Malaysia Boleh!

My Highlights

1. Sweating it out at 6:30am on a 2 hour morning walk at Bukit Kiara with Aunty Lily before the rising tropical sun caught up with us and sitting down to a bowl of Ipoh hor fun (flat rice noodle soup) and kopi-o (Malaysian black coffee) as a reward.

2. Admiring the creative and modern window dressings and shop fit outs at Megamall and The Garden including the clever use of bamboo, old town Portuguese styled windows and empty cans of Carnation sweetened condensed milk.

3. Getting to know Kenneth's relatives better and his old school friends for the first time. Playing with Kenneth's ever growing mob of nieces and nephews. Visiting Aunty Baby Yee (Kenneth's old neighbour) who helped us purchase our wedding rings 2 years ago in PJ. Really good to see her in good health.

4. Purple Cane Tea House. They serve a myriad of teas and every dish on the menu is cooked in or with tea. An example is steamed fish cooked in strawberry and black tea sauce or tofu simmered in green tea, ginger and ginseng. The soups were divine too!

5. Catching up with my uncle, aunt and cousin Su Suan over a simple breakfast. Wish we had more time!

6. Hawker food - nasi lemak, assam laksa, curry laksa, Indian mee goreng, nasi briyani, yong tau foo ... Malaysia is for the most part about food food and more food! The variety of food available is bamboooooooozling!

7. Hawker desserts - ice kacang and durian flavoured cendol was all I managed this trip... but they say all things in moderation preserves the essence! These babies gave me a sugar high which coooooled me down one humid evening!

8. Bread Story. This is a local bakery that was fashioned after Japanese style bakeries which were in turn an eaternised take on the French patisserie. Bread Story is uniquely Malaysian because you can get awesome fusion breads like a soft sweet baby baguette filled with otak-otak (a spicy Malaysian fish pate that I absolutely loved as a kid.... lucky for me, my mum still makes it at home!).

9. Mamak stalls. Mamaks are hawker style coffee shops found sporadically throughout KL and PJ. They are run by Indians who are Muslims and Kenneth's cousin Seng Po took us to his favourite one in PJ called Kayu Nasi Kandar. This is where I had my authentic teh tarik (tea with sweetened condensed milk which is pulled from one cup to another several times to create a frothy effect) fix which hit the spot! The nasi kandar (rice with an assortment of curries - see fish head curry picture in Kenneth's post below) tangoed on my tastebuds leaving me in delightfully curried out stupor. Just take note to stay away from the cabbage salad served as a side dish unless you want to lose all the weight gained (and more!) over previous gastronomic experiences by getting the runs like me the day after.

10. Living with Kenneth's relatives and still enjoying the comforts of home before we leave behind all that is familiar.