Author Archives: Zacster

My Yummy Curry

Posted on by Zacster

Hello readers! I’m tapping out another recipe!
You will need:
•Chicken (breast or leg bit)
•Coriander (preferably ground)
•Cumin seeds
•Ground turmeric
•Cayenne pepper (again, ground)
•Salt
•Liquid stock (or chicken oxo and water)
•Frying oil (or congealed beef dripping)
•A big saucepan
Instructions:

  1. Chop the chicken into chunks. Put some oil into the pan and heat .
  2. When the oil (or dripping) is sizzling, put maybe five chunks in, and repeat when the chunks are all white.
  3. After the chicken is done, add around three teaspoons of turmeric, half a teaspoon of cumin, half a tsp. of coriander, and a quarter tsp. of cayenne pepper.
  4. Taste regularly. It should have turned canary yellow. Add stock and restore to former shade and taste (well, nearly). Add salt and pepper at will.
  5. Tastes satisfactory? Serve. If it’s too spicy, use yoghurt. It goes well with rice.
  6. Enjoy! :P

OM NOM NOM!

Blightain tomorrow!

Posted on by Zacster

Hi readers! As of tomorrow, I will be back in Blightain (that’s Britain for all you uneddicated folks) and probably deep frosted. I’m happy about it, even though it will get dark at around ten to four in the afternoon. It’ll be fun. I hope.
And who knows, maybe it’ll snow. Snow is better with friends. Oh, and I also sell ads now. :D Aaanyways, right now, I am in S’pore (Singapore) with friends. I’ve enjoyed staying here. OK, back to my plans.
Fred (my BF) will of course be in London, and we’re gonna have a sleepover. And then he’ll spend a couple of days in Norfolk, with me and my grandparents. What are you doing for Christmas? Gimme your feedback!

Stupid Bloody Horse!

Posted on by Zacster

So this one is about mountains and horses. A winter wonderland of white snow, stunning views and fat sh*tting ponies. It’s also about my experience with scenic mountains and sub-zero temperatures, warm fires and smoky tents, and the ice-cold beauty of this new, strange environment.
I conquered it on horseback. And I was rewarded with extremely chapped lips. Now Chinese horses aren’t like European or American ones. In fact, they are fat, stubborn and have a tendency to, well, sh*t.
Imagining the terrifying Mongol horde charging into battle on them, whooping and yelling, is, frankly, hilarious. But enough about that for now.
Onto my experience. I was on a horse, cold wind blowing in my face. I was glad when we got off to let the horses go down a snowy hillside. That, for me, was the highlight of the journey.

Me on the mountain, enjoying the snow.

As you can see, I loved that snow. I didn’t feel cold, just happy. It was great. That was one of the only things that made it worthwhile. I was running around, sliding, making snow angels and even eating the snow. I made a snowman too.
Our camp was a scenic clearing by a stream, inhabited by a friendly family who had come to cut timber. I liked hacking stuff up with the hooked bark-stripping tool they were using. We slept in a two-person tent under several blankets.
My worst mistake was throwing a snowball at the kid. Apparently to his people, a snowball fight involves pinning someone down and rubbing snow in their face. :( Though at times it got so smoky I saw everyone as silhouettes, the tent, with its fire, was a welcome relief.
Everything they cooked was very nice, but entirely vegetarian. The reason for this, as I found out, was that leftovers were then fed to the horses. We ended up farting like they were!
Major drawbacks: Biting cold and an uncontrollable horse. Sort of uncontrollable, anyway. As my mother, the digital fascist, says, stopping my horse is beginner level control.
But enough about that. I hope this has been informative!

My tubby horse.

Tiger, um, jumping, gorge

Posted on by Zacster

Well then. That was fun. We’ve just come back from a trek through Tiger Leaping (or jumping, said the signs at the Tina’s guesthouse) gorge.

Apparently a hunter was chasing a Tiger, but the Tiger didn’t want to die (weird eh?) and jumped across the narrowest point of the gorge (and the Yangtze), hence the name.
Anyways, I got some lovely photos and the trek was, well, quite enjoyable (you win mum).

A pretty red flower, freshly Lightroom'd and such.

And it was well worth The Sims 3 for my computer. So, I liked it. Mum actually went down there and stood on the spot where the tiger was said to have jumped.
Yeah, um, I sort of stayed in the room a little watching Doctor Who. And now, guess what? So many unfit tourons haven’t been able to cope, they’ve made up a new spot where the Tiger jumped. Tourism. Honestly. Look, if you can’t do it, don’t complain.
Okay, I’m bored now. Post over. Bye. Seriously, bye. Stop reading. I SAID BYE!!!

Yes, another blog.

Posted on by Zacster

Welcome to my new blog. I’ve finally set it up, and I’m hoping to get an ad deal sooner or later and I have to say, I’m quite impressed with wordpress.org’s visuals. I’m writing this in a high-rise in Kunming, China after a 4 hours’ worth of intensive mandarin lessons while mum makes dinner. It’s one of the less adventurous parts of our trip.

We have a great view. It’s a swish apartment.

Our view

The view from our apartment.

 

We’ve been to Indonesia (and not just Bali), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Australia and Singapore on this leg alone. We’ve seen beautiful landscapes, climbed a mountain, dived WWII shipwrecks and ridden across roads that are, well, probably comparable to North Korea.

And it’s been (mostly) fun. We’ll be back in Blightain and then travel Europe (I had to force mum into that), and, well, have a base (sorta). But don’t worry, we’ll keep on travellin’, and I’ll keep on blogging. So welcome to Kidventurer.

Cremated With Kerosene

Posted on by Zacster

You (might) know about me. I’m a pyromaniac. And I got to see a Hindu cremation. It was a rajah, so there was a HUUUUGE (!) funeral going on. They had built a huge and hollow sacred bull statue out of foam rubber, and they had a tall mobile tower/palanquin for the body in its coffin. Then, they sliced open the statue and inserted the coffin into it and then, after the rajah’s relations had finished circling the bull with offerings, they sprayed it with kerosene and lit it. All the while, a team of firemen had been on standby, and then they went into action, by containing the fire.

I then found out that burning flesh does not smell good. While this was happening, bits of smouldering foam rubber were flying everywhere, and one paticularly large piece landed on someone. He did get it off, though, so he didn’t get incinerated. They then finished the cremation with a flamethrower. Yes, a flamethrower.

Now I will have dinner. So goodbye.

Yet Another Wonderful Island Retreat

Posted on by Zacster

Yes, another island. This one was also great, quelle surprise. However, it was also wierd. And I mean it. Wierd, in the context of  “okay,  huge wooden chalet with air con, electricity, running water (until the pump broke), but no sink!?” Like I said, wierd. Wierd wierd and warped. The chalet was wierd in itself. I mean, it was on a secluded white sand island with a tiny population, and a communal motorbike. Nuts. Anyways, I swam about a mile to get to an island with great white sand beaches, and that didn’t let me down. What did let me down was my computer, which blew its  motherboard in a titanic struggle between norton antivirus and the 27 cyberthreats hidden on my computer. :( :( :( :( :(

Dugong, Desert Islands and an Underwater Volcano

Posted on by Zacster

First up, the Dugong. I have seen them, and have decided that the Dugong resemble Hippos. They are greyish and are actually mammals. They are also critically endangered, thanks to villagers who casually butcher them. And it will take a lot of tourist cash to save them.
Then there is the desert island, known as Dodola. A beautiful island, with white sand beaches and a sandbar stretching over to another island. It also boasts a HUGE wood chalet and at night time you can take a swim in beautiful luminescent water. The low point: it’s infested with midges and mozzies. :(
As for the volcano, I got to go down and dive it. Odd stuff down there, from lobsters to fan coral.
All this and I am still glad to see an internet cafe.

Toiletquakes

Posted on by Zacster

Today, I was caught in an earthquake. The day started normally. Get up, get dressed, have breakfast, go to the shop, buy crackers, etc. Then go to the internet cafe. Go to the internet cafe. Use their toilet. Get caught in an earthquake in the bathroom.

Actually, I did not know why the hell the toilet was shaking, nor did I know why (the hell) people were shouting. Then all of a sudden, mum runs up to the toilet door and screams at me to get out of the building (not earthquake procedure, actually). Luckily nothing (as far as I’m concerned) was broken.