My personal best food of 2010

This is a list of the best food I had this year

This year was one of the best years of my life. I've traveled all around Taiwan, went on two short trips to Macau and Seoul and during summer, I had the pleasure to guide my girlfriend around central Europe. We visited places like Vienna, Bratislava, Graz, Maribor, Ljubljana, Bled, Postojna, Piran, Gorizia and Trieste, to mention only few. We really had a blast this year. And together with the extensive traveling, the year was also marked with amazing new food I have tried, some even for the first time. Today I checked some of the photos of the dishes I tried and my mouth started to water. So I decided to put a list together of the best foods I had this year. I made two lists: One is about snacks and main dishes, another one is about desserts.

1 My list of Top 10 foods of 2010:

1 Bryndzové halušky, Bratislava, Slovakia. These are dumplings with sheep's cheese and bacon. This traditional Slovakian dish is really sooo yummy! I tried it for the first time and I loved it. It's really something I hope to eat again one day. It's simply the best new food I've tried this year. My article here>>

2 Fried duck, Taipei, Taiwan. I remember how I praised it as the most tender duck I ever had. This was my birthday meal, which I spent on top of Taipei 101 togethe with my lovely girlfriend, who organized it. We had the duck at 373m above sea level. It was simply divine. My article here>>

3 Fried sandwich, Keelung, Taiwan. We had this snack at one of my favorite night markets in all Taiwan. It was really delicious. They fry it and add many things inside. I'd love to eat this every day. So yummy and unique. My article here>>

4 Fried sausage, Wulai, Taiwan. This is one of the most popular dishes in Wulai and there's always a long line for this simple dish. I'm not a fan of Taiwanese fried sausages, but this one is really yummy, I truly recommend. And eat a piece of garlic with it. My article here>>

5 Ah Zong's flour rice noodles, Taipei, Taiwan. This is one of the most famous noodles in Taipei and definitely a must try, if you go to Ximending. I love the way the soup tastes. And the thin noodles are really so tender, they almost melt on your tongue. Thumbs up for this dish. My article here>>

6 Small fried sausage, Keelung, Taiwan. This one is like the small brother of the famous Wulai sausage, but it's also really yummy. Tastes slightly different, but it's a great snack. I loved it. My article here>>

7 Fried chicken cutlet, Taipei, Taiwan. This is one of the famous dishes in Shilin Night Market. And I really need to say it's truly delicious and a must try, if you come to Taipei. It's so fulling, that one is enough for two people. My article here>>

8 Crispy crepe, Banqiao, Taiwan. I used to have a favorite crepe stall near my house and I would always go to the same uncle. He was always very happy to see me and his crepes were the best. These are popular snacks in Taiwan. And you can put inside a lot of things. One of my favorite treats.

9 Fried dumplings, Banqiao, Taiwan. I had these at a small restaurants near my home very often. I love fried dumplings, they're cheap, yummy and very fulling.

10 Tteokbokki, Seoul, Korea. This is a popular snack found on streets of Seoul almost everywhere. These are rice cake stews in a spicy sauce, a little chewy, but very delicious. I ate them so fast, when I stood there on a cold spring evening in Hyehwa, because I was so hungry and they warmed me up. My article here>>

2 My list of Top 10 desserts of 2010:

1 Portuguese egg tarts, Macau, PR China. These egg tarts are so soft and tender and so delicious. I won't forget how addicted I got to them. I bought so many and brought them to the hostel, watched TV and made them disappear one by one. Definitely one of the best desserts in the world (no joke). I love them! My article here>>

2 Hong Kong styled tofu pudding, Taipei, Taiwan. My Singaporean friend Shingo and his family and my girlfriend and I went to a famous restaurant, that serves Hong Kong styled delicacies and I couldn't stop eating their tofu pudding. It was so soft and delicate, I still remember the taste. And we ordered a whole bucket, so I could eat like a pig and people even encouraged me, haha. That was fun. My article here>>

3 Blejska kremna rezina, Bled, Slovenia. This is our famous cream cake. I had one many years ago, probably in the 1990s, so I forgot how creamy and delicious it is. It's definitely the creamiest cake I've ever tried. Really worth every penny. My article here>>

4 Gelato, Koper, Slovenia. This Italian ice cream or gelato was probably the best ice cream we ate in Europe this year. My girlfriend loved it and so did I. Very sweet and rich in flavor. My article here>>

5 Pao pao ice, Keelung, Taiwan. This is also called bubble ice and it's hand made in front of your eyes. They stir the ice so long, that it becomes soft and thick, it's amazing. This is one of the best ice desserts I ever had and I really need to try other flavors. This was kiwi and really yummy. My article here>>

6 Shaved ice cream, Taipei, Taiwan. This one is from a famous shop in the Shilin Night Market. The ice is made into very thin slices and when you eat it, it melts on your tongue instantly. Taipei is famous for many shaved ice cream stores. Definitely a must try, if you visit. My article here>>

7 Pancakes with curd, Kranj, Slovenia. I had these for lunch and they were really so yummy. They're one of our traditional local desserts that you have to try, if you visit. My article here>>

8 Chocolate cake, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We had this cake with coffee and tea early in the morning after a long walk. It was really delicious and gave us energy to walk more. Great memories. My article here>>

9 Cream cake, Ljubljana, Slovenia. We had this one in a small French styled café named Le Petit Café and we really liked it. It's similar to the famous Bled cream cake, but less creamy, however still very tasty. My article here>>

10 Poop ice cream, Taipei, Taiwan. We had this one in the famous theme restaurant Modern Toilet in Ximending. The ice cream was surprisingly creamy, I liked it a lot. My article here>>

MKL is not a food blogger and this is not a food blog, however food has the right to appear on this blog with all of its unpleasant side effects for the reader such as excessive drooling or the growling of the stomach or incontrollable urges to open the fridge and curse, because you find out that you have nothing tasty at home. Sorry, mate (go out, if it ain't late).

What were your best foods you tried this year?

More on food here and here.

My girl is flying to Europe for the first time!

Share some of your tips and experiences on flying long distance

Photos from my flight with EVA Air Vienna-Taipei (Feb 2010).

My lovely girlfriend will be taking her first intercontinental flight tomorrow evening and she'll be landing in Europe on Tuesday morning. It will be her first flight outside Asia and of course she's a bit nervous. She's flying alone and she has two stopovers before her final destination, where I will be picking her up.

I flew to other continents at least 12 times in my life and I must say I mostly had pleasant flights. I love the food, I love the movies and flying is fun to me, too. Sure, sometimes I had an annoying person next or in front of me, but I thought to myself: Only few hours and I'll never see that bugger again. And it worked. Even though flights, who take over 10h seem long and small things can be annoying, mostly nothing bad really happens.

You take off, you watch TV and eat. Then you sleep. Wake up, eat, watch TV and land. That's how I'd summarize an intercontinental flight. If you manage to sleep for at least 6h and watch 2 movies, the flight passes in no time and you still feel fresh when you arrive in your destination.

Of course it's even better, if you meet an interesting person on board. Last time, when I flew from Vienna to Taipei, I sat beside an older Austrian woman, who was pretty bubbly from the beginning. She was 50+ and told me how she married a man from Zimbabwe and she even lived there for a while, before they moved to Vienna and eventually split up. She told me that in recent years she's traveling to Asia. She was headed to Thailand and Cambodia at that time, where she wanted to stay for 3 months. We sat side by side and chatted like old friends most of the time. But when we reached my stopover in Bangkok, we went separate ways. It's funny, but the seemingly good friends we've became on board suddenly changed to what we were before: Strangers. We said take care and good luck and walked away pretty quickly. I probably won't ever see her again.

For me, flying long distance is a blessing. It's amazing how one day you're in Europe and the next day you're on the opposite side of the world, having a completely new life and becoming a foreigner in an instant. Isn't it like a kind of time travel? I don't know, but sometimes it's like a dream. And I feel I'm so lucky to be able to experience that. So happy that intercontinental travel is affordable these days also to average people, not only the rich. It's one thing to read about a foreign culture, it's another to see it, live it first hand. It's a precious experience and I'm so happy, that my girl has the chance to see my continent and my home country Slovenia with her own eyes. I will be her proud guy and hope she can take my encyclopedic monologues about European history, hehe.

Do you have any tips for my girlfriend about how to have a good long distance flight?
Do you have any funny experiences from your long distance flights to share?
How did you feel before and on your first intercontinental flight?

My weird Korea experience

Getting stuck in the subway always sucks

Do you ever remember someone you only met once and never before? Yesterday before sleeping I remembered a girl I only met one time and I'm very sorry for what happened. I feel guilty. It was my second day in Seoul, it was morning, maybe around 11 am. I left my hostel to the nearby Hansung University subway station. I wasn't really familiar with the Seoul subway system, a day before I got stuck at the turnstiles in the photo above. I couldn't exit and was trapped inside. At last someone helped me and I was released. I knew it was my mistake, but nobody blamed me, they were all friendly. One young guy came to me, spoke English and helped me to buy the smart card. I went to the hostel relieved.

Then came the next morning. Same station, same turnstiles. This time I try to enter. I tap my card... Nothing. I tap again... Nothing. So I back off a little and let some people go through just to see how they do it. They do it fast: Tap, push turnstile, walk away. Looks so easy. I try again... and fail! I was frustrated and looked helpless. I stood there for a while, when a young girl, who looked like a student in her early twenties, came to me and offered help. She didn't speak English, I didn't speak Korean, but we knew what the problem was. She took my smart card and placed it on the scanner for me. It worked... but... you only have a second to walk through the turnstile, if not it gets stuck again. I didn't know that and instead of walking through quickly, I was thanking her. When I finally tried to walk through, the turnstile got stuck again. And my card was already tapped. Bummer.

So we stood there briefly and while I was wondering what to do, she took out her smart card, tapped it and asked me to go through. This time I wasn't hesitating, I moved fast. Once inside, I gently bowed, said gomawo and tried to somehow apologize with sign language for troubling her. She just smiled a little and looked for something in her purse. She looked a bit embarrassed. I left to the trains and felt really bad, because I didn't want to bother the locals on my trip.

Of course it was partly her fault, too, because she tapped my card very quickly and I wasn't expecting, that the turnstile will get stuck, if I don't move quickly enough. But how could she have known that? She just wanted to help. And she was immediately feeling bad and used her card for me to go through. It was just an unfortunate situation. Later I was thinking, whether she arrived late to her meeting or whether this situation affected whatever plans she had for that day. I hope not. I also wondered, if she had told her friends about a silly foreigner, who didn't know how to tap the card in the subway and made her come late. I'd love to hear her side of the story. But I probably never will.

That's what I was thinking yesterday before sleeping. What a weird experience. Luckily, that never happened to me again, I had no problems on Seoul's subway in the following days. It was one of the best trips I ever went on. I hope the girl is fine, but I wonder, if she'd ever help a foreigner like me again.

[gomawo means thank you][Photo by MKL, 2010]

Singapore: My first Asian destination

Today is my 5 years anniversary of travelling to Asia

And that's why I want to commemorate this noteworthy moment: On 20th January 2005 I boarded a plane in Paris and flew 13h straight to Singapore. On 21st January 2005 my foot touched Asian soil for the first time. And to be precise, that happened at Changi International Airport in Singapore.

It was during a time, where I still studied and I had 1 month of semester holidays. I had saved up a big sum of money and wanted to do something extraordinary. It was pure coincidence, that I ended up in Singapore. I wanted to fly far and to warm place, because we had a cold winter around that time. I had someone from Singapore helping me and so she rented a room in an apartment for me. It was way cheaper than hotel. I was more of a backpacker at that time and I wanted to spend money for other things than accommodation.

After these things were settled, I could enjoy exploring the city. I have to say, everything was great: I saw the whole city with all its main sights and I even went on a short 3 days trip to Kuala Lumpur. At that time it was the best 3 weeks of my life and ever since I went on that trip, I continued going back to Asia, almost every year once. From that time on, I totally immersed myself in all things Asian (as it's obvious from my blog). I have a special bond with Singapore, it's a place I will never forget, because wherever I will go in the future, it will always remain my first Asian destination.

Here is my collection of my photos [29] I made during that trip. Please wait a little, it may take some time before they fully load. Thanks.

My Singapore trip started at Changi Airport and continued to Tampines, a lovely neighborhood in the eastern part of Singapore. I rented a small room in an HDB block and I felt like I'm living like a local Singaporean. It was a unique experience. Here's a little set of photos I took during my trip, a very small fraction of all the pics I took.

This was where I stayed. I miss the warm weather in Singapore, feels so good every day.

The toilet wasn't really a high standard, but I didn't mind. I was a student and used to it.

The room was small, but nice. I loved to watch TV, especially Channel 5.

I was amazed to see people carrying coffee in plastic bags. You won't see that in Slovenia.

One of my favorite shopping malls The Heeren. I spend a lot of time here.

I liked this old part of Singapore: Kampong glam ('kampong' is Malay for 'village')

This was also one of my firsts: the coconut drink. Cheap and refreshing.

One of my fav dishes in the region: roti prata. Later I liked the similar roti canai in Malaysia.

Photo of my fav spot, a beautiful garden near the zoo. Read article here>>

Singapore has an impressive downtown. Many banks and offices are located here.

A statue of Singapore's founder. He's more like Singaporean Washington, not Obama :P

One of my favorite breakfasts, Delifrance in Takashimaya shopping mall. Yummy.

Singapore Chinatown, located in Outram, is more of a tourist trap, but nice to see.

I found this statue somewhere on Orchard road, Singapore's most famous road.

One of my favorite parts of Singapore: Sentosa, a lovely island with nice little beaches.

Sentosa with the cute islets below, in the back ships and heavy industry. What a mix.

Singapore downtown seen from the Esplanade, a futuristic building resembling fly eyes.

A very colorful and clean neighborhood in Tampines. A lovely place to live.

Singapore Botanic gardens, one of my favortite spots. A must see, when you visit Singapore.

Never saw such huge cactus before. The climate is good for such plants to grow in Singapore.

Botanic gardens are full of small surprises, so it's really worth to take a long walk.

The so called Palm valley, a lovely spot, where Singaporeans love to gather for picnics.

There's so many turtles and ducks in a cute little pond. You'll even find koi fish.

One of my favorite photos ever taken during my travels. Ain't it lovely?

In my last days in Singapore, I looked for spots to swim, but I skipped this place, I chose Sentosa instead.

Last day before flying back to Europe, I spent in Sentosa. It was fun.

It took me one whole day to return home, after 15h of flying, I finally saw our mountains.

Almost landing in Slovenia... Reality was hard: A cold winter. I wanted back to Singapore!

This trip was a turning point in my life. It was really a great experience and I really had the best time in Singapore. Even if it was only 3 weeks, it was my very first trip to Asia and it was a great idea to start discovering Asia in Singapore. I highly recommend it to everyone, espeically if you're traveling in winter. You will fall in love with Singapore just like I did. And I still love the place.

• What was your first destination on the other side of the world?
• Have you ever travelled to Singapore? How did you like it?

[My SINGAPORE page][All pics by MKL 2005]