It's official! It's been 50 days since I left my homeland and traveled to the land of Nomads.
Here are the top 3 things I miss about Canada at this very moment.
1. My family and friends for obvious reasons. Happy birthday Mom! (Is anyone else reading my blog?)
2. Dim Sum. In Toronto, I eat a lot of dim sum. Dim sum is a Chinese meal (mainly southern Chinese/ Hong Kong) where you drink tea and order small dishes of dumplings, noodles, meat, pastries and special desserts. Traditionally, they come out served in carts with women yelling what they have in the cart and you basically yell back at them the food item to signal that you want that item. Now more and more, you see an order list where you mark what you want to eat, and they bring it out for you. The variety is huge and it requires a special dim sum chef who is skilled at creating these dishes. I have yet to find a place to eat dim sum here in Bishkek. If you know of one, please advise because I need dim sum with my tea.
3. Fresh air. We take a lot of things for granted in Canada - one of them is our fresh air. We know that when we go into a restaurant, we won't be sitting next to someone who smokes. We know that if we want to get some "fresh air" that means stepping outside. Most restaurants in Bishkek have smoking and non-smoking areas. Recent news reports have been about Bishkek's air quality. This item is mostly biased because I'm a non-smoker and probably have asthma. It's also motivation for me to head up to the mountains more.