Breakfasts around the world while backpacking- by backpackies

As you travel and backpack around the globe, you will soon learn that breakfast is not having it at a ‘FAST FOOD’ joint!
Rather it is more about being more adventurous and heading out to find and eat what the locals have for breakfast.
Here is a list of what some people in their country eat. 🙂

Are you dreaming about the Mc Donalds breakfast in your sleep??

A full English Breakfast – it must have beans, sausages, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns and toast. Of course, it should all be knocked back with a cup of tea, but black pudding is optional as far as I’m concerned.

Breakfast in Iran – it usually features some sort of naan bread with butter and jam. When a light breakfast just isn’t going to hit the spot Iranians eat halim. Halim is a mixture of wheat, cinnamon, butter and sugar cooked with shredded meat in huge pots. You can eat it hot or cold. You can also see the Iranian version of an omelet here too.

A Cuban wake up meal – usually consists of sweetened coffee with milk with a pinch of salt thrown in. The unique Cuban bread is toasted and buttered and cut into lengths to dunk in the coffee.

Polish Breakfast – known locally as Jajecznica, a traditional Polish breakfast consists of scrambled eggs covered with slices of custom- made kielbasa and joined by two potato pancakes.

 Quick Spanish breakfast – Pan a la Catalana, or Pan con Tomate, in Spain is simple but really delicious. Just rub some bread with fresh garlic and plenty of ripe tomato, then drizzle with olive oil and salt. Top with cheese, ham or sausage for an extra bit.

A yummy Moroccan breakfast – usually consists of different breads with some chutney, jam, cheese or butter. They have a really delicious crumpet-style bread which they make in huge slabs for you to tear a bit off, and a semolina pancake bread called Baghir – both are really tasty.

A healthy Hawaiian breakfast – I couldn’t imagine Hawaiians eating anything but fruit to be honest. Of course, there’s the bagel but I’m sure they’d burn the energy from that off in a few minutes on their surf board anyway.

Nope! Sweedish people do not eat Sweedish meatballs for breakfast!

Swedish breakfast – often involves a Swedish pancake, known as a Pannkakor. It’s a thin flat cake made from batter and fried on both sides – much like a crepe. It’s usually served with a sweet, fruity filling.

Icelandic breakfast cuisine – a hearty and hot breakfast to fight off the dark, icy mornings is what’s needed here. Hafragrautur, or oatmeal, is served with a sprinkle of brown sugar with a few raisins or nuts on top, perfect.

Breakfast in Portugal – a delicious and simple affair with stuffed croissants and plenty of coffee served in the sun.

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Wonders of Nepal through our eyes, by backpackies

Nepal is definitely an experience you would want to try out at least ONCE in your life time. Or maybe once is not enough as well!

The food, the people, the smell, culture and sheer natural and historical beauty is enough to take your breath away. With so much to share and tell, we decided the best way to show it to you is to put up pictures of the trip. After all pictures speaks louder than words.
So here we go…

Even Bart can do Everest. SHAME ON YOU!

Nepali flags flying proud for sale at the souvenir shops

Buddhist Stupas are everywhere

There are so many old temples in Nepal that you would walk by one and not even notice that it was a historical site. Some Nepali people use part of the temple to store their goods and some even use it to hang their washing.
And somehow somewhere along the streets you will manage to find a fresh fruit stall. (The freshness of the fruits are somehow dubious)

fresh fruits stall that also make juices.

Nepali locals playing a game with some stones picked up from the road side and a play board drawn crude on a stone slab.

Puppets of Ganesha the Indian Elephant headed god can be seen sold along the streets. The Nepali people are very spiritual at heart.

puppets of Ganesha on sale

Internet and IDD/STD international phone calling service can only be found in touristy areas. You would be lucky to find one which hasn’t been affected by the daily load shedding. (Every day, for about 3-4 hours, Nepal faces electricity cuts)

IDD/STD phone call and internet center

Vegetables sold by the road side which look really miserably. The carrots are the size of my last finger!

woman buying vegetables by the road side in Kathmandu City

A national security guard guarding a government building in Kathmandu.

One of the worlds most elite special forces, The Gurkha. Gurkha guard on alert

A temple in Kathmandu Durbar square. This temple is at least a few hundred years old.

Foreign and local tourists flock to this spiritual square to pray and admire the beauty of the temple.

Below is a giant statue of a guardian animal protecting the temple grounds. Locals also pay homage and respects to the guardian as well by offering lights, flowers and a red type of dye which is dotted on the statue after prayers.

A guardian temple lion status

Its amazing to see in the Durbar square in Nepal have so many different types of temple structures. If you notice, the left white structure and the right structure has different architecture.

To pay homage and respect to the spirits and deities, the locals would put the red dye on the stone to show respect.

cute hand woven cotton hats with cartoon characters

Most of the temples have intricate wooden carvings like these

The famous stupa at Boudanath!

One of the temple structures at the Durbar Square

Locals are seen climbing on top of the temple structures and sitting down there chatting to their friends totally unaware of the harm they are inflicting on to the intricate temple structures.

A local woman preparing a dish of dried up wheat, mixed spice potatoes, beans, and buffalo meat

The buffalo meat was pretty tough to chew. But otherwise it was pretty tasty. We wouldn’t lie to you and say it tastes like chicken!!

countryside in Nepal on our hike up to Changu Narayan Temple

Locals sitting down by the road side, to prepare temple offerings.

Temple offerings - Incense, flowers, butter lamps

Patan Durbar Square

In the square it self you can see so many different architecture present. The amount of detailed carvings and attention given to the decorations on the temples are just astonishing.

Nepali winged guardian which can be seen praying facing the temple

this temple is a few hundred of years old

Woman selling flowers and butter lamps to devotees.

view from Nagargot Nepal

Nepal is such a beautiful country, the nature, people and culture. If you have the opportunity, make the time to visit Nepal.

We took so many pictures of Nepal and this is only a fraction of it. Please join us on our facebook fan page at backpackies is on facebook, to ask us anything on travel in Nepal as well as to share with us your travel experiences.

 

Puduraya Bus Terminal review by backpackies

Holy Shit!

That was my expression when i got to know how much the Malaysian Government spent on refurbishing the Puduraya Bus Terminal. 52 Million Ringgit??!!

For that same amount im very sure they could have included a cable car ride from Petaling Street and connect the insanely ‘UNCONNECTED’ LRT system in the city to make it easier for commuters like us.
Well obviously the politicians do not take LRT’s and busses to work. So why bother.

Anyway, this blog is not about being sarcastic to the ‘ever efficient’ Malaysian Government but to write, photograph and show you what are the upgrades to the newly renovated Puduraya Bus Terminal in KL is like.

This is the new Puduraya Bus Terminal after renovation

Well the traffic jam just outside the bus stop is still as crazy as hell. That hasn’t changed.
So if you are on a car or a taxi and you are in a rush. Chances are better if you ask to get dropped further away, and you walk to the terminal. There are cases where people have waited for 1 hour stuck motionless just in front of Puduraya.

For 52 million they put up a mask design over the old building.

The fly over across the busy street

For your own safety, please do not cross the roads. Use the overhead bridge!!

The other side of the road where KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is

We were really hungry when we wrote this blog, so we decided to eat something universal, where every Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Man, Woman and Child can eat!

Kentucky Fried Chicken is the nearest and most convenient fast food outlet near the bus terminal

Finger Licking Good!

We saw an old Auntie just outside KFC, and she was really sad and pathetic. We decided to buy some water and give her some money as well. It seems that her dignity is so intact despite her conditions, that she refused our offerings.
The next time you guys want to help, maybe you can try buying up the vegetables from her instead.

This old lady was selling vegetables by the road side

Taking the over head bridge to the bus terminal.

fly over to the bus terminal

There are now police men stationed at the bus terminal.

Now that you guys have a new air-conditioned cubicle, make sure you guys do your job!

We are guessing that the tourists inside the cubicle must have lost something.

floor directory

The whole bus terminal is air-conditioned

Nice seating area that is very spacious unl

The platforms are numbered accordingly in sequence. Make sure you get your platform number correct when you are issued the ticket.

ATM machines are located on the ground floor

The ticketing offices are all on the second floor.

Ticketing counters are well-organized and the sellers can only call out to you to buy tickets from them, unlike last time where they could come close to you to hassle you.

The digital departure displays are a good touch.

Make sure you check your bus tickets with the departure screen for your platform and departure time

We just hate the metal seats in the waiting area.

The metal seats in the bus terminal is a stupid idea. The metal chairs were really cold because the management of the bus terminal switched on the air conditioning till super cold.
My german friend once said that in Malaysia, the air conditioning is WORSE than winter in Germany!
Each of the chair had a hand rest! So this means that if one person wanted to lie down on the chairs, he couldn’t! This is such a stupid idea! They should have done up cushion chairs without any dividers. Obviously you will always have tired people who wants to sit comfortably or maybe catch a quick sleeper on the chairs since we already spent 52 F**kin millions on the terminal!

baggage storage facilities

There are baggage storage facilities here. Which is good for people who have a late bus and have plenty of bags to carry around. So if they still want to go out to the city to explore, then they can keep their bags here.

This is the counter where you are supposed to leave your bags with

Some light shopping here at the bus terminal. There is nothing to shout about so please don’t get us started!

mini marts and souvenir shops

the platforms are individually numbered

The departure area is still as smokey as last time and it will only be a matter of time before the walls and ceiling turn black in soot

Everything looks so nice and orderly and for one second there you would have thought all those horrible bus touts would have gotten a regular job at McDonalds or KFC. But no! they have moved base further away from the grasps of the police.

So there were no signs of the touts anywhere near the terminal

When you zoom into the crowd! VOILA!

as we zoom in, we can see where the touts are hiding.

Bloody touts are conducting business further away from the main building.
Yes touts nowadays also have uniforms. So don’t think people with uniforms are legitimate!
Our conclusion is that Puduraya Bus Terminal has been upgraded into a more hospitable bus terminal compared to the old one.
We hope we have managed to show you a brief of the terminal and what to expect of it.
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