The biggest freak show I have witnessed

...happens to be at  a North Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh. I almost do not want to write about it because I want to keep this gem hidden for my own pleasure, but it is too good to not share with my friends and readers.

I have traveled a substantial amount in my life and I have seen some freaky stuff. But nothing comes close to this spectacle. I was in Phnom Penh for work... to kick start our malaria control study and other activities. One day after a long hard day of working, I decided I am tired of eating at the hotel every day and I should venture out in the neighborhood. Asian food is my favorite - from Indian to Japanese and every country in between - and it is a crime to not taste the glorious Khmer food. So, I went on a little walk around the hotel in search of a place to eat.

There are numerous restaurants in Phnon Penh...in fact, too many! It is difficult to pick because they all look good. However, one place caught my eye. I saw at least a dozen massive SUVs parked outside, spilling on to the sidewalk of this restaurant. It baffled me because you don't see that many mega gas-guzzling SUVs in one place in Phnom Penh...this is not America. I look up and I see a huge brightly lit neon sign saying "Pyongyang restaurant". I couldn't believe my eyes for a second...is it really a NORTH Korean restaurant? I have eaten at numerous Korean restaurants (I can live on Bibimbap, Dol Sot, and Jap Chae for the rest of my life) but they all seem to be South Korean. I have never seen a blatantly North Korean restaurant. Needless to say, I rushed in.

From the moment I entered to the the time I left, it felt like I was in a different world. I cannot do justice to the experience by writing about it, it is something you have to sit there and experience. From the dolled up wait staff who all look like barbie dolls and run around in high heels to the dog meat stew on the menu, it was all quite entertaining. However, the freaky part starts when you notice the North Korean government propaganda videos on the flat screen tvs. The videos show North Korea as a beautiful country with stunning beaches, luxurious homes, and happy smiling people. Of course, we all know that is far from the truth! I have heard of these propaganda videos before, but it was my first time watching them. I started experiencing disbelief, then I started laughing, but then I became angry realizing how the innocent civilians are suffering while their government is advertising N.Korea as a rich country.

There were the regular Korean staples on the menu...beef, pork, chicken, sea food, and dog meat. Nothing extraordinary from what I have eaten before. The only thing I noticed, which I haven't seen before, is a hot pot with various cuts of dog meat. That was new. I did not order it. The wait staff are all young women. They wear heavy makeup, faint pink dresses with high heels, high and long ponytails (all seem to be the same length), and have a smile plastered to their face. None of the smiles look genuine, but you probably guessed that. They run around like robots and tend to the numerous patrons. Speaking of patrons, the place was packed on a weekday evening. Most of the patrons looked Chinese and Korean, I was the only non-SE Asian in the room. Needless to say, my appearance and presence drew stares from some patrons. Also, everybody seemed to smoke in the restaurant, which was annoying to me. I was able to snag the only table available, which was near the kitchen door. I had a good view of all the wait staff running in and out of the kitchen in their high heels and swinging ponytails...it looked like some kind of a cartoon show to me. My waitress spoke minimal English, but we were able to communicate the basics. She understood beer, water, and food...which is all that matters when you are in a restaurant.

Just when I thought the freak show ended with the propaganda videos, cartoonish wait staff, and smoky patrons, the real attraction began in the form of live performances. Now THIS is something that I was not prepared for!

All of a sudden, some of the waitresses came out of the kitchen in costumes and started dancing on a stage at one end of the restaurant. Two waitresses started playing the keyboard and guitar (I think they were pretending to play). The first "show" was three waitresses dancing to traditional Korean music and singing in - what I assumed to be - Korean. It was actually nice. I was about to take pictures when three waitresses descended on me as soon as I pulled out my iPhone...their smiles disappeared and in their place was a stern look and they all repeated at once "NO PICTURES". The look on their faces told me they aren't joking. Then one of them says "Our leader do not like foreigners taking pictures". Word to word!

Did she just say LEADER?? This experience just got richer!!

That is the reason I cannot share any pictures of the performances with you. I was not going to risk abduction and being sent to a North Korean prison for taking pictures of some freak show in Phnom Penh. I have work to do and meetings to attend!

So, I started eating my food, drinking my Angkor beer, and enjoying the live performances. My waitress brings me extra rice and another beer and while she is serving them, stops abruptly, drops the tray with my food on my table, and rushes to perform on the stage. I guess she forgot it is her turn to perform. For the next 3 minutes she swayed, gyrated, and lip synced to Celine Dion's "My heart will go on" with a boat prop on the stage. They tried real hard to recreate the scene from the Titanic...and failed! She finished her performance, came to my table, and took away my dishes as I finished eating by then. As if nothing happened in the previous 3 minutes. Now that's what you call a professional!

This, my friends, is something you will not experience at many restaurants worldwide. The whole experience felt very staged, very robotic, and forced. I left a $3 tip on my $18 dinner bill and tried to leave silently. However, the waitress seems to have noticed when I was leaving my tip because she ran to the door in her high heels, held the door open for me, and thanked me profusely for the tip. I was very uncomfortable as it was quite the scene. I thanked her for the excellent rendition of the Titanic song and walked away.

You know where I am eating next time I am in Phnom Penh.

Lowise's Bar & Restaurant and the glory of palm butter

I love everything about food. I like knowing where it comes from, how it is prepared, what ingredients go in a particular dish, the smells, the taste, the experience, everything. I should be morbidly obese considering my love for food, but I've managed to stay in shape because I practice mindful bingeing. It is a delicate balance of being cognizant of what I eat and eating copious amounts of food frequently.

I could be like most expats here and bring my own lunch (sandwiches anyone?), but I like to experience local flavor and explore. Most of my local staff eat at a place called Lowise's Restaurant (yes, that is how it is spelled). It is pronounced Louise. I have been eating at Lowise's for almost a month with no problems. I usually have someone fetch it for me because I am running in between meetings or buried in papers, but once in a while I walk over and eat at Lowise's. It is only a block away from my office. The restaurant serves only one special every day. They have the standard dish - dry fish and rice - and one daily special. I can never remember the schedule of daily specials, but I particularly like some of the specials. Cabbage with fish, and potato greens with fish are my favorite. I specify fish because if you don't, you will end up with a melange of meat in your dish. I have identified pork knuckles, beef rib tips, chicken feet, and fish heads...all in one bowl. As adventurous as I am, I prefer to eat one kind of meat at a time. I am not a big fan of beef, I prefer my pork in the form of bacon and pork belly, and I like my chicken feet in black bean sauce (dim sum). So, I stick to ordering my dishes with fish alone. Liberians tend to use almost every part of an animal, so expect to see fish heads, fins, tail, pretty much everything in a dish. Here is a picture of the daily standard dish - dry fish and rice. They say it is dry fish, but it is a whole fish, usually a snapper, deep fried and served with jollof rice. It is quite delicious, if I may say. Look at the teeth on that fish. One of my friends said it looks angry. Of course it is angry, it's been fried to death!

Dry fish and rice

Let's talk about Lowise's Bar & Restaurant. It is quite dingy, inside and out, but the food is good. Service varies by day. I have seen the same lady serve us patrons. Some days she is cheerful and makes small talk, some days she is just plain grumpy and mean. She looks young, talks on the phone a lot when she is not serving, and on some days her accent is difficult to understand. She adds charm to an otherwise dull restaurant. The music is always loud at Lowise's, almost to the point where you have to scream your order. I have suggested a few times they may want to tone it down, but they don't listen. Now I just scream my order. One of these days I hope to catch a glimpse of Lowise. All I know is that she is cooking in the back, she never makes an appearance in the restaurant. As the name suggests, there is a bar inside. It is quite small and they carry beer, water, soft drinks, and energy drinks. I don't drink at work, so I haven't tried any beer. Below is a picture of Lowise's restaurant. I have to give credit to Michael for taking this picture.

Lowise's  Bar & Restaurant

Today's daily special is palm butter. I have heard a lot about this dish since arriving in Liberia. Locals claim that, even though you can find this dish in other African countries, nobody makes it like the Liberians. Beautiful red palm fruits are mashed to create an oily sauce and meat is added. The mashing is done with hands, not a machine. Needless to say, it is a laborious process. As you may know, palm oil is very high in cholesterol. It is not good for your heart, but like most stuff that is not good for you, it is very tasty. The dish is called palm butter, because it practically is meat in a sauce that looks like melted butter. Very unhealthy but oh so tasty! I avoided it since arriving in Liberia because I am afraid of the fat content. I finally caved in and ordered it. I saw the table next to me order it and it looked and smelled delicious. My verdict: it is glorious, but too heavy for my arteries. I may have it once a year. I want to live long enough to visit various countries.

Here is a picture of the culprit. I scooped out SEVEN tablespoons of palm oil before taking this picture, and it still looks greasy. That should tell you how unhealthy it is. As mentioned earlier, there is some mystery meat in it because I forgot to mention "fish only". I was not able to figure out the meat, for all I know it is a part of a cow or Baboon (which is not uncommon here). Did I eat it all, including the mystery meat? You betcha!

Palm butter with mystery meat

In other news, Michael and I went to Miami Beach over the weekend. As I mentioned to my friend who lives near the real Miami Beach, the one in Liberia differs from the one in Florida in two aspects: amount of silicone and number of people. Usually it is just Michael and I on the beach, except for some days when someone brings their dogs to the beach (see picture below). There was a football (soccer for you Americans) match happening on the beach when we went, just a few guys kicking the ball around. We stayed for a while until the sun became intense and came back home.

Dog days at the beach

There is a bar on Miami Beach, which plays dance music at a deafening level all the time. As we were leaving the beach, the bar owner came over and talked to us. His name is Sunshine. I am not kidding. We didn't stay at the bar, but Sunshine invited us to come back again in the evening. One of these days we will take him up on the invitation.

A lot is happening on the work front. I got promoted as the Director of Capacity Building and Health Systems Strengthening in less than 2 months of being here. With promotion comes more tasks, drama, and the responsibility to supervise more staff. I realize it is part of the equation and I am thoroughly enjoying all of it. I will write more about work in the next post. Till then, cheers to palm butter!

Happy Friday...Michael arrives!!

Michael arrives this evening. I am super thrilled. It has been 5 long weeks since I left him in Chicago. I was worried for a moment because all flights to Monrovia were canceled on Wednesday due to a thick haze. We haven't seen sun in Monrovia in 4 days. The entire city is covered in haze. It looks beautiful at times, and I am happy the temperature fell down because of it. No more sweating profusely.

It is funny that our air shipment and Michael are arriving on the same flight. It's funny because the air shipment left Chicago three weeks ago and we have been joking that it will get here at the same time as Michael, even though it is supposed to take 6-8 days to arrive.

Work is going well. I gave a presentation to USAID (where all our money comes from) yesterday about our strategy for this year. USAID invited other teams as well - municipal water, sanitation and hygiene, education, etc. The US government is the single largest bilateral donor to Liberia, so USAID is doing extensive work in this country - ranging from forest preservation to health care. Our strategy received the most accolades of all. Of course it did, I developed and presented it (bragging much?)! I am proud to report that other ministries in Government of Liberia look up to the Health Ministry as a model to follow. A good reason for that is the work done, and continuing to be done, by our project. You can say we are the flagship project of USAID health initiatives, not only in Liberia, but in similar post-conflict countries.

I am planning my trips to the "bush" (local term for rural areas). I should start traveling to Bong, Lofa, and Nimba counties in two weeks. I will be visiting Gbarnga (Bong), Voinjama (Lofa), and Sanniquelle (Nimba) - all county capitals. I might even take Michael with me, if he doesn't mind traveling through the jungle with bare necessities. I am going to visit health centers in these counties, introduce myself, and present them my strategy to strengthen their health system. I shouldn't be using ambitious terms like "health system", because what currently exists is bare bones. My goal is to build a viable system that sustains itself after most international aid disappears. You never know about aid money in the current economic situation, you have to be self-sustainable, at least to the extent of providing certain basic health services.

Anyway, that's my work update for the week. Tomorrow is a holiday in Liberia - Armed Forces Day. However, unlike the US, we do not observe holidays that fall on a weekend on a succeeding/ preceding work day. I was informed that if a holiday falls on a Saturday, you do not get Friday off. However, if the holiday falls on a Sunday, you get Monday off. It doesn't make any sense, just like a lot of other things in Liberia. So here we are, working on a Friday. I should take a hint from the Europeans and go on a strike for denying me a long weekend. I am more concerned that everything will be closed for two days. We already know everything shuts down on Sunday...and I mean, everything!! Now I have to add Saturday to the list because of this holiday. I better shop for groceries, water, beer, etc., this evening. 

Since I like talking about food, below is a picture of a local crab seller. The pic is not very clear, but that is him dangling a big beautiful blue crab. He stands on the street corner, a block from our house, and sells fresh seafood, whatever he gets from the ocean that morning. Some days it is blue crabs, other days it is fish. I have seen beautiful blue crabs and mega-sized tuna (at least 6 feet long). I cannot wait for our kitchen stuff to arrive in the air shipment so Michael and I can have some crab claws. Yeah!!

That's it folks! I will post more next week after Michael settles down. Have a great weekend!

My first month in Liberia

Saturday, February 4, was my one month anniversary of living in Monrovia. It has been a whirlwind journey. From being recruited to work on rebuilding the Liberian health system to getting married and moving across continents, it all happened very fast. One month I was shuttling between Chicago, Boston, and New York, and the next month I am in Liberia. Not on a visit, but to live here for two years. Moving across continents is not a new concept for me. I moved from India to Algeria when I was 11 months old, thus starting my nomadic life. Since then I have lived in 7 countries. This is another step in my nomadic existence. However, the main difference is that I now have a loving partner to do it with me.

Now I am here, in Liberia, a post-conflict country with a rich history that has been through a devastating civil war lasting almost 14 years. Liberians are resilient and committed than ever to rebuild their country under the leadership of President Sirleaf. Also known as Ma Ellen to the locals, the president is a Nobel peace prize winner with a great vision to rebuild Liberia. The United States government is the single largest bilateral aid donor to Liberia, which leads to the reason how I ended up here.

The US government's work towards rebuilding Liberian health care is contracted to a few development agencies. JSI Research and Training Institute, the non-profit arm of John Snow, Inc., is the largest contractor. I was recruited by JSI in December 2011 to rebuild/ strengthen the Liberian health system and build capacity. My prior work in other countries impressed them. Accepting the position meant moving to Monrovia for a period of two years. There you have it folks, that's how I came to live in Monrovia.

In the one month I've been here, I've met with all the senior management in the ministry of health, presented them with my strategy to build capacity and strengthen the health system, won approval of the Ministry and USAID for my strategy, found livable housing, and interviewed staff to work with me. It was all made possible with love from my partner, encouragement from friends and family, and support from my boss and colleagues. I truly cherish everything that's been given to me.

Health Minister Dr. Walter Gweningale speaking at an event where our project dedicated the newly rebuilt Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts to the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare 

February begins a hectic month of finalizing the tools I am proposing to assess current capacity of the ministry of health, and planning my travel to the "bush" - local slang for rural areas. I am looking to visit Lofa, Nimba, and Bong counties, where most of our work is concentrated. I have to hire three Capacity Building Officers to work under my guidance to build capacity and strengthen county health systems. And I have to submit abstracts for the APHA annual conference - my favorite professional organization. I am excited about February because Michael arrives this month. January has flown by quickly, yet it seems like forever since I left home and my beloved in Chicago. We will be reunited this weekend.

Internet in Liberia is highly unreliable and painfully slow. It is a glorious day when we get dial-up speed. I haven't been able to Skype reliably since I've been here and I have to downsize any pics if I want to email them. I would love to do a video blog, but it seems next to impossible considering the internet bandwidth. I have quickly adjusted to the food, or lack thereof, here. Most food in Liberia has to be imported because there is not much infrastructure to grow anything here, most of it was destroyed during the civil war. Almost all food is expensive, except for fruits and fish that you buy at the local market. There are 4 main super markets in town, all look like a glorified 7-11. Don't expect to find anything more than basics. I was told that I should be happy to have not one but two varieties of pasta at the supermarket. Since most food is imported, it shows in the prices. There are a few decent restaurants in town, most of them run by the Lebanese community, but I am yet to have decent hummus or kefta. I haven't tried all restaurants yet, but I am on a mission to find decent Lebanese food. Like most English speaking African countries, there is a sizable Indian community, although not as big as Kenya or South Africa. There is even a makeshift Sikh Gurudwara in town.

One of my favorite topics to discuss is food. I should weigh 300lbs with my love for food, but that's another topic altogether. Local Liberian food is quite interesting. Rice or fufu form the most essential part of any meal. Fufu feels like a thick ball of dough, made from the root of cassava plant. Fufu is usually served with pepper soup, which is a thin stew of different kinds of meat. Sounds delicious, but it may be shocking to some of us to find four different kinds of meat in one soup. Expect to find a chicken leg, a beef rib, some part of pig with bone and a dense layer of fat, and a fish head... all cooked in a spicy soup. Other traditional dishes I've tried: dry fish and rice (jollof rice served with a whole deep fried snapper), potato greens and rice (once again, multiple meats cooked in a sauce made of "potato" leaves), palaver sauce (different meats cooked in a onion and tomato sauce), and the worst of all torborgee (a stew made with red beans and different meats). Do you all see the theme here? Liberians put any and every meat the can find and cook them in one dish. Liberian food is a vegetarian's nightmare, there is meat (not the good kind) in almost every dish. I have come to like the potato greens when made with chicken or fish. You have to specify about wanting only one kind of meat (I ask for chicken or fish), and you will be ok. Otherwise, expect to eat different parts from different animals and fish. Like most countries in the region, it is difficult getting a decent cocktail. I have come to adapt to that as well. It only makes me appreciate a dirty martini more than ever.

I think this blog entry is getting too long. I have a lot to report and I will post another entry soon. Next time I will not wait a month to post an entry. I have to say I am truly thankful for the love and support from my family, friends, mentors and colleagues. I promise to stay in touch and keep you updated. In the meanwhile, enjoy a picture of my real back yard. It is called Miami Beach... I am not even joking.

Miami Beach - also known as my backyard in Monrovia