Malacca, Malaysia

An old Portuguese ship

The oldest city in Malaysia, Malacca is a UNESCO world heritage site.  Located at the narrowest point of the Straits of Malacca, this city has been preserved really well and was clean and friendly.  I only stayed two nights and then caught a boat to the port of Dumai on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.  Look at the captions to learn more.

The historic square with the really nice trishaws.

There is a small arts community also bringing a modern twist to the mostly old fashioned city.

Great signage in the city, I think of King Records (James Brown's first label) when I see this

A great dish of roasted pork, there is still lots of pork in this Muslim country

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After four days gorging in Penang I took a 7 hour bus ride to KL.  I arrived at the central terminal in monsoon like rains.  With my shoes squishing I found a hostel close, in the Chinese area where there is a concentration of cheap lodging.  After changing I went out to eat early so that I could wake up early to go to the Chinese Embassy for a visa for another leg of my trip.  I did not know that I was arriving just as two very holy days one Muslim and the other Hindu.  This country must get a lot of days off for these festivals.  I discovered that I would be in Malaysia much longer than I expected much to my chagrin, I really did not like KL this city is big and modern and soulless, very little of the old seems to exist.  After eating some good food, and finding the best Satay I've ever had.  I headed to the Cameron Highlands, a famed region for tea, and as i discovered incredible scenery.  I think this should be on peoples list of places to go.  Again look at the captions to learn more.  

Impressive Towers, with lots of high end shopping.

I exchanged a photo for a photo

I think the best Indian food on the trip, all vegetarian and really spicy and clean.  The dishes to the left were really deep with curry, and the vegetables on the top right were sweet, so much flavor and texture, plus endless flat bread.

Clay pot chicken cooked at really high temps with Chinese sausage and soy, really good and.

Visited a nice temple in the city, and met some nice tourists also walking up the many steeps to the cave. 

Egg noodles with a lot of  chili but really mild chilis

the best satay, from a Halal vender, those are chicken and Lamb.

The Cameron Highlands, a great place for hiking and fresh air, i need more of that more often.

Tea fields 

Penang, Malaysia

After a very bumpy and hot 28 days in Burma I left with great memories and my dreams of Southeast Asia fulfilled.  Its hard to put into words the beauty of seeing a place that time has forgotten.  Where things run like they did when Orwell was living there, and maybe even before his time.  A quick week in Chiang Mai and I was off by plane to the south of Thailand into Krabi.  Unlike most the people getting squished on the bus to be carted to their resort, I got off at the bus station and bought my ticket to the border town between Thailand and Malaysia.  The bus ride was about nine hours on smooth and wide roads.  I got dropped off at a grungey hotel and spent the night from where I would leave to go to Penang by bus.

Penang is probably one of the best places to eat in the world.  People are serious about preparing and eating food.  The mix of Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese has created a wonderland of flavor and fusion.  I will say right now all of the images that Malaysia tries to convey about being a country of racial harmony are slightly misguided.  For me there seems to be a social contract about keeping the communities separate.  Maybe they people keep themselves separate but the food has certainly commingled.  I tried a lot of food in my four days in the city.  Walking as much as possible so that by the next time I spotted something delicious I could fill up.  I really enjoyed eating the Chinese Malay food.  A potent mix of more spices than typical Chinese food, sweet soy sauce, and Sambal.  Read the captions to learn about some of the great foods I ate.  The real revelation came when I had nutmeg juice at the best fresh juice place I have ever tried.  No sugar just pure apple/nutmeg flavor!  

Sambal with egg and coconut rice

Laksa the national dish, sweet and sour mixed together; a dish of thick round rice noodles in a spicy and sour tamarind-based (or assam fruit-based) fish soup. The dish is garnished with mint, cucumber, onions, shreadded lettuce and pineapple (wiki)

This mans very busy restaurant makes Char koay teow (Chinese: 炒粿条) - fried flat rice noodles with chili spices with seafood typically prawns and cockles (and typically with fried eggs).  This man was a ninja, his movements methodical and precise, he was turning plates of this great dish out in about a min to hungry customers behind him.  Impressive and good.

Another great part of Penang is Dim Sum in the morning, at the Aik Hoe Restaurant I enjoyed great Dim Sum with all the older generation of people from Penang.  I was surprised that I did not see other foreigners in here.

Famous Curry spot, the fish head curry is the thing to get, I had that and this piece of curry chicken.

Do you see the famous face?

Go to this place if you have the chance really good.

The best meal in Malaysia pork belly salty and sweet and spicy.

Chili soup with fish

The best dish, eggplant with chili and pork

A great drink of fresh nutmeg.  This is not the actual nut that we all grind to flavor our food but the fruit around it, it kind of looks like a yellow pear from the outside, its really refreshing and good for you.

BBQ pork puns but not steamed but roasted

 

My favorite Char koay teow

Very friendly ladies making the food, it shows in their product