It's A Long Ride Home

I hate travelling. Oh I don't dislike going on holiday, quite the contrary in fact, but I hate the journey. The waiting around, the boredom, the stress ... especially long journeys with transits when you're travelling alone. After awhile all airport transit lounges roll into one. This time it was Dubai International, the last it was Schiphol. Funny how I've been through these airports but have never visited the cities of Dubai and Amsterdam.

Long trips away mean cleaning out the fridge of any immediate perishables. There have been numerous occasions when I have been away only to return to find rotting veg - nice, eww! This time I smartened up (finally!) and cooked myself a big wokful of vegetable fried rice, dumping in all those bits and pieces that seemed to have built up in the fridge. Overnight rice, beansprouts (which I had always turned my nose up at in fried rice but it's actually quite nice if the crunch is maintained), broccoli, tomatoes, sliced ham, tinned tuna in oil - all mixed together with a good dash of fish sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper. This is my Everything Rice. Ingredients are, of course, seasonal :)

I guess it's not entirely true to say that if you've seen one airport you have seen them all. They are remarkably similar but some are a whole load nicer than others. I'll probably say the same thing about Starbucks. I'm sure I've said this before - whilst I'm all for the independent coffee shop I do love my Starbucks. There's something quite comforting in getting the same thing that tastes the same anywhere you are in the world. At Dubai International my Iced Mocha tasted good, the same, the usual .... but oh dear god ... that is not a muffin! It looked normal enough. You know muffin like. It smelt like what it said on the label - banana and choc chip. But I could have given someone a serious concussion if I had lobbed it at their head (not that I had reason nor occasion to). It was that solid. Hard and dry. Let's just say it gave for some interesting eating.

Back on the plane I was pleasantly surprised to find myself with three whole seats to myself. Since Emirates separated the KL and Jakarta legs, the KL flight has been a bit quieter. From the refreshments cart I got myself an orange juice and a glass of water. Got to keep those hydration levels up. Next up food - yay! I only managed to chip through a quarter of that muffin.

Sweet and sour chicken on fried noodles. Sounded promising, tasted disgusting. To be fair the meat was fairly tasty and moist. The sauce and and noodles, on the other hand, were so gloopy they just melded together and formed a large pool of mush.

The strangest Niçoise salad I have ever encountered. I thought the version I had in Paris last summer that was served with rice was a bit odd but this didn't even look like a Niçoise. If I hadn't checked the menu, I would have just brushed it off as a very untasty potato salad.

The saving grace of the meal was dessert. Tiramisu, halal style (minus the alcohol) with chocolate sauce. It wasn't traditional but more like a nice creamy dessert.

All that food and I still managed a good 4-5 hour sleep. Next stop - KL International. I'm going home!