The Hungry Cyclist - Pedalling The Mekong For The Perfect Meal

Early Morning In Laos Hill Village - Video Post

Guo-Qiao Mi-Xian/Across the Bridge Noodles, Yunnan China

What is a good Chinese woman to do?

Her dedicated husband is busy studying for his imperial exams on a deserted island , and not wanting him to go hungry she carries him his lovingly prepared lunch over the long foot bridge. The only problem being that when she gets to her hungry lover the soup is cold and inedible.

Not just a pretty face after weeks of worry the dutiful wife discovered that by keeping a layer of oil on top of a bowl of stock would ensure that it was hot enough for him to cook the other ingredients when she arrived.

By all accounts after passing his exams with flying colours the husband credited his success to the quality of his wife’s cooking and the word spread through the state of Yunnan and today the recipe can be found in most cities and towns.

(these ingredients are for each person) 100g of thinly slices chicken breast

• 100 g of sliced cured ham
• 100 g of fresh squid body, sliced
• Some thin strips of tofu
• a good pinch of ground peanuts
• 2 raw quail eggs, broken into a small dish 
• 1 small bok choy, washed and chopped into strips
• 2 spring onions chopped
• Small bunch of coriander, well chopped
• Half a handful of mushrooms, wilder the better
• 250g fresh thick round rice noodle (go to your local Asian supermarket)
• A heavy soup bowl with 500ml of best chicken stock, piping hot! (Don’t skim the oil off the top)
• Fresh Yunnan Chili, Minced

1. This classic Yunnan dish should be prepared by the dinner at the table, providing some great culinary theater.

2. Each person at the table should get a deep soup bowl almost full of piping hot stock.

3. The other ingredients should be placed on the table and each dinner should first add the meat to the soup bowl, followed by the raw eggs, mushrooms and noodles. The heat of the soup will cook everything through and the soup will become infused with all the flavors.

4. Lastly add the peanuts, spring onion and coriander and some chili and soy sauce as you like. Get slurping…

Stopping For Lunch In Laos - Video Post

'Lunch is for whimps!"

Glad that my chosen form of work doesn't involve munching a triple-pack sandwich in front of a computer machine, I take my lunch very seriously. As well as a chance to rest and refuel it also provides and opportunity to get away from the fierce midday heat. However on the back roads of Laos finding somewhere that serves food is often hard. Stopping when and where you can this video shows what a typical Laos roadside restaurant looks like. Family run and serving steaming bowls of fresh noodle soup they are a live saver.

• Watch more videos from The Hungry Cyclist

Cycling The Backroads of Cambodia

The joys of getting away from the tarmac! For all its comfort and speed every cycle tourist longs for the days when he or she can take to a dirt road. Dust in your hair, no traffic and silence are the rewards and here is a little clip from the russet backroads of Cambodia. For more Hungry Cyclist videos click here.

The Bridge Is Down - Video Post from Cycling In Laos

As Europe seemingly grinds to a halt after a few inches of snow, here in Laos I am bathed in sunshine. But the weather can turn bad here too and in the rainy season the monsoon is a powerful adversary. Farm land is flooded, homes destroyed and roads are washed away. The power of the rains swells rivers and bridges that once linked communities are often washed away leaving areas isolated for months. Lack of funding often means repairs are never made, as I discovered while cycling in the hills north of Pakse.

Dust and Trucks in Cambodia. Video Post

Water buffalo, bicycles the occasional cart and perhpas a 4x4. One of the joys of cycling in South East Asia is the comparative lack of traffic once you get away from the main roads. But, as Cambodia and Laos start to develop this changes. Find yourself cycling on a road that connects a growing industry or newly discovered natural resource you are sharing the road with vast trucks that drag behind them a world of dust and noise. As a tourist I only have to put up with being coated in red earth for a few days, but for the people who live on these once quite tracks I can only imagine how hard life must have become.

Following The Mekong Discovery Trail - Video Post

While following the Mekong river in Cambodia I was lucky enough to stumble onto the Mekong Discovery Trail. After 30 years of war and civil unrest and the resulting poverty one of the priorities of the Cambodian Government is to improve the living standards of people in rural areas, who are some of the poorest people in the world and sustainable tourism provides a great oppertunity for the people of Cambodia and her wildlife.

The Mekong Discovery Trail provides a development opportunity through sustainable community-based ecotourism. Following the Mekong from the town of Kratie to Cambodia's border with Loas, the Mekong Discovery Trail takes you off the beaten track providing a perfect insight into Mekong river life and some pretty hairy cycling too! This short video will give you an idea of what some of the trails more wild sections can be cycled.

• For more information about The Mekong Discovery Trail click here
• Photos from cycling in Cambodia
• Recipes from Cambodia

Kampot Pepper Crab - Video Post

Kampot, on the southern coast of Cambodia is famous for its pepper and its crab. Bring this two local ingredients together and you have a perfect meal that a trip to Cambodia would not be complete without. Here is a video of my first Kampot Pepper Crab experience. It was not the last. Recipe here.

Bonn Om Toeuk/Phnom Penh Water Festival - Video Post

Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia oozes French colonial charm and remnants are evident in the architecture and cuisine. The city though is entrenched with rich Khmer history and Buddhism and this is put on show each year when two festivals are co joined, the Water Festival and full moon of the Buddhist calendar month of Kadeuk.

Water Festival in Phnom Penh In November each year for three days, Phnom Penh plays host to the most magnificent carnival in South East Asia, the Water Festival or Bonn Om Toeuk. A celebration of the unique phenomenon when the great freshwater lake of Tonle Sap reverses its flow forcing the river to do the same.

The city is adorned with colourful bunting and the Royal Palace is lit with thousands of lights, the night air is filled with the sight and sound of fireworks and street food and parks come alive with food stalls and amusement rides as Khmer people travel from all over the country to be part of this significant event. The highlight of this national holiday is the boat race which you can get a taste of from the video below.

More than three hundred boats take part in the annual race on the Mekong River, each propelled by a team of up to 70 oarsmen. The boats are colourfully decorated and come to the city from temples and provinces all over Cambodia. Villagers come to support their boats swelling the cities population by a further 2 million.

Early Evening Cycling in Cambodia

Any cycle tourist worth his salt will tell you that the best times to ride a bike are the early morning and the early evening. In both circumstances the light is soft making the most of colors, locals are out and about socializing, working or eating and a beautiful day is either just beginning or coming to an end. For a glimpse of cycling in the evening in Cambodia do watch this short video.

• Watch more videos from The Hungry Cyclist

Views Of The Mekong Delta - Video Post

I dont think there are many places that get wetter than the Mekong delta in the rainy season. The land is saturated, rivers and canals burst their banks and nothing ever drys. Cycling this water world in late October I made this short video to give some idea of how wet this landscape becomes.

Mekong Fish Farm,Vietnam - Video Post

On the Mekong river in Vietnam fishing is one of the areas most abundant industries. Fishing boats continually trawl her waters and in the river side markets the stench of fish is everywhere. Fish dry in the sun, bubble in huge vats and are processed for fish sauce. To provide fish for this hungry and growing nation fish farms float on the water of Vietnam's cities. Families live above the water in houseboats, while below them their lively is kept in large netted cages.

Here is a short video from a morning at a family fish farm in Chau Doc on the Cambodian border.

Banh Khot - Savoury Pancakes from Southern Vietnam + Video

Banh khot are a small savoury pancake favoured in Southern Vietnam. Cycle through almost any town in the Mekong delta mid morning and if you keep your eyes peeled you will find someone making them. Made from the abundant ingredients of coconut, rice flour and shrimp they are served with a little dish of nuoc mam (fish sauce) before being manhandles in chopsticks and devoured. Sweet, cheap and with a wonderful texture they have become a Hungry Cyclist favourite on the banks of the Mekong

 

• Vegetable oil

For the batter

• 1 cup of rice flour available at Asian markets.
• 1/4 cup of coconut milk, the fresher the better
• 1-teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

The Filling

• 1/2 cup of bean sprouts, chopped in half
• 2 spring onions/Scallion, sliced
• 250g of plump fresh shrimps, peeled, cleaned and divined
• Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce (see recipes here)

1.To make these little pancakes you will need a special Banh Khot pan, a cast iron pan, with eight rounded indents that is placed over a charcoal burner and covered. However as we don’t have these at home I don’t see why cupped baking tray and a hot oven shouldn’t work.

2. Combine the rice flour, coconut milk, turmeric, half the onion, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add one cup of warm water and whisk until smooth and silky.

(i) If you are using ‘the special pan’ heat over a gas burner or fire until smoking hot and brush each indent with cooking oil.

(ii) If not preheat oven to 350°. Brush each of the baking tray indents with a little vegetable oil.

3. Now add a shrimp to each oiled cup.

4. Pour enough batter into each indent until three-quarters full. Divide the bean sprouts among the cakes, sprinkle generously along with the remaining spring onions.

5. Cook or bake until the cakes are golden brown on the bottom, crispy at the edges and firm at the centre, about 20 minutes in the oven, perhaps six in the ‘special pan’. Let them rest a couple of minutes so you don’t sizzle your taste buds and you are ready to eat. Dip each one in a little dipping sauce and devour. 

The Mouth Of The Mekong - Video Post

Nature Calls On The Mekong - Video Post

Sometimes after a good lunch nature calls. Here is a short video illustrating some of the facilities on the Mekong Delta.

Great Video from Cycling In Tibet

While I cycle and eat my way through the muddy canals and busy tributaries of the Mekong Delta, my thoughts occasionaly drift upstream as I try and imagine what life is like at the rivers source. Here in Southern Vietnam it is all mopeds and humidity, neon and noodles, rice paddies and comerce. The video below illustrates that things will change as I ride upstream.

Journey as Destination - HD from Dave A on Vimeo.

Cycling In Saigon - Video Post

Oh the joys of modern day travel. Not so long ago if the gutsy traveller wanted to send news home he or she had to wire telegrams, send letters in diplomatic bags or carry home cumbersome film rolls to be developed. Today the modern journeyman can email, video, photograph on gadgets that fit in the tightest of pockets. Many would arue this is againts the spirit of travel, and at times I agree but with rain lashing the windows here in Ho Chi Min City here is my first attamept at a video and I only hope they get better.

Where is The Source Of The Mekong?

Called Lancang Jiang in Chinese, the Mekong's waters spill down from the Tibetan plateau through the snow-dusted heights of Qinghai Province, into Yunnan but due to the complexity of the Mekong source water system, inaccessible environment and restrictions on entry, the source of the Mekong river has caused great debate among geographers and scientists from various countries. 

In the 1990's a race to find the source of the Mekong began.  French explorer, author and Tibet specialist Michel Peissel, claimed to have found the source in 1994 on a pass called Rupsa La, at an altitude of 4,975 metres on the Qinghai plateau north of Tibet.

However experts in China, Japan and the USA questioned Peissel's claim, and after some debate, four separate expeditions in 1999 established a cluster of new 'sources' 90 kilometres northeast of Peissel's.

In October of that year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences declared the true source to be Lasagongma, a stream that issued front a glacier at 5,224 metres on the north face of a prominent peak called Guosongmucha forcing the geographic source of the Mekong River (Langcang Jiang) to be officially recognized as being located at a 94 41 44 E longitude and 33 42 31 N latitude at the Lasagongma Spring at Mt. Guozongmucha, Qinghai, China.

Although the exact location of the source of the Mekong has repeatedly eluded both Western and Asian explorers for years the Tibetans living in the Mekong Headwaters believe there are several spiritual sources to the Zaqu or Upper Mekong. The map below show the Lungmug Spring (drains into the Zanaqu), Zanarigen Mountain (drains into both the Zanaqu and Zayaqu),and Zaxiqiwa Lake (drains into the Zayaqu) None of these are accepted as the geographic source, but if I am able to get close to any of these locations I will be more than happy. 

• Explorers find Mekong River source in Tibet - 1994 Independent Article
• Mekong Source Maps

Giant Mekong Catfish

Having just written a post about the joys of cycle touring and fishing and which rod to pack when on the road, I am now having second thoughts about wetting my line in the muddy waters of the Mekong. The picture below will explain why.

The size and length of the Mekong mean it's an incredibly fertile breeding and growing ground for all sorts of fish but the Giant Mekong Catfish is the daddy of them all.

One of the largest freshwater fish species in the world the Mekong's giant catfish are only found in the Mekong river and its tributaries in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Local fishermen have previously caught specimens weighing over 300kg and more than 3m in length and reports tell us that over a century ago, the Mekong giant catfish could be found the entire length of the river from Vietnam to southern China and were abundant.

However threatened by overfishing and loss of habitat and spawning sites, due to changes to the river, including pollution, dam construction, canalization of river banks, port construction and the blasting of rapids, the Giant Catfish is now in decline. Industrial changes are killing off these majestic fish but the knock on effect is also having a direct effect on those who live on the Mekong.

Rivers have played an important and life-sustaining role in human societies for thousands of years, which is why many of the world's great cities sit on the bank of a great river. We use them as a source of water, for transport, for recreation, as a source of power to drive machinery, and as a means of disposing of waste. And of course we use them as a source of food.

Rivers continue to be an important source of food for societies around the world. Apart from being a rich source of fish, rivers indirectly aid in cultivation with its supply of water for the crops.

Catfish have been eaten for centuries on the Mekong and although scarce today are still cooked in many riverside homes in Southern Vietnam. Traditionally filleted and cooked in clay pots I certainly hope to try this giant of the river but also plan to research what can be done to help reinstate this magnificent fish.

The Art of Travel Film Making by Benedict Allen

Benedict Allen, author, explorer, filmmaker and motivational speaker is a tough act to follow. Best known for his arduous expeditions to remote corners of the globe,  in twenty years he has established himself as one of Britain's most prominent explorers.

But as well as leading the way in what he does for a living, Mr Allen has also pioneered how he shares his experiences through self-filming of authentic journeys for television. By not relying on a film-crew, he has allowed millions of people around the world to witness for the first time adventures unfolding genuinely in inhospitable terrain and this is a true art.

Busy taking in as many of BA''s clips before I go to South East Asia, if I can send back anything close to the quality of is footage from my camera I will be happy. 

"To me exploration isn't about conquering natural obstacles, planting flags... It's not about going where no one's gone before in order to leave your mark, but about the opposite of that - about making yourself vulnerable, opening yourself up to whatever's there and letting the place leave its mark on you."