Pchum Ben holiday - Melaka part 2
on Phnom Penh Pal (Cambodia), 17/Dec/2012 14:39, 34 days ago
As I mentioned inMelaka part 1, the food in Melaka was delicious. Two of my favourite things were the roti john and the chicken and rice balls.I love roti anyway - doughy, thick naan style bread but made of many layers of finely stretched out dough - but eating it for breakfast with curry was great. We had a savoury one with the curry and shared a sticky sweet coconut one afterwards.the nearly finished savoury roti on the right and the still to be wolfed down coconut one on the leftChicken and rice balls is pretty much exactly as described. What makes the rice so good is that it is cooked/soaked in the chicken stock. Eating it by itself is not the nicest thing as it is a bit wet, however, combine that with tender pieces of steamed chicken, which is quite dry by itself, and it's heaven in a mouthful. I can't believe this dish hasn't spread further. It's so simple yet darn tasty.We had to queue outside the shop to get in (always a good sign) and I was watching everyone tucking into their lunch, sucking on the bones and sinew of all the parts of the chicken. Chicken in Cambodia, and I presume in lots of Asia, doesn't come in the sterile form we're used to in the west. Take the bird, take a machete to it and then take what you're given. This includes the head and the feet. You can imagine how delighted I was when it came to our turn to go to a table and the man said, "I give you half a chicken, just the breast and two plates of rice balls, yes?" Yes please. Thank you very much kind sir.As we ate, big metal buckets of cooked chickens kept getting brought out from the kitchen behind us ready to be chopped up and eaten. It really brought home to me how many animals are killed every day for us to eat. Gordon and I were 'meat reducers' back at home - we tried not to eat as much meat and the stuff we did eat we tried to make sure was free range/outdoor reared and preferably Scottish. In that one restaurant alone I would guess they would go through a good few hundred chickens a day, just for lunch. I'm sure the chicken wasn't free range or organic but some choices have had to go out the window sadly. And even the meat reducing is not happening as much in Cambodia as it's a very meat-eating country. Both choices will be back on return home though. Fear not!Gordon was slightly less keen than me on the dish (though still demolished his share) but I would eat this at least weekly if I could, even given what I've just said above. Alongside the best sweet& sour pork I've ever eaten (from Kampong Cham) this rates as the favourite food I've eaten since leaving home.Another one of him eating. The two he took of me I had my eyes shut in one,and the jar of chillies covering the food in the other.I dread to think how many chickens this man chopped up in a day...chicken graveyardOther fun stuffAs we were wandering round at the end of a day, we came across what looked like a bit of a street party (in Chinatown). It turned out some residents were gathering to watch the painting of a mural of eight running horses (more details on the muralhere). We were invited to join and, later, treated to free food!the outline had been sketched earlierthe painting beginsthe finished articleTrishaws, the Melakan version of Cambodian cyclos, are now decorated to the max. Many have fairy lights, for night, and sound systems.the Cambodian version by comparisonWe went to a tea appreciation ceremony in Melaka too. Neither of us being great tea drinkers this was a bit of a strange choice for us, but recommendations from friends and some cracking reviews on TripAdvisor meant that we thought we'd give it a go.that's a big slab of rather expensive tea on the left, and lots of jars of tea in containers behindWe learned how to drink the tea, out the tiny wee cups you can see on the right, in 3 slurps (and you have to slurp, not sip). I'm still not sure I love tea, but nice to try some different Chinese teas and sit and get a little drunk. On tea. Seriously.Biggest karaoke stage ever seenOn the Saturday night, as we passed the big stage on Jonker Walk, there were some older ladies all dressed up waiting to perform on it. I think they might also have been doing karaoke (we didn't see) but on the Sunday night, it was definitely free-for-all karaoke.I'm a big fan of karaoke but we decided to wait until everyone was gone before we got up on stage.As always, there are too many photos and too many stories to put it all here (I'm impressed if you're still reading.) Briefly, therefore...- we walked out to see the Straits of Melaka - one of the most important shipping lanes in the world (according toWikipedia). It wasn't a very nice walk, it was dark, I was tired, and all we could see was a big black expanse of water when we got there. I wasn't overly impressed hence no photo (and it really was pitch black by this point so you wouldn't have seen anything anyway)- we saw a REALLY weird ceremony in a temple on our last night. I honestly was a bit worried that someone was being sacrificed. However, the other people (mostly locals I think), who also stood outside the gates and watched didn't seem too concerned so I'm hoping it was just some kind of harmless incense-wafting, loud chanting, hand waving ceremony instead...- also on recommendation from friends (thanks John and Olivia), we went to the Baboon House. A restaurant that was a little too expensive for us to eat in (plus we also wanted to go to Little India to eat, and also hadn't tried some other must-try delicacies) so we just shared a burger as a mid-afternoon snack, then left. Amazing place though.- people regularly point at Gordon because he's tall. Seriously. They also come up and measure themselves against him (mostly when he's not really looking) so they can show their friends just how tall he is. Occasionally he also gets asked to be in photos. This is the first time I've had the camera ready to capture it.- Melaka is famous for pineapple tarts. They're pretty good. Good enough to take a photo of anyway (take note, Straits of Malacca). Pink dragonfruit juice is also worthy of a photo. Amazing colour AND delicious.- this guy has statues in at least two places in town, because he's strong.  Turns out, so is Gordon :) Turns out I like a strong man (no, completely sober before you ask).And that was Melaka. Phew! Singapore, the second leg of this five day (yes really) holiday to follow...