Sometimes a chore. Sometimes a dream. Sometimes a shock, others same same every day. There’s seemingly no end to what man stokes the engine with.
At one of Shillong's jeep stations, a vendor serves up some puri, the ubiquitous Indian breakfast.
Where India flows into Bangladesh, Dawkei, a quick lunch threw out a quirk. We ordered two chai, and got one black, one chai tea. So did everyone in the shop! No idea.
Assamese food is largely unknown outside India. Pity. It's awesome. Spicy when to wants to be. Hot with mustards, sides of relish. Sesame, black lentils.
Back in "mainland" India, serving up dosa on the streets of Hyderabad.
Breakfast, Hyderabad.
A lot of effort went into the set up here, but I can't tell you about the results. Kohima, Nagaland, India.
Naga chili. Ghost chili. Until breeders got serious, these bad boys owned the Scoville scale. Not everything in north-east India, their home, is that hot though.
Some kind of worm, caterpillar or grub at a market in Kohima, the Nagaland capital. Recently came across something similar in (online) Zimbabwe.
In Nagaland, man's best friend is sometimes man's best cut of meat.
A chick-pea salad was more or less our only option in Mon, Nagaland, as we headed out to Longwa. That, and some similar snacks, did the job.
Like most of India, Shillong has plenty of street eats, like these spicy looking devil's eggs.
One of the few dishes the Philippines does well is lechon, fried pork. And pork sausages.
A woman prepares noodles at a temple festival, in am ethnic Shan village in Mae Hong Son, Thailand.
People line up for food at a town festival in Banaue, the mountainous tribal area of Philippines' Luzon.
Sweets in a street stall in Sulawesi's capital Makassar.
Semarang, Java, wasn't nearly as interesting as it sounded, but it did have one of the greatest restaurants we came across.
Queue up, point at what you want, pile your plate and enjoy.
Rabbit satay from a stall in the hills outside Solo, Indonesia. Very good.
"Batman" came the reply when I asked what's that. Quite tasty, but full of bones. Tentena, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
And here is the raw ingredient, at the "Extreme Market" (yes, that's the name) in Tomohon, northern Sulawesi.
Spiced fruit is an acquired taste. Chili mango in Bangalore, India.
Pomegranates in Pondicherry, India's former French colony.
Often punctuated by outstanding highs, eating in India often becomes an endless run of thalis. Behind the scenes, the preparation though is immense.