Home for the next week

Arrived at G’ma Jan’s (Bun’s stepmother) on the outskirts of KL. Hot and humid. A day for staying awake and eating the local food. We went to a local shopping mall for lunch and supplies from a supermarket. We all ate Nasi Lemak for lunch plus a bowl of fruit rojack, (rojack means “mix”, Jan told us that it is also used to refer to mixed marriages or mixed race). The fruit rojack contained pineapple, turnip, mango and cucumber all covered with a strong, sweet tasting sauce containing shrimp paste along with a deep-fried poppadom-looking crispy thing. Strange bedfellows, but it works. Bun drank a hot lime with assam (salted plumb) which probably contained a bag of sugar to counteract the lime and salt.

We went home for a brief nap during which time there was a 90 minute electric storm that took the electric out 4 times. Thunder rumbled throughout the storm. I love electrical storms but Bun isn’t too keen on them.

Dinner was at an old outdoor medan selera (food court). Unfortunately, what should have taken 30 mins to drive, took about 90 mins and someone the stalls had already closed by the time we arrived. However, plenty of selection remained. We are fortunate in that Bun spent the first 12 years of her life in Malaysia and we have always had Bun’s father and stepmother as a guides when buying street food. While the visible hygiene has improved over the years, the environment probably puts off a lot of visitors who either stick to hotel food or international chains and miss out on what we consider to be the tastiest, most freshly cooked and value for money food that we come across anywhere. It was interesting to see the “medan selera” concept being created at a number of locations in London. Off to bed, it’s been a long day since 6:15am Sunday morning. Next door are having an e tension built and the workmen will be starting at 8:00. Goodnight.Read more