Pre-trip: Food Stocking

I started looking for snacks that I wanted to bring with me actually even before I booked the train ticket LOL. During my previous trips in Yunnan and Sichuan, I knew that there wouldn't be many options on the road. In Yunnan, with my limited Chinese vocabulary I ordered almost the same dishes every day. My friend was so sick of "fried tomatoes with eggs". I was kinda sick of it too, but I didn't have many choices.

I've become my so-called vegetarian for almost 6 years or so. I'm a flexible type. I normally don't cook/order meat dishes on my own. When I eat out with my friends, I don't mind if they order meat dishes. I could eat vegetables in the meat dishes. What kind of vegetarian is that?, you may ask. Well, I just don't want to trouble animals, and I don't want to trouble people also. In China, some restaurants might use pork oil instead of vegetable oil. I don't want to trouble the restaurants by going to their kitchen and see what kind of oil they use. Also, sometimes when you order no-meat dishes, you will somehow end up getting some pork in the bowl anyway.

For the past year, I have also tended to become a vegan (sorta). I've avoided drinking milk and consuming dairy products for the past 5 years. I'm not lactose intolerant type, but I noticed that whenever I consume dairy products, I always have more acnes on my face which I don't want that. When I cut out dairy products, my skin has become clearer. I still do eat cakes and desserts which I know there are dairy products in it. I really cannot resist it. Above all, I love chocolate!! I used to eat eggs like a lot. It was my only source of protein in my opinion as I didn't drink milk, but later I also cut out eggs from my daily food intake (except what i mentioned above).

However, once in a long while when I feel like eating sushi, I will eat fish. Also, when I need to eat instant noodles, I will eat whatever flavor it is as long as it's not beef flavor. Again, what kind of vegetarian is that??? My own kind, I would say. I wouldn't categorize my eating style as 100% vegetarian, but it's easier for other people to understand when I tell them that I'm a vegetarian. 

Actually, my eating style could be defined like this...

80% vegetarian

15% vegan

4% raw

1% whatever I want

And my friend would say, "equals to 100% junk".

This trip I would want to try local food as much as possible, but at the same time, I would still also want to eat my favorite food. I bought small ziplock bags to put the snacks in so it would save some space. When you go to high altitude places, the snacks inside normal package would get swollen due to the air pressure, but if you put in the ziplock bags squeezing all the air out, it will not get inflated. I would only list what I thought was delicious and convenient to eat when you're on the road (which I will also bring it with me for my next trip).

- Alpen energy bars >> I bought 3 flavors - chocolate, strawberry, and coconut

- Kinder Bueno chocolate bars

- Muesli or cereals 

- Favorite choices of instant noodles and instant porridge (from Thailand)

- Pretz larb flavor (from Thailand)

- Sriracha chili sauce (from Thailand, not Vietnam)

- Lotus speculoos >> individual pack for two biscuits

- 3-in-1 mix drink >> I prefer Milo and Ovaltine white malt

- Gummy bear and gummy banana

- M&M

- Japanese rice crackers

- Coconut flakes
- Dried raisins and dates

- Peanut butter and Nutella >> packed in a small tupperware together

- Green tea bags and lemongrass tea bags

I also brought eating utensils with me which were very useful.

- Plastic water bottle (1L) >> a thermos is too heavy in my opinion

- Small plastic tupperware >> for instant noodles

- Cup

- Chopsticks

- Spoon

I ended up packing one extra small suitcase full of food which I managed to fill up the supplies through out my entire trip. Thanks to Jeff who helped me drag this suitcase along the trip (coz he wanted me to walk more quickly).

Most people recommend vegetarians and vegans to eat lots of nuts as they are rich of nutrients. I am not that lucky. Somehow (a bit embarrassing) I constantly break wind even when I don't eat nuts. I did bring nuts with me in this trip, but I really regret it. Based on my own experience, I do not recommend eating nuts when you travel to high altitude places. You will come to know the reason why later.