In praise of: Malaysia

The Prime Minister may be a crook, but I love Malaysia. For my third visit we spent a few days in an apartment in central Kuala Lumpur, then a week in central Langkawi, high on a hill overlooking paddy fields, with a rubber plantation beside us full of squabbling monkeys. All around us were butterflies, geckoes, birds. We ate mostly in the nearest village, Ulu Melaka. This is the man the children called “The Roti Guy”:

We also ate at roadside places, for example Nasi Dagang Pak Malau which looked out to the same paddy fields:  

Everywhere we went, Miss 12 (left, above) and Miss 14 (right) ate the food without complaint. This does not always happen at home, where I make their dinner. Cendol helped.

One local I talked with was surprised that I was interested in Malay food, astonished that I often make Nasi Lemak for my lunch, and amazed that I make the sambal from my own chillies. Which was nice, but even better was that Tiger beer was 70 NZ cents.

And at the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, we saw this Great Hornbill. We named it Donald: