Mandy: Malaysia 25 July – 14 August
I could (and may well) write a blog post on the food alone as we make our way through different Countries.
Here in Malaysia they sell things such as ‘frog porridge’ and pigs intestines (not a hint of fresh herb or anything to jazz it up!) There is fish everywhere, not cod! but blue spotted sting ray and the like (sad face) as if they didn’t eat enough fish we noticed the other day that a bar was selling oyster shots! Glen is still determined to have the fish head soup….. Not when he is hungry though I guess….. Fish cheeks are tiny! (Chuckle)
There are, as you would imagine, lots of fruit and vegetables that we have never come across before….Mangosteens, some sort of giant broad/green bean, a giant root of some sort. We tried sea coconuts once in a night market in Brinchang ….Over priced for what it was but it had to be done.
Sea coconut. We tried to take a photo of the man cutting these ready for eating but he went at it so fast with his cleaver the photos were a blur. (chuckle)
In a Chinese restaurant the other day the chicken feet dish was more expensive than the normal chicken breast dish! What is that about? I guess they have to kill more chickens to get enough feet to fill a plate whereas the ‘normal’ meat on one chicken will be enough to fill many plates. Who knows how they think. Glen just said it is strange that in a culture where you have to remove your shoes when entering places of worship, and many shops here too have a sign to remove shoes before entering, and it is disrespectful to point your feet at people ……..they eat animal feet! Why? In one of our recent hotels it was a “shoe free establishment”. We had to leave them on the shoe rack in the lobby before entering the hotel. Well after all the walking we are doing I am more happy to leave my smelly shoes by reception instead of in our room. (wink)
We had a waiter with OCD the other night in a Chinese ‘Restoran’ (smile) He kept walking by and straightening up the condiments and cutlery holder on our table (Chuckle) I had to smile as I totally understood but luckily the urge to do that sort of thing is contained to my own environment and not others! Glen would probably disagree but then again he is my environment. (wink)
There are a lot of Steamboat cafes here. It is where they put a big metal dish (with a funnel in the middle) filled with a stock or broth and keep it simmering by putting a hot coal fire underneath on the table. You then put your bits of meat, fish, vege and eggs etc in and cook your own food at the table. A bit like a Chinese version of a European fondue. I said to Glen that we aught to try it but Glen said he wanted them it cook our food, thank you very much, not us to cook our own. Glen just said it also reminds him of the strange practice famous singers have at live concerts of pointing their microphone at the audience and getting them to sing the song!
‘Restoran’ They tend to miss the last letter off words here. They don’t say the T at the end of restaurant so they don’t bother putting it on the signs! They don’t use as many letters either….but it doesn’t matter. (smile) The same goes for other words, like the bank said “close” instead of closed the other day. We know what they mean but It comes across more like an order than information.
I realise why they have so many teeth missing in Malaysia. It is not only the Cendol and other sugary desserts and confectionery but the amount of sugar in their drinks. They put at least three sugars in any drink you order! Even the cups of tea in the Tea Plantation cafe came heavily sugared (and with loads of condensed milk of course!) You think that would have been one place they would serve it black without anything added.
It is funny, I have thought of my Nans (and Gramp) often on this trip. What with the old fashioned things around from their era, my dress top that reminds me of Nan’s overalls, the use of condensed milk everywhere, the smell of tiger balm being like smelling salts and the way I have taken to drinking hot milk (well hot water and dried coffee creamer…. I feel like a student on a tight budget sometimes)
Some things, like bags of Bombay mix and those quaver things are extra large but the bananas on the other hand are tiny.
Snack foods in the Chinese sections are the most weird and unappetising I have ever seen. There are many different bags of little dried fish, whole flattened squid etc. The giant quaver like crisps…or pork scratchings? (we have yet to find out)
Fish and baby flavour snack!!!!!!?
One of the many and varied bags of dried fish snacks!
Whole skinned frogs! that is another thing we are faced with, laying there looking at us along with the dead fish in some restaurants….. Others of course have fish swimming around in a tank waiting to be chosen (gulp) I say swimming…….
Bags of maggots? Or are they some sort of root?
Glen never got to the bottom of what this lady was carrying other than they cook and eat it.
I am not sure why the site of those plates piled high with baby crabs in Melacca’s night market made me feel disgusted when i would happily eat meat from one crab! I guess I feel less guilty having one crustacean give its life for my culinary pleasure than the massacre of a generation of young lives.
I know ‘waste not want not ‘ will be engraved on my tomb stone but please….. Fish head soup! Ducks and Chickens heads and feet! Really? Are we really that hungry? NO! well I’m not! I am beginning to think Glen brought me out here as a last ditch attempt to shed this extra weight I have been carrying around! If so then it is working. There have been times, and places, where i just lost my appetite… on the other hand it could be a ploy to get me to agree to go to India instead of China. (we agreed on the whole journey except for the last country) I have been enjoying and actively searching out the Indian food here. Whether it be for breakfast, lunch or dinner. (Smile) However, Blue Spotted Ray, whole flattened dried Squid, chewy Cuttle fish, and fish sauce which is in/on everything……no thanks! I will google images of the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army. I will read about it and watch videos about it. I can live without a visit there! I can live without their kind of snacks and meals and the smell of Durian fruit everywhere. So if we have the energy, inclination and finance at the end of our SE Asia trip I think India is a better option than China after all! (Smile)
Our next part of the journey will be to Indonesia. People have told us that they are more friendly than the Malaysian people…… well we will be in for a real treat then because the people here have been so helpful and more than friendly to us. (Smile) We’ve had a wonderful time in Malaysia despite my criticism of some of their food.
After a lot of research, mis-information and two visits to the Indonesian Embassy (dressed appropriately in long trousers and long sleeve shirt for the first interview!) we finally collected our much coveted 60 day visa this afternoon. We fly to Bali tomorrow (whoop! whoop!)
