Traveling with parents tale - Time zone difference

Time zone difference

Previously we stayed at the room with no window. Therefore, we wouldn't know if the weather was hot, raining, or whether it's morning or night. In addition, my parents came from Jakarta, where the time there was one hour earlier than here, in Malaysia. E.g. If here was 7 am, Jakarta would be 6 am.

Despite they both were wearing watch on their wrists, they did not adjust the timing on it. They thought it was only one hour difference, therefore, not necessary to adjust. But they forgot that they too, could be forgetful about the time difference.

Well readied Mom (Pic source: Google.com)

In one occasion, I was awoken by a strong perfume smell. I found Mom doing her make-up and had already changed her clothes, ready to go out. I turned on my mobile phone and looked at the time. I immediately asked her, "Mom, where do you want to go so early like this?"

"Early? It's already 7 plus no??" she replied without stopping her activity.

"Ma, are you dreaming??? It's only 6 plus now. Please go back to sleep," I said.

"Haa??? Only 6 plus?? Not 7 plus ya?? I thought I woke up at 7 am just now," she replied me in shock.

After finishing her make-up, she sat down on the bed and started checking her mobile phone. I couldn't sleep anymore after that, because very soon, I was disturbed by a very loud Chinese old songs (with a maximum volume), or the sound and/ or with song that came from Chinese-made videos (those mostly showing unfilial son/ daughter together with their son/ daughter-in-law) sent by only God knew who they were.

And soon after, my mobile would vibrate and when I checked, it was the video that she just watched earlier and sent to our family What's App group ^^"

Another occasion was our first night after reaching Malaysia. Since we had nothing to do, we slept early (I remembered turning off the light at 10 pm at night since I couldn't stand the TV volume, and Dad immediately turned his TV off).

While sleeping, suddenly I heard familiar voice from a couple. I thought I heard it in my dream though.

(Pic source: Google.com)

Man: "Damn!!! It's only 4.30 am!!!"
Woman: "What time?" - with disbelief tone.
Man: "4.30 only. No choice la. We slept too early last night."
Woman: "Haa??? Only 4.30??? Feel like already long."

Ugghhh... I wanted to pee. I had no choice but to get up. I turned my phone charger off and headed to toilet with the phone. I turned it on and checked the time. It's 5.30 am.

When finished, I returned to my bed. I giggled and continued sleeping. I made it so quiet so I could sleep longer. And soon, I heard him snoring. Zzz..... Zzz..... 

Travelling with parents tale - Ghost in the room

The missing glasses case

As minimalist during travel, I only brought what I needed. So when I got up and found my glasses case missing from the side table I shared with Mom, I questioned my Mom who got up earlier than me and was applying make-up in front of the mirror at the corner of the room. "Ma, did you see my glasses case?" 

She turned her back and looked at me. "I saw it on the side table this morning. Don't have meh?"

"It's not there. If it's there, I wouldn't have asked you," replied me.

She stopped her make-up and walked to the side table direction, just next to me. "I saw it this morning right here," while pointing into the table. "How come it's not there now? Got ghost in this room meh? Which ghost took the glasses case???" Her voice became louder as she was curious who would take that worthless item from me and even angry on my behalf.

Suddenly my eyes saw something, just on top of the side table, a black underwear - which apparently belonged to Mom - beneath my glasses case.

Where the mysterious glasses case had gone ^^"

"Yes, I found the ghost. The ghost is spraying perfume right in front of me now," and I bursted of laughing out loud. Yes, very loud laughter in such early morning.

She turned her back again and she too laughed out loud when seeing what I pointed to her. We both laughed like crazy and let our dad wondered from inside the toilet, what's going on with this mother and daughter... ^^"

Travelling with parents tale - Eat and food

Malaysia food (Pic source: Google.com)

Just like Singapore, Malaysia a multicultural country. Majority ethnic group here was Malay (59%), followed by Chinese (32%), and Indian (9%). Their national language was Malay language, but English was widely spoken. So when coming to Malaysia, you'd expect many different food available across every corner of the street.

My parents though, especially Mom, had a choosy tongue when it came to food. Despite having traveled to various countries around the world, Chinese food was still their number one preference followed by Indonesian and lastly Western food. Indian food was no no for Mom. She felt that certain taste of the curry was too strong.The most she could take was Roti Prata as she tasted it before in Singapore.   Therefore, I found it such a waste to have famous Indian restaurant located just next to our hotel, but they both didn't fancy the food.

On our previous visit, we stayed for a week at the same hotel. We had eaten at the same coffee shops nearby, over and over again; mainly choosing the local Chinese food. So after some time we were pretty bored with it. We could imagine the taste of it even inside our dream.

One evening, dad was attracted by the mutton soup smell from the next door Indian restaurant. He loved mutton soup very much, but in Indonesians style. Apparently Indian style used different types of spices. But he was still willing to try. But we ordered at the wrong place. We should have ordered it directly from the waiter who keyed in our order in a small palm device. Instead, we went to the display counter where they sold white and Briyani rice with various cooked chicken, beef, and mutton dishes with vegetables.

As I had endured days without tasting Indian food, I was very happy that finally I could order my favourite Briyani rice with fried chicken, plus cucumber onion pickles mixed with yoghurt. For dad, he ordered white rice with chicken curry and the same pickles. And mom? She was having no mood to eat Indian food. At first she refused to order. But after trying my fried chicken, she walked to the counter herself and ordered a plate of white rice with fried chicken. That's it.

Gained weight (Photo source: Google.com)

She was the reason why I gained so much weight from my last visit too. Everytime she did not like the food or could not finish her portion, Dad and I had to finish it as we both tried our best not to waste food. For her, she didn't care much.

Many times Dad and I had to exchange look over the food she could not finish. Especially those she ordered unnecessarily. E.g. Dad suggested her to share a portion with him. She would say she did not want to eat this but something else. At the end her food portion was big and she did not like it. She would just eat few bites and leave the rest untouched. Or morning time she ordered something. She would say she could not eat much early in the morning. But she did not make any effort to ask the seller to give less portion either. Haizzz...... 

This time we visited Malaysia again and stayed at the very same hotel. We reached the hotel quite late from the airport. We were all famished. As we walked towards the hotel's entrance door, many people had already seated outdoor. On their tables, many plates of satay (meat skewers) were seen. The fragrant smell of the satay being fanned on top of the charcoal had attracted Mom to immediately visit the restaurant once we checked in our room and put our luggage.

Delicious Indian food :D

Dad ordered 1 bowl of mutton bone soup (Sup Tulang) and 1 bowl of normal mutton soup. Mom ordered 10 pieces of Beef Satay. And me, I ordered my favourite Briyani rice with chicken curry, cucumber onion pickles with yoghurt, and fried bitter gourd.

My favourite dish ;)

I started eating first as my food was readily available. Their food came later as the satay needed to be grilled. Maybe Mom was too hungry. She said she wanted to try my chicken curry. Not only that. She also tasted both veg that I chose on my plate. Quite surprising for me. She said, "It's nice. This curry, I can eat. Sometimes other curry, I can't take it. Too strong." She smirked, as usual, her pattern in giving excuses, and continued, "Tomorrow morning we can eat here again. We can eat Prata." 

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Laugh because finally she could accept how delicious Indian food could be and cry because she should find out about it earlier so that we could have eaten it more often before. I still remembered vividly her desperation when she rejected to eat anything that night.

The quote (Pic source: Google.com)

So I replied her, "When people is hungry, I think everything will taste good." She was just smiling wide. Even this evening when I asked what should we have for dinner, she suggested the next door Indian restaurant almost immediately ^^"

Travelling with parents tales - Sleeping together

Me traveling with parents :D (Photo source: Google.com)

In our families I was the fifth and the youngest among my siblings. All of us were staying separately in many different countries, except my brother and I. My eldest sister stayed in Indonesia, same city with where my parents lived. However, I was the one who travelled the most - all over the world - together with my parents. If we joined the tour, we would usually stay at the same room (1 king or double bed for both of them with 1 single or extra bed for me). In certain countries I couldn't help but to endure the uncomfortable folded extra bed :"D

So sometimes I felt that I was very lucky to have good karma and fate to spend so much time with them although we stayed at different country and even at this age where I myself already had one teenager boy. Or maybe that's also the reason why I often felt as if I was still that single and young little girl who stayed under the wings of my parents (a.k.a no freedom), lol.... :D No matter what, I felt very grateful for all the chances and opportunities given by my parents to see the world around us :) Since 10 years ago we had travelled at least once a year together. Weren't I the fortunate one?

As I wrote this, I could also share with my siblings what they could not experience with my parents in their lives :) For this post, I just felt I wanted to share about our recent trips in Malaysia, where we spent at least a week under the same room and number of days at the country. 

Wake up!!! (Photo source: Google.com)

My alarm clock

First of all, as we had to stay together in harmony, we had to recognise and accept the different life styles that we all had. So, they both were early risers. At home they usually got up at 5 to 6 am everyday, while me, I slept quite late and got up late too. So I definitely did not need to turn my alarm on. They were my alarm clock. Especially my dad. He had a hobby and habit of watching TV with a loud sound and turned it on once he got up ^^" Anytime too. As long he's inside the room. 

Watching TV habit (Photo source: Google.com)

Watching TV

I had to give in for this. Personally I loved to be alone and stay inside quiet environment. A little music was fine. But I knew this was something he couldn't live without. Moreover while watching it, he often forced us to watch it together with him by commenting what he saw on TV. Even though I ignored him, he would still keep commenting as if we were interested. When it's too unbearable, sometimes I really had to put on my ear piece and looked at my phone so that it's clear that I wasn't interested on the TV show that he watched.

This reminded me of my childhood time when I was in primary 1. He forced me to sit down next to him watching the news while my four siblings were having chit chat time about their lives together with Mom inside the room. Oh I envied them so much listening to their laughter from living room. To end the misery, I had to feign sleepy so that he'd ask me to go to my room to sleep immediately. Lol!!! :P

Toilet (Photo source: Google.com)

Toilet usage

For toilet sharing, we were quite agreeable on this. Usually after breakfast, dad would do his big business. So he would have breakfast once the restaurant opened, finished fast, and hurriedly went back to room to use the toilet. 

And in evening once we reached hotel, dad and mom would take bath first (they were pretty fast in this) and I'd always be the last one because I used toilet for some time as I had to wash my underwear and clothes almost everyday :) (Mom usually brought more clothes so she didn't have to wash it often while I preferred bringing less items while travelling).

Sleeping time (Photo source: Google.com)

Sleeping time

At night they slept early and dad often not happy if I slept too late or used phone in the dark. So, like now, I had to wait until I heard him snoring, then I'd use my phone secretly and covered myself with blanket :P There was one time when dad woke up for toilet and he came near to my bed to check if I'd fallen asleep or not as he might see the phone's light reflection from under my blanket. Lol!! It scared me to death and I had to act as if I was sleeping to avoid unnecessary comments. Hahaha... :D

Curfew? (Photo source: Google.com)

Curfew

As we all grew up in a not-so-safe city, my parents had set up curfew at home. We could not return home so late. 10 pm would be the ideal although once in a while, 12 am midnight was still acceptable. But more than that or sleeping at other people's house was not acceptable at all. 

This fear had always remained whenever we went back home and parents were around, even when I was on holiday staying at the same room with them. Yes we knew, it's for our own good and safety. But as we grew up, we felt we were getting better in taking care of ourselves and when we saw our aunt had relaxed her curfew towards our much younger cousins, we felt the world was unfair. 

When my friend was only free after almost 10 pm to have supper with me, I had to inform them faster just minutes before I left the hotel so that there wouldn't be any room for rejection. At least they knew I was in a good hand (they met up with my friend before). But for returning back time, I still felt like Cinderella, whose shoes and carts would change after midnight. And the next morning when my dad asked me what time I came back, I told him the time slightly early than the real time I came. Hahaha... Naughty me :P

Well, there were more stories to tell but clock kept ticking away. So let me stop here and continue at the next post OK? And as I end this post, I'm still hiding in toilet as if it was just the usual short toilet break in between sleep. Lol... Hope you enjoy reading this and you may be reminded of your time spent sleeping with parents when you're young :) Adios! Good night!!! ^^

Books read for the first half of the year 2017

Doraemon reads book, and so do I (Pic source: Google.com)

Below please find the list of the book I read for the first half of the year 2017:

January 2017

January 2017:

1 Singapore Love Stories - Verena Tay

2 Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

3 Kuan Yin: Accessing the Power of the Divine Feminine - Daniela Schenker

4 The Vanishing Year - Kate Moretti

February 2017

February 2017:
1 Management Tips - Harvard Business Review
2 Strange Weather in Tokyo - Hiromi Kawakami
3 Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin S. Sharma
4 Six Four - Hideo Yokoyama

March 2017

March 2017:
1 Paris for One - Jojo Moyes
2 The Best of Chinese Life Philosophies - Leman
3 Si Cacing dan Kotoran Kesayangannya - Ajahn Brahm
4 Talking to Ourselves - Neuman Andres
5 One Plus One - Jojo Moyes
6 O's Little Guide to Starting Over - O, The Oprah Magazine
7 The Spy - Paulo Coelho
8 The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World - Dalai Lama XIV
9 Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult

May 2017

May 2017:

1 Chronicle of a Love Foretold - Monu Tamang

2 The Morning Sun - Mon Tamang

3 The Fine Art of Living and Manifesting A Peaceful Death - Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi

4 Wisdom of the Buddha - Venerable Wu Ling

June 2017

June 2017:

1 Buddha Gotama: Riwayat Buddha Untuk Keluarga - Handaka Vijjananda

2 The Fifth Letter - Nicola Moriarty

Secret of Balance Life :D (Photo source: Google.com)

Not bad... 23 books for the first half of the year. If you notice, I did not read any single book in April. It was due to the traveling journey to Bhutan that took me for more than 3 weeks. In June I traveled again and did not leave me with much time to read. March seemed to be book and tea craze month hahaha.... And the books that I chose to read were more on Buddhism too lately. Doesn't mean that I will not read any more fictions. I definitely do. Well, let's see how many more books I can read until the end of this year. Time flies dude!!! Do what you love while you are still alive! ;)

Journey to Merak and Sakteng: Day 5 - Sakteng to Mongar and Back to Bumthang :)

Beautiful Sakteng, Bhutan :)

The fifth day of our journey: Going back all the way to Mongar

We finally reached the end of our trekking journey. It's our fifth day since we left Bumthang. We got up at 4 am since we planned to leave Sakteng at 5 am. Just nice that the home-stay owner - Dikpa - planned to leave from Sakteng to Trashigang with his fellow friends. The night before he asked us to go together with them since they would arrange vehicle from the nearest vehicle road, and drive from there to Trashigang, which later on, they even drove all the way to Mongar.

The trace left from King's visit to Sakteng, Bhutan

It was such a beautiful morning. No sun and no rain. Perfect!! :) At least for me. K and I left the place first. From where we stayed, we walked to the right side, and went all the way up, passing by the small place housing few prayer wheels, until the view of the Sakteng slowly diminished. We had to bid goodbye to that lovely place and it would sure be missed.

Bid goodbye to Sakteng, Bhutan

For me, the terrain was really beautiful. I felt as if I was not in Bhutan. We passed by few more walls with prayer wheels where we could convey our prayers for the safe journey, and slowly entered to narrower pathway.

Beautiful nature path :)

Ohhh.... I loved this pathway so much. Although the road was not smooth (more like stones pathway), but you could see such beautiful scenery on your left and right, such as the red and white color Rhododendron, river streams, etc.

White Rhododendron :)

Beautiful morning mist :)

The morning mist added the already beautiful forest view :) The air was cool and fresh!!!

More prayer wheels on the way :)

We stopped sometimes and turned the prayer wheels when we saw it :)

Beautiful river streams :)

The river streams were so natural. Its sound was serene and peaceful. The view was just like what you often saw in magazine :)

Loved this walkway very much!!! Falling in love with it :)

I wished I could stay there so that I could go for morning walk like that whenever I wanted to. Oh my.... I fell in love with this place so much!!! :)

Many giant rocks on our way :)

They caught up with us so fast!!! :)

After a while Dikpa and his two friends managed to catch up with us. Hahaha... You could not compare my speed and their speed. They walked very fast as they were used to it :) We asked them to take over us as I took longer time since my both toes were paining from the strenuous hike days before.

Vehicle road in the process - Sakteng, Bhutan

There was road making process in the area too. In the future the vehicle would be able to pass through from Sakteng. That way, the trekking tour business would be greatly affected. Because otherwise, people usually needed one to two days to trek from Sakteng to Phongmey.

Our last stop after 2.5 hours walked from Sakteng, Bhutan

After 2.5 hours of walk, we finally reached the place where vehicle road was available. We waited there for some time until the Bolero arrived. We put our bags behind and sat inside. Many villagers took ride with no fee collected by the driver. How nice he was!!! :) 2.5 hours later, after passing by Joenkhar Teng, Phongmey, and Radi village, we were back to where we were from, Rangjung. It amazed us how we recalled back the day when we first started our journey, with no single clue on how to go to Merak.

Our way from Rangjung back to Trashigang, Bhutan

We stopped at Rangjung for a while before continuing our journey to Trashigang, and reached in about an hour time. Before having lunch break, the driver asked us if we wanted to continue our journey to Mongar since they changed their plan and headed to that direction. Since it would shorten our journey, we agreed and joined them back to Mongar. For that we paid a total of Nu 600 per pax.

Had our packed lunch plus desserts and tea at Trashigang town, Bhutan :)

Trashigang town reminded me of my visit with Luzee almost two years ago. I brought K to the place where we had dessert, just behind the big Mani Dungkhor in the center of the town. We ordered two cakes with two cups of milk tea and revealed our packed lunch there. We took a rest and visited toilet before continuing our journey. At 1.30 pm we left the Trashigang town.

Say 'Hi' to Mr Frog!!! :D

And as usual, we passed by the cute Mr Frog on our way back from Trashigang to Mongar :)

A beautiful soul at Mongar, Bhutan :)

We reached Mongar town at 5 pm. While K went around asking for hotel's fare, I contacted Luzee's adopted sister, Kezang, who was currently teaching in Mongar. On my previous stay in Mongar, we also stayed at her rented house, however, she was not around. She was going somewhere and left the empty house for us to stay. So finally this time, I met her in person. She was still so kind offering both of us to stay at her rented house. Not only that, she also prepared us a complete and delicious dinner and breakfast herself. Wow!!! I was so touched by her kindness. She was one beautiful soul that I would never forget. Thank you Kezang for your wonderful hospitality to us. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! May Buddha bless you always and shall we meet again one day!!! :)

End of journey celebration at Phuntsho Pizza, Bumthang. Yeahhhh!!! :)

So this would be the end of our journey. We went back to Bumthang the day after by bus. It took us a whole day to reach. Once we reached Bumthang, I dragged K to Phuntsho Pizza and we ordered large size of Spicy Mixed Pizza, only for two of us. Hahahaha... I definitely missed the taste of Pizza there. And as celebration, we also ordered my favorite Druk 11 for both of us. Cheersss K!!! Thank you very much for being my accompany for this wonderful journey. You're always the best!!! Thank you for everything you'd done for me. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! May Buddha bless you and your families always too!!! Love from Singapore :)

Journey to Merak and Sakteng: Day 4 - Relaxing day at Sakteng

Villagers put up the flag pole at Sakteng, Bhutan

The fourth day of our journey: Sakteng

We were woken up by the bright sun rays that entered through our window pane. We decided to spend whole day relaxing and staying in this beautiful village. Therefore, no need to rush and wake up early. We were just lying on the bed under the warm blankets, and getting a little more rest before I finally got up, rinsed my head with icy cold water and nice smell shampoo I carried all the way from home. 

Woahhh!!!! My brain was almost frozen and gave me a little pain!!! No choice la! The water heater was there but it did not work. They did not provide the portable electric heater too. So we could only wash up using cold water. That was one condition I had to bear when traveling in country like India and Bhutan. At least we did not have to carry buckets of water from downstairs. We were grateful enough :)

Chef K prepared delicious breakfast cum lunch :)

We both felt very fresh after a thorough wash up. It was time for us to fill our belly with warm and delicious food :) K was good in washing and cutting the ingredients so I let him starting it while I washed our pair of socks and hung it outdoor. Once I was done, I purchased 2 eggs from the grocery shop and mixed the cut ingredients to make omelette. K prepared bean datshi and we had it with miso soup (using Misty Peak glass - oh I wished it was the real Misty Peak lol!!!) plus K's handmade ezzay. Each of us had a big plate of all those food hahaha... I had become more like Bhutanese :P

Browsing Sakteng village with lollipop on our mouth :D

Sakteng, Bhutan

View at the back of the valley - Sakteng, Bhutan

At noon time we started browsing up the village. The weather changed to gloomy, but no rain. And just like in Merak and many areas in Bhutan, their houses were mainly built using stones and woods, with metallic roofs to prevent water to leek through. However, they usually built walls and had main gate to enter, just like many other farmer houses in Bhutan.

Stone walls guarded houses in Sakteng, Bhutan

Beer bottles used as walls or barricade :D Sakteng, Bhutan

Not only stones, beer bottles could also be used as walls :P

Such big houses they had, hadn't they? Sakteng, Bhutan

They made it to prevent animals from rummaging their belonging perhaps? Also to store woods for cooking cum bukhari, their farming products and equipment used. Small transports to collect things from fields were commonly seen there in the area.

Small transport entered the house in Sakteng, Bhutan

Green house within house compound area in Sakteng, Bhutan

Animals like horses, cows, yaks, dogs, etc. walked and stayed wherever they wanted to, throughout the small alley or near where the houses were located.

Animals lived together - Sakteng, Bhutan

Yaks, cows, and sheep were relaxing just like us :D Sakteng, Bhutan

We went into the building below. There was a huge giant tree not far from there. It must have been there for a long time. The building was quite new, made of woods, guarded with stone walls and wooden ladder for us to enter. The mani dungkhor inside were quite new as well. We turned the wheel few rounds and chanted our prayers.

Mani dungkhor in Sakteng, Bhutan

We walked towards river side after that. The road path there was not so smooth. We had to walk carefully and passed through many small streams.

Typical road in Sakteng, Bhutan

And played around among the yaks in the greenery :)

Jump among the yaks!!! :P Sakteng, Bhutan

K preferred feeding his hand to the yak :D Sakteng, Bhutan

We then walked through the stones area. Since we had nothing much to do for the day, I challenged him to find special shape stone in the area, however, we could not find. Then he suggested, why not bring the stone wishes back home, in miniature, as souvenir.... So I said, why not??? So there he went... Looked around among millions of stones finding few lucky ones who would travel all the way back to Singapore :D

Finding the stone wish miniature in Sakteng, Bhutan :D

After some time, he managed getting what he wanted. He was trying his best to find the small ones so that we did not have to carry it heavily and wearily. So he threw the base of the stone away and I was so angry because I found it beautiful. Hahaha... I was sulking and ignoring him afterwards just like a kid did not get the candy she wanted :P

Lhakhang or temple in Sakteng, Bhutan

We visited the temple nearby but could not find caretaker who could open the door for us. No one was there. So we left the place after circumambulated the temple. We were still in no-talking mode. I walked ahead of him and when I turned my head around, he was not there. Hmm... where did he go? Then I decided to play hide and seek. The village was a good place for that as it contained many small alleys to go through. Haha... :P I walked back to the village and found one opened corner where I could sit, unwind and update my travel journal.

Carrying wooden plank - Sakteng, Bhutan

It was a good place to sit. While writing the journal, I occasionally watched people passing by. I saw local people carrying wooden plank on their back and other two were trying to pull it up using the rope connected through their shoulders. I was thinking how manual the job they were doing. Due to the remoteness of the area, many machines that would easier their lives were not there. They had to depend a lot on their physical strength. And you could not live alone there. You needed people to help each other with the works. It was something that you found it rarely in outer world, where people had become selfish and did things only for their own benefits.

Kids after school - Sakteng, Bhutan

It was time where kids just finished their school too. So many would pass by where I sat. I managed to get the two cute kids above to take selfie with me :D And after some time, I saw K standing up there. He had finally found where I hid :P He told me that he went back to find the base stone that he threw. That was why I could not find him. And when I went back to room, I saw the stack of stones were there on the table :) So sweet of you... ^^

I continued updating my journal inside the room until the evening came. I started feeling cold again and asked K if we could make tea and have something to eat. I started to get hungry too. He went down and soon after came up with pot of hot ginger tea and two cups, together with two (already expired) cupcakes (yet we're still eating them) and a packet of (again expired) Wai Wai . We had them in our room. Ohhh... it felt like heaven!!! Thank you Kipchu!!! :)

Our wonderful dinner at Sakteng - Yak momo and ara with egg :D Loving it!!! :)

We went down to cook our Korean noodle for dinner. However, when we entered the kitchen, Leki was busy wrapping yak meat filled momo (dumpling). Woahhh..... I could not hide my excitement upon seeing it and asked him if we could try one. Hahahahaha.... :P They could not say 'no', I guessed, and once the steamed dumpling was done, they put one on our plate. We were chatting while he was preparing it and we were asking them about the rotten cheese, ara, and other things related to their culture.

Then they said they had local ara and asked us if we wanted to try. We definitely did not refuse their offer hahaha... And again, coincidentally, we had eggs (initially for our Korean noodle). So our egg's destiny was to accompany ara forever hahaha.... :P

After having one, they offered us more momos. It was really privileged to taste the local food made painstakingly with lots of love and effort by them. I had to make sure that they had enough for the family or otherwise I would feel bad. And to avoid feeling bad, K asked me to cook the Korean noodle for them.

Aha!!! What a great idea!! Barter lahhh!!! :D I immediately cooked it for them and the young daughter enjoyed it very much!!! She was so cute. She tried talking with us in English and sometimes helping her mom to translate words. I was very happy to see them happy and this way, all of us could fill our stomach happily. That was how our last night passed in Sakteng. We were very grateful for the host family who had taken care of our needs while we stayed with them. They even refused to get payment for ara that we consumed. They said, ara was made for giving to guest only, not for themselves to drink. We were very thankful for everything la!!! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! May Buddha bless you and your family with everything that you wished for in your life :)