Malaysia - twin towers up close

The twin towers up close.  Including the entry way, and a nice park out back with fountains that apparently look very nice when they're turned on at different parts of the day.

They were really cool to look at from so near.

Malaysia - twin tower peek-a-boo

It's hard to be in Kuala Lumpur and not see the Petronas Towers as you move around the city - they're that tall.  I felt like I was playing peek-a-boo for a few days before I got to see them up close.  It was like they were teasing me.

Malaysia - food

I have eaten Malaysian food in Malaysia and love it, but here are a few pictures of food in Malaysia that is not particularly Malaysian.

Start with some Chinese food - Stingray, deer meat, and (still live) snails and frogs at a Chinese restaurant.  Kuala Lumpur has lots of great Chinese restaurants, and this was no exception - the deer meat was very tender, but my favorite that meal was the stingray - it melted in my mouth.  Apparently some vendors will sell stingray as shark fin, because it's hard to tell the difference.  I can see why - it's delicious!

Then on to 'cup corn' snack - because who wouldn't want to eat some corn, in a cup!  Grab it anytime!

Finally, Dutch Lady milk.  Not sure what associates Dutch ladies with milk, but it's more of a concept anyhow, as the brand is Malaysian.

Malaysia - money, duck statues, and the loo

Was in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) a few weeks ago for the first time.  

Here is what the ringgit looks like - colorful, upbeat, and wearing an interesting hat.  Some of the bills were older paper, some were newer plastic.  The sen coins have flowers on one side and various crafts on the other.  An eclectic mix of old and new - like Kuala Lumpur.

Here is a statue of a duck standing on a sidewalk.  It advertises a place not in the immediate vicinity.  Never before have I seen an advertisement in statue form so far from the place it advertises - in fact, I'm not used to seeing statue advertisements, except for Ronald McD and Col. Sanders, and they're always next to their restaurants.  It is perhaps noteworthy that the duck's backside is pointed towards McDonald's.  Seeing a blue duck statue in the middle of the sidewalk is a puzzling state of affairs and not good for traffic, like Kuala Lumpur itself.

Here is perhaps one of the worst toilets I've seen since I returned to Asia 6 months ago, and that is saying something.  The stains on it are not recent.  I'm not sure that it says anything about Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur, but it was sort of nasty.

Just like in the States

Saw this ad at a Vietnamese noodle shop in HCMC.  American beef noodle pho - just like mom used to make!

Pig and rice

I actually took these pictures in late May - I figured if pigs were going to inflict swine flu on us, the least I could do is take some revenge by eating some pig.  Go team human.

So I found an open air "restaurant" that served pig meat.  It came out of a sort of cauldron, bubbling with pig meat, and its neighboring kettle of other sort of pig meat, and it came over rice and with much pork on top and with pickled vegetables keeping it company.  It was glorious, and everything I always knew intra-species vengeance could be.

And then the proprietor, a lady who was a real artist when it came to pig meat, stopped by my table and opened a banana leaf full of I didn't know what.  And she started talking rapidly in Thai, but I caught "seafood", "delicious" and "eat".  I needed no further invitation, and dived right in - I recognized egg, and oyster, and some other sort of seafood, and some spices.  It was cold, but it was good.  

So - regardless of how bad the pig flu pandemic becomes, I can console myself with knowing that I've done my part.  Have you?

ps I didn't bother asking how much the food this restauranteur was giving me cost - I have not encountered any person in this entire town in six full months to be anything but honest about the price they have charged me, and that truly says remarkable things about the integrity of the people of Thailand.  One of the main Buddhist precepts is to not lie or cheat, and I have indeed found that to be the case.  

Octopus on a stick

Folks that know me know that I had fond memories of squid on a stick in Taiwan. My father did, too - he didn't have a chance to eat it when he was in Taiwan. So - Sam prepared him some, and I cooked it up some squid on a stick on the grill on my deck in Madison. It was the first time anyone ever ate squid on a stick within the borders of Wisconsin, USA. Yup, we're pioneers.

(how did my family like the squid? great, except I remember someone getting squirted on by an eye or an ink pack - well, they don't call them "ink fish" in Thai for nothing!)

Anyhow, I thought that squid on the stick was possibly both the most awesome and the most perfect food known to mankind. And then, lo and behold, one day walking down the streets of Bangkok I saw this - octopus on a stick. I looked, and stopped, and said in my best Thai "One!" And I pointed. My Thai isn't too great. But I got my octopus, although strangely enough they took it off the stick before serving it in a plastic bag with spicy sauce. About that - if you poke at octopus bits sitting in a saucy bag with a pointy stick, you might just end up poking a hole in the bag. I have seen many folks from Bangkok do this without problems, but mine sprung a leak right before I ate the last piece, and I had to abandon that bit to a trash can before the spicy octopus sauce got all over everything. I realized then I must master the complex skills of eating Thai street food. The Thais are masters, and I am but a novice. I thought I was not bad at eating street food, but truly, the Thais have elevated it to an art form. I am in awe.

ps the octopus was delicious

pss some of those tasty bits on the grill are actually squid body

pps I think I'll go grab some octopus on a stick