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.

If you guys have a facebook account. Please join us at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Backpackies/137141966322276
See you there!

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.

 

White Water rafting down the mighty Bhote Kosi in Nepal by backpackies

We decided to get physical during our trip to Nepal.  “Visiting Stupa’s and visiting the toilets due to diarrhea does not count”!

White water rafting down a grade 4 rapid sounds like just the sufficient amount of adrenaline rush we needed!!

“No no! You should try rafting down Trisuli River first” our Nepali tour guide was trying unsuccessfully to get us to back down on our idea of rafting down one of Nepal’s wildest rivers. Never the less we paid 90 USD for a 2 day one night trip to raft down Bhote Kosi River (per person). We had to walk to the travel agent the next morning as early as 5am. Our travel agent was giving me some shit about wanting to collect 100USD deposit for an extra sleeping bag. He had earlier promised us that the initial 90 USD would cover that. But in the morning he tried to cook up some story about, all the sleeping bags in Kathmandu were all rented out and he had to pay a deposit to secure the only ones.

The hell with it we said. Its your fault! We shouted and ran off to the van which sped off to where our hearts would soon be screaming out from the river soon enough.
We had to make a few stops, apparently to pick up some food for the trip. We actually thought they were buying some snacks for themselves on the way.

stopping by the road side to get some fresh fruits for the trip

The countryside was very beautiful and refreshing, a complete change to what we have been breathing in Thamel. Choked up smoke and dust everyday got me sick for a day.

This building here is an apartment dedicated to keep chickens. And i mean the ones that you chop up, fry and eat. We figured that because meat was expensive in Nepal, that Nepalese had to secure their chickens in houses and lock them at night when they go to sleep.

After about 2 hours drive we stopped for some cha and to stretch our legs.

a short break by the road side for every one to stretch their legs

Halfway up our journey, we came across this strange sight. First we noticed a broken down lorry by the side of the road with 2 guys lying motionless on the road. Then the next diversion was, a cow came charging straight towards our van! He hit our van, straight on and went off another direction. Still shocked, we thought that the cow had hurt the 2 men lying on the road.
It turns out that the 2 men were actually sleeping in front of their lorry while waiting for the mechanic to come repair it!! WTH! If the brakes on the lorry were to fail, they would have been crushed by the lorry!

PEEKABOO!! this silly person is sleeping in front of his damaged vehicle!

Then we stopped for a much-needed toilet break!

toilet break by the road side toilet which is shared by locals and mostly bus drivers

you literally need to hold your breath when you do your business

Then the rafting begins. We start unloading.

starting point of the river

We all worked together to inflate the raft.

group photo before the hard work begins

cruise-y ride down the river

rafting down upper Bhote Kosi

The waters looked clean enough from afar. But upon closer inspection….

The villagers just dump their rubbish into the mighty river

parts of the river is a sad rubbish dump

We saw some dead chickens, shoes, plenty of clothes and rubbish floating along with our raft. How Nepali! 😀

Some local boys seeking help from our guide to get across the river

all fresh vegetables and fruits are washed with iodine to kill germs

and lunch is served

This view is of the valley where we stopped for lunch. The waters were shallow and you could just go in for a swim. But after seeing the Sh*t that goes in the water, we think not.

After about 3 hours of rafting, we had to stop at the camp site for the night. (Honestly, we didnt really expect the sleeping in a tent part). We thought we were sleeping in a real hotel or guesthouse!

stopping for the night

guides preparing dinner

dinner is served

The dinner was surprisingly lavish. We had mushroom stoup to start with, then boiled vegetables, chips and spaghetti.  We had to walk another 10 minutes to the nearest village to buy the beers. That night, we slept like a log. Must be all that rowing and peddling.

Caution: The only toilets they have do not have showers and are only taps which get their water from the river. We tried to bath, but when the water turned yellow, we decided to just wipe up and try to sleep. Wet wipes are really handy to bring along trips like these!

Morning breakfast at 6am

trying out the sweet local mangoes which were really sweet and tasty!The trick is to cut the mangoes horizontally, then twist the mango, and the seed just plops out on one side and you can eat the other side. (Like what you see in this picture)

some locals fishing in the river

view from the bridge near the village above the river

school children going to school using a suspension bridge above

villagers doing some fishing. These guys were considered decent. Some only wore their underwear to go fishing. No, unfortunately Nepali women stay at home to sew.

We did some body boarding where we jumped off the raft to go for a swim (with our backs facing upstream). We also stopped at a big rock to jump off it. It looked really simple but when you are up there. Man…… was it scary.

jumping off a huge rock

Maneuvering the raft pass some boulders

rafting is a team effort

rough grade 4 rapids

The second part of the raft was really enjoyable as we rafted for about 3 hours continuously.

getting friendly with the locals

At the end of the trip, we were fed again with lunch before packing up and heading back home. The locals there were really friendly and if you have any spare food, do pass it on to them. Some of them live such a simple life, that baked beans and bread are a treat to them!

Our conclusion is that, if you are the adventure type. You should definitely take on Bhote Kosi river the rainy season. For more backpacking information, do join us on facebook at backpackies or surf www.backpackies.com for more information.