26 November 2011

Thanksgiving Abroad

I miss Thanksgiving and family.  Preparing with my mom for a week in advance, looking through recipes for hours before deciding on some of the same things.  Shopping and then cooking for hours and hours.  And then spending the whole day with family, playing cards, catching up, watching the parade, all of it. I miss it.  I dont know the next time I will be spending Thanksgiving with family.  I wish I could be there next year, but with plans to work abroad again, who knows.  I want it though.

With that being said, we did have a good Thanksgiving.  Parks and I met two Americans that we first encountered in Ko Phi Phi in a very random way.  We met them and they had a great idea to eat a whole chicken on the beach and spend the whole day talking about Thanksgiving with anyone who would listen.  So we bought some food and drinks and went to the beach and invited anyone who would walk by to come and join in our celebration.  By the end of the night, we had an Israeli, a few Germans (new ones), a few English ladies, and a few Thais.  It was awesome! Exactly what Thanksgiving is supposed to be, meeting new people and coming together under the idea of being thankful for what you have.

So I will write a few things that I am thankful for...
All of the beautiful people in my life, I am so thankful to have family and friends that are so incredibly loving and supportive.  From the friends I dont talk to anymore to the future friends and family members I have yet to meet, you all mean a lot to me and I hope you know how much you all mean to me. 

The ability to travel and experience this world, whatever small portion I am able to see along the way. 

The ability to make connections, meet people, interact with them, and make new friends.

And while this list isnt by any means complete, I think the most important thing is the people and connections I have in my life.

It might be a day or two late, but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day and that you realize what a special gift life is and celebrate all of the people in your life!

Islands


And then there were two. We parted ways in KL with our Danya as she ventured off to see family in Australia. Parks and I continued our trek north to the islands. We took an overnight train to Penang. Well actually it stopped in Butterworth and then we had to take a ferry to Georgetown, Penang. Arriving at 7:30 in the morning, nothing really was open. We picked a hostel, dropped our bags off and set out for breakfast. Found a place after walking around for a bit and saw some pretty interesting things along the way: a temple, a few food stalls, older English buildings, a ladyboy, prostitutes and men leaving them… Just to name a few things! I heard that Penang has prostitution but I didn't expect it to be so in the open. We eventually had our breakfast and then headed back to the hostel to check in and lay down for a bit. We took a short nap and then went out exploring some more. We saw all of the buildings and places of interests within walking distance of Georgetown, which turned out to be about 90 percent of the map. We also checked out a museum where we found out that Armenians had an influence over Penang! So of course we checked out Armenian Street and took our picture in front of it! It was pretty interesting, two brothers opened the Oriental Hotel that was quite famous for a while but eventually it went under. Georgetown was pretty good.

We went to a night food court area and of course had so many options and tried a bunch of things. We really did Penang correctly; we saw all of the sights and then tasted a lot of the local foods. We went back to the hostel, took another nap before heading out to dinner and to check out the night scene of Penang. The next morning we awoke to two Germans and a small Filipino barging into our room. Although later we found out ze Germans and the Filipino were not traveling together as originally thought. The two Germans turned out to be Martin and Joe and were heading in the same direction as we were. After being woken up, we dressed and took a bus to Batu Feringi and spent a day at the beach. We went to a night market there and ate more street/stall food. We got back later than expected to Georgetown and met up with ze Germans.

After that night, we solidified our new friendships with "pops" and began traveling together: the Germaricans. We headed to Langkawi, Malaysia for two nights. Our taxi driver from the ferry to the hostel was awesome and incredibly helpful about pricing, where to go and what to do, although we just ended being beach bums and not doing much of anything. Langkawi is a BEAUTIFUL place with gorgeous, fine, white sand. Some of the best sunsets and most relaxing days we have had. We wanted to go around the island on scooters but decided to just stay at the beach and enjoy the sun. We met some really cool people at the Bungalow Restaurant and Bar… great place to spend a night dancing, smoking sheesha, and having a fun night.

On a Saturday, we took a boat and crossed into Thailand. This is my life right now: taking boats and crossing borders. I feel guilty at the time we are having, everything is so laid back and fun. I know that I am completely fortunate to have this time to travel and explore. Thailand and Malaysia have been so easy to travel around and get to places. It is nothing like India where everything is about bargaining and fighting for a fair price. For the most part, things are listed as prices that everyone pays, although I know there is a tourist price and a local price. But I am okay for paying that difference because a lot of the places we are going, their economy is dependent on tourists and everything is still relatively inexpensive.
Ko Phi Phi is where we started our Thailand adventure and an adventure it was. Ko Phi Phi is not Thailand; it is a beautiful tourist inhabited island with nothing but foreigners. While it has beautiful beaches and even prettier islands surrounding it, it was good for only a few nights. We took a longboat and went to a few other islands; the main attraction was Maya Beach. It was where The Beach with Leonardo DiCrapio was filmed and based out of it. We just sopped there and stayed for an hour or so. We were supposed to go snorkeling but it was really overcast so it wasn't the best weather for it.

After Phi Phi for a few nights, we headed up to Phuket to decide where we would go next. We were still traveling with the crazy Germans at this point and I don't think we were ready to separate from our new best friends. So we spent two nights in Phuket before heading to Koh Samui on the other side of Thailand. Phi Phi and Phuket were on the west coast of southern Thailand and Koh Samui was on the east side. It did not have that pretty of beaches but it was a nice place to hang out. We met a few other travelers in our hostel that gave us all kinds of ideas and advice about where to go and what to do. Possible people to meet up with later… who knows.

That is the greatest thing about traveling and staying at hostels, you get to meet so many people traveling and sharing stories and everything. All of the places we have been recently have been mostly tourists that we are meeting. It is good because I like making connections and new friends. It isnt always the best because sometimes it means we aren't getting the culture of Thailand or its peoples. After island life, it will be better.

Right now I am in Koh Chang and loving it! After Samui, we took a train through Bangkok and then caught a bus to Trat and then a ferry to Koh Chang. It was a long day of traveling but it got us to where we want to be, which is close to Cambodia. We weren't completely done with Thailand and beaches so we are spending a few more days here. But it meant that we had to separate from our beloved Germans. It was a really sad farewell that kind of broke all of our hearts. Eh, such is life.

05 November 2011

Malaysia… Family, Friends, and Food

What more could a person ask for? My family has welcomed me with open and loving arms. The friends I have met here, while new in the friendship stage seem to be the kind that will last a while. And the food, oh… my… God. THE FOOD! People have written books, upon books of Malaysian cuisine and I totally see why. It is delicious. I don't think I have had one thing that hasn't tasted Amazing! While all of the other countries I have visited have been great, there has been no comparison to the food in Malaysia.

But I am getting ahead of myself here, first the family business. Arriving late at night, we took a taxi up to my grandmother's house. I was nervous, excited, anxious, all the emotions you feel when you are about to meet family for basically the first time. The last time I saw her, I was seven and scarcely remember the trip. Although I have been able to pick up more memories as we have continued this trip. I am remembering smells and areas.

Re-meeting my grandmother was great and I will be coming back to Malaysia in January to spend even more time with her. I really have an interest to learn more about my family and just learn the stories and history. It is very interesting. I am taking notes along the way and although I am not sure what I will do with them, I have a feeling I need to write down our history. I am not a history buff and never have really been that interested in it, I am developing this need to know where my family came from. Both sides too, not just my fathers. It is just I am here in Malaysia with my father's family and not a lot of people talk about the history.

We spent a few days in Seremban with grandma and then on Deepavali, we went over to an Auntie's house. Even though she isn't blood related, she might as well be. Our families have grown up together and the older generation is quite connected.

One of the stories I have heard and this is where the connection comes in, is my great-grandfather mysteriously disappeared during the war. My grandmother was about 13 at the time when one day her father went to work and just didn't come back. There were 8 kids in the family. Basically Auntie's family helped out a lot during that time and the two families have been connected ever since.

So for Deepavali, we went over to her house for the afternoon and had our first course of food. Really good too! All kinds of curries and different dishes, so many sweets too! It was good. From there was the real test of family… we went to my Auntie Sheila's house for another party/celebration. Side note on my Auntie Sheila: She is amazing! She is basically a walking angel. My parents have always talked so highly of her and I totally understand why. She has made this visit for me and is so incredibly helpful. You know on television shows or in movies where there is that flawless character that helps in some way? That is her. She is beautiful, inside and out!

She arranged to have a Deepavali celebration so that I could meet even MORE family! I have so many cousins, second cousins, third cousins, and cousins eight times removed, but in Malaysia it doesn't matter. Family means family. If there is a drop in your blood that has a 100th of the similarity as the drop in my blood, even if it came from some ancient grandparent, it counts. It was great! I met a few cousins that are around my age and we all have a weird memory of the night we met in Malaysia way back in the day. The last time I was here, we had a get together, much like the one on Deepavali, where the parents met up and had the kids meet up and play with each other. We all have some odd memory of that time. Mine is that someone cried, I am not sure who. We spent the night and the girls watched Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th, whichever Freddie Krueger is and it scared the crap out of me. Although I tried not to show it, I stayed up and was freaked out by the whole thing. Although looking back, I think that is where my love of horror movies began because you get so caught up in it and you are scared but if you think about it, it is just a movie and a story line.

I met so many people that night; I can barely keep any of the names straight though. I mean, even quizzed today, I wouldn't do so well. My family is big. There are lots and lots of them. But all wonderful and all so incredibly welcoming! It has really convinced me that I need to come back to Malaysia and spend more time with everyone. I am planning on getting a job in July of 2012 and coming back here to work, live, and connect with family.

With meeting family, of course you meet family friends. They have all been wonderful as well! There is such an expat community here in KL that is so interesting. I don't know anywhere else in the world that has this big of an expat community. But it is also so integrated into Malaysia that you never know if you are talking to a Malaysian or an expat. KL has really interesting dynamics and where I have only seen one side of KL, it seems pretty great.

To continue back to food:

My mom will talk about Malaysian food and every once in a while, her, my father, my aunt and my uncle will get in these long discussions about Malaysian food and I have always found them funny. Who can talk about food for that long? Well, I have learned in Peace Corps that you can. Example 1: Two friends and myself staying up until 4 in the morning having hour long conversations about burgers. Example 2: Drooling over wedding pictures of food that someone's friend posted on facebook. Not the wedding or the people, but the food. Example 3: Watching and re-watching Top Chef seasons. I could continue on with so many more examples, but I will leave it at that. And then to come here, the capital of food, I don't know how my parents don't talk about Malaysian food more!

Much like the Malaysian community, the food here has integrated quite well while still maintaining its distinctions. For example, in America, it is a fusion culture. When you are eating Italian food, you are eating American-Italian; same for Mexican, German, Chinese, and lots of others. You can go to the authentic restaurants and eat authentic food but those are few and far between. And even they have a lot more fusion flavors. And it is hard not to, the ingredients are different, the palate of your customer is different. However here, while everyone eats all different foods, the Indian food is authentic Indian food, the Malay food is authentic, and the Chinese food is authentic. Each culture has brought its own flavors and its own cooking style and kept it traditional. Then the best part about it, they have food courts where you can get all of it sent to your table in one spot!

My Uncle Hardev is great! He also likes to go out and has a few places where he is a regular and I know why. We went to a food court and just walked around and everyone ordered a few dishes. Then we all came back and shared, it was delicious! That is also the night I got my satay! I, sadly, haven't had a lot of satay while being here but it is mainly because we have been eating so much other amazing food!

One of my favorite experiences so far has been sitting at the table at my great-aunt's house with my grandma, my Aunt Sheila, my Uncle Hardev and my great-aunt. They got into a discussion about curry. While that may seem trite, let me explain. I love to cook as most of you already know. I have a section dedicated to recipes, so obviously I like to cook. I asked them about possibly teaching me how to cook. I have made curry and I think mine taste pretty good but the curry they make outshines my curry like no one's business. It is mainly the fact that they have been cooking and eating curry since they were born but there is a small part that also has to do with the ingredients they have. They are way fresher!

Anyhow, back to the discussion. They began by having a 20 minute discussion on when to put in the curry powder. Some say mix with water and put in before the chicken, some say put in after the chicken; some say sprinkle on the onions and then add the chicken straight away. The one thing they all agreed upon is to never, under any circumstance, put the curry powder in the oil. This makes sense because you don't usually put any powdered spice in the oil, but it was funny that they agreed upon that point so quickly. Then they began talking about the spices they add and how you can never really know how much of anything because all spices are different. Some cloves are stronger than other cloves and it is all about the smell and fragrance of the cooking.

The smell of the food here has been wonderful too, except for the durian. Durian is a type of fruit that smells really bad. I am not a big fan of it mainly because of the aftertaste that just never leaves but the smell gets to me as well. We had durian ice cream on Deepavali and I swear I was tasting and smelling it a day later!

That is it for now on Malaysia. I have done and seen more than this blog shares but this is what was important to me. I am having a wonderful time with family and can't wait to spend more time with them! Now the three of us are heading up to Penang and then on to Thailand, maybe. We don't really have a concrete plan but it is working itself out as we go along.