My meal costs how much?!?!?!

$0.82 US.

Yup, that's right, I had breakfast for 82 cents this morning, and it was delicious and awesome.

I headed out of the hostel this morning in search of breakfast. I walked down the street and popped into this little open air restaurant I came across, they seemed popular, and full of locals. There were two guys working at this big griddle station making a dish. I had seen it before, but never had it, nor did I know what it was. I later found out, after asking the hostel owner, that it was roti canai. It's awesome how it's made. The guy takes a piece of this dough, holding it from one end, and whips it through the air, letting it smack down against the table. He does this repeatedly, and the piece of dough flattens and gets larger and larger and larger, making a HUGE, thin disc. It's basically a flat bread. Its then griddled, cooked with fillings, folded over and cooked and so forth. The finally result... deliciousness. I got mine filled with eggs and onions, as the cook suggested. It's served with a thick, spiced gravy with a few vegetables. I got a coffee with condensed milk too. Very filling. And it only cost 2.70 Ringgits, 82 cents US.

Breakfast yesterday was really expensive though, that cost 4 Ringgits, or $1.21 US. That included a coffee, a watermelon juice (freshly made), and an awesome bowl of Mee Rabes. Mee Rabes is another local dish. It's noodles in a spicy broth (noodles for breakfast is very common in SE Asia), with a couple of pieces of vegetables and sweet chilies, and big chunks of fry-cake. The fry-cake is hard to describe, I was told it has onions in it, its kinda like a spongy tofu, battered and fried. The chunks are served over the noodles, but you stir them in when you go to eat it, and the batter absorbs the broth. This breakfast was also awesome.

The guy working there was really friendly. It seems that this place (another open air place nearby the hostel filled with locals) just serves drinks, and if you want food, you order it from the cart outside (where I got my noodles). He guided me through what I should get, how to eat it and so on. He, like other people I met had questions about my trip, where I'm from, what do I do and more.

I gotta say, I've seen a lot of friendly faces in my time in Malaysia. From the moment I was at the bus station in Johor Bahru, I was getting many curious looks, smiles, and waves. Though there's definitely a strong base of tourists here, getting off the beaten path a bit helps, and the people here really seem to like outsiders visiting. Here In Melaka, I get more people saying hi, trying to help me with what I'm doing. Malaysia is famous for hospitality.

Yesterday, Saturday, I explored the area a bit. It's a very historical city, settled by the Portuguese. I walked around the old city a bit. I saw Chinatown which was interesting, some Chinese temples and such. I also visited Christ Church, the oldest church in Southeast Asia. In the evening I went back to Chinatown for the night market. Not my thing. It was jam packed with people, hard to move. It was very cheesy and touristy, not authentic like I hoped. The vendors were really selling crap you can get anywhere. I tried to get out, uit was difficult, with the massive amounts of people there. I went back to the hostel and fell asleep.

This morning after breakfast I checked out for the old city, heading in a different direction. I found the Indian community, and had lunch there of chicken biryani and more. It's not the afternoon, and I'm just hanging out. I took a nap. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow, maybe I'll rent a bike.

I know I mentioned it before, but this hostel/guesthouse really has some character. It's run by a Malaysian guy, Mark, who has some serious traveling under his belt. He lives in the hostel (I think in a room not much fancier than anyone else's). Mark's job seems to be hang out and talk with travelers, be at peace with the world, maintain a beard-ponytail combo and of course manage a small hostel. It's kinda basic here, one shower for the 14 rooms of people (the rooms are either single or doubles). There's no hot water; yup, thats right, cold showers with little pressure. Make sure you rinse and squeegee the floor, it's really just a shower head in the bathroom, no actual shower/bathtub. Much of the place is open air, birds fly through. I've seen lots of the little lizards that I mentioned, though they don't come far inside. There's a few koi ponds. Plants everywhere. There's no air conditioners (how could there be?), just fans. People walk around in various states of dress. Make sure you leave your shoes at the door. The fridge is stocked with soft drinks and yogurt. You serve yourself. You pay based on the honor system; you write down what you take on your page in a little book on the table. It's tallied up at the end of your stay.

Please pass the granola, man.

I probably wont be able to get any pictures up until I get to Kuala Lumpur, this computer's pretty old. I should head out on Tuesday, I'm really excited.

Feeling groovy in Melaka,

Mike





P.S. Barcleigh, I'm so glad your commenting on my blog. Your most recent post was very thought inspiring. I'm particularly amazed at the fact that you can use the computer, granted you don't possess fingers or thumbs.