I woke up this morning in my claustrophobic room and I said to myself, I gotta get the fuck outta here! Anywhere will do, anywhere but Kuala Lumpur. So I spoke with the lady at the front desk and walked to the bus ticket office a good fifteen minutes away. This was after my cold, soapless shower, which while invigorating probably wasn't the most cleansing.
Malaysia is definitely not as tourist friendly as Thailand or even Vietnam. I'm used to the bus coming to me and here I have to walk to the ticket office. I can't just purchase in my guest house or any nearby travel agent? I gotta walk?? Jaysus, where am I? At least the people here don't stare at you. It almost makes me miss Vietnam for a second, that false feeling of importance cause somebody's staring at you with bulging eyes because they haven't seen a foreigner in seventeen seconds and they forgot what one looked like.
I went back to my unrecommendable guest house and packed my bags. Upon leaving, to make the walk back to the ticket office, a kid climbing up the stairs asks with tired eyes, What time is it? 9:45 I say. In the morning? He is surprised. What happened to you? I ask. Oh I just feel asleep somewhere. I laugh to myself, finish tying my shoes and head down the stairs.
Today turned out to be a food day. Not much else to do. I had a 3-pack of walnut cookies from the convenience store at the bus station. And lo and behold, there were actually some walnuts. Unlike in Vietnam when you buy the almond cookies, all you get are peanuts. Hmmm those aren't almonds! Yet, I bought them over and over again. Not because I forgot, but because they were delicious.
After arriving in Melaka, it felt like bedtime, but in actuality was only 1:30pm. The bus ride was about two hours, but because I slept, I didn't have any concept of time. I eventually found a hotel after getting lost, sweating through my shirt and grumbling at people to get the fuck out of the way because they were walking too slowly on a pedestrian street and I was irritable and stuck behind them.
After checking in and putting down my bags, I went for another walk. This time it was much more enjoyable and I had far more patience despite saying Idiot a couple times at people seemingly learning to walk again for the first time. From what I could gather, there wasn't much to do here other than walk around and sample as much of the local street food as possible. So, that's what I did.
I started out with a very marginal dinner. There is no sense saving a buck to eat precooked shit unless the aforementioned shit is in Vietnam, half the price and a hundred times more delicious. But I'm in Malaysia and trying to eat Malay food and I've failed two days in a row. I thought the carrot juice would be nice, but it came mixed with evaporated milk. Tasted like milk and nothing like it should have.
Oh well! It's all cheap, I'll just eat until I'm satisfied. Pineapple tarts seem to be a local specialty. No thanks. And cendol, which is like shaved ice on top of beans, topped with coconut milk and a sugary syrup. I gave it a go. Nice presentation, but was almost too sweet and didn't really hit the spot. So, I continued on my walk and hit the mochi people. I get some to go and ate it when I get back to my hotel. It was delicious for the first several bites and then my stomach screamed Enouuuggh alreeaaady, but naturally I didn't listen. It was good stuff, but I don't need it again.
Mochi
And now that it's mostly digested and I've finished writing this, I can go back to my room and sample the chocolate covered peanuts I bought at the neighboring convenience store. And by sample, I mean finish. And fortunately, there isn't anyone to share with. Tomorrow, I swear, no sweets! Bwaahahaa
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