Hanoi & Cambodia: First we had to get there – Dumplings, A Lee’s Pit Stop, EVA Airlines, Taiwan International Airport, Hello Kitty, and other stuff…….

We had been planning a trip to Hanoi and Cambodia since we had returned from Peru in September of last year. By the time we hit US soil, the Missus was already pondering our next trip. Over the next 7 months, with the help of "Beach", we slowly saw our plans come to fruition. On the day of our departure, the Missus decided that Jiaozi was our good luck talisman…..on our trip to Peru, Her Mom made us Jiaozi before we left, and since everything had turned out so well, why mess with a good thing? So there we were, running to Ranch 99 Market shopping for the fixins for some dumplings. The Missus, who had unofficially retired from Jiaozi making rolled out the dough, I did the filling, the Missus formed the dumplings, of which I boiled half of the dumplings, and fried the other half.

After a busy morning of Jiaozi making the Missus promptly "re-retired".

"What about tradition, and good luck?"
"We'll have to come up with another tradition, good luck is over-rated!"

These were pretty darn good; the chives at the market looked horrible, so we settled for shrimp, Chinese celery, and scallions.

We had packed light…..I mean very light for our 15 day trip. I'm definitely not a "backpacker" like Miss Oishii-eats, and I'm several decades(and probably an entire universe) removed from even remotely thinking of backpacking, but the thought of running through so many locales made the thought of traveling light quite attractive.

For a self-proclaimed "soft American", I think I did pretty good….plus, still-damp T-shirts washed in the bathroom sink felt pretty good in the heat and humidity of Siem Reap.

We turned da' Boyz over to our house sitter, and headed up to LAX. About an hour into our drive the Missus got hungry, and we made a short detour…

Yep, Lee's Sandwiches….cheap, and relatively fast. After getting to the airport, getting through security, and making our way to the our gate, we had our sandwiches.

I still have the same opinion about Lee's, the baguette is too dry, doughy, and the crust too hard, lacking crackle, but for $2.50, this 10 inch Cured Pork(Ba-chi), and Pate will fill you up.

The Missus enjoyed the flavor of the Bi(shredded pork), but it was dry as heck….She chugged down a whole bottle of H2O. I also noticed, that just like in movie theaters, smells carry really far in airports…..so if you happened to be on the same flight as us….yes, that was me….'ol Banh Mi breath.

Lee's Sandwiches(They're everywhere…..)
9261 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683

Beach had made our flight arrangements….suggesting that we fly EVA Airways, with Elite Class seats. Boy was that great advice……with the extra leg room I was able to catch 2 or 3 20 minute naps(I'm usually unable to sleep at all on flights). And the Missus liked all the "stuff", like slippers:

And other "stuff"….

I swear, the Missus would have sold Manhattan for a handful of trinkets…..the selection of movies and shows on the "video on demand" touch screens kept us entertained.

 

The food was an interesting mix of Asian and Western…..each meal had 1 Western type entree(i.e. chicken with pasta), and one Taiwanese-Chinese entree, like the Seafood Rice Porridge:

There were several "snacks" on the way to Taipei….I saw a Guy put away 3 servings of instant noodles! I wonder what his MSG level was????

14 hours later…..we were in Taipei. Here's the flight crew……

The airport in Taipei is interesting……and quite quirky. Here's the huge Hello Kitty/Sanrio area.

In addition to the Sanrio store, there's a children's area, and a television to keep the youngsters hypnotized occupied.

But the most interesting feature of this Pepto-Bismol Pink area is…….the gate….yes, this is the Hello Kitty Gate!

We did notice a large number of males….especially young men, refused to sit in the Hello Kitty area, and sat near the automated walkways…and as far as possible in some cases. I'll have another post on this gate later on…..

With a 4 hour hour layover in Taipei, hunger pangs eventually set in….and we were drawn in by this sign:

It was a pseudo food court, made up to resemble a collection of street food stands…

Yes, we were suckered in…….and ordered a few items. Starting with the Pig's Feet with Rice:

This was the best dish overall….mostly rice, but the sauce was well flavored, as was the 2 pieces of pork.

The Pork and Mushroom Soup

More like a potage…the broth tasted okay….but the pieces of pork were inedible….

A pork steamed bun…..which was an interesting thing, the Missus broke it open, sniffed it, and said, "don't eat this….."

 

All sucked down with "Coke Light"…..it's kinda funny, I haven't had anything with saccharin in a while, so the difference in flavor was very pronounced. This turned out to be one of the more expensive meals on our trip $14 US.

Soon enough we were on our way to Hanoi……….