Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache.
- Mae West, USA
From all my travels, I have experienced the most exquisite and the simplest. Yet the joy of trying something that excited the palate also reminded me of the most basic of needs - to survive. Some of the best cuisines that I have tried were also of the most spartan ingredients. I paid way below what I thought a bowl of noodles or a plain plate of rice should cost yet the vendor would never waste another minute to bask in my adoration. Life went on in its daily, consistent crunch. As another wipe with the crumpled handkerchief took off the beads of sweat building like fat drips of honey on the forehead, another person paid for their food.
