October 2, 2002
Clouds – scorching sun – heavy rain – massive jams to Cheras.
I live in a place called Pandan Perdana; it is right on the border between Kuala Lumpur (for the uninitiated, that the capitol of Malaysia) and Selangor (one of Malaysia’s West coast states). Ain and I bought this apartment here because it is nearer to her workplace and they have their own daycare center. I work in Bangi, which is about thirty minutes to two hours away depending on the traffic.
Perhaps I’ll tell you more about my family a little later for now, I would like to paint a picture about what a day is like here, for me anyway. This morning was a cloudy and I thought it would rain a little later in the morning as it normally would if the clouds are dark early in the morning but it did not. By about ten, the sun was out and by about twelve, it was scorching. On a hot day like this, you could stand outside and world around you would look like bleached paintings. The green, that is probably the most common color here, would be thin and on some trees, they look almost white. Although to be fair, the bleach-out effect we have here is nothing like the kind they have in the desert countries. I remember once when I stood against a window in Dubai and looked out, what I saw was almost like the work of an artist who was desperately running out of color. No, on days like this, all you need is a good pair of sunglasses and the world would just back to life. I recommend those amber ones because they really make the colors stand out: deep rich green or leaves against dark bark of trees beside the road… quite nice, I think.
October 3, 2002
I was once asked the question, where is Malaysia? It was at a party in Lancaster, UK and the person asking was not entirely sober, so here is the answer I gave, “From London, you head southwest, keep going until you hit Dubai. Then turn left and keep going until you hit Bangkok. Now take a right and stay in that general direction and you can’t miss Malaysia. If you find yourself staring signboards that say “Welcome to Singapore,” you have gone too far and you need to make a U turn.” The guy said, “Oh, great! You can drive there.”
How would you recognize the fact that you have arrived once you are in Malaysia? Simple, Malaysians are preoccupied with food. You will be able to see people selling food at almost every corner of the place… I exaggerate the selling part but the preoccupations Malaysians have with food is a proven fact. Historical accident has given Malaysians an interesting mix of delicious, although sometimes bizarre, cuisines. There are also variations of things available here that are not quite the same as they have in the native countries. Of this, two comes immediately to mind, the Malaysian favorite breakfast roti canai and the karipap. Roti canai, is the Malaysian version of the Indian paratha, I am not sure exactly how they differ but I am told by Indians that I have met that they do. The last time I had paratha was in England, so I cannot say what an authentic Indian paratha would be like and so I am not really qualified to say what the differences are. The karipap is a Malaysian version of another Indian food, the karanji. The difference is that the Malaysian karipap, the word comes from ‘curry puff’, is filled with spicy mixes of potatoes and meat, or sardines with chili while the Indian karanji is sweet – I learnt this from a recipe in an Indian magazine I once read at a barbershop, while the man was cutting my hair.
The Chinese Malaysian food is also different, to a certain extent, from other Chinese foods. I seem to remember reading a story in the newspaper a long time ago, a Chinese Malaysian chef had won an international Chinese chef competition in Hong Kong. The reporters asked him if he cooked the same way when he was in Malaysia, he said no because if he cooked the same way he did to win the competition when he was in Malaysia, his audience would think that he did not know how to cook. When asked why, he said, “not enough chili.”
I guess, that is one of the weaknesses we have here, our deep fondness for hot food, especially in Negeri Sembilan. There things take a different twist, they love the flavor of a those tiny chilies called cili padi or cili burung. Tiny fruits that pack several times the wallop of their bigger cousins. The Thais also share this love.
Incidentally, since we are talking about hot food, I had lunch at Nando’s today. That South African chicken place seems to be gaining popularity here and I think its because of their chili sauce. I noticed how the people were happily pouring them onto their plates, with glee almost. Then they would gulp down their soft drinks with an air of desperation. Come to think of it, perhaps there is a kind of madness we all share: we live almost in an oven. And what do we do about it? we eat large quantities of hot food that makes us sweat. Sweat cools you down but I am certain we get too much of it already without the help of chilies.
Ah well, good night.
Clouds – scorching sun – heavy rain – massive jams to Cheras.
I live in a place called Pandan Perdana; it is right on the border between Kuala Lumpur (for the uninitiated, that the capitol of Malaysia) and Selangor (one of Malaysia’s West coast states). Ain and I bought this apartment here because it is nearer to her workplace and they have their own daycare center. I work in Bangi, which is about thirty minutes to two hours away depending on the traffic.
Perhaps I’ll tell you more about my family a little later for now, I would like to paint a picture about what a day is like here, for me anyway. This morning was a cloudy and I thought it would rain a little later in the morning as it normally would if the clouds are dark early in the morning but it did not. By about ten, the sun was out and by about twelve, it was scorching. On a hot day like this, you could stand outside and world around you would look like bleached paintings. The green, that is probably the most common color here, would be thin and on some trees, they look almost white. Although to be fair, the bleach-out effect we have here is nothing like the kind they have in the desert countries. I remember once when I stood against a window in Dubai and looked out, what I saw was almost like the work of an artist who was desperately running out of color. No, on days like this, all you need is a good pair of sunglasses and the world would just back to life. I recommend those amber ones because they really make the colors stand out: deep rich green or leaves against dark bark of trees beside the road… quite nice, I think.
October 3, 2002
I was once asked the question, where is Malaysia? It was at a party in Lancaster, UK and the person asking was not entirely sober, so here is the answer I gave, “From London, you head southwest, keep going until you hit Dubai. Then turn left and keep going until you hit Bangkok. Now take a right and stay in that general direction and you can’t miss Malaysia. If you find yourself staring signboards that say “Welcome to Singapore,” you have gone too far and you need to make a U turn.” The guy said, “Oh, great! You can drive there.”
How would you recognize the fact that you have arrived once you are in Malaysia? Simple, Malaysians are preoccupied with food. You will be able to see people selling food at almost every corner of the place… I exaggerate the selling part but the preoccupations Malaysians have with food is a proven fact. Historical accident has given Malaysians an interesting mix of delicious, although sometimes bizarre, cuisines. There are also variations of things available here that are not quite the same as they have in the native countries. Of this, two comes immediately to mind, the Malaysian favorite breakfast roti canai and the karipap. Roti canai, is the Malaysian version of the Indian paratha, I am not sure exactly how they differ but I am told by Indians that I have met that they do. The last time I had paratha was in England, so I cannot say what an authentic Indian paratha would be like and so I am not really qualified to say what the differences are. The karipap is a Malaysian version of another Indian food, the karanji. The difference is that the Malaysian karipap, the word comes from ‘curry puff’, is filled with spicy mixes of potatoes and meat, or sardines with chili while the Indian karanji is sweet – I learnt this from a recipe in an Indian magazine I once read at a barbershop, while the man was cutting my hair.
The Chinese Malaysian food is also different, to a certain extent, from other Chinese foods. I seem to remember reading a story in the newspaper a long time ago, a Chinese Malaysian chef had won an international Chinese chef competition in Hong Kong. The reporters asked him if he cooked the same way when he was in Malaysia, he said no because if he cooked the same way he did to win the competition when he was in Malaysia, his audience would think that he did not know how to cook. When asked why, he said, “not enough chili.”
I guess, that is one of the weaknesses we have here, our deep fondness for hot food, especially in Negeri Sembilan. There things take a different twist, they love the flavor of a those tiny chilies called cili padi or cili burung. Tiny fruits that pack several times the wallop of their bigger cousins. The Thais also share this love.
Incidentally, since we are talking about hot food, I had lunch at Nando’s today. That South African chicken place seems to be gaining popularity here and I think its because of their chili sauce. I noticed how the people were happily pouring them onto their plates, with glee almost. Then they would gulp down their soft drinks with an air of desperation. Come to think of it, perhaps there is a kind of madness we all share: we live almost in an oven. And what do we do about it? we eat large quantities of hot food that makes us sweat. Sweat cools you down but I am certain we get too much of it already without the help of chilies.
Ah well, good night.
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