My food tolerance boundaries have already been tested today; I’m happy to say my stomach is holding up pretty good so far. In 23 years in various parts of the United States (and a brief stint in Mexico), I’d managed to stay away from a lot of those “we might as well eat this too” foods. But today, my 3rd full day in Malaysia, I had quite a litany of different foods including chicken feet, spiced fish heads, pork mint soup, a salad topped with marinated oyster, coconut water (which you drink directly out of a skinned coconut) and most notably, Durian. Durian is the seed of a regional fruit (pictured below) got its claim to fame as the only food that Travel TV’s Bizarre Foods star could not bring himself to swallow. My boss, my British coworker, my boss’s friend, and I pulled up to an all-Durian street market where we could pull up to our table, park and grab some of the fruit off of the table. The seed, which grows inside of a blowfish-looking spiked fruit, has a very strong and odd odor and taste to go along with a very mushy, rotten custard-like texture. The texture was simply too much for me. I did what the Bizarre Foods star couldn’t and swallowed my first bite; but that was it, I had had enough. My British counterpart enjoyed it and had quite a bit. He underestimated how long and strong the odor lingers in your mouth though. It’s been almost 5 hours and I still taste it slightly even having only one bite. So I can imagine what it feels like for him. Needless to say, I tried it and I think I fulfilled my responsibility there. As I looked around at how popular the market was and how much people were enjoying the overly fatty and unhealthy ‘delicacy,’ I wondered to myself: This stuff is so popular that this place truly survives selling nothing but Durian and Durian products? They make cakes out of this mess? Once again, it made me realize just how different things were here. To be fair the coconut water, which is served out of a peeled coconut (also pictured below) was refreshing. As we were leaving, one of the native workers who was laughing at my face as I took the first bite of the Durian mustered up his best English to teach me my first Malaysian lesson of the day; “Live to Eat.” The natives insist that Malaysia has among the best and cheapest (Even at fairly upscale restaurants, I may not have to pay more than about $7.50 US for a meal, $3 or less most places) food in the region if not the world and that it’s irresistibly enjoyable almost everywhere you go; I would agree so far (except the Durian). We eat at a lot of street front cafes or street side bazaars (pictured) which are especially good and cheap. Now, some of the food is extremely hot and it will get my eyes watering and nose running; that will take some getting used to. This ain't like hot wings back home. Lesson two came through observation and analysis, everything is bigger in the US; therefore, everything is smaller in Malaysia. 90% of the cars driving on the wrong side of the toll-filled roads (it just seems weird) here are tiny, smaller than Corollas back home. Not to mention the droves of motorbikes, which are much smaller and less powerful than motorcycles. Our refrigerator is probably 60% of the size of most that you see back in the states. We went to the store to look around and buy some things and I asked the woman the absolute largest size the shower shoes I was looking to buy came in. Size 10. I wear 11 or 12. Am I really that big? As I looked at the pants with my British roommate (also significantly smaller than me), 80% of the pants are size 30 or smaller in the waist. Of the remainder, 85% of those are 32 or 34. I can count on one hand how many I saw that were 36 or 38. I don’t recall seeing one single 40. The size large shirts look like my undershirts. Much different from the states. Luckily, that also applies to prices. When converted to US dollars, most things here are about 30-45% of the cost back home; except for microwaves and grills which are much more expensive oddly enough. Gas costs about 2 ringgits (about $0.62) per litre. This is very encouraging financially to me as an American and double so to Tom, who hails from the ridiculously expensive United Kingdom. Also, I got to see the jobsite where I’ll be spending most of my year and other jobsites the company is working on. Most people in positions of power speak some English, but I’ll need to brush up on my Malay to communicate with most of the workforce. But the job still seems to be a great opportunity in the making. I also got to see the wonderful large and intricate model of the complex I’ll be working on. The model I built on my internship was impressive, but nowhere near this model in size detail or accuracy. Furthermore, I got the news that eventually we will be getting cable paid for by the company also. Once again, back flips would be in order if possible. Some things still need to be worked out, but another good day so far. It’s only 6 pm though. Another entry may be in order before the night is over. It is my first weekend in Malaysia after all. Selamat petang Malaysia…
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