On our first day in Malacca, D&T decided to treat us to a little road trip to the nearby beach of Port Dickson.
Loading up
Dave and Teresa's job in Malaysia is to teach English teachers, which requires them to visit various schools everyday. As a part of their contract, the Malaysian government gave them brand new cars. It sounds awesome on paper, and is even more awesome in real life. Check out their sweet, matching Proton Sagas!
They drive on the left in Malaysia, which is frightening in general, but even scarier when it's these two Canadians behind the wheel!
Picking their poison
Somehow, Dave and Teresa repeatedly managed to bring donuts (specifically a donut called The Alien) into the conversation the night before, so that morning, before heading to the beach (and breakfast), we made them take us to their donut spot, Big Apple Donuts & Coffee, for our first of many donuts while in Malaysia.
The furry looking one with the pink is The Alien, D&T's favorite. The other one is the Dandy Randy.
The descriptions of each from the company's website:
The Alien - "The perfect mix & match of chocolate dip & filling inside and out."
That's an OK description. It at least tells you one ingredient (two if you count 'filling'), where as the Dandy Randy's description leaves you more confused.
Dandy Randy - "This is a palatable journey for the bold and strong. Preferred robust flavors married with the shindig of wicked smiles and sublime conversations."
Riiiight...
Not being big donut eaters, we were a little skeptical of a Malaysia based Asian donut chain, but Dave and Teresa made believers out of us. The Alien was just as delicious as they talked it up to be. It really was the perfect mix & match of dip & filling!
After our Big Apple appetizer, we went to get some real breakfast at one of their favorite roadside hawker stalls. Hawker stalls are open buildings where many different stands are set up specializing in a certain dish or type of food: noodles, soups, rice, fried things, skewered things and other delicacies - street food with a roof!
Fried Popiah
Popiah, meaning 'skin' is Malaysia's spring roll. It is a wheat pancake filled with bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage and some type of meat cooked in a soy or hoisin sauce. You can get them fresh or fried. Of course, we opted for the friend variety.
Siew Pao
This is the Malaysian version of a Chinese steamed bun or Humbow. It's a baked pastry that's slightly sweet filled with a meat cooked in soy sauce, giving it a nice flavor contrast. Pretty tasty!
Delivering the Laksa.
Nyonya Laksa is a heavily spiced coconut milk based noodle soup. It generally contains some type of seafood and fish balls along with noodles, bean sprouts and other vegetables and served with a spoonful of sambal chili sauce, but can include any other kind of meat instead of seafood. This Laksa has whitefish, fish balls and lots of curry. It was delicious!
Negotiating
In the excitement of eating, Teresa forgot to put a parking pass on the dashboard. The people working in the hawker stall noticed the police man and warned us, but the warning came a little too late and she ended up getting the ticket anyway.
Nasi Lemak Bungkus
On the way out from breakfast, on an impulse, Andrew picked up these two beauts as a last snack before hitting the road. Nasi Lemak is considered the national dish of Malaysia. The Nasi Lemak Bungkus, is a small, t0-go version of it. Traditionally, it's steamed coconut rice, with dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, a hard boiled egg, some form of meat and chili sauce wrapped in a banana leaf. These one's were a bit simpler, containing only meat, sauce and rice; one pork and one chicken.
Little girls on their way to school.
(You'd have a tough time turning this into a sexy school girl uniform!)
Traffic was awful!
The parking lot was full of people selling all types of crap.
Was this an accident? A prank? A Malaysian bird tag? Was he just married? Whatever the reason a streamer was connected to this guy's foot, the dumb fella didn't seem to notice.
We arrived in Port Dickson about an hour and a half after hitting the road, aka an hour and a half after breakfast. Andrew was in I'm-on-vacation-so-I-gotta-eat-everything mode, so this meant it was high time for a snack. He wanted a fried banana, but the man wouldn't sell him fewer than 4. Instead, the man just gave Andrew one, which he devoured and enjoyed.
The man was so nice to just give him the fried banana, that he had to buy something. After thinking long and hard, Andrew settled on this heart-shaped chicken nugget skewer. As with all chicken nuggets, it would have been better with ketchup, but it was not bad on it's own.
Our rented slice of paradise
Andrew's Shadow
He stood guard while everyone changed into their suits.
When they got back, he decided that another snack took priority over a swimsuit change, so he headed off to explore the rows of food stalls.
Lady's Choice!
Beach Food!
After a lap up and down the stretch, he decided to go with the boys at Ramly Burger. It looked like a respectable joint, and they used far more lard on the grill than the other 'burger' stalls he passed.
The Egg Banjo
We were blown away by the number of burqas and head coverings worn by the majority of the women while people watching in Kuala Lumpur. Maybe we're ignorant, we don't know, but we had no idea just how Muslim a country Malaysia really was. And, without much experience in Muslim countries, we were continually surprised throughout our trip. One of those times was at the beach. Judy and Teresa were the only females in swimsuits. All the other girls were wearing long sleeved shirts with jeans, floor length skirts, sweat pants or pajama pants to play in the sand, go swimming and even ride the banana boat. It was fascinating (minus the thought of wet, sandy jeans, which is absolutely revolting).
This rat-tailed stud is who rented us the chairs and umbrella...
Grilled Otak-Otak
Otak-Otak, a common Southeast Asian treat, is a paste made of ground mackerel and spices (chillies, garlic, turmeric and lemongrass), then steamed or grilled in a banana leaf. It was OK. The flavor was nice, but the texture was a bit on the mushy side for our liking.
Malaysian ice cream 'truck'
The delicious grilled corn man
The fresh coconut lady
Drinkin' his coconut
Andrew actually spent the entire time at the beach sitting in the shade and/or eating. Everyone else changed into swimsuits, went into the water and laid in the sun (normal things one does on a beach) but he wasn't having any of that!
Poor Ponies
Why they were offering pony rides at the beach, we have no clue, but it was really sad. And, no one was cleaning up after those sad little creatures, so big ol' pony poop piles were everywhere.
Much to Andrew's liking, after the beach the others started to get hungry, so we set out in search of dinner. We drove along the stretch of the beach a few times, looking for a seafood grill, and finally decided on this road-side restaurant, Barakat Tomyam Seafood.
The (very rare) Malaysian Table Tree
The sun washed out the sweat on Dave and Judy,
so they at least looked presentable...
...with their backs to the sun, Andrew and Teresa,
on the other hand, weren't quite as lucky!
kiwi shaved ice
Near the bottom of the extensive juice menu, Andrew found 'corn juice.' For each of the juices, you had to choose to have it with shaved ice or as a milkshake. The thought of a corn-shake was really enticing, but he decided to go with the corn shaved ice instead, because he was afraid the ice cream would dilute the corn's naturally delicious flavors. Not mentioned on the menu was the fact that all the juices come with a hefty serving of simple syrup, so it was the flavor of canned corn only sickeningly sweet. A few drags on the straw were all he could handle. ☹
Behind that fence was the kitchen
An amazing chandelier made of spray painted Styrofoam plates!
We picked up a stray...
The Spread!
From left to right: Clams in a spicy sauce, chicken balls, fried rice, fried rice and 'fish with 3 flavors'. (not pictured because it hadn't come out of the kitchen yet: squid in the same sauce as the clams.) All of them were good, but the fish was amazing!
The Champion!
We never figured out what the '3 flavors' were exactly. Sweet, salty and spicy perhaps? It didn't matter. It was too delicious to waste eating time trying to figure them out.
Loading upDave and Teresa's job in Malaysia is to teach English teachers, which requires them to visit various schools everyday. As a part of their contract, the Malaysian government gave them brand new cars. It sounds awesome on paper, and is even more awesome in real life. Check out their sweet, matching Proton Sagas!
They drive on the left in Malaysia, which is frightening in general, but even scarier when it's these two Canadians behind the wheel!
Picking their poisonSomehow, Dave and Teresa repeatedly managed to bring donuts (specifically a donut called The Alien) into the conversation the night before, so that morning, before heading to the beach (and breakfast), we made them take us to their donut spot, Big Apple Donuts & Coffee, for our first of many donuts while in Malaysia.
The furry looking one with the pink is The Alien, D&T's favorite. The other one is the Dandy Randy.The descriptions of each from the company's website:
The Alien - "The perfect mix & match of chocolate dip & filling inside and out."
That's an OK description. It at least tells you one ingredient (two if you count 'filling'), where as the Dandy Randy's description leaves you more confused.
Dandy Randy - "This is a palatable journey for the bold and strong. Preferred robust flavors married with the shindig of wicked smiles and sublime conversations."
Riiiight...
Not being big donut eaters, we were a little skeptical of a Malaysia based Asian donut chain, but Dave and Teresa made believers out of us. The Alien was just as delicious as they talked it up to be. It really was the perfect mix & match of dip & filling!
After our Big Apple appetizer, we went to get some real breakfast at one of their favorite roadside hawker stalls. Hawker stalls are open buildings where many different stands are set up specializing in a certain dish or type of food: noodles, soups, rice, fried things, skewered things and other delicacies - street food with a roof!
Fried PopiahPopiah, meaning 'skin' is Malaysia's spring roll. It is a wheat pancake filled with bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage and some type of meat cooked in a soy or hoisin sauce. You can get them fresh or fried. Of course, we opted for the friend variety.
Siew PaoThis is the Malaysian version of a Chinese steamed bun or Humbow. It's a baked pastry that's slightly sweet filled with a meat cooked in soy sauce, giving it a nice flavor contrast. Pretty tasty!
Delivering the Laksa.
Nyonya Laksa is a heavily spiced coconut milk based noodle soup. It generally contains some type of seafood and fish balls along with noodles, bean sprouts and other vegetables and served with a spoonful of sambal chili sauce, but can include any other kind of meat instead of seafood. This Laksa has whitefish, fish balls and lots of curry. It was delicious!
NegotiatingIn the excitement of eating, Teresa forgot to put a parking pass on the dashboard. The people working in the hawker stall noticed the police man and warned us, but the warning came a little too late and she ended up getting the ticket anyway.
Nasi Lemak BungkusOn the way out from breakfast, on an impulse, Andrew picked up these two beauts as a last snack before hitting the road. Nasi Lemak is considered the national dish of Malaysia. The Nasi Lemak Bungkus, is a small, t0-go version of it. Traditionally, it's steamed coconut rice, with dried anchovies, roasted peanuts, a hard boiled egg, some form of meat and chili sauce wrapped in a banana leaf. These one's were a bit simpler, containing only meat, sauce and rice; one pork and one chicken.
Little girls on their way to school.(You'd have a tough time turning this into a sexy school girl uniform!)
Traffic was awful!
@ Port Dickson
The parking lot was full of people selling all types of crap.
Was this an accident? A prank? A Malaysian bird tag? Was he just married? Whatever the reason a streamer was connected to this guy's foot, the dumb fella didn't seem to notice.
We arrived in Port Dickson about an hour and a half after hitting the road, aka an hour and a half after breakfast. Andrew was in I'm-on-vacation-so-I-gotta-eat-everything mode, so this meant it was high time for a snack. He wanted a fried banana, but the man wouldn't sell him fewer than 4. Instead, the man just gave Andrew one, which he devoured and enjoyed.
The man was so nice to just give him the fried banana, that he had to buy something. After thinking long and hard, Andrew settled on this heart-shaped chicken nugget skewer. As with all chicken nuggets, it would have been better with ketchup, but it was not bad on it's own.
Our rented slice of paradise
Andrew's ShadowHe stood guard while everyone changed into their suits.
When they got back, he decided that another snack took priority over a swimsuit change, so he headed off to explore the rows of food stalls.
Lady's Choice!
Beach Food!
After a lap up and down the stretch, he decided to go with the boys at Ramly Burger. It looked like a respectable joint, and they used far more lard on the grill than the other 'burger' stalls he passed.
The Egg BanjoA fried egg, shredded cabbage and mayo on
a buttered hamburger bun. It was awesome!
a buttered hamburger bun. It was awesome!
We were blown away by the number of burqas and head coverings worn by the majority of the women while people watching in Kuala Lumpur. Maybe we're ignorant, we don't know, but we had no idea just how Muslim a country Malaysia really was. And, without much experience in Muslim countries, we were continually surprised throughout our trip. One of those times was at the beach. Judy and Teresa were the only females in swimsuits. All the other girls were wearing long sleeved shirts with jeans, floor length skirts, sweat pants or pajama pants to play in the sand, go swimming and even ride the banana boat. It was fascinating (minus the thought of wet, sandy jeans, which is absolutely revolting).
This rat-tailed stud is who rented us the chairs and umbrella...Time for another round of snacks!
Grilled Otak-Otak
Otak-Otak, a common Southeast Asian treat, is a paste made of ground mackerel and spices (chillies, garlic, turmeric and lemongrass), then steamed or grilled in a banana leaf. It was OK. The flavor was nice, but the texture was a bit on the mushy side for our liking.
Malaysian ice cream 'truck'
The delicious grilled corn man
The fresh coconut lady
Drinkin' his coconutAndrew actually spent the entire time at the beach sitting in the shade and/or eating. Everyone else changed into swimsuits, went into the water and laid in the sun (normal things one does on a beach) but he wasn't having any of that!
Poor PoniesWhy they were offering pony rides at the beach, we have no clue, but it was really sad. And, no one was cleaning up after those sad little creatures, so big ol' pony poop piles were everywhere.
Much to Andrew's liking, after the beach the others started to get hungry, so we set out in search of dinner. We drove along the stretch of the beach a few times, looking for a seafood grill, and finally decided on this road-side restaurant, Barakat Tomyam Seafood.
The (very rare) Malaysian Table Tree
The sun washed out the sweat on Dave and Judy,so they at least looked presentable...
...with their backs to the sun, Andrew and Teresa,on the other hand, weren't quite as lucky!
kiwi shaved ice
Near the bottom of the extensive juice menu, Andrew found 'corn juice.' For each of the juices, you had to choose to have it with shaved ice or as a milkshake. The thought of a corn-shake was really enticing, but he decided to go with the corn shaved ice instead, because he was afraid the ice cream would dilute the corn's naturally delicious flavors. Not mentioned on the menu was the fact that all the juices come with a hefty serving of simple syrup, so it was the flavor of canned corn only sickeningly sweet. A few drags on the straw were all he could handle. ☹
Behind that fence was the kitchen
An amazing chandelier made of spray painted Styrofoam plates!
We picked up a stray...
The Spread!From left to right: Clams in a spicy sauce, chicken balls, fried rice, fried rice and 'fish with 3 flavors'. (not pictured because it hadn't come out of the kitchen yet: squid in the same sauce as the clams.) All of them were good, but the fish was amazing!
The Champion!We never figured out what the '3 flavors' were exactly. Sweet, salty and spicy perhaps? It didn't matter. It was too delicious to waste eating time trying to figure them out.
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