[Above: An empty liquor bag from Rekong Peo, India.]

Today I’m proud to start a new category on this blog, entitled Relics from the road. I was inspired to create this category when I was going through my old boxes of travel souvenirs, and I found a booze bag (pictured above) left over from a journey to India a few years ago. The concept behind it is simple: Instead of putting liquor into bottles, distillers in some parts of India put it into a small plastic bag that resembles a Ziplock (but without the actual zip-lock; to drink you just cut off a corner, tilt your head back, and enjoy).

I first encountered this curious form of alcoholic packaging in the Himalayan outpost town of Rekong Peo, where my travel pal Becca and I bought a couple bags to mix with Coke to help keep us warm during a particularly cold March back in 2001. I later saw similar liquor packaging in other parts of India. Whether Chivas Regal and Johnny Walker choose to walk down this same merchandising path remains to be seen.

In the interest of novelty, I will continue to post such curious items on this blog. If you run across anything similarly strange in your travels — weird food or drink, bizarre signs, unusual clothing, strange newspaper items — please photograph/scan them and send them along to me by email.