have not have made sense before.
6. Talk with other travelers and locals. It’s extremely easy to make friends, get travel tips and find local hidden gems. Even better, it keeps you entertained from someone other than your travel mate.
7. Be adventuresome. I know it’s easy to fall into a routine and it’s often uncomfortable to break old habits. However it’s definitely worth breaking outside the norm and do something new, like white water rafting or shooting an AK-47. These are the experiences you’ll never regret. They are the memories that fill your trip with excitement.
8. Create “you” time. Whether it’s reading a book, watching the sunset, or journaling, be sure you have time to relax for you and you only.
9. Learn to accept everything for what it is. It may not be logical or reasonable to you, but it works for other people. All you can do is embrace it and smile through gritted teeth.
10. Have fun. The minute you’re no longer enjoying your travels you need to change it up or head home. It’s that simple.

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Given that the recent floods in Northern Kenya were not the perfect answer to a 2-year drought, the tribes people whom we fed in Northern Kenya back in September are still extremely grateful for yours and our efforts and they made sure to share their gratitude with reporters and the rest of Nairobi’s community. During our experience of a lifetime up North, we had the pleasure of two journalists joining us, Fatuma and Jack. Their sole purpose was to document our life-changing journey and interact with the local communities. Not only did Fatuma and Jack find the droughts impact to be shocking but they also found our commitment in helping others to be fascinating. Upon arriving back into Nairobi, Fatuma and Jack shared their stories and photographs with their newspaper only to find that the paper had made the swift decision to publish our story from the North. Check it out below:

I know we’ve said this before, but a huge THANK YOU again to those of you who contributed to the cause in Northern Kenya. You people are the ones changing the world through every effort and contribution you made in September. Our gratitude for your efforts is endless.

Everyone who’s been to India says that it’s a huge culture shock. Chris and I figured that it would be a breeze after having been through Africa and the Middle East. Some people may call it cocky but I’d consider it to be our optimistic “bring-it-on attitude” that responded by saying it would be no big deal. After all, we are world travelers…

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I couldn’t have eaten those words any quicker than I did when I got off the train station in Varanasi. Yes, India has it’s own culture and chaos but Varanasi is the epitome of India lifestyle, culture, beliefs, and traditions all lumped into one city. It was 6:00am in the morning and our eyes were still have filled with sleep. The morning started with a rickshaw ride to a guesthouse. Once we settled on a price, the driver set off constantly honking, swerving around cows, nearly running people and dogs over, and almost being crushed by large pinata-like decorated Indian trucks. We stopped unexpectedly within 10 minutes of our destination for a chai (Indian culture is to offer tea to all guests/newcomers). I didn’t know what we were stopping for as there was only a small rickety wooden shed in which there was a man sitting on the table next to a boiling kettle, but I couldn’t be more happy. My eyes burned from the think smog and pollution that setteled on the streets and I did everything I could to remove the burn for the short time we were standing still. The driver brought us back two small cups of chai in clay/mud-like cups. We were told to NEVER drink the water in India and while it was hot tea, I was still hesitant. We drank the chai to be polite, and afterwards handed the cups to the driver, who then instructed us to throw them into the ground. He said they would smash to pieces and decompose overtime. “OK,” I said as my mind still wondered if this tea would make me sick.  The driver jumped back into his autorickshaw and we zoomed onward toward the guesthouse.
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