Off to Labuan
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Well, it's been another week of eating, visiting relatives and friends. On Monday, we had breakfast in Manggatal. Then we visited Jane at her house, and got to know her three kids: Maybelle, Welton, and Cheston. Winston helped Jane set up an email account, and showed them some pages of our website. Welton got to play FIFA on our laptop so he was quite happy. Then we had a late lunch at Foh Sang since the satay guy doesn't set up till 1pm. It was very tasty indeed. In the afternoon, we visited Aunty Maureen and made plans to visit Aunty Angela in Beaufort on Thursday. Then it was time to get ready for dinner, at Kampung Nalayang with Tina, Viv and Jo, my elementary school and church friends. We had seafood steamboat, and way too much food, which we surprisingly managed to eat in the three + hours we were there. It was fun to catch up with old friends.

On Tuesday, we went back for more Beaufort noodles, though this time we got the dry version. Still very yummy. Dad dropped us off at Lynnette's place which was nearby. We chatted for a while, and she told us about her kids (Nathaneal and Nathalie). Both have crazy work load due to the fact that they are in a Chinese school and have to master three languages. We dropped Winston back so he could do some online work, while the girls went shopping at Centrepoint. Didn't buy anything though. We had dinner at home with Norbert.

On Wednesday, we tried out roasted duck and noodles. The duck was much leaner than the ones we get back home in Vancouver. Very tasty. We went to see grandma for a while, then visited Tanjung Aru Beach Resort. We thought of going for a stroll along the beach, but it was too hot! I wanted another round of satay so dad took us into town for a different taste. We had to circle around for a parking spot, but the satay was worth it. There are no parkades or parking lots here in KK, except at the big shopping centres. So it's usually a pain looking for street parking in town. Now that they have begun charging by the half hour in the public spaces, people are less likely to linger so at least it is possible to get a spot if you look hard enough.

We had an early dinner at home, and then went to All Saints Cathedral to attend Ash Wednesday service. This was the church where I spent a lot of my teenage years. It hasn't changed much, except for installations of huge air conditioners. After service, Jo picked up her husband Kent at their pharmacy, then we went to see Viv at her parent's place. Viv's mom had prepared nice treats for us: sago pudding, kuih with pandan and coconut, pastry filled with ham and cheese. We also go to see Abby, Viv's 11 month old. She is a bright and active toddler, eager to learn and move around. We had fun talking to her.

Yesterday, we woke up late (Dad started work again after taking a week off to take us around), and went for lunch with Winston's Aunty Angela, Uncle Ching Chong, Aunty Maureen and Ah Seng. We had planned to go down to Beaufort to visit them, but it seemed that it was more convenient for them to come here. We ate at Supertanker (same place they took us two and a half years ago). Afterwards, we hung out with Ah Seng for a while. Then Lynnette picked me up, and we went walking around a shop in town. We picked up her daughter from tuition, then she dropped me off. We went back to Taman Nalayang for dinner with Uncle Charles, Aunty Josie and Jackie. The food was very tasty. I had never had Wrasse head before. It is suprising how much meat is there!

We're off to breakfast now with Lynnette, then it's time to board our ferry to Labuan. Gotta go now as we're leaving in a few minutes. We'll be back on Sunday!

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Malaysia Musings
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Whenever we come to Malaysia, we don’t really end up seeing the country as typical tourists do. For one, Jen was born in Kota Kinabalu (KK), the capital city of Sabah, Malaysia, and for two, my mother was born in Labuan, a small island off the coast of Sabah, and for three, Jen’s father still lives in KK today. Consequently, we both have many relatives who work and live in Malaysia, and thus we spend most of our time visiting family rather than the typical tourist attractions.

This gives us a rather unique perspective from which to make observations about this country. For the past eight months, as we’ve visited various places around the world, we’ve tried to get as much of an impression as we could in the short time we’ve been there. As tourists, we’re always just passing through, there’s no denying that. However, when it comes to Malaysia, we’re never really just passing through, it seems; we’re just gaining more insight for the next visit.

Being in the framework of wanting to learn about the world has resulted in us asking questions of family members that we wouldn’t normally ask; having access to local information and opinions from unbiased Malaysian citizens has given us insight to this country that we have not often been able to obtain in other countries so far. Of course, everything you see here is completely subjective. (Interestingly, I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting more opinionated in my blogs as our trip progresses. Weird, eh?) Here are some of the general observations we have made:

Diversity and Differences
Ever since I can remember, I have been told that in Malaysia, one group of people is better than the other. This could apply to many different sectors of people, for instance: Malay versus Chinese, Muslim versus Christian, Sabahan vs. West Malaysian, Singaporean vs. Malaysian. There always seems to have been some kind of tension, or at least, differences of opinion, between these various groups of people. Talking to people in Malaysia now pretty much confirms the existence of these differences, and while there has arguably been some progress in the last few years with respect to leveling out the playing field, there is a long way to go before the region is devoid of any potential conflict or disparity.

What do I mean by differences? Well, take the so-called geographical issue for example. Malaysia is made of two distinct geographical areas: West Malaysia, or Peninsular Malaysia, which stretches from Thailand down to Singapore, and Malaysian Borneo, the large island located in the South China Sea to the east of Peninsular Malaysia, composed of the two states of Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah and Sarawak are supposed to be part of Malaysia, but they were separate colonies prior to independence, and now still have a fairly high degree of autonomy compared to the peninsular states. However, there is often a lot of griping from Sabahans about the inequities that exist between West Malaysia and Sabah/Sarawak. For example, great reserves of oil are drilled in Sabah, but Sabah apparently gets only a small percentage of the profits whereas most of the money goes to building things like the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur (in Peninsular Malaysia).

Another example is the ethnic issue, where it’s pretty clear that in Malaysia, Malay people control the government, while Chinese people control the economy. When I was a kid, I used to think that Malay and Chinese were one and the same; boy have I learned that there are apparently some significant differences. Sometimes I hear blanket statements made that slight one ethnic group based on skin colour alone. Other times, someone’s last name may mean that there is no hope for that person’s professional career. These fairly blatant prejudicial views aren’t restricted to just older generations either; plenty of our modern-thinking and educated Malaysian friends and relatives seem to subscribe to the same mode of thought.

However, having said all this, nobody seems to have an answer to my question of why does everything seem to function? Why hasn’t there been some kind of major heated conflict resulting from all the racial and cultural tension? Well, here’s one theory: maybe in the face of all these socio-economic, religious, and ethnic differences, Malaysians have simply developed a tolerance for diversity. Perhaps it’s not so much a question of the “mosaic” vs. “melting pot,” discussion as epitomized in the Canada vs. USA comparison, but more a case of “OK, you’re my neighbour and I don’t like you, but I’m going to tolerate your different beliefs because ignoring you is easier than fighting you.”

These differences seem to permeate daily conversation in every way, but in the most subtle manner. It doesn’t seem that most people are aware of what they are saying sometimes; recognizing that everyone is prejudiced is just an accepted way of thinking. Things seem to be improving somewhat; often you will see Malays and Chinese sitting at the same table sharing a meal, and indeed, there even seems to be a greater degree of “inter-marriage” between the various ethnic groups and social classes. I think if we were typical tourists coming through just visiting the national parks and attractions, we wouldn’t even notice that there are any deep social issues.

It’s also important to note that my personal observations stem from exposure to primarily one particular ethnicity and one particular social class. If my family were Malay or if we lived in kampong shacks by the roadside, this whole line of discussion might be completely different.

In any case, it’s clear that differences do exist today, and there are certainly indications that tempers may boil over one day and conflict may result. However, until that happens, I think many Malaysians are simply content to let the broth bubble and simmer, and we can all hope that somebody doesn’t crank up the heat too much.

The Asian Work Ethic
We have heard from many of our relatives about the working conditions that exist in Malaysia these days. Usually, the discussion stems from the question, “So how is it that you’re traveling for so long?” And when we explain that we both obtained a one-year leave of absence from our respective jobs, we are met with incredulous stares. “No way, you wouldn’t even dare ask for such a thing here!”

Now, don’t get me wrong, we’re fully aware of what kind of a privilege our respective employers have given us; taking a year off is a huge thing for anybody, even in North America. However, I would argue that taking so much time off to travel is more of a European or perhaps Australian practice than it is a North American or Asian one. At least, the nationalities of the many world travelers we’ve met during the last eight months seem to indicate so anyway.

Most of our relatives and friends in Malaysia are professionals of some sort, in IT, accounting, business, sales, or that sort of thing. Unless they are their own boss, they invariably work what we consider to be insane hours. 16 hour days occur frequently, 6-day work weeks are the norm, meetings are called at 6pm and last until midnight, social engagements are forfeited in lieu of meeting work deadlines… the list goes on and on. There is usually no such thing as overtime pay, the concept of worker’s rights seems to be non-existent here, and in fact, I don’t think we’ve talked to anyone in the last two weeks who actually likes their employer. Add to that the fact that salaries are shockingly low when compared to the earning power of a typical entry-level salary in the US, and you’ve got a pretty miserable work situation.

I can’t blame people here for generalizing that we’re pretty soft in North America, because relatively speaking, I think that’s true. Sure, we sometimes complain about getting just two or three weeks annual vacation when our Dutch, German, and Australian colleagues are getting seven or eight weeks annual paid leave. But boy, does our work ethic pale in comparison to what some people have in parts of Asia. And I thought I worked hard!

Education in Malaysia
We have a number of relatives and friends with school aged children in the Malaysian education system. Similar to my feelings on the Asian work ethic, my thoughts about the Asian studying ethic leave me shaking my head in astonishment and consternation.

One friend’s daughter (who attends a Chinese private school) uses a luggage wheelie to roll her 20 textbooks and 12 exercise books to school each day. She has to be able to read and write in three different languages: Malay, Chinese, and English. She (and mom) wake up each morning at 5:45am to get ready for school. After school, she has private tuition for two hours each day. Upon getting home, she does homework until dinner time, and then after dinner until 9pm, at which point she goes to bed to be ready for the next pre-dawn wake-up call.

Oh, and by the way, she’s seven years old, in the equivalent of Grade Two.

Not all schools are like this in Malaysia, but nevertheless, it’s somewhat sad what these kids are being put through, seeing as it’s apparently “part of the system” here. Parents certainly wonder if the kids are missing out on something, but there’s no time to let them slack off because everyone else is studying at this frantic pace. It is common practice for all the schools to rank the kids in each class on the basis of academic performance. These rankings are posted all year long, so you know where you and your classmates stand all the time; the smart kids win medals and praise while the ones and the bottom of the list get the cane and more tuition. Personally, I think it’s a bit of a brutal system, but who am I to judge?

It is easy to see where the benefits come in, at least from an academic point of view. When the kids are sent overseas for university (which is very common practice among most well-to-do Chinese families), they breeze through their Bachelor’s with little effort. Someone once told me that more than 80% of the world’s current PhD students are Asian… I have no idea if this is true, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out it is.

However, there are obvious limitations to this system of education. Rote-memorization and instant recall are emphasized at the expense of creativity and originality. Malaysian-educated kids can tell you their times tables in one breath and recite a paragraph they memorized an hour ago, but they struggle to describe why they like music or come up with an original idea.

Of course, this is a broad generalization, and there are plenty of Malaysian artists, successful business people, and creative inventors. Nevertheless I ask, should a seven-year old girl really need a luggage cart to wheel her books to school?

Putting on the Pounds
On a less ponderous note, but perhaps a heavier one, is the wonderful culinary experience that we’ve been having in Malaysia. Of course, Jen grew up with all these foods, so she’s re-awaking her childhood taste buds; I myself enjoyed a great deal of Malaysian food myself from my mom’s cooking and that of my aunts in Vancouver. We have been raving about the food in various different countries, but I’m afraid nothing yet holds a candle to the food that we’ve been eating in KK. Jen has already blogged about this, I know, but I feel compelled to add my two cents!

Jen’s father, having lived in KK for pretty much most his life, knows every little food stall and coffee shop around, and where to get the best bites and tastes in every little nook and cranny in KK. We have been the lucky beneficiaries of this knowledge, and every meal has been an exciting little mini-outing, as we again tempt our taste buds with the wonderful flavours of soup noodles, fried noodles, chicken rice, fresh fruit, hours-old seafood, and satay… oh man, the satay. Hmm… I ought to go find some more satay to eat. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

I think the best food is found at the little open-air coffee shops that are dotted all around the city. They are quite unique; they are not like our typical restaurants, but more like a fast-food stall next to a covered seating area. Typically there are 10-15 plastic tables with plastic chairs around them on the ground floor of a shop house. There are no doors, the coffee shop is open on both sides to the open air, and fans dotted around the ceiling keep things cool. The cook is typically the owner of the joint, and has his (typically the husband cooks) cooking domain in a back corner of the coffee shop, which is little more than a wok, a gas burner, a few pots, and a bunch of ingredients. The food is prepared instantly, the flame is always hot, and the cook is always busy. Often, the waiter will be the wife or the daughter, and they will be at your side the moment you sit down. Drinks are on the table a few moments later, and your food will arrive shortly after that. Service is fast, not impolite, but not doting either. The key is fast turnaround; faster service means more customers.

Of course, the food has to be good to attract customers, and here is where I am at a loss for words. We have had so many different kinds of mein, or noodles, in the last little while, I can’t even remember how to describe them. What I do know is that they are all so incredibly fresh-tasting, that each time we sit down, we wonder how they make them. Many of the noodles are hand-made the previous day, with recipes that are kept secret within the family. Noodles with pork, soup noodles with beef, fried noodles with kampong vegetables… ack, a bowl of noodles sounds really good right about now.

Hmm, the one food that we’ve been waiting eight months to have is satay. Marinated slices of tender beef or chicken are skewered and grilled on a charcoal grill, and absolutely melt in your mouth. I have been looking for anyone with the recipe for the marinade, but nobody knows where to find it, it’s another protected secret. We eat stick after stick, for 40 Malaysiancents each, about $0.10 USD. The peanut sauce is wonderful, but not unlike most of the peanut sauce that you can get in Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants in Vancouver or Seattle. It’s not that hard to make at home either; it’s the sweet-savory marinade in the meat that is the secret. Ack, we need to know how to make it!!

As a consequence of our pigging out (there’s no better way to express it), we are continuing to put on the pounds. Malaysian aunties are not known for their tact; they say what they think, like it or not. So, after being told by all of them that we’ve both put on weight, we’re now paying a bit more attention to what we eat. It’s hard to resist though. In fact, we have been pigging out for the last eight months, perhaps more in some countries than others, but all the tastes we’ve sampled and tried are so unique and flavorful, that there’s no point in us trying to resist. Might as well continue gorging happily for the last four months of our trip, and then deal with the diet/exercise thing when we get home.

Ok, that’s it, I gotta go find something to eat…

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And What Shall We Eat Today?
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Ever since arriving in Kota Kinabalu (KK), my hometown, all we've been doing is gorging ourselves. It is hard to resist all the yummy local food; luckily both Winston and I have the same taste so we are equally enjoying the opportunity. Of course, it is not that great for our figure, but oh well, how often would we get authentic Malaysian food, eh?

We arrived here at 12:30pm, on Wednesday, February the 18th. Dad picked us up from the airport; he's still driving the Burgundy Ninja Turtle (Toyota Land Cruiser). Our first stop was for lunch, in Foh Sang Yuen, for Ngiu Chup Mein (Mixed Beef Noodles). Yummy! It was as delicious as I remember. You're going to be hearing a lot of mouth watering expressions from me. Just warning you in advance :) Our family used to frequent this coffee shop after church on Sundays. By the way, Kedai Kopi, or Coffee Shop (literal translation) is the norm here. Small restaurants with plastic/picnic chairs and tables, it is one big room where the kitchen/cooking area sits in the back, with the customer seating in the front. One can get drinks, and an assortment of food here depending on the type sold. There are stores that specialize in chicken rice, noodle soup, pastries, satay, etc. There are plenty of these kopi shops everywhere, and quite inexpensive.

Dad took us to Er Gu (2nd Aunty)'s place. My aunt owns and manages an aluminium factory. Her house is on top of the factory. It is a weird arrangement, but they have lived here for almost 20 years, and we've always stayed here when we visit KK. My dad actually lives with my aunt, so he is in good company since us children all live in N. America. Mata (not exactly sure how to spell it) is their housemaid of 20 years, and has always taken good care of us. Dad already told us that she's got our room ready for us and kept asking him when we were arriving. She still looks the same; talking to her forces my Malay to come back to me since that's all she speaks.

They have a new cat; it doesn't have a name. Rescued from the coffee shop as a dirty kitten, it is now loved by all in the family. It gets bathed a few times a week, fed, and held all day long. It is quite a nice cat, actually, though it is also very chatty! Needless to say, I'm spending lots of time playing with him since I'm missing my Loki. With temperatures around 32 degrees celsius, we hardly venture outside unless it's to go out for meals or to visit. It's much nicer hiding in an air-conditioned house. Being in KK is certainly very different than the rest of our trip. With no need to run around sight seeing, we've totally turned off the 'travel' radar and act just like we do when we visit relatives. It has certainly been a real treat catching up with my cousins, aunts and uncles here.

Our first night here, Dad took us to a newly opened food court in search of satay. We were hoping to have it at lunch time, but were too early (apparently satay people don't come up till 2pm). Anyhow, we did end up eating beef and chicken satay. Can we say DELICIOUS?!!! It's always amazed us how the satay here (in KK, not just Malaysia) particularly tastes so much better. Small pieces of meat on the skewer filled with sweet fragrant taste, dipped in smooth spicy peanut sauce. AHHH... both Winston and I were so giddy from being so happy (Sorry Phin - my sister is absolutely jealous cause we keep sending her emails detailing all the food we've been eating). After dinner, we visited my grandmother, who's living with my uncle Charles (Mom's younger brother). It was good to see grandma, Aunty Josie and cousin Jackie. Grandma has lost a lot of weight, even compared to when we visited in 2001. She kept asking me when she's going to get a great-grandchild (oh oh, pressure's on).

Thursday morning we picked my cousin Kin up from the golf club, and then went for one of our regular breakfast: Eng Vat Mein (by the way, my attempt at spelling all these chinese dishes are probably way off, but I think people who are familiar with them can probably decipher), which is basically stir fried noodles, accompanied by a bowl of fish slices, and fish smooth patty. Of course, yummy. We made a quick trip to buy our air ticket to go to Tawau, which is our connecting city for Sipadan Island, considered one of the best dive sites in the world. We're going to be there 1 to 4th of March. We went to visit Kin's mom, and ate jackfruit. Winston was quite allergic to this local fruit when he visited Malaysia in 1990. In fact, he had an anaphylactic reaction to it. This time though, he seemed ok with tiny tiny pieces. It's quite a tasty fruit, but one definitely needs to eat it before it becomes too ripe. The fruit itself is quite large. It's the small bits inside that we eat; there is flesh surrounding the many egg sized seeds inside.

Instead of lunch, we had high tea (we were still full from breakfast). When I was little, my dad used to bring back these wonderful cookies (flan type bottom, with meringue and custard on top) in cigarette boxes from Sandakan. Now the old men who used to make these cookies are dead, but apparently several shops specializing in Sandakan cookery have been able to produce it here in KK. Of course we went there straight away to try it. Named "UFO", because it's round and is packaged with round plastic cover, it did taste quite good. Still not as light, fluffy or tasty as the originals, but nevertheless yummy. For dinner, we took Winston's Aunty Maureen and cousin Ah Seng to Supertanker (another one of my childhood favourites). In fact, this restaurant began in a tiny space near our old house. The same lady owner is still around, and she still looks like she did 20 years ago. They moved a while ago, to a much bigger restaurant, and brings in one of the largest profits in the city. The food is very well prepared (I just learnt that the husband is the head cook). Aunty Maureen looks great; she gave us a papaya and pineapple when we dropped her off. It's always funny to me how people don't really use house addresses. To get around, they just find out the area they lived in, what corner it's close to, etc. It's all done by landmarks. I don't know how they can still do that since there are numerous new housing estates everywhere. The city is certainly more than twice as large as when I used to live here. There are several new highways that connect the perimeter of the city. In the old days, the roads were in a star shape; you would have to go back to the core to connect to a branch if you wanted to visit a different area.

On Friday morning, da gu (my 1st aunty) and da gu zang (1st aunty's husband) treated us to dim sum at the Emperor Restaurant. She also invited Kin, her mom and dad, and Xiao Ming (da gu's daughter). It was nice to have dim sum again. We haven't had any since leaving Seattle. We had not missed it the way we missed sushi. I guess dim sum was never a big part of our dining. After eating, dad took us to visit my grandfather (mom's side). I have not seen him since 1992; he's now lost his long term memory so have no recollection of me, or my siblings. He does remember mom though, but not dad though he knows that dad's familiar. Mom had already told me that grandpa did not remember me from her visit to KK last year so I knew what to expect. Poor guy, it was tougher on him than on us. Everytime we talked about something in the past, or if you ask him a question, he would keep tapping at his head as he's trying to think. His health is still good, thank goodness, just his memory is gone. He still smokes locally made cigar (he's smoked that all his life) but tells me that there is no nicotine in it so it's not bad for him. It was nice to see him. He's now 83.

Afterwards, dad drove us around to the newer parts of the city. I can't even grasp the names of all these places. We showed Winston our house in Taman Kinamount, where I grew up (for those of you who know my MSN nickname, I got the name kinamount from my old home). We picked up the laptop and joined everyone (from breakfast, xiao ming's youngest son) for lunch at the Sabah Golf and Country Club, Kin's dad's second home. It was his treat. We had lovely fish and chips. By the way, Kin's dad is my 2nd uncle. In chinese families, siblings call each other by their numbers.. eg. 1st sister, 3rd brother, etc. There are brothers and sisters in my dad's family: 6 boys, 5 girls. So we cousins also call our aunts and uncles by their numbers. It's so much easier that way than remembering names. We showed them pictures of our trip along with pics of San San's children in KL. San San is my 2nd uncle's daughter (i.e. Kin's sister). Very confusing, eh? Winston's quite good at remembering who's who.

After lunch, we went to da gu's house and browsed through grandfather's old photo albums (my grandfather passed away in 1986). He was an avid collector of photos, so we had plenty to go through, including pictures from the 1920s! It was wonderful reminising about the past, and looking at our parents' kid pictures. Xiao Ming brought her older son to say hello, and we also go to say hi to Francis (da gu's son). We had an early dinner of steam chicken in Foh Sang Yuen, then watched Rat Race on the home telly for a quiet evening.

Yesterday morning, we went to eat Beaufort soup noodles. These handmade noodles were absolutely delicious. We would be so thrilled if we could make or buy noodles like this at home. Kin and mom came by to visit afterwards. They took me out to get my hair washed and cut. It is always amazing to watch women go get their hair shampooed in the shops. It is part of the culture here; not only do you just get your hair washed, you also get a head and neck massage. Your hair is guaranteed to feel so clean and shiny afterwards. Many women go get their hair washed at least once a week or so. It is quite affordable, less than what it would cost to see a movie.

Afterwards, we had chinese donut with kaya (coconut and pandan butter), and sweet potato soup. We didn't really have a proper lunch, snacking on fruits instead back at the house. Too hot to go outside, we watched a chinese DVD. In the evening, we invited 2nd Uncle, aunty and Kin to dinner. They chose a nice restaurant near Tanjung Aru, where we had dumplings, potstickers, and Za jiang Mein (don't really know how to explain this one). They were all leaving for KL tomorrow morning to visit San San and family for a few days.

Dad got us up early this morning. We left at 7am, and drove first to Tuaran. A small town, we used to come here on Sunday mornings to see the local tamu (open air market) and eat noodles. The noodles (gon lau mein) were yummy; homemade, with nice bbq pork. We drove north to Kota Belud, site of the largest tamu in Sabah. Sure enough, it was a sight. Winston and I both agreed that this was the most interesting market we've seen so far. Everything was for sale; from fish that is still breathing, to 5 RM jeans. There were plenty of Malay pastries and snacks, vegetables of all kinds, anchovies of different sizes and colour, and just a whole ton more. Winston took many photos while dad and I were busy scoping out stuff to buy for dinner. We ended up getting 6 craps (from mangrove swamps - there is red tide disease in the sea right now so we had to stay away from anything from the ocean), fresh fish (excellent for frying, no idea what it's name is though daddy knows), kampung (village) vegetables, red chillis, ginger, ubi keropok (taro chips), banana chips, and fluffly Malay snack. It was fun to walk around; most of the sellers were either Bajau (local Malays) or Kadazan (Winston's ancestral tribe). On the way back, we stopped by to visit the ShangriLa Rasa Ria Resort. A 5 star hotel by a beautiful beach, maybe we'll stay here next time :)

We had dinner at home with Norbert (my cousin) and his girlfriend Amy. Mata cooked everything dad bought. The cat got to feast on fried fish heads, and we ate till we were stuffed. There were still leftover crap at the end. 6 delicious crap just for 15RM (that's only $4 USD). Can't get that at home. It's already almost midnight so I better get going. We both napped this afternoon so not sure how that's going to affect our sleep pattern. I'm finally up to date on my blogs.. yippee!

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