Malaysia - the food

A very important part of any trip in Southeast Asia is the food!! Can't go wrong with the following ingredients: (1) Coconut milk (2) curry powder (3) peanuts (4) chilies (5) tofu- although this is debatable for some (6) Rice- the most important part of the meal for many southeast Asians

To begin with Teh Terik is so yummy. The Malaysians aren't messing around when it comes to tea. Terik literally means pulling. They "pull" the tea back and forth between cups to create foam and mix the tea with the sweetened condensed milk! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPuIybnQemc

Here Elizabeth and Huy are enjoying some teh terik at the bus station!

Next is the amazing curry and noodles- 88 Jonker St is one of the best restaurants in Malaka. You know this by the line that is constantly in front of the restaurant. This was my dish minus all of the meat. They load it up with all sorts of sea food!

We stood in line for 45 minutes to go to dinner at century 100... a satay place! Was it worth it... YES!

This is a hotpot sort of deal where but everything is on a skewer. I had veggies (morning glory and cucumber) and tofu satays. The others had meat- don't ask me which kind! :)

And then there is the glorious night market where all of your dessert and drink dreams can come true....

In Kuala Lumpur we went to a very Indian Restaurant where they came around with banana leaves for the placemats/plates. We got the rice first and then a choice or 3 different curries. And let me tell you that it was some of the best food I've had in a while. Yum... and I'm holding a lassi- an Indian yogurt drink.

Malaysia truly Asia- the trip

We flew into Kuala Lumpur on Friday night and took a taxi 2 hours to Malaka. We stayed at the Heeren House, a boutique bed and breakfast on the outside of Malaka. Our first stop in Malaka was the Church and The Stadthuys, built in 1650 it is the oldest Dutch building in southeast Asia and it was once officially home to the Dutch Governors. Malaka is a UNESCO world heritage site
and we enjoyed going into all of the antique shoppes in the old Chinese trader's houses along Jonker's street. Unfortunately, throughout my education I wasn't taught much history outside of Western Civ and American History, so all of the history of Southeast Asia is new and exciting for me. I love history and I really enjoy hearing it from a different perspective. Remember in history class talking about colonization and the trading routes through the east indies? Yeah? Well that is Malaysia, India, Thailand, Burma... and they really are exotic and beautiful countries. And Malaka was one of the main port cities for the traders. And guess who were the main traders??? The Chinese- shocking, huh? But it's super interesting to walk where the western explorers walked and see what they saw.
And the night market was a great taste of culture as we tasted all kinds of food, saw dancing/exercising, bought little trinkets and generally saw EVERYONE in town!
Next we flew into Kuala Lampur for 1/2 day. I was shocked by how developed the city is! We went to to the top of the communication's tower and got a 360 view of the city of 2 million people. These are the twin towers, which were once the highest towers in the world. They are pretty impressive. A wonderful shout out to Anita, Neal and Sadie who were our tour guides in the city! You were wonderful!
Then we traveled to Lingkawi island for a wonderful 2 1/2 days of relaxation at the secluded Andaman 5 star Resort. I'm not going to lie- it was wonderful. Even though it was the rainy season we had a wonderful time.


Cathy and I went canoeing one afternoon and saw some really nice, new coral in the bay near the island. The main predator for the coral is the starfish. During the tsunami the wave took all the starfish to the land so now new coral can grow. Isn't that interesting?

The water was perfect. We bobbed around for 2 hours one day just laughing and talking while the small waves washed over us. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!