Eating out at the stalls is a way of life here in Malaysia. It very cheap and quite tasty. Not many people cook in their homes - I guess it's too hot so they eat out for almost all of their meals. You can find stalls almost anywhere on the streets. At these particular stalls, which were a 20 minute drive from the school, we could order Western foods like lasagna, cheesecake or fish and chips along with all the Asian fare. I had the spicy pineapple rice with shrimp - my esophagus is still burning!! I managed to eat most of it with chopsticks, too. And as you can see, we are right on the ocean overlooking mainland Malaysia. A huge cruise ship went by later on all lit up with bright lights.
The procedure at the stalls is simple - you walk around to the different ones to see what's available. Everything is listed by pictures. You point to the picture of the particular food item you want (see below). There is no changing the menu either like we do in North America where we might ask for them to "hold the tomatoes" or something like that. Not there - what you see in the picture is what you get. You tell them your table number and then go and sit down. They bring your item and that's when you pay them. We spent about 30 ringgitt tonight for supper for four - that's about $8 CDN.
I have noticed a definite lack of vegetables in the menu items - lots of rice and meat but very few vegetables. I would love a good spinach salad but that's highly unlikely!! At least fresh fruit and freshly squeezed juices are in abundance.
Note from above: when I say point, I do not mean with your index finger. This is very rude in Asian culture. So you close your hand and place your thumb on top and point that way. And always with the right hand as the left is considered unclean. Tim accidentally forgot this piece of cultural information tonight and pointed with his index finger. The woman at the stall immediately backed up with a strange look on her face. Asians are too polite to say anything but you could tell she was appalled. We have so much to learn!!!
4 comments:
Shauna, your pictures are amazing! I feel like I can see you there. Your dorm looks so clean! It is hard not to compare with Niger!! We just packed our last box!! Two days ahead of schedule! Tim said not to start packing anything else! We will be receiving some tables and chairs for the school sometime today, so we just have to clean up now!! I'm just thankful that we can relax a little bit. On Sunday Tim is teaching Sunday School, preaching the AM service and then I take the women and he takes the men for the evening service. We are thinking of doing Jewel's theology of risk for the evening service. Tim is going to preach on the life of Joseph, a TCK extra-ordinaire! Are Kaleb and Annie excited for the kids to arrive? We are excited for you. My sister's blog is
oops, my sister's blog is mac3mom.blogspot if you want to check out her ausbergers stuff. Sorry I forgot to get that to you earlier! Love you!
Janice
Great Pics - thank you for taking the time to add them. It is wonderful to "see" where you are and what your new home looks like. The view is truly fabulous!
We are very much enjoying the details you have been sharing with us. Keep on posting.
Your site is on top of my favourites - Great work I like it.
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