Tag: social media

One Year of Madventures.me – Still Mad for Food and Adventure

M's Adventures

Madventures.me is one year old. One year ago, I started this blog in preparation for new adventures in food and travel. One year of great food and travel in Amman, Copenhagen, Dhaka, Doha, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Krabi, Luang Prabang, Mumbai, New Delhi, New England, Singapore, and many more.

I started this blog to share some of my adventures with family and friends. As I’ve blogged, my blog has evolved into a source for providing information on restaurants in Dhaka, shopping, and how much one can do in Bangladesh. As a blogger, I’ve been enormously happy when readers from all over the world visit my blog. Thank you for stopping by… from almost the entire world:

Map of visitors to madventures.me in the first 11 months.

As my readership expands beyond people I know, I’m curious about what leads readers to my blog. So here are the top search terms people have searched for in the past year:

Top search terms on madventures.me.

Land of Choices

M's Adventures
Land of milk and soy, goat, almond…

I was recently in the new Trader Joes in Clarendon, Virginia, USA, and I was bedazzled by the array of new choices. Mine was a normal reaction and I came prepared with camera.

Bread by any name.

Whether you call it a tomato or a tomato, it’s still a tomato. Milk, however, is not just milk. And how great is that!

Thank You for Loving Bacon

M's Adventures
Danish bacon frying up in a pan.

I was wrong. In recalling Danish bacon, I simply remembered that it was my favorite kind of bacon. When I got to Denmark this time around, I set out to fry some up. When I cooked the pack of bacon, all 250 grams of it,  and realized that no fat came sputtering out of it because the bacon is much more  akin to pancetta, thin and not woodsy in smell… (the Danes have their own breed of pigs called the Antonius). When I ate the first crinkly mahogany strip, I realized that I had been utterly wrong. The Danish bacon was much better than the bacon of my memory.

The sticker says “thank you for loving bacon”.

 

Buttered Bread in Denmark

M's Adventures
Four halves: potato, pork roast, fish filet, and “vet’s night snack.”

Open faced sandwiches are called “buttered bread” in Denmark. I have some favorites. It is harder and harder to find a place where you can buy ready-to-eat sandwiches but there are still a few places where this can still be done. One goes into the store, takes a number, and when it’s one’s turn, one orders “four halves” or however many sandwiches one wants. Then you can order them by name if you know what they are called (only some have special names like “the vet’s night snack”) but mostly, you can point.

Gravad lox sandwich made at home.

One can, of course, make sandwiches at home. I love the Danish open face sandwich because just like Peking Duck or a Korean Bulgogi lettuce wrap, there is something about the alchemy of certain flavors together that play my taste buds like a xylophone.

A List of Lists of Restaurants in Dhaka

M's Adventures
Chicken satay at Urban Spice.

“Where do you hear about the restaurants?” is a often asked of me when I find new restaurants to try in Dhaka. Delightfully, often I hear about a “new” place from one of my friends, jute sandals slap-slapping down the hallway. Otherwise, I let it be known that new (for me) restaurants are “my thing” and that I am a collector. Plus, whenever I am out and about, I am always on the lookout for new restaurants or advertising (yes, it does work!) about new eateries.

However, I also search online. Until Yelp arrives in Dhaka, I must make do with the following social media sites:

Dhaka Snob: Local to Dhaka and quite static. Needs to be updated. Lots of dead links.

HottDhaka: Also needs to be updated.

Trip Advisor: They are the leading international site BUT it is hard to add new places and hard to communicate with headquarters. To their credit, they wish to verify a location… but that makes it hard to for me to check back and see when I will be allowed to post a review. Boo. Yelp allows easy posting and THEN verifies. Does Trip Advisor have someone go to each location? How does one get that job?

Lonely Planet: THE BOOK for many travelers and bucket lists.

Google: Start there.

Facebook: Many restaurants don’t bother with a formal website and go for a Facebook page.

FourSquare: Never underestimate the desire to “check in” and conquer a location!

Read about the 50 restaurants I’ve already been to in my previous posts: Restaurants in Dhaka – Part Three, Restaurants in Dhaka – Part Two, and Restaurants in Dhaka – Part One.

Still have 47 restaurants to go!

A Monsoon Wedding in Bangladesh

M's Adventures
A happy Bangladeshi bridal couple.

Wedding season in Bangladesh is December-January mainly because the temperature cooler (and family from abroad can make it as well). It’s been ten months since I started this blog and one of the most popular themes I’ve notice people search for is information about Bangladeshi weddings. Now that I had the honor of being invited to another one, I have more photos to show.

Groom poses for photos as he cuts the roast.

My friend and arrived at the community center three hours late due to other social engagements which was just in time to sit down with the bride and groom.

Children are welcome at weddings even late at night.
The bargaining begins…

I know that before I went to my first Bangladeshi wedding, I was curious about what would happen. I hope to go to more weddings while here.

The groom takes his bride and she acts demur.

Famous Falafel at Hashim’s in Jordan

M's Adventures
Up close and personal with the roasted eggplant dip.

Quite by accident, we made it to the world famous Hashim’s. All that it’s cracked up to be. Cheap, atmospheric (in an alley between buildings and mysterious characters), and delicious! The total meal of falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, fries, fresh pita, and labneh (yogurt dip) for four people cost $10… so we made one person treat us all. She insisted! Thanks!

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What’s My Name in Arabic?

M's Adventures
The front of the Al-Afghani shop in Mecca Mall.

One of the things to buy in Amman is your name in Arabic script as a pendant for a necklace. It takes a week to get done so plan your visit accordingly. There are jewelsmiths who can make it but there is also a place in Mecca Mall. Al-Afghani is a souvenir shop in Mecca Mall. The staff will help you with your name and a week later, you pick up your pendant. Beautiful.

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See Petra with Friends

M's Adventures

In the early morning light of the cavern called “the Siq” in Petra, we three friends were alone in our walk round the twists and turns of the 30 minute walk to that classic view of Petra — the view of the Treasury through the slim gap of the Siq.

Petra by night.

We did actually have company in the form of three other tourists who outpaced us and a local dog. Plus a few of the local Bedouin guides trying to sell us donkey rides. But mostly, we were alone, skipping along the well kept path between the rose pink sandstone. The evening before, we had traipsed in the dark to the same spot with 300 other tourists for “Petra by Night” and I’d recommend it. The night walk costs 12 Dinars ($17) and the day pass costs 50 Dinar ($71) but it was worth it. I avoided the donkey and camel rides but the 20 Dinar ($28) horse cart gallop up the walk is also worth it. The two hour up the 800 steps to the “high place” did not seem worth it to me but you can take a donkey up and then, for those who enjoy vertiginous thrills, it might be worth it. But then you could also walk up in stilettos.

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Although Petra is touristy, it is much less so than many places on anyone’s list of places to see. I recommend getting up and going at 6 a.m. when the park opens. And bring friends.

iPhone in Dhaka

M's Adventures
Airtel kiosk sells Grameen top up cards.

Many of the photos I take are with my iPhone including this one of the kiosk (near Gulshan 2 circle on the DIT 2 market side of Madani Avenue) where one can purchase scratch off top up cards for one’s prepaid iPhone. If your phone is unlocked, you can buy a sim card, some scratch off cards, and after some set up, you are good to go. I’d guess I use around 300 Taka per month ($4) on my phone and Internet. The sim card cost 250 Taka. You can also go the post-paid route and go to Grameen phone, give them copies of your passport, a photo, and then you will receive a bill monthly.

Ramadan In Dhaka

M's Adventures

One of the changes in Dhaka during Ramadan (or Ramzan as they call it here), is that the traffic patterns change. After 6:30 p.m., there is almost no traffic on the roads so it makes getting around at that time ideal for those of us not trying to be somewhere to break the fast (Iftar) at sunset. The times of the shop openings are slightly different and things are in general not as bustling. But only slightly. Mostly, what one notices is the lack of traffic during normal rush hour hours.

One of my favorite roads in Dhaka.

If you are lucky enough to be invited to Iftar, you will find certain foods ready on your plate for that exact minute when the sun sets. Most of the items are small fried items like dates, fish cake, lentil patty, mini funnel cake, etc. There is also a special lentil soup called “haleem” which is a must to break the fast. Lemon water is the normal drink served. After the Iftar, or breaking of the fast, people will go for a quick prayer, then they eat a supper, often buffet if at a restaurant. Many, if not most, restaurants offer Iftar menus.

The end of Ramadan is marked by Eid-ul-Fitr (the first of two in the year). The long Eid is a festive time lasting days. Families give gifts, mainly of clothes, to each other. The shops are open all night long so that people can shop. Bonuses are paid. During the long Eid, many businesses close for days and many people leave town for the long holiday. The start and end of Ramadan depend on the moon.

Doing the Thailand Bucket List

M's Adventures
Sunset in Krabi, Thailand.

Ride an elephant through a rubber plantation, sea kayak past protected swallows’ nest harvesting caves (used for birds’ nest soup), get foot massages for 250 baht ($6), get Thai massaged into a pretzel shape, get tailor made clothes, eat delicious fresh food, and pet tigers. Okay, I did not do that but many others have it on their bucket list.

Fruit and more fruit.
Sea kayaking into a lagoon.
Possibly the biggest elephant in Thailand.