Travelfood

Malaysia is one of those Asian countries, where the tourist is astonished by how islam can be the main religion elsewhere than in the Middle East. We did not wake up to the call of the minarets in the same way as in the Middle East, but you are able to see lots of mosques in Malaysia. Beside islam also Christians, Hindus and Buddhists have their own parts of Malaysian cities. And everything seems to work without conflicts.

We visited the island of Penang for relaxation and the capital Kuala Lumpur for a big city visit. The beaches of Penang are perhaps not the cleanest or the most beautiful ones of Southeast Asia, but an iguana emerged suddenly from the bushes of the hotel’s beach and that was interesting. The most interesting sights of Kuala Lumpur were surprisingly not the posh glass palaces or the sky-high twin towers but nature parks! We visited a beautiful bird park, an orchid park and a butterfly park, which all were close to each other and accessible with one joint ticket.

We saw something unique by the hotel swimming pool. An Indian family with children sat down by the pool and the mother changed the diapers of her baby. The diaper was thrown into a rubbish bin, but the child was flushed clean in the swimming pool. Everything happened as if it was the most natural thing in the world but after that a few tourists rather took a shower than jumped into the pool.

Malaysian food is diverse and influences are borrowed from India, Thailand, Indonesia and China. We tasted hokkien mae shrimp soup, fried chicken in plum sauce, char koay teow flat noodles with beef and vegetables, fried beehon-noodles, rojak and pasembur in peanut sauce. Perhaps the most famous Malaysian dish, the laksa soup (which has nothing to do with laxatives), was a fish soup too spicy for me and I was not able to finish it.

Asia, exotism, food, Malaysia, travel, travel experiences