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  • Day 156

    Beaches and High Tea

    February 2, 2020 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    A few nights ago, Clarinda and I were out for our evening constitutional (since this is a post about high tea, pretty sure I’m not allowed to call it a walk). We noticed an ad for high tea, and told the girls about it. They were pretty excited, as they love high tea: the tea, delicate little finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off, clotted cream, jam, little tiny desserts served on three tiered trays and all things tea party. The highlight of our family tea experience (peak tea) was experienced a few years ago at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. The Empress sets a pretty high bar, so expectations were pretty high, given the fact that both Malaysia and Canada went through the British colonial experience.

    Dear reader, you may be shocked to learn that Malaysia did not deliver on our high tea expectations. Upon arrival we were confused: the multi-tiered trays, the clotted cream and jam, the scones-- all absent. In place we saw fried noodles and fried rice, curries, fish, mashed potatoes drenched in gravy, chicken nuggets, spring rolls, soup, samosas as well as a pasta station served up buffet style. They did have some finger sandwiches -- a generous coating of mayonnaise, with a light dusting of tuna preserved under heat lamps. Deserts consisted of a dry loaf and a variety of jellos straight out of a 1960s issue of Better Housekeeping magazine. Most of the food was mediocre, the highlight was the mashed potatoes, perhaps because I’ve not had them in months (or more likely because my standard of mashed potato excellence is boxed Idahoan potatoes).

    The girls were pretty disappointed in the tea experience, which given expectations, was a reasonable outcome. This served as a gentle reminder to us that expectations shape our perception of experience. If I re-frame the high tea experience as a buffet style meal that cost only about $6 CAD per person, then I would say that the meal was a total success. Perhaps easier for me to reconcile than it is for kids that have now been on the road for five months, and at times, are craving the familiar.

    David

    The beaches here are amazing. The water is warm, some beaches have lots of shade, the sand is soft and the beach is wide and long, the views and sunsets are so pretty. Unfortunately, the one closest to our house has little jellyfish that kind of hurt when they sting you but it's really pretty with the sunset. We found a beach that’s about a 30 minute drive from our place that is such a nice temperature. Today the tide was low so we could walk really far out. It's kind of like our own private beach because there aren't very many people who know about this beach because they just go to popular beaches. When there are people there they aren't too close to us. It’s really nice and refreshing to go swimming because it’s like +35 out.

    Neve
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