Sweet sticky rice with mango

During my stop at Luang Prabang, I used this opportunity to attend a "cooking class" (it was more a demonstration than a lesson) where I learned a delicious Laos recipe. Unfortunately, I won't be able to re-try it before my return in France so I am counting on some of you to test it. Here it is:

Preparation of the sticky rice:
- Use Japanese rice or "white" rice (the one covered with a white powder)
- Wash it till the water doesn't get white any more
- Put it on the water for 5 hours (it has to be soft)
- Wash it one last time
- Cook it with steam until it's cooked and sticky

On a pan, make caramel (three big spoon of sugar). Then add coco milk in the pan (3 dippers).
Then add the sticky rice where you had previously added coconut milk also (enough so that the rice grains are not sticked anymore). Cook it on hot fire until all the coconut milk has evaporated. Take it off the fire and add a coffee spoon of sesam powder and stir well the whole.

Then you serve this rice with slices of mango (or any other fuits that go well with such a flavour) and some sesam powder on top of the rice.

It's ready !

Concerning the articles about my trip, unfortunately, until now all the computers I used were so slow that I couldn't upload the pictures. So I will start publishing lessags about my trip... without images.

I am waiting fo the comments of the ones who tried this recipe !

Welcome to China

On the 11th of April, I left Osaka on a ferry for Shanghai. This was the beginning of a trip, I had been dreaming about since august 2007 and my encounter with another french guy in Mukaijima, who told me of his plan to come back to France using the trans-Siberian railway (plan he finally couldn't achieve). 8 months later, my studies achieved, inspired by this trans-Siberian plan, motivated by the possibility to meet with some friends in Cambodia, I left Osaka.

Bye bye Osaka

Bye bye Japan

After this little introduction where I pretend to know how to write, let's get more direct.
The trip lasted 48 hours for a departure on the Friday at noon. As I had chosen the most economic solution, I slept in a kind of big room where we were 10 to 15 men. This trip was also the occasion to eat cup noodles and... cup noodles. Finally, some strange people appeared in this trip. They were moving in bands, playing ping-pong holding their racket in some strange way, and talking very loud in some kind of language that I didn't understand at all... I learnt after afterwards that we call these people Chinese.

An heliport... have they already used it ? I don't think so

When you have a lot of time to kill...

46 hours of navigation later, we had closed on to Shanghai and could see the entry of the harbor. The water had gone from deep blue to earth brown, the smell from see breeze to trash gust, and cranes had appeared all around the boat.

Hello China

Hello Shanghai

As we were going upstream, the cranes were replaced by buildings, the air became more and more polluted, and the water... nope it stayed the same. We finally stopped in front of the famous skyline of Shanghai... I was arrived at the Empire of the middle !

Pudong Skyline

Welcome to Laos !

Finally, I have left China. Starting today I will wander in Laos with its smiling people, its french food and its beautiful sceneries. My first stop is at Luang Nam Tha to enjoy one of the eco-treks organized in this area.

The good news is that my blog is not censured anymore and I plan to catch on my late as fast as possible to feed you with some comments on my first ten days of trip in the Empire of the middle.

See you soon for real articles !

Alive

First thing first, I succesfully arrived in Shanghai on last sunday after two days of boat. After visiting this city for two days, hosted by french friends working there, I went to Hangzhou and was welcomed by rain. So I stayed only one night and directly skipped to the next town: Guilin, from which I am now writing this message.
During these days, I also discovere that my blog was censored by the chinese internet so as long as I will be in China, I won`t be able to read your comments or write long posts about my trip... sorry !
Anyway, all is in the title... deshou ?!

See you

The departure

Here it is ! J-0...
I am quite nervous. After getting used to the safest country in the world I tend to over-exagerate the adventures waiting for me. But there is no room for hesitation...

Let's go !

Third step: the equipment

I thought it could be a good idea to share with you my equipment so that you can either give me advices or use it if one day you plan on making a long trip like me. It was based on the fact that I will spent most of my time in tropical places (hot). So here I go:

Bags:
- Big backpack 60L (the top can be detached and used as a small bags (10L))
- Small money pocket
- Big plastic trash bags (to protect the inside of the backpack from the humidity)
- Small plastics bags (to make compartments inside of the big backpack)
- Small water-tight bags (for important objects such as camera)

Clothings:
- Hiking shoes
- Flip-flops
- Socks
- Underwears
- Swimsuit
- Short
- Jogging
- Jean
- Light trousers
- Belt
- Sleeveless T-Shirt
- Short sleeve T-Shirt
- Long sleeve T-Shirt
- Shirts (long and short sleeve)
- Ski coat
- Krama
- Cap
- Gloves
- Laundry soap

Health and hygiene:
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Soap in a watertight box
- body soap/shampoo
- Towel
- Deodorant
- Razor (electric or manual ?), shave gel
- Cissors
- Higiene kit
- Medicaments kit
- Aspirin, band-aids, disinfectant
- Personal medicaments
- Medical book
- Antimalarial drug ?
- Mosquitoes repellent, sting balm (mosquito net)
- Sun protecting cream
- Sunglasses
- Glasses and contact lenses
- Toilet paper

Sleep and eat:
- Sleeping bag
- Small alarm clock
- Earplugs
- Small light with batteries
- Padlocks
- Swiss army knife
- Flask

Various:
- Pens, notebook
- Envelopes, paper letter
- Small calculator
- Small sewing kit
- Cord, clothes pins
- Electric plug adaptator
- Lighter
- Compass
- Camera, memory cards
- USB key
- MP3 player, headphones
- Nintendo DS ?
- Passport, insurance papers
- Identity pictures
- Copies of important documents
- Money
- Books, travel guides
- Log book
- Photo album with spare photos

If you have any comments !