Royal with cheese

Seriously I just couldn’t resist, because I am traveling in the far east and that is exactly how I feel right now. If you do not understand the reference then you’ve never seen Pulp Fiction which boggles my mind. Honestly Pulp Fiction is the only movie I have gone to see on an opening Friday night and was will to go again the next night and pay full fare. Needless to say it is one of my absolute all time favorite movies. That however is a discussion for an entirely different day.

As many of you who follow my stream on twitter and to a lesser extent facebook (just not a fan), know I have been traveling throughout the Pacific South Rim. Just like in the film, it is funny because it is the little things that really make it interesting. Yes I did go into McDonalds, seriously who could avoid it after watching Pulp Fiction?

The McDonalds in Macau serves some rather interesting meals, such as noodle soups for breakfast and a Ham & Cheese Burger also a breakfast item. I did not indulge in either of these, the coffee is truly an adventure in that the Asian palate seems to have a distinct sweet addiction. They put a heavy sweet cream in the coffee and tea unless you are quick and clear enough to stop it. Think of this stuff as something akin to sweetened condensed milk. I myself drink coffee black so this is a bit unsettling. I can not begin to recount the number of times I’ve had to sip the top of my coffee so as not to disturb the substance stuck to the bottom of the cup. My point of view is that if your cup of coffee needs so many accessories then you probably have no business drinking coffee in the first place.

Now that I am in Malaysia however the westernized options have increased dramatically. There are Burger Kings everywhere, as well as KFC, Subway, Starbucks, Baskin & Robins and yes there even are McDonalds. Ok there seem to be an inordinate amount of Kenny Roger’s Roasters as well as some Popeye’s. To be truthful the only reason I think that last remaining KRR’s in the world are here is because we’ve forgotten about them. There are a few 7 Eleven‘s but there are many 7 7’s yes copyright infringement like so many other things here seems to be a loose suggestion.

While I do apologize for not trying all of the fast food here, or grabbing a snap of the breakfast menu which feature chicken ham and chicken sausage on the McMuffins. Honestly those are quit tame in comparison to some places.Of course Burger King had some unusual oddities like the Beef-a-con burger, which is basically a bacon substitute supposedly made of beef product. I’ve often wondered what would happen to this country if they were allowed to eat real bacon just for one day? However that is a tangent for another day.

Now back to the oddities, they put mayo and butter if you do not stop them quick enough on sandwiches at what could be best described a Malay equivalent to a deli. I have to say this did not sit well with me, as I don’t even use mayo in my tuna salad very often.

One thing I did enjoy was some of the local Malay food Nasi Lemak is good especially if your stomach is not well from being exposed to Indian Curry. I’m sorry but that is one thing I just can not consume. I’ll take a double helping of raw octopus over curry any day.

 

I also enjoyed the spicy phad thai with pork, yes all kidding aside you can find pork here it’s just not very easy. The pork fired rice was also very good and I think savory is a good description. Then there are things like fried noodles with chicken, be warned the chicken may have bit’s of bone so nibble carefully. I still hope to try Malaysian fried catfish as I have been told it is amazing.

All kidding aside Malaysia is a fantastic place to visit, and possible even a place for westerners to live for short periods. It’s very unfortunate that it is so far away from the US. I mean were it not such a long distance to travel more westerners would come here for certain. On the flip side I would imagine that more Malaysians would visit the US as well. Both countries certainly have a lot to offer each other.

 

Related articles

• Ezekiel 25:17 Pulp Fiction: Samuel L Jackson Thoughts by Brian Cimins (briancimins.wordpress.com)
•  A day in Macau (proper)  (jafdip.com)
• Walking about Macau (proper) (jafdip.com)
• Flying to China (jafdip.com)