Project Runaway

We started our Malaysia travels with a bus ride from Singapore to Melaka. I decided that along the way there should have been towns where the rules and regulations of strict Singapore slowly disappeared one by one, and the bus would stop at each one, allowing you some time to adjust.  Whereas in Singapore you feel as if you are being watched over by a strict but benign parent, in Malaysia, you feel as you are being grudingly babysat by the neighbours indifferent teenager.

As soon as we got off the bus the impact was felt. We were back  to the noise and chaos of Istanbul. To even cross the street here is a lot like being a gopher and trying to dodge across Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton. There are no doubts that we are in Asia now, not some squeaky clean amusement park city.  Our advice, take a big breath and just plunge in.

Melaka was our first stop. It was a Dutch town for many years and has been declared a UNESCO heritage site. It was charming and elegantly decayed/rundown and we loved it. We stayed in a guesthouse on the river in Chinatown. The building was once a shop or warehouse and is long and narrow with high ceilings and a terrace where you can watch boats go by and monitor lizards lounge. Our hosts Mani and Ray were exceptional and thoughtful and told us all the dishes we needed to try and where the best place to get them was.

Malaysia is a country that has Malay, Chinese and Indian people. The country is Muslim but there are many different religions here also and all seem to live in harmony with each other. Where in Turkey you did not see the women in the workforce, here Muslim women hold all manner of jobs. As a result of this diversity, the food is diverse. You can have Indian, Malay, or Chinese. So we did! Indian for breakfast (banana rotis, yum), Malay for lunch (Baba Laksa, double yum), and Chinese for dinner. We ate and ate in Melaka. And then… we ate some more!

One of the most interesting places we ate was Capitol Satay. There are huge boiling pots of spicy peanut sauce in the middle of the tables attached to propane tanks under the table. (Definitely would not fly in Canada!) Then you get a plate and fill it with skewers of raw meat, seafood, veggies, and (for the brave) all sorts of weird unidentifiable mystery foods. Then you cook your skewers in the peanut sauce. It is messy but very delicious and you can’t go to Melaka and not try this twist on fondue.

We wandered the streets soaking the smells and sights, getting our bearings on a place so different from our last. Now for those of you with a keen sense of smell this can be a good and bad experience. I have the nose of a bloodhound. I think many women have this blessing/curse. So for me it was like overload at times. The scent of a spice, then the hit of  raw sewage, a few more steps and the scent is mouthwatering, a few more and then a bizarre and horrible and unidentifiable reek. God lord what was that? It takes many days before I realize that the disgusting toe curling scent is durian fruit, the ‘king of fruits’.  I will not be able to avoid this smell, and even worse, yes, I will not be able to avoid trying it. But we will get to that later…