Night Market

Some things never change and others things are changing so quickly. The night markets don’t appear to have changed all of the time we have been coming to Malaysia. Some of the goods that are sold are traditional, some are modern and much is food. Sugar cane is still squeezed and the juice collected for a drink. Similarly coconut water is drained from the coconuts and bottled in front of you.

What is changing is the approach to litter, waste, plastics etc. Bins in the malls ask for waste to be separated for recycling. Plastic straws are (should) no longer be served with drinks, but you may request one if you want one. There are campaigns about the environment in many places. I wasn’t aware that - if food waste was a country, it would be the third largest contributor to carbon dioxide after USA and China.

The food available is becoming very westernised. Major chains are in all of the malls and many of the streets. “Tiger Sugar” that sells a whole range of drinks, but all with lashings of brown sugar. I guess it won’t be long before they catch up the rest of the world with the “diabesity” epidemic.Read more