Cycle 14 – Item 56

2 (Thu) March 2023

Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen

1.0

on MV Adora

-Gaafu Alifu Atoll, Maldives-

w DV and friends

Living Aboard the MV Adora (Day 6/13)

• • Day -1 (14.050 Sea Bass Fillet)
  • Day 1 (14.051 Blackened Roast Chicken)
  • Day 2 (14.052 Mas Huni)
  • Day 3 (14.053 Grilled Tuna)
  • Day 4 (14.054 Chicken Rice)
  • Day 5 (14.055 Tuna Sashimi)
  • Day 6 (14.056 Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen)
  • Day 7 (14.057 Beach BBQ)
  • Day 8 (14.058 Roti with Smoked Tuna & Dal Curry)
  • Day 9 (14.059 Ceviche Wahoo!)
  • Day 10 (14.060 Fruit Sundae)
  • Day +1 (14.061 Garudhiya Meal)
  • Day +2 (14.062 Sautéed Sword Lettuce (Three Times))

MV AdoraIn the Maldives.  Here for my 2nd liveaboard.  For 10 days, I’ll be on the MV Adora – same boat as my 1st experience (see previously 9.191 Grilled Beef Tenderloin) – sailing through the Deep South Atolls, diving from the boat, while I eat, drink (mostly drink), sleep, i.e., “live aboard” the boat.

DIVING

Dives 13-15 (this trip) / 168-170 (lifetime)

Highlight: Coral Garden – Nilandhu Faru

At the conclusion of the prior trip, a loop through the Central Atolls lasting 7 days, I’d left the boat aching for more.  I was assured that the 10-day Deep South trip would be even better, so I didn’t hesitate to sign up when offered a spot, and never wavered in my commitment through 3 postponements.  Frankly, though, now that I’m here, just beyond the mid-way point, the 10 days is feeling rather long – “Oh man, the glass is still half full,” rather than, “Oh man, the glass is already half empty.”

Mostly, it’s because the diving thus far has been somewhat underwhelming, with poor visibility and not much to see, though definitely improving the farther south we go, as suggested by yesterday’s shiver of 100+ sharks (see 14.055 Tuna Sashimi) and today’s encounters with turtles (above) and eagle rays (below).

Partly, it’s because almost everyone (22 of 28 divers) is Filipino, and they’re usually speaking in Tagalog , so I’m often left out of the conversation.

DINNER

The kitchen informed me that they’d be cooking Korean noodles for dinner – leftovers from a recent group of Korean divers.  Turned out to be Buldak Bokkeum Myeon (불닭볶음면), produced for the Indian market, labelled as Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen.  The chef, however, failed to read the instructions and made it into a noodle soup, rather than a stir-fry.

For the first time, I was suddenly the center of attention at dinner, everyone wanting to know whether the product is popular in Korea, whether it’s authentically Korean in flavor, whether the heat level is tolerable for most Koreans.  Not really, on all counts.

I’d never tried the product before – except a hot sauce by the same brand (see 14.024 Hot Ones: The Korean Edition) – so I had no frame of reference, but it tasted unlike any Korean instant noodle in my experience.  Sorta bittersweet, overly spicy, oily (presumably because it’s meant to be stir-fried).  Even worse, the chef way overcooked the noodles, leaving them mushy.  I had to disavow them altogether.

DINNER

As a brand, Smirnoff has its roots in Russia, starting as a distillery founded in 1864 by Pyotr Arsenyevitch Smirnov in Moscow.  However, the company was taken over by the government in 1904 when the vodka industry was nationalized.  The family fled Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.  The founder’s sons established several vodka enterprises first in Europe then the United States, which would eventually become Smirnoff Vodka, now owned by UK conglomerate Diageo.

(See also FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also HANSIK)

(See also BOOZE)

(See also MDV)

(See also DIVING)