websiteilliteratedon'tknowwhatthisbitis
Running Through China
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Race Pictures
  • Nutrition For Runners
  • Contact Me

Very-delicious Vietnam!

2/23/2016

0 Comments

 
So, as promised last week, this blog post will be mainly dedicated to the deliciousness that was all the Vietnamese food and drinks that I sampled over there. So, if you're after the 'running' part - skip down to the end of this post...

I think you've probably guessed just how smitten I am with Vietnam - especially the food and drink! Let's start with the coffee: super strong, super delicious, and a fun array of different varieties. I tried every different version that I could, including hot black coffee, iced black coffee, hot coffee with condensed milk, iced coffee with condensed milk, coffee with ice and yoghurt, and even coffee with egg! (Although this latter one was a bit sickly and not my favourite.) Without a doubt, my all-time favourite coffee type (after either of the strong, black varieties) was the coffee with ice and yoghurt! So perfect - kind of like a coffee smoothie or coffee frappe. Here are a few of these amazing creations:
Picture
Picture
Picture
This variety seemed to be mainly a Northern thing though and it disappeared off the menu the further down Vietnam that I travelled. Not to worry - I successfully managed to order it anyway using the very limited Vietnamese words that I'd tried to pick up along with the universal gesture for 'together' whilst pointing at the coffee and then the separate yogurt on the menu in question. Result!

The traditional coffee, pictured here, was also great: sweet and strong and I like the fact you get your own little filter each time:
Picture
I was also loving the fact that when you order coffee in Hoi An, it ALWAYS comes with a green tea of sorts on the side (either hot or iced):
Picture
And while we're on the subject of tea - the ginger tea in Vietnam?? Awesome!
Picture

Ok, so you can't just live off tea and coffee alone. When I wasn't skulling delicious beverages I was usually munching away on their staple fast-food (found on literally every corner) of a small filled baguette (I opted for the egg, salad, and chilli/sauce version every time),
Picture
or those quintessential fresh spring rolls (filled with salad, and sometimes prawn and salad),
Picture
Picture
or spicy tofu plus vegetables, or just plates of garlic-y green veg by themselves (funnily enough called 'morning glory' over there),
Picture
Picture
or pastries filled with sweet green beans or shredded coconut,
Picture
or, of course, the most delicious noodle soup I have EVER had (the famous 'pho', I think):
Picture
Ohmygosh, it was ALL. SO. DELICIOUS. Take my word for it.

Everything was just so fresh. No wonder as it's coming straight from here in the mornings:
Picture
Picture
The nutritionist in me was excited to see this Vietnamese food pyramid outside a primary school too:
Picture
Ok, I better stop with the food reminiscing - I'm making myself hungry, mmmm.....

On to the running run-down! Last week I got in a couple of BEAUTIFUL runs out in the 'bush' near Wisemans Ferry - a stunning part of Australia along the Hawksbury River where there's no phone or wifi coverage, just lots of trees and kangaroos (and spiders, unfortunately) - bliss! (Albeit from the spiders). These were the nearest neighbours:

Picture
Picture
Friday night saw me tackle an extremely hot, humid, sweaty Fruitloops trail and beach run with an awesome bunch of runners. One of the sweatiest runs I've had in ages, but so very worth it for those wonderful trails:
Picture
Then finally, yesterday morning saw me get in my longest run that I've done for a  long time: 32.5km with a couple of deadset champions! We ran through the city, along the foreshore, along beaches, through trails and the bush, and even had an unexpected stretch of time in the ocean whilst trying to hop safely to shore along the edge of various rocks and pipes back to the oceans baths at Merewether. This was all in belated aid of my birthday a couple of weeks back, and despite the heat and humidity, I reckon we smashed it! Thanks again to Angela and Paul for coming along for this - we f&*ken did it!! Here's the 'after' shot:
Picture
All in all, a pretty successful week running-wise, complete with the usual smattering of bodypump sessions, walking, cycling around, and even a little bit of hiking out in the bush! (Until the spiders mid-track at face-level got the better of me).

Now I'm off to dream about that fantastic pho, mmmmm...... Have a f&*ken fantastic week one and all!!!

0 Comments

How To Put This into Mere Words?!...

2/16/2016

0 Comments

 
So, I'm back from my travels. Actually, I got back a few days ago, but such is the case of really weird jet-lag and catch up drinks with friends and general being off the planet, that I have been unable to even contemplate writing a post here. But that's all over today: I'm ba-ack!! (and if I pretend the jetlag's gonski now, then that will be true yes?)

What to say re: the past 7 weeks? How to adequately sum up my trip?? No words will be able to do it justice. Basically, I had the best time of my life. True story. I had the most AMAZING time: with friends, with family, with new friends, by myself, seeing new places, eating new things, singing to old things, reminiscing about old things - on my gosh, it was so so good. If I start to try and put it down as my sketchy jet-lagged memory may see fit as of today, then I just simply would not be able to do it justice. So, just know it was incredible. The best time of my life. And I'm sad that it's temporarily over (I say temporarily as I'm aiming to get back to see more of Vietnam real soon, fingers crossed).

Seeing as this is predominantly a RUNNING blog, I thought I'd focus on the RUNNING (and training) aspect of the past 7 ish weeks - and I managed to get a fair amount of running in during the month in the UK, and a couple of times in Vietnam (until partying took its place, oops....). I started out in London, seeing some good friends and a couple of relatives, and running through beautiful canal pathways and peaceful, chilly London parks, complete with bushy-tailed foxes and giant geeze, not to mention hundreds of other runners! I'd forgotten how busy London was, but every morning seemed to be as if I'd crashed a cycle/running event as commuters combined two birds/one stone as they exercised their way to work. I had also forgotten how dark it remains in the UK in winter time! Didn't get light til about 8am most mornings! So had to adjust my 5:30 start somewhat.

Then it was on to North Devon where my runs were predominantly along Woolacombe Beach and the trails up and around the dunes there, and sometimes heading up the hill for some hill-training to extremely picturesque Mortahoe. These were some hardcore training runs considering the torrential rain and gale force winds at times! I also supplemented my training by attending my nephew's gymnastics class and play dates at crazy play areas - does this count as cross training? This little dude also had me doing some interval/speed sessions around the kitchen island bench but there's no way I could keep up! He is fast!
Picture
Then it was on to beautiful, quaint Shropshire, where I ran along icy, dangerous little lanes, and up the famous Wrekin and along back through quaint villages home to my mum's place. Shropshire is a beautiful county hey, if you're ever wisiting UK and wondering. It's how I think of rural England or quaint ye-olde buildings. I also managed to sneak in the odd swim and sauna, and a virtual bodypump class!! I had never heard of this before but I'm so glad I got to do it - basically there's a screen with the bodypump instructor and you just do your thing along to it. Not great for gym instructors I'm sure, but great for me as I got the whole room to myself (essentially having a private pump class, yeewww).

Next up on the run schedule was a run through my childhood stomping grounds of Charlton and Greenwich Park, then a final run through Victoria Park in East London, followed by some goodbye-England Karaoke (I feel this counts as some kind of cross-training considering our screeching loud efforts):
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Then, as sad as I was about saying goodbye to all my family and friends in England, I wasn't to be sad for tooo long as I was off to Vietnam!! This two-week trip was blinding - not least the food, of which I'll do a separate post about next week (AH-MA-ZING). I kicked off my tour by a long run around Lake Tay-Ho (West Lake) as you do. Now, the guidebook had told me that it had a path all the way around. Hmm, maybe that's out of date? There were pathways and bricked-pavements around it, but these seemed to come to dead-end at times and I had to go off route and then aim to find my way back to this giant lake (the guidebook told me it 15km all around, but not sure if this is with all the little in and outs and backtracking!). It would have been a beautiful run were it not for the pelting rain and complete white out due to mist. Oh well. Happy to have got my long run in for the week and to have gotten my bearings (slightly).
After this there is a shocking gap in runs! Not til some 5 days later when I arrived into beautiful, wonderful Hoi An (where I ran to An Bang beach and back to suss it out, and intended to do the same a couple more times before I left until drinking got it the way, oops...). In the meantime, I tried to incorporate some cross-training by kayaking around Bai Tu Long Bay and taking myself on my own cycle tours whenever and wherever I could:

Picture
Picture
My next run was a slightly long-ish run (I've guestimated around 17km) along the coast from Nha Trang. This was mainly to escape the thousands of other tourists/beach goers! Yeah, Nha Trang was not my favourite place. Ohwell, got a run and a full day's cycling in, so not too bad.
The only place that I didn't manage to get a run in was in Stunning Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as it's officially known). Mind you, I did walk around the city for hours on my first full day there, so tried to get my bearings this way instead. Then, once again, celebrating and partying somehow took precedence over sleeping and running. I have no regrets and would do it all again I'm sure!

Since flying back I've aimed to shake the horrible jet-lag by a beautiful Sydney-side run through the city and along Darling Harbour, and then a terrific trail run along the beach to the east of Merewether Ocean Baths and through the Glenrock Nature Reserve. But this jetlag, it's s stayer hey... Let's hope tonight's Wootervals session (intervals with the wonderful Wooters) sorts it out once and for all.

I should be at the start of my marathon training for July now, as I was all set to take part in the Gold Coast Marathon again this year, but now, due to my ever changing mind and penchant for indecision, I may not be in the country at that time anymore. So, to train or not to train?? That is the question. I'll take my own advice here I think and take each day as it comes, step by step - I have this event on 28th February (something I hope my Woolacombe training will have come in handy for!): The Big Beach Challenge - 15km on soft sand in the sun:
http://bigbeachchallenge.net/15km-beach-runwalk/15km-beach-runwalk/info
So maybe I'll just focus on that, and of getting back into some regular strength training too, and the rest will figure itself out.



Thanks again to everyone who kindly had me stay and who I caught up with - love you all and it was so good seeing you all again, and thanks to all you amazing people who I met and who made my Vietnam trip so very memorable, and to all you beautiful Novocastrians - awesome to see you all again and cheers for having me back! It's good to be home, even if it's just temporary. Until next time folks, happy running!!!
0 Comments

    Author

    A 30-something's running and travelling experience around the world.

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    27th
    50km
    Abs
    Acting
    Active Recovery
    Afghan Hound
    Albert Einstein
    Amazeballs
    Angry
    Anhui
    Annie
    Anniversary
    ARD
    Australia
    Auto-pilot
    Autumn
    Awesome
    Bacon
    Badass
    Bali
    Barefoot Running
    Beautiful
    Beijing
    Ben Elton
    Besties
    Biryani
    Bliss
    Blog
    Blogger
    Blue Sky
    Boobs
    Books
    Bread
    Brighton
    Busy
    Calves
    Camelback
    Caravan
    Carbo Loading
    Carboloadingf2e058d5a9
    Cardio
    Caring
    Carpet
    China
    Chinese
    Chinglish
    Chocolate Milk
    Christmas
    Cleaning
    Close
    Coach
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Cold
    Cooking
    Core
    Covert Mission
    Cross Training
    Cycling
    Dad
    Date
    Deepak Chopra
    Dehydrated
    Dough
    Driving
    Duck
    Excited
    Expectation
    Feeling Tired
    Flowers
    Flying
    Food Addiction
    Fresh Food
    Friday
    Fuel
    Full Moon
    Gangsta
    Garmin
    Genghis Khan
    GM
    Gods
    Gold-coast
    Goldilocks
    Goose
    Grass
    Grasslands
    Great Wall
    Green Tea
    Grief
    Grumpy
    Hair
    Halloween
    Hangover
    Hangry
    Hangzhou
    Hard
    Hasfit
    Hastings
    Hazara
    Health
    Healthy
    Henan
    Herbs
    Hohhot
    Holiday
    Hotel
    Huangshan
    Hui
    Hulunbeier
    Humid
    Hungry
    Hunter-valley
    Husband
    Ill
    Inner Mongolia
    Internet
    Jiangxi
    Jiuhuashan
    Kickboxing
    Knee Pain
    Lembongan Island
    Liebster-award
    Lijiashan
    Longmen Caves
    Long Run
    Lushan
    Mantra
    Marathon
    Mask
    Massage
    May-day
    Medical Exam
    Meh
    Memory
    Monday
    Mongolian
    Monsanto
    Mood
    Moon
    Morning
    Mother
    Motivation
    Motivational
    Mountains
    MTB
    Negative
    Nerves
    Newcastle
    New Job
    New-zealand
    Night
    Oatmeal
    Off The Beaten Track
    Oil
    Over Trainingffa29052b5
    Pain
    Past
    Pb
    Peanut Butter
    Photos
    Ping Pong
    Pingyao
    Playing
    Pollution
    Pool-running
    Porridge
    Positive
    Poyang-lake
    Procrastination
    Program
    Progress
    Pumped
    Pumpkin Pie
    Puppy
    Pussy
    Pyjamas
    Qingming
    Questions
    Quickie
    Rain
    Ready
    Recovery
    Red Belt
    Rest Day
    Riverside
    R-kelly
    Rob-schneider
    Rocky
    Runners-world
    Running Bracelet
    Running-group
    Running Movies
    Santos-bonacci
    Sav Blanc
    Scam
    Sex
    Shaanxi
    Shanghai
    Shanxi
    Shaolin Temple
    Shoes
    Sickness
    Singing
    Skittles
    Sleep
    Slow
    Smog
    Snickers
    Snow
    Solo
    Sore
    Speech
    Speed
    Speedwork
    Sports Bra
    Stationery
    Steps
    Stiff
    Strength
    Students
    Teaching English
    Temple
    Tempo
    Terracotta Warriors
    Text Message
    The Bund
    The Wall
    Threshold
    Time
    Tired
    Tofu
    Tongliao
    Track Workout
    Trailer
    Trail-race
    Training
    Triathlon
    Turkey
    Turmeric
    Twice
    Two
    Universe
    University
    Unsatisfied
    Vo2max
    Voice-over
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Weekend
    West Lake
    White-horse-temple
    Whitney Houston
    Wine
    Worried
    WTF
    Xiamen Marathon
    Xian
    Xilinhot
    Yiwu
    Yoga
    Yungang Caves
    Zongzi

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.