Jalan Alor

Again, thanks to our foodie friend in Australia, we went to Jalan Alor for lunch. Many stalls only open later in the evening when the place gets much livelier. We had Hainan Chicken Rice, Roast Duck with rice and a side of stewed pork. All were delicious. The waitress was telling regular customers that they’ll close for ten days from the first through the tenth day of Chinese New Year.

She asked a very unkempt female in a dirty T-shirt with big holes in the back why she’s not wearing the shirt she gave her. I’ll refer to her as “the girl” even though she’s in her 40s. The girl said she traded that shirt with someone else. The waitress advised her to buy a new shirt with the money others give her because her entire back was exposed. She said she would. She sat down to eat the leftovers of the customer that just left. They chatted some more about nothing of consequence.

When we were paying, we told the cashier we wanted to prepay for a plate of chicken rice for the girl. The cashier said the girl wouldn’t accept meals bought by others. She prefers to eat leftovers. She said we could give her a couple bucks. Not wanting to risk triggering that girl in any way, we gave the cashier some cash to hand to her. She walked it over, and told her that it was from us. The girl said, “Thank you.”

Petaling Jaya

While in college in Kalamazoo, Michigan, we worked in the same building; he for the university catering services and I for the dining services. Later, we waited tables together at two different restaurants. We recalled how one of the restaurant owners stole our tips and wages. He also told me about how that owner delayed paying him until the very last days before he was scheduled to fly home to Malaysia. As he expected, the check bounced. At one point, he dropped the F-bomb and his eight-year-old said, “Cannot use the F-word!” Seeing him cover his mouth so quickly was really funny.

His wife talked about her recent trips back to China and recommended that we visit Dalian. She had visited Lhasa, the capital of Tibet three times, and is very eager to go back, but her city-boy husband just couldn’t deal with the toilet situation, and must shower every day. She’s very excited about their family trip to the U.S. next month, and really hopes they can squeeze in a trip to the NASA Kennedy Space Center after Disney World. As they were telling us how their travel these past few years with a young child has been mostly at beach resorts, his boy disapprovingly asked, “The B-word?!” “No, no, no, beeeach.”