Onwards to LA for my transit to Hong Kong [YQrtw Day 124 Aug 12]

Location: San Salvador, El Salvador to Los Angeles, USA

After two months in Spanish-speaking countries, I’m finally leaving for Asia. But first, I need to head to LA for a transit.

In the morning, I was surfing Facebook and I realized that Cathay Pacific had a typhoon warning for the 13th and 14th on its Facebook page. The airline added that we’re allowed to change our flights for free.

I thought that it would be a great chance to extend my visit in the US and BUY ALL THE THINGS WITH MY CREDIT CARD.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anyone from Cathay Pacific on the phone. In the end, I decided that I would wing it at the check in counter,

After checking out my hostel at 10am, I headed out to the post office and for breakfast. The weather was hot and I was sweating like nobody’s business as I walked around.

When I got back to the hostel, I waited patiently for my taxi at 12 noon. No car came during that time so I had to remind the hostel owner about the cab. She hurriedly made a call and a cab came after 5 minutes.

The ride from the hostel to the airport was US$30. It’s kind of expensive for El Salvador but the airport was 37km away from the city and about 45 minutes drive away.

When the cab sped to the airport, I admired the landscape. El Salvador’s hills and random jungles by the road reminded me a lot of home. I was glad to come and visit since it was a good buffer from the harsh Peruvian landscapes.

Felt up by airport agents TWICE!

I reached the airport around 1pm and checkin was smooth. What wasn’t smooth was when I got to my gate.

Turns out, passengers to the US require strict inspection. There were rows of table to inspect the contents of our carry ons. My purse, laptop case and electronic cases were zipped open and closed.

Next up was the body check where the officers felt everyone once in the front and once in the back.

The last inspection was the most ridiculous. There were several chairs and everyone had to take off their shoes. The shoes were then felt up. Luckily, I was wearing my most horrible pair of flip flops. The airport agent wasn’t too happy when she bended my flip flops around.

The flight from San Salvador to Los Angeles was alright. I watched Iron Man 3 and a couple of sitcoms during the 5-hour flight.

Thank Hermes for USB chargers on planes.

At LAX, I had to grab my luggage from the carousel and check in at the other terminal. The custom officers were lenient since I was only doing a transit.

However, at the luggage check for flights, I was singled out again when the metal detector flashed. Seriously, the only metal objects on me were my glasses screws and my teeth filling.

The TSA officer asked me to put out one foot. She felt up my leg and asked me to put out the other foot to feel. Do they think I was Resident Evil’s Ada Wong with some metal strapped to my thigh? I was wearing a maxi dress and look positively pregnant with my flabby stomach.

Anyway, I think it’s funny that I had to go through the legs check ups. I can now tick [] Felt up by TSA officers off my list of “Things I Do Not Want to Happen to Me”.

No shopping in LAX?

Now I’m in my LAX terminal. I’m a bit disappointed by the duty free shopping here (almost non-existent). Where are the Coach and LeSportSac shops? I have a shopping list for my family and myself. Tsk.

OK, I have about three hours to go before my flight. I’ll look for things to amuse myself before my flight.

Here’s something interesting about my flight. I will be flying around midnight of August 13 but arrive in the early morning of August 14 because I’m crossing the international date line. This means my flight is about two-day long and my August 13 only lasts about 7 hours. That’ll be fun!

I’m very excited about Hong Kong

While on the plane. I read Wikitravel entries on Hong Kong and I realized that I really really really want to be there for the food.

If this was a regular straight-to-Hong-Kong trip, I might not have been as excited. But I’ve been away from good Asian food for so long that I think I might cry when I eat the first siewmai that I meet.

A bus’s life in El Salvador [YQrtw Day 123 Aug 11]

Location: Santa Ana -> San Salvador, El Salvador

Today I returned to San Salvador after three nights in Santa Ana. I still have my cold but the runny nose has shifted from the left side of the nose to the right. Equal opportunity virus!

I took the bus from Santa Ana to San Salvador. Since the day was rather dull, I’ll share something interesting about buses in El Salvador.

Here in El Salvador (and many parts of the world, actually), there are vendors who sell their products in the bus. Not that the buses have canteens on them but roadside vendors would bring their things onto the bus.

Roadside vendors' stalls — Roadside vendors’ stalls

I’ve seen people selling chocolate mix, soft drinks, fresh cut fruits, fried banana crackers and many more.

The vendors hop on the bus when it stops to collect more passengers and get off while the bus is leaving.

Sometimes, the vendors would still be on the bus when the vehicle has left the station. At the next stop, they would get off. I wonder if they walk back to their old stop or take another bus back.

Also, do the bus driver/conductor charge these vendors? If they do, how much “rent” do the vendors pay and do they make enough money in the end?

Rather cute statue in the middle of the fork of the road.

PS My newsletter was out today! Have you seen it yet?

PPS I’m leaving El Salvador for a transit in Los Angeles and I will be in Hong Kong in 2 days’ time. That’s right, my flight is actually two days long, I’ll update in a

#FoodFriday I love ceviche!

Welcome to YQtravelling’s FoodFriday. The day of the week when I show off some of the lovely eats I had while travelling.

Today we’re going to going to South and Central America for some raw fish yummies.

It was my mom who introduced me to the wonders of sashimi. A long long time ago, I didn’t realize just how tasty raw fish with a hint of spicy wasabi is. One day, she encouraged me to try out “just one slice” of tuna sashimi. I was hooked!

Since then, I always welcome dishes with raw seafood (even if they taste like rubber) so imagine my joy when I learned about Latin America’s ceviche.

The dish, also spelled as “cebiche”, is raw fish or seafood marinated in citrus juice. The juice “cooks” the fish using some scientific magic. Or About.com can explain better:

In the culinary arts, ceviche is a Latin American recipe for raw fish and seafood marinated in citrus juice, mainly lime and lemon juice. The acid in the citrus juice coagulates the proteins in the fish, effectively cooking it.

Ceviche is served in the morning and until noon in Peru because it’s not good to keep the half-cooked fish until dinner time. However, for tourists, restaurants do serve ceviche for dinner.

Ceviche at Chan Chan, Buenos Aires

My first ceviche experience was in a Peruvian restaurant in Buenos Aires.

Chan Chan was near my hostel and was said to serve cheap food. I ordered the ceviche, despite not knowing what to expect. I imagined a large plate of sashimi slices but it looked like this:

There was a bush of onion on my fish and a piece of tapioca and a small corn. I thought it was going to be all meat. :(

Still, I fell in love with the tangy dish despite my ulcers which were stabbed by the lime juice with each bite.

From then on, I was open to tasting as many ceviches as I could. However, until now, the dish from Chan Chan remained the best tasting and the most filling ceviche that I’ve had.

Ceviche at San Camilo Market, Arequipa, Peru

I’m hesitant about eating ceviche in most places because the combination of raw fish and unsanitary conditions equals disaster.

So I was glad to learn that the couple from GQtrippin did not have problems with the ceviche at San Camilo Market in Arequipa. I made it a point to visit the market and taste the local ceviche.

Ceviche from San Camilo market — Cebiche from Chan Chan, Buenos Aires

The sauce for my ceviche was dyed a slight orange color from what I hope was the tapioca. The dish was nice but it couldn’t compete with my memory of my dish in Buenos Aires.

This other ceviche place in Arequipa

I adore ceviches but I find it frustrating that they never serve a big enough serving to strerch my stomach. Ceviches are served in petite portions with more garnish than the actual fish.

Sometimes the dish is served in fancy wine glasses like this one from a ceviche recommended by one of the teachers in Arequipa.

Four-taste ceviche from Mares, Arequipa

As a budget traveller, I do not frequent fancy restaurants much. But when I was studying in Arequipa, Peru, my retired schoolmate Tasha* (not her real name) always had plans to visit nice restaurants. I could have said no but I always went along.

At Mares in Arequipa, they have a dish with four different sauces for ceviche. I quite like the one that tasted of fruit but I do not remember the proper name.

El Salvadorian ceviche

I tried ceviche at a seafood restaurant in San Salvador. There was quite a lot of fish and even a fried banana biscuit to garnish.

I was surprised by the crackers they gave me. The waiter told me that I should eat the fish with the cracker.

The fish was quite OK and I liked the salty taste of the cracker combined with the lime juice. Yum yum.

When I head back to Southeast Asia, I’ll miss ceviche the most. Even if restaurants sell ceviche, I seriously think that the price will be over the roof so I’ll just eat all my share of ceviche here before I head home.

Have you eaten ceviche? Do you like it?

To Santa Ana I go! [YQrtw Day 120 Aug 8]

Location: San Salvador -> Santa Ana, El Salvador

I needed a change from the San Salvador scene. I was in the capital for the past 4 days during which 3 were publIic holidays and nothing interesting was open for business.

I don’t remember how I end up choosing Santa Ana, a landlocked region in El Salvador. Previously I was thinking about learning surfing at some of the El Salvador beaches but then I remembered that I hate warm sea water and the sun so surfing did not make sense at all.

I checked out of my San Salvador hostel before 10am and had breakfast at a nearby cafe before catching a Santa Ana-bound bus.

Unlike the short distance buses, this bus had comfortable seats, air conditioning and even a small TV playing the Alex Cross movie.

Based on travel guides, I know that I have about 1 and a half hour of travelling before we reach Santa Ana. At first I was looking out the foggy window but I found myself sleeping one hour into the journey.

When we got to Santa Ana, the bus stopped at different places. Eventually, everyone got off the bus and I had to too. Last night, I had memorized the map of Santa Ana’s bus terminal to the hostel because I don’t trust offline Google Maps.

Unfortunately, the bus didn’t stop at the bus terminal but I was able to figure out where north was based on the street numbers. I had to ask a shop for the direction of some street but I found the hostel eventually.

Just as I was approaching the hostel, a lady left the building. I rang the doorbell but no one answered. A little sign on the door told me to head to a nearby shop and ask for Carlos* (his real name).

A person in the hardware store took his keys and brought me into the hostel. The lady who left came back about 30 seconds after we were in.

I was given my room key. After depositing my luggage, I went to explore the hostel. This is probably the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at.

The walls are painted vibrant colors and there are hammocks around. There is even a small square swimming pool. There are two kitchens and the one nearest to my room has amazing equipment such as an orange juicer!

After hanging around the hammock a bit, it was time for lunch. I wanted to try out a place recommended by the hostel notice board but all the food were sold out.

My back up was the top Tripadvisor-recommended restaurant in the area.

Yes, I know I am Chinese

I trekked a long way to reach the place. On my way, I still got called out by strangers about my race.

I still do not understand what the people who say fake Chinese words, hiss about my being Chinese or those who say out not-so-nice things about me expect. Do they want me to react badly at them? Do they get a kick out of pointing out the only Chinese person in nearest 10km radius?

Nowadays, I’ve started responding to these people. A few days ago, a man on the street called out, “Chinita!” (Little Chinese girl.) I turned back to him, pointed and said, “El Salvadoriano!”

Today, a young man was sitting on the ground and called out fake Chinese. I stopped in my tracks, turned to him and said something back in Chinese. He just looked kind of stunned.

Later, I passed an old man and his friend, both of them sells things by the road. The old man said something about Chinese and “Me gusta dfsdjafhjsdhf”. I stopped, looked at him and wanted to shout that I know what he is talking about.

However, the proverbial cat caught my tongue and nothing came out. So he asked if I was lost and needed help with directions. As if he didn’t just say not-so-nice things about me! I told him that I know my way and still couldn’t find my retort.

This is getting really tiring.

Relaxing in Santa Ana

The rest of the day was spent in the swimming pool and in the hammock.

For dinner, I bought a whole roasted chicken from the supermarket–where an employee sang out to his friend, “Chin chin chin chin.” I glared at him.

Tomorrow, I will be able to make fresh orange juice since the hostel kitchen has such a machine. I also bought eggs since I haven’t had those in a while.

El Salvador is back in business! This means museum time [YQrtw Day 119 Aug 7]

Location: San Salvador, El Salvador

[I have been binge-watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and I’ve almost forgotten to write today’s post.]

After 6 days of holiday in El Salvador, the country is back into school and business mode. For the tourist, this is much better news as it means shops are finally open and there aren’t too many people on the streets.

For me, this means I can finally visit the museums.

Since there were only two museums on my to-visit list, I left the hostel at around 11am. Unfortunately, proper restaurants do not open until noon so I had to settle with a few mini pastries from a bakery and a cafe latte from a cafe.

I strolled back to Zona Rosa (the tourist area) to see the museums. Roads in San Salvador are kind of strange. The vehicles need to follow the road and make a big turn before it goes back to what should have been directly in front. That’s why I do not take the buses to Zona Rosa and prefer walking.

Walking in the El Salvadorian heat is quite a torture. Luckily, I have my umbrella from Sri Lanka or else I think I might get sunstroke. Umbrellas are also useful as defence weapons but luckily I haven’t needed to use it that way.

My first stop was the Archaeology Museum. For US$3, there wasn’t much to see there although I quite enjoyed the exhibit on religion in the country.

After the museum, I dropped by the restaurant in the compound. They have US$7 set lunches during the weekend. While eating, I started reading Love with a Chance of Drowning.

After the satisfying lunch, I had to trek up the hill to the art museum. I couldn’t figure out the entrance so I had to sit on the steps and stare out into space for a while.

I was glad to find the entrance in the end because the art museum is deliciously air conditioned. The exhibits were quite nice too.

Finding change for a bus ride

After the requisite museum visits, I was free (and quite bored). I initially planned to take the bus from Zona Rosa to the shopping malls but I realized that I only had 22 cents in change and US$10 and US$20 bills.

The buses that stopped had the fares written on their windows. One mini buses listed 32 cents and I remembered that the other mini bus I took was 25 cents. I don’t have enough!

So I had to walk a long way to the malls. However, I stopped to catch my breathe at one of the bus stops and found a big bus that charges only 20 cents. I hopped on, asked about the fare, gave my money and sat next to a fat man who decided to spread his knees even more after I sat down.

By the way, the big buses in El Salvador has turnstiles on them! TURNSTILES! I took a sneak shot of the object.

I bought some soap at the supermarket. Then I bought a local SIM card even though I would only be in the country for another 5 days. You never know when it’ll come in handy.

After the malls, I walked back to the hostel. I decided that I would visit Santa Ana tomorrow for 3 nights because I’m rather bored with San Salvador.

I searched for rooms in Santa Ana but strangely, they were all booked out on the online accommodation sites. In the end, I had to SMS one of the hostels. Fortunately, they arranged a room (through SMS!) so I will not be roofless tomorrow.

Eating Japanese in El Salvador

For dinner, I visited a Japanese restaurant I found on Foursquare. The restaurant was located in the residential area and was actually in a house! There wasn’t a proper sign outside and they only had a fluttering stand-sign near its door.

To enter, you have to ring the house doorbell and they will show you in. The interior was a dark mysterious red. The food was also mysterious since they only had sushi rolls.

I chose the OMG roll which had some unagi-like meat on top of my roll. The taste wasn’t something I was familiar with but it wasn’t as bad as the supermarket sushi I had in San Francisco.

After dinner, I head back to the room for some LBD watching. Now it’s time to go to bed since I need to wake up early tomorrow for check out.

CIao!

El Salvador on holiday [YQrtw Day 118 Aug 6]

Location: San Salvador, El Salvador

I extended my stay at the current hostel for another 2 nights because I am too lazy to figure out my next stop.

My hostel is in the neighborhood of University of Central America so it has a lot of nice-looking coffee shops, printers and a few bookstores. Unfortunately, it’s still the holidays here in El Salvador so I’ve not been into any of the shops.

Fortunately, the fast food places are open. Bless the fast food chains!

Cross carefully, if there are any cars around.

Bus 27 in San Salvador. My lucky number.

I walked from the hostel to Zona Rosa where the posh area is. It’s also where the Consuma Fair is held so there was a terrible traffic jam.

The two museums that I wanted to visit were closed as well so I had to spend time wandering around the streets where shops (excluding fast food outlets) were closed.

Domino's Pizza bikes. — Domino’s Pizza bikes.

From Consuma, I walked to the shopping malls near by hostel. It was 33 degrees Celsius so thank goodness I had my umbrella with me to block out the sun or else I would get sunstroke again.

At the mail, I drank two cups of coffee (in separate sittings) and ate half a bad Tiramisu cake. I walked to another mall (passing by another mall) and found it dreadfully boring.

The third mall. All three were side-by-side.

On my way back, I stopped by the supermarket, hoping to find some souvenirs (Yes, they are for you!). But in the end, I bought toothpaste and a bottle of water.

Until the next shopping trip!

Drowning in the heat at San Salvador’s Consuma Fair [YQrtw Day 117 Aug 5]

Location: San Salvador, El Salvador

Today was my first full day in El Salvador. The hostel doesn’t provide breakfast so I lazed in bed until well past 9:30am.

The hostel owner, Ana* (her real name), was around when I was heading out. She told me about the Consuma Fair happening nearby and that the museum is right across the fair.

In the first week of August, El Salvadorians have a week of holiday in celebration of El Salvador del Mundo, patron saint of San Salvador. Consuma is part of this celebration.

I walked to the convention center where Consuma is held from July 25 to August 6. I bought an entrance ticket at 25 cents extra from a lady selling tickets. The other way was to queue for a long while and pay only US$1.50 but it wasn’t worth it.

The hall was rather full with visitors and exhibition booths. From the second level, I looked down at the booths. It had a strange mix of appliances, clothes, toys, phone and many other things. It felt like a Sitex fair gone wrong.

Exhibition hall at San Salvador's Consuma — Exhibition hall at San Salvador’s Consuma

I had a coffee at one of the booths before heading down into the hall. The place was so crowded that I had to move very slowly with the current of the crowd.

Based on the booths, I found El Salvadorians’ version of week-long fun strange. How fun it is when you are squeezing with 20 other people in a 5 square-meter space?

I thought I had seen enough when I saw the 10th clothes stall. I found the exit and went out into more exhibition halls and food booths.

I lost count of the number of exhibition halls. Some had a mix of food and clothes while others had cheap clothes that do not look attractive on any body. There was even fun fair games, one involving plates on waters and coin tossing.

Toss quarters into the plate and win soft drinks.

I also passed by a large tent area which smelled of horses. They have horses at a fun fair!

By this time, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything else but I found a full-fledged amusement park with roller coasters and even a pirate ship. El Salvadorians really take their fun seriously.

Despite all the promised fun in the fair, I was feeling very uncomfortable due to the heat and the size of the crowd.

I checked my watch and was surprised to find that I was only there for 2 hours when it felt like I had spent the whole evening there. My head was pounding as I looked for the exit. Everyone else’s steps were too slow and they were between me and the exit to fresher air and the blinding sun. (I dislike the sun but I hate crowds more than the sun.)

Visiting San Salvador’s city center

After escaping the fair, I took a bus to the city center. The bus fare was cheap at 25 cents. I didn’t memorize the map so I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to get off the bus.

In the end, I followed the crowd and got off at the second bus stop after most of the people went off.

The streets of San Salvador’s center was different from where my hostel was. Here, things were dirtier. It didn’t look like a proper city center but more like an abandoned area populated with people.

I had lunch at a fried chicken place where there was thankfully Wi-Fi. I figured out the nearby landmark and saw the National Theater, the church of San Salvador, the National Library and other monuments.

I took a bus back and rested a while before walking to the shopping malls near the hostel. MegaPlaza mall was huge but under-visited. It looked very empty and some of the shops were not occupied.

I walked over to another mall which was even more depressing. I headed back to MegaPlaza where I had dinner until it became dark.

I debated if I should walk back to the hostel. It didn’t seem wise as it was also raining. In my head, I kept seeing passages in travel guides about the dangers of walking at night in Central and South America.

In the end, I took a cab and was given an over-fluctuated price. I bargained one dollar down. I reached my hostel after the taxi took many long turns.

The Wi-Fi on the second floor of the hostel has miraculously fixed itself. Thank San Salvador!

Journey from Lima to San Salvador [YQrtw Day 116 Aug 4]

Location: Lima, Peru -> San Salvador, El Salvador

I woke up this morning before my 6:30am alarm. My taxi to the airport would be arriving at 7:15am and I need to be ready before that.

Since my things were packed last night, I only had to finish my morning routine and slap on some sunscreen and I was alright.

The hostel owner had called a cab company to send someone to pick me up. I didn’t want to get a cab from the streets because early morning haggling isn’t anywhere near my favorite-activities list.

I came to Lima by bus so I was very surprised by the distance of the airport to the city center. It took about 40 minutes for me to get there. Along the way, we passed by several casinos and some wealthy neighborhoods.

Usually I’m quite reluctant to travel from one place to another. The new destination is always a mystery. And what if all the dangerous things that people say about the new place are true?

This time it was different. I was excited about El Salvador. I cannot wait to leave winter for the tropics. Do they eat less potatoes in Central America?

Checking out Lima Airport

I booked a flight with TACA but the airline had changed its name to something that starts with A. I forgot about the name change until I asked for directions to the TACA counter.

As usual, the queue was very long. It’s strange that queues at airport counters are always so long and slow but when it’s my turn, everything’s done in 2 minutes.

At check-in, the person asked for my yellow fever card. I was excited. This was the first time anyone asked for it. The last 2 times, I had to forcibly show the officers my little yellow booklet. “Why doesn’t anyone want to see this?!” I asked them then.

At the immigration line, I was stuck with the queue where a lady was questioned for a long time. She left the line for another line.

When it was my turn, it was shift change for the officers. I watched the two officers cheek kiss each other. The new officer painstakingly reinked his stamp then went off somewhere for about 5 minutes. He inked his stamp again before finally beckoning me over.

As a result of all the queuing, I didn’t have much time (that would be an hour for me) to enjoy the airport facilities. Instead, I waited at the boarding gate until it was our turn to board.

Flying from Lima to San Salvador

The TACA plane I was on was comfortable. I feared that my flight would be like the one I took with Star Airlines–tiny and with bad food.

My seat was the front row of the Economy class so I didn’t bother with taking out my TV set. I mostly slept with my mouth open or read a bit on my Kindle. I felt a tiny bit of motion sickness so I didn’t read too much.

Food on the plane wasn’t too bad but there wasn’t much. I was hungry since I didn’t have breakfast so I vacuumed the tiny meal box in a short period of time.

The 3-hour flight ended quite fast and we were flying over El Salvador. I noticed a lot of greenery and not as much mountains as Peru. I didn’t see any semi-active volcanoes with smoke coming out but I read that there are volcanoes around.

At San Salvador airport, there weren’t any money changers around. I was hoping to change my 100 Peruvian soles to US dollars since it’s the currency used here.

The airport shuttle to my hostel cost US$25 which felt a bit too expensive for El Salvador’s living cost. Still, it was my only choice since I didn’t want to go on some random taxi guy’s car.

I was ushered into an 8-person van. “Just for you!” the man said.

From the airport to the city, I saw a lot of trees. They looked like they could be a part of Kota Kinabalu where I grew up. The heat and humidity also reminded me very much of home. I think I’m going to like it here.

Staying at a San Salvador hostel

My hostel in San Salvador looked like it was someone’s home. My US$20 single room has a bed, a small drawers and a space to hang my things. In this weather, I can finally hand wash some of my laundry and find them dry tomorrow.

I took a nap before heading out. I didn’t realize how tired I was until the hostel employee knocked on my door. I was fast asleep then. The hostel owner, Ana* (her real name), said she will be in tomorrow and can help with travel plans in El Salvador.

My lunch/tea/dinner was a medium-size burrito from Mils Burritos. I had Fez Tea, a flavored tea soft drink, to go with my meal.

Then I went in search of the supermarket. Nearby, there was a Citibank ATM. I’ve forgotten how ATMs are actually willing to give you more than US$300 at a time. The ATM here even gave me cash in 20 dollar bills–I read that they don’t accept US$50 or US$100 bills here because of counterfeit problems.

The supermarket I went to was amazing. After 2 months of travelling in South America, I finally met a really amazing supermarket. It was stacked with so much goodies and I found things I need and some I don’t but would like to have.

I bought a soft drink with the enticing name Kolashanpan. Is it Coca-Cola with champagne flavoring? No. It was a disgusting bubble gum-flavored drink with a bright orange color that reminded me of Mirinda Orange.

When I got back to the hostel and did a bit of hand laundry, it started to rain. Again, the rain reminded me of the sudden showers back home. The windy was strong and laced with lightning and thunder. It stopped just as suddenly as it started. Now I’ll be able to sleep well at night.