Hiding Food

You know when milk has been sitting in the fridge for about a month too long, then you attempt to pour it into a cup of tea? Take a look at this pic...you'd think I'd had a decent crack at it and given up wouldn't you....well I didn't. To be honest, I can't actually remember ever having to hide food as a kid (thanks Mum), but I was forced to do it when staying in one of the Ger (first pic) camps in Mongolia.
It's a bit tricky when your host family go out of their way to present you with what they regard as one of their culinary highlights & stand there waiting for you to try it, while you sit there desperately thinking of an escape plan. Thankfully, after I'd duly consumed a mouthful of something which resembled the aforementioned milk, the lady of the house left me to finish it in peace. This gave me a few minutes to figure out how I could get rid of the stuff before she returned. After a few minutes of panic, my mind seized on a scene from that brilliant film "The Great Escape". The Stalag Luft III world war 2 prisoners, in order to hide the dirt dug from their escape tunnels, cunningly hide the dirt in their trousers & gradually release it around the exercise yard by letting it fall down their legs. My moment of inspiration was however crushed fairly quickly when I thought about a couple of fundamental flaws in this plan : 1) Something the consistency of porridge doesn't cascade down one's legs quite as freely as dirt; and 2) I was wearing shorts - the telltale sludgy residue on my thighs may give the game away.
Fortunately, plan B eventuated..quickly consuming the contents of a pineapple juice container I'd bought the day before, I was able to fill it with enough of the 'glue" to present the impression that I'd actually enjoyed the meal, but couldn't quite finish. I then took the container to the toilet pit (quite an experience in itself) & disposed of the contents (making sure I kept the container for the several meals I had to look forward to). This worked brilliantly, however it seems I was so convincing in my ruse that I was served similar delightful meals for the next 2 days.

After 3 days with the runs in China, the heat and humidity for the entire trip, all the hiking and barely eating at the Ger camp, my clothes are a little loose...oh yeah, the 10k walk on the great wall yesterday in 30 degrees probably cost me a few kilos too.