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The Petronas Twin Towers
phew that's a lot a stairs, think i'll stick to the air-con malls While the main purpose of our trip to Malaysia was simply to get to Singapore, we ended up munching our way through the most eclectic mix of food we've ever been exposed to (except Indian, I still can't look a curry in the eye - especially the ones with eyes). With its melting pot of cultures and wealth of cuisines, Malaysia had a lot to tempt us after relentless curries and mountainous noodles - we took full advantage.
Seeing as how there was a distinct lack of success when we tried to find Dim Sum in Hong Kong, where it is meant to be the food stuff of choice, we jumped at the chance when it was offered in Kuala Lumpur. Scoffing down plates of the delicious prawn, seafood, and 'meat' (just don't ask) dumplings prepared and cooked in huge steaming vats in front of us. Impressed that he had won our custom from the multitude of other neon-lit, smokey, steamy stalls, the owner of the establishment took time away from his open-air sauna to seat us pride of place on his patio furniture in the middle of the road in full view of other possible clients ... and the
traffic! He then gleefully attempted to explain the contents of each small bamboo steamer we had to choose from with rising enthusiasm. The problems with Dim Sum, however, are not only the vast options you have but also the very small and subtle differences between them - which lot of 'meat' dumplings do you go for. Unable to reject any on looks alone, we thought it only fair to try them all.
Malaysia and it's hawker stalls also gave us the opportunity to put in to practice the months of experimentation and desensitisation to peanuts Duncan went though before we left home when we dined on traditional Satay. Skewers of chicken, veggies and the ever popular 'meat' plunged into pots of bubbling, gloopy peanut sauce. Our hard work thankfully paid off in the form of some of the best tasting and cheapest meals we have ever had. And at only 1 Ringitt a stick (13p) I didn't really care if it made him sick, I was coming back again and again (He could go to Mc D's).
After our brief stop in Kuala Lumpur, because that's where the plane landed, we headed to the main attraction of Malaysia
- Capitol Satay. Another backstreet eatery this time in the historic seaside port of Melacca. Vats of boiling peanut sauce embedded in the very core of the table, heated by a 20 gallon can of propane conveniently situated directly under your bum (a bit worrying really). Add to this walls of refrigerators chockful of trays overflowing with skewered items - again some more recognisable than others. This time they were priced at only 60c (8p!) each meaning it would have been unfeasibly rude not to try everything. Tossing things into the pot of lava-esq liquid and fishing them out while avoiding the backsplash of hot oil also provided excellent entertainment to accompany the meal. While trying to guess if they are cooked or not invokes a cross between child like 'are we there yet' mentality and a desperation to avoid a less than pleasant encore tomorrow morning. To top it off when we were presented with plates of bread and cucumber chunks, it proved too hard not to throw these in as well regardless of whether this was the correct etiquette or not. This was a treat not to miss and when we physically couldn't stomach any more and the waitresses had lost interest in the funny foreigners who giggled every time the goo threatened to swallow us whole they brought the bill. Never has this been such a pleasurable experience, 24 Ringitts or 350p - that'll do nicely!
As well as trying to eat our own weight in Satay and Dim sum we also found time to drag ourselves to a traditional Malay tea house where ordering something as innocuous as a pot of tea proved more complicated than either of us could possibly have imagined. After chocing a simple 'pot for 2' we were then presented with the 'extended' tea menu. This was no ordinary menu, however, each of the 30 or so types of teas on offer were detailed strictly according to not only the core benefits they provided the body but the secondary and even tertiary benefits on offer. Deciding against teas to help balance the levels of oestrogen in Duncan's body we choose one to detox our blood systems and relax tired muscles. Technically we actually went for the highly scientific method of close your eyes and point. Still it was pretty tasty,plus what these people can do with beef ....wow
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