I missed my "this month in air travel" update in January because I was so busy with . . . air travel. I've flown more than 35,000 miles since January 7 which puts me on pace for an astonishing 300,000 miles this year. Fortunately, although I've been in four countries in the past five days, and will surely be enjoying the pleasures of air travel throughout the year, I won't fly 300,000 miles in 2012.
The bright side of all this travel? I get to do cool things, like watch the sun set over Mt. Fuji tonight from my hotel in Tokyo.
I can get my hair cut at the very best places. Last week it was at a superb barber shop in Manila, the time before that at the best barber in Bangkok, and who knows where I might be the next time I require a haircut.
And then there is the food. How about beef and noodles on the short flight from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City? Today I had breakfast and lunch on the flight from Bangkok to Tokyo, then a superb meal this evening served from a terrestrial kitchen. Does food on the ground taste even better because I get to compare it to the scores of meals I eat (or skip) in the sky? I think it does.
Without air travel, how could I enjoy the overwhelmingly delicate taste of an ice mountain at Thailand? Or of hokke, genghis khan, miso ramen, and nomu yogurt at Hokkaido? Next week I'll be looking for good restaurants near the US embassy, for I need to have a lot more pages added to my passport.
This year is starting out just as I had envisioned it. Undefeated in January* — undefeated for the year. Certainly reason to celebrate.
* I should probably mention here that I did not play any matches in January as I continue my self-imposed sabbatical from the game. Rather, I've been in training. Some running. A bit of skiing. And otherwise being utterly averse to anything beyond sitting in the sun on my balcony.
How should I phrase this? In December, I was less undefeated than I would have liked. In fact, I was less undefeated than at any time in recent memory. In fact, in singles matches I may have been completely defeated. I did, however, make a number of impressive birdie dances at some of the finest golf courses in Southeast Asia.
Did you notice that the birdies come preponderantly on one-shot holes or in pool halls? If you saw my drives this month, you wouldn't be surprised. I was featured prominently in this month's issue of Golf Today magazine, but clearly not for my golfing prowess.
So what lies ahead for 2012? A few visits to the driving range are in order. And I'll be starting with a clean slate, undefeated and untested from 1 January, so this will be another chance for that elusive undeafeted year.
Fifteen countries. Approximately 1091 restaurant meals. The 2011 Sam Khok Awards have arrived. The criteria? I ate here in 2011 and the meal, dish, or drink was worthy of further mention. Without further ado, the awards:
Best pizza - 40's Cafe, Angaston, South Australia. One would not want to take a tour of the Barossa Valley on an empty stomach.
Best restaurant name - Thai Me Up, Coogee Beach, Sydney.
Best goat - Goat served seven different ways at Dalat. Despite a serious effort to try them all, we could only manage four. Well, perhaps not so serious.
Largest oyster - What a year it was for oysters! From Adelaide to Asahikawa and many places in between, I sampled the best oysters in Pranburi, Phuket, Halong Bay, etc. I can't pick a favorite, but I can pick the largest. Chigasaki.
Best red wine - 1996 The Holy Trinity by Grant Burge.
Best champagne - Bollinger. At The Open Championship. Please sir, may I have some more?
Best seafood, Indian - Trishna, Mumbai. First stop for popcorn at the Bombay Gymkhana Club, proceed to Trishna for dinner, then repair to a nearby paanwala for that "addictive and euphoria-inducing" digestif.
Best tandoori cuisine - Bukhara, New Delhi.
Most exotic dish - This is a toss-up between kujira sashimi, kujira bacon, kujira katsu, or sautéed chó. I can't choose just one. You might guess what kujira or chó are, but I'll refrain from further details.
Best smoked meat - Schwartz's. Better than I expected, and I had high expectations. It has been described as a "maddening aphrodesiac." You've probably read Barney's Version. If you haven't, it is a wonderful book.
Best fusion drink - The Jack Daniels ハイボール. The preferred shinkansen drink of 2011. I couldn't decide if I liked this or not, and it came in such an attractive can, so I tasted it multiple times. The verdict: not the best drink, but certainly the best fusion drink.
Best soft cream - The wasabi at Shizuoka, sweet potato at Tochigi, salt at Okinawa, and melon at Hokkaido were all strong contenders in a year punctuated by roadside stops to sample every possible flavor of soft cream, but the winner is the elusive peanut soft cream from Chiba.
The awards could go on, for best genghis khan, best som tam, best kra pao gai kai dao gai sap kai suk, best bibimbap, best Pimms, best tonic wine (Buckfast, obviously), best crab, best poutine, or innumerable other dishes. I'll save those stories for another time, and close with a superb dish that is also contender for best golf course lunch.
Best ramen - The seafood ramen at Hokkaido Brooks Country Club. Absolutely superb. I don't often take videos of my food, unless it is moving. But this ramen was worthy of a video.
Since my last report. Seven more flights. Seven more international airports. Three countries. More birdie dances, to be described in requisite detail in the forthcoming golf report. And the amazing places than one can go by air these days.
Just when I had thought a generous portion of Lay's Lime n' Masala Masti potato chips to be the epitome of flavor, I came across this saucy tomato flavor. Naughty Tomatoes, reads the label, and I felt a bit of a naughty tomato myself as I ate almost the entire bag. So much for my diet.
But I soon took to the air again, back to Thailand where my diet consisted of regular portions of crab, peanuts, soda water, and kra pao gai kai dao gai sap kai suk.
I took a break from air travel on a visit to southern Thailand and the island of Samui, arriving by ferry and making another boat ride across heavy seas to watch the lunar eclipse from Ko Pha Ngan.
And then it was back to flying and the lovely airport at Samui, where one can find popcorn and other delicacies in the expansive open-air terminal.
December in the clement weather of the tropics, after a long year of travel – 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
How should I describe another undefeated month? A birdie dance in front of the Barah-Khamba is a good way to start.
I was at sixteen golf courses across India this month but I only played one round, a match at the historic Delhi Golf Club that ended, mercifully, on the 14th hole.
Then it was off to Mumbai, avoiding elephants on the roads of Tamil Nadu, searching for gaurs at Kodaikanal, and staring down a wild boar in the midnight mists of the Palni Hills. But I digress. My record in November was one win and zero losses. In short, another unblemished record on the course.
I'm happy to report that Kolkata and New Delhi have been salubrious. The days – cerulean; the nights – here I foreshadow an astonishing incident – sublime. And the breakfasts have been quite good. How about mango juice and a masala dosa? Wikipedia tells me this makes the list of the World's 50 most delicious foods.
The programme includes classroom and field training sessions, with the objective being to improve, in the long-term, the playing conditions on golf courses across India and the broader subcontinent.
The week's training ends with an exam, for which I am the invigilator, and then it is off to the next city for another week of the same. Last night we finished the training programme and ended up at a Papa CJ show at the Tollygunge Club. And then we went for a drink, under a large tree. The Tolly's grounds, originally an indigo plantation established in 1781, provide a sanctuary for many exotic birds. I knew it was time for bed when effluence from one of those birds made its way to my shoulder, which you can see adumbrated here.
This month I continued my research for the 2011 Sam Khok Awards. Eight flights, five countries, one cancelled flight, two evacuations of flooded Bangkok, and the nice view above of Bangsai CC and the former ATC Research Facility surrounded by floodwaters in Ayuddhaya.
I stuck to my vicinal diet this month, too, no juxtapositions -- phở at Hanoi, som tam at Bangkok, udon at Tokyo, Michael's Grill and Taqueria in Pacific Grove, and cognac on Thai Airways.
This was a month of high drama. I've condensed it into two videos, part 1 above, and part 2 below. Note that it is difficult to condense nine birdie dances, so if these videos have a saltatory aspect, well, you have been warned.
I'll start this series by posing a question: how best to divide one's time between the full-service noodle bar at the ANA Lounge in the No. 4 Satellite zone of Narita International Airport Terminal 1's South Wing, and the self-service sake bar at the opposite end of the same lounge? Bonus question: how best to navigate the intervening section between the aforementioned bars without grabbing at least one piece of shortbread from the food bar?
