Amazing Kota Kinabalu

When I got out of the plane, Nixon style, and stepped on Borneo, I felt a flash of heat. I thought it was the engines of the plane. No, this was just typical heat of Borneo, right here, just a few kilometres short of the equator.

Dave and I were the only white people in the customs line. Most people ignored us, and the few that didn’t, only glanced up briefly. Every third woman wore a headdress, and some of them wore long-sleeved dresses in beautiful fabrics all the way down to their ankles. Customs were easy. The lady stamped my passport and off we went. We weren’t even subjected to putting out luggage through security checks. One of the officers waved us on.

The airport was air conditioned, so I was a bit shielded. I didn’t quite comprehend the heat I was going to have to put up with for the next week. We booked a taxi for 20 Malaysian Ringgits, which is so far my favourite currency name (this is about $6 Canadian). Our cab driver hung a rosary off of his rear view mirror, but still proudly pointed out the giant mosque that we passed on our way to the hostel. “First mosque in Borneo,” he said. The yellow and gold building looked like–well, to a Canadian girl like me who has done little to no travelling in Muslim countries–it was from Aladdin. It was beautiful. We still haven’t visited it. That is next on the agenda.

But as we were passing through these tiny streets of Kota Kinabalu, there was something very mesmerizing about the place. I was falling in love already and I knew nothing of the people, tasted its food, or seen its beauty. Not at that point, anyway.

The lady who checked us in at our hostel was very sweet and polite with pretty good English, and bears a resemblance to Maria from Coronation Street, if she was Malaysian.

Try and imagine it.

The view from the room in our hostel gives you a pretty good idea of what most of the streets in Kota Kinabalu look like:

The street isn’t without its noise. Of course there are cars, but every once in a while an airplane flies overhead, making a huge ruckus. I would love to know what birds frequent the trees next to our window, as usually once a day they gather in enormous crowds and chirp like mad. Also, there is a man who uses a leaf blower very early in the morning. I could do without that.

As it turns out, if you’d like to visit Kota Kinabalu, you don’t need to know much Malay, if any at all. We learned the words for “thank you” and “you’re welcome.” We have only been to one restaurant that didn’t have someone who could speak English, and that happened to be the first one we visited.

And speaking of restaurants, the food is amazing. Absolutely marvelous, as Dave’s father would say. I don’t think that I’ve had anything I’ve truly disliked – except a strange episode with some fruit at a night market. There were several stalls of old ladies selling green fruit. The fruits were peeled and sliced by the ladies right there, and then packaged in clear plastic baggies. Then, once you indicated that you’d like one, she’d put in salt and soy sauce (we think??) and add some skewers for easy eating. So many stalls and so many people eating them, I assumed it must be good. Boy was I wrong.

It tasted awful. All the wrong flavours came together in one baggie. I waited until we were well out of sight and found a trashcan. Dave have a bit more luck with his baby squid on a stick:

It seems the best way to eat anything is on a stick and out of a plastic bag.

Besides, I found something tasty in roasted corn-on-the-cob-on-a-stick. The absolute best way to have corn. We’re going to venture to the night market again, but with a bigger appetite next time.

As far as restaurant cleanliness goes, you sort of have to remember where you are and let go of previous ideas of “clean.” Most places we went to were as clean as anyone’s kitchen at home would be. We haven’t gotten sick from any restaurant except the ONE Westerner restaurant we went to: a little Italian joint where the salmon wasn’t so fresh, we don’t believe.

But suffice it to say, especially if you’re at an outdoor place, expect that, in addition to regular customers, you will see rats, cockroaches, and cats visiting as well. You’d think the cats would get the rats, but the rats are almost as big as the cats. Sorry to gross you out. As I mentioned to Dave though, as long as they aren’t feeding me the rats, I don’t care.

I have hardly met nicer people though. It’s true when they talk about Malaysian hospitality: it’s probably some of the best in the world. Even when they aren’t treated that well (most of the foreigners here make me very, very ashamed), they still continue to provide excellent service and smiles.

The wonderful thing is the clash of cultures. Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, and many others all live here in the same place. Many are Muslim, some are Christian, some are Taoist or Buddhist, and some still practice folklore religions. Unlike Taiwan, no one looks at Dave and I as though there’s something wrong with us. Sometimes they are surprised to see us, especially if it’s a local hangout that’s not frequented by foreigners, but never are they rude.

I suppose the only exception to that rule was the music store we went into. Working there were four or five teenagers that didn’t seem to know much about music, nor about how to treat any customers – foreign or not. We ended up buying a cheap guitar there, however. Best $50 ever spent.

It's difficult to do much else in the heat.

For the enjoyment we’ve gotten out of the guitar, it was well worth dealing with the teenagers. It’s been far too long since we’ve gotten to play music.

Also–as a very random sidenote–our bathroom is outside. There is something very charming about that.

The stall doors next to the sink and balcony. I would have taken a picture of the view off the balcony, but it's just another building.

A very funny story on that note: there is a nice old Muslim lady who cleans our floor every morning. I woke up and went to the bathroom. There are two bathroom stalls there. That morning, both doors were closed. I asked her, “Are there people in there?” She smiled and nodded, saying “Yes.” I nodded back and smiled, and sat down on the bench, waiting for my turn. She then puts down her mop and bucket and opens one of the stall doors, closes it behind her, and uses it for herself.

…I see what you did there.

Overall, everything is so wonderful.

On our second day here, I had a conversation with a Norwegian who was also staying at the hostel. He, on the other hand, found Borneo to not be worth the money and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I think he and I must be staying at different places. It’s magical here. Dave and I are planning to come back someday for sure.

In the meantime, we’re going to go look at moneys tomorrow, namely the Proboscis monkey, which is indigenous to Borneo, and there’s only 1,000 of them left.

Yes, these guys. Image from wikipedia.org

In short, while the heat is a bit much for this Irish/English/Scottish girl (my face is bright red constantly), I couldn’t recommend Borneo higher. If decent wage English teaching jobs were available around here, we’d probably never leave.

Taipei: First Impressions

Finally! I’ve been here a grand total of 8 hours and finally feel a little bit less dizzy, so I’m able to write something up about the short adventure thus far and I have a few first impressions. Sadly, there are no photos just yet. I’m pretty bad about that. I tend to take in too much with my eyes and use nothing to document it for others.

But a couple things:

1) The Taiwanese are really okay with small spaces. Truly. Our hostel room, while very clean and cozy, is ity bity. It’s about 12×8 at the most, if I had to eyeball it. But it has a bunk bed with leopard spot sheets and covers, which remind me of my sister, Bethany. Not only that, but everything is tight when you walk around the streets. The shops are reminiscent of my closets: everything packed in very tightly, with just enough room to grab what you need.

2) They love scooters. I was already told that there would be a lot of scooters, but when I heard/read that, it wasn’t emphasized enough. There may as well be a scooter show on every street. They crowd the streets and are much, much more plentiful than cars, buses, trucks, and bicycles. But they don’t stop at the roads. Many a time I’ve been passed on the sidewalk by someone riding their scooter. No one bats an eyelash at this onslaught of scooters, which makes Dave and I stand out even more than we already do when we gawk at them. Did I mention I’ve only seen one other non-Asian person since we’ve been here?

3) They can sleep anywhere. On our flight over, Dave and I struggled to fall asleep in our seats. At best, we had sporadic sleep, certainly never reaching the REM cycle. But all the other Asian passengers seemed to fall asleep instantaneously, some of them sleeping while sitting up very straight. While exploring our neighbourhood, I spotted a man on his parked scooter with his feet on the handlebars and leaned back, sleeping.

4) They are very friendly. While they are thus far not super eager to talk to us as foreigners, I suspect it might be because of their lack of English. Those who can speak English smile and say hello, and are very appreciative of any Mandarin we can muster (mostly, it’s been “thank-you” so far).

5) Stuff can be quite cheap. We found a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch called Milky, which served breakfast type dishes and tea. We paid for two iced green teas and two dishes (mine was a strange but cool meal: spaghetti in some sort of sauce with pepper and corn wrapped in scrambled egg, served with a couple potatoes), and the total came to about $3.25 CAD. Afterward, we stopped at the corner store and got 1 giant bottle of water, 2 big bottles of Chinese beer, one small container of milk tea (which tastes like Earl Grey tea with lots of sugar and milk), and a big bottle of fruit juice, all which came to around $4.00 CAD. Also, our transportation total from the airport (bus to bullet train to taxi) came to $16.50 CAD for the two of us. It’s nice to be in a city that is budget-traveller-friendly.

As for myself, I’m doing quite well and so is Dave. Both of us are jetlagged, dehydrated, and a bit assaulted by the air pollution, which, as one can imagine, is much stronger here than in Halifax, the closest city to us in Canada. But it’s nothing a good night’s sleep can’t cure.

Until next time! (And I will have photos.)

Taiwanese Goal #4: As Many Markets As Possible

This one sort of goes without saying. It would be such a shame to explore any region of the world that had as many markets as Taiwan does and not visit them. Because it is not a place like 7-11 (and Taiwan is particularly notorious for its 7-11 culture) or any other enormous big box store, I would love to visit these markets almost exclusively for my food. Of course this will all depend on their prices, among other factors, but I feel this could be accomplished.

image from icouldiwilltravel.blogspot.com

You can watch a 10 minute clip of someone walking through Yongan Market on YouTube right here. It’s not quite the full experience and maybe watching the whole ten minutes might be a bit redundant after a while, but it gives a wonderful perspective on what these booths and streets look like. Pay special attention to the sheer quantity of motorbikes parked at the beginning of the clip. From what I’ve read, Taipei has more motorbikes than it does people, much like L.A. has more cars than it does people.

Taiwan has a particularly excellent night market scene from what I read on several websites. Dave tells me this is quite different than Seoul in Korea, and he’s very excited for this change – as am I.

In reference to the entry I posted about thousand year-old eggs, many bizarre foods can be found in these night markets. So much so that this scene was featured on Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman (you can take a look here). I’m looking forward especially to the stinky tofu. Apparently it’s wonderful if you can get over the smell. Andrew Zimmerman doesn’t think so on the show, though.

image from asianfoodgrocer.com

Dave keeps reminding me on how I will basically have to turn any perception I have of normalcy upside down for this trip. I’m sure he’s right. That’s why I’d just like to throw caution to the wind and try everything. Duck tongues, stinky tofu, 30 day fermented pork… bring it.

Taiwanese Goal #1: Thousand Year Old Egg

Dave and I, for the first few weeks in Taiwan, will have the fortune of being on vacation, in a way. The poor guy hasn’t had a proper vacation in almost two years. There are a lot of places I want to go (Taipei apparently is chock-full of museums) and a lot of culture I want to experience (I have to catch up on my Mandarin before I go), but there is a ton of food I’d like to try.

First and foremost, I would like to try that disgusting thing that has endlessly fascinated me through photos and fables online: The Thousand Year Old Egg.

Photo Credit: oneinchpunch.com

This is preserved duck egg, and no, it’s not actually 1,000 years old (obviously). It’s actually 100 days old. Its colour comes from the preservation method, and it looks like a really twisted version of the eggs from Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham.

Who knows where these things come from

Apparently, you can get thousand year old egg by itself as an appetizer or served on top of other dishes as a topping. Dave is scared of these things. This coming from a guy who ate dog in Korea, otherwise known as bo shin tang, and liked it.

But, I regretted not trying black pudding when I was in Ireland, and I feel I would regret not at least trying some cultural culinary oddities when I’m in Taiwan. I’m not saying I’ll like it. But damn it, I’m going to try it.

Coffee and Tea: How the Taiwanese Ingest Their Caffeine

image from thatsweird.net

Currently, I work as a barista in Nova Scotia, so I thought it quite appropriate to make my next entry about coffee and tea. I can’t think of one country where neither are consumed, but the coolest thing about different cultures is that everyone drinks them very differently. Some are very ritualized (like Japanese green tea rituals) and some seem to be consumed with a strange combination of utility and art (see your local snobby Starbucks).

So I figured that Taiwan must have their own thing. As I found out, Taipei has no shortage of coffee and tea houses. I found what looks to be at least one hundred listed here – and that’s just in Taipei!

In this entry then, I’ll list a few phenomenons of tea and coffee that seem unique to Taiwan.

1) Bubble Tea

I may as well get the most talked about thing overwith. Bubble tea is outrageously popular in Taiwan. As it should be – it originated there.

Bubble tea bears a striking resemblance to any blended ice drink at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s, but if you look at the bottom you’ll see tiny “bubbles.” These are actually little pearls made of tapioca. This is topped with tea and cream, sealed with a plastic top and sipped through a fat straw.

You can get many different flavours of bubble tea, usually fruit flavours, and the tea is often green or black tea. As often is the case of popular commodities, no one can really agree on the tea house which first began making the presumably delicious drink.

According to Wikipedia, however, the drink came to Canada before it became popular in the United States.

2) “Old Man’s Tea”

Taiwan, like China and Japan, has a particular tea ritual which translates from lao ren cha to “old man’s tea.” I like that. Despite its misleading title, “old man’s tea” is practiced by the newer generation as well as the old. This is also referred to as Gongfu Tea ritual, which the Chinese practice as well.

This involves oolong tea, which I was pleased to hear, as I’ve been really into Oolong tea as of late, and apparently Taiwan in particular is known for their Oolong tea. Oolong tea – and I can tell you this from some previous research I did on tea – is a semi-fermented tea, more potent than white tea but less potent than green. Unlike white, green, and black teas, the recommended steeping time for oolong teas is 6-7 minutes (as opposed to 1-3 minutes).  At least this is the case in Western practice, and that’s just for tea snobs like myself.

image from squidoo.com

But anyway. I digress.

There is a pretty exceptional article here on Taiwanese tea culture, especially as compared to Chinese culture. It seems that the major differences are that Taiwanese people still insist on using a tea set (like the one pictured above) whereas the Chinese offer tall cups with tea leaves in the bottom. If you’re really curious about the whole ritual, I highly recommend the link above.

3) Coffee, anyone?

I found several interesting articles on Taiwanese coffee:

Monkey coffee: Taiwanese farmers find coffee beans that monkeys have spit out (because they could cause indigestion) and use them to make gourmet coffee. It’s like selling the seeds your cousin spit out while enjoying his watermelon for three times the price.

Salty Lattes: A Taiwanese chain coffee house is selling lattes with sea salt in them, which apparently brings out the flavours in the coffee, and they’re trying to score big in the U.S. coffee market with their unique product.

Aside from some of the weirdness, I have read that Taiwan is particulary heavy with the coffee culture, according to this article – which was interesting but not particularly informative.

To conclude, unsurprisingly, Taiwan has an exceptionally interesting coffee and tea scene, and it has given me yet another reason to bounce in my seat in excitement to go. The autumn can’t come soon enough.

Not all pickled cucumbers are created equal

So today, I made my first attempt (and hopefully success!) at making canned food. More specifically, I made some pickled beets.

Behold the proof:

I came up with snazzy catch phrases, too

Granted, I only made five jars and who knows if they worked out at all.

Nova Scotia has a particular history of canning and pickling and such, as does Canada in general, since we have such a short growing season in most parts of the country. We’re particularly lucky in this area of Nova Scotia to be so abundant. Such thoughts and talk about canning got me wondering if there are any particular pickled foods that the Taiwanese enjoy. Korea has its kimchi, so I set out to find the Taiwanese equivalent. (Though that would be hard to top, given that Korea has a kimchi museum and all, where you can see thousand year-old pickled cabbage.)

Apparently, the Taiwanese like pickled things as well, in particular, a pickled cucumber salad that looks extremely yummy, I must say:

Image taken from eatingchina.com

(Though, from what I understand, the Taiwanese take pride in being called Taiwanese and not Chinese, so the website where I got this photo intrigues me.)

It’s deceptively simple, just involving vegetables, white rice wine, and salt, sugar, and garlic for seasoning. Apparently this is popular – pickled cucumber, I mean. But wait, isn’t that just pickles for us?

Perhaps not. Recipes for said pickled cucumber salad call for oriental cucumbers. What’s the difference? (Dave’s input: “The oriental cucumbers work very, very hard.”)

I didn’t find a specific article explaining the differences. But what I gather from a couple different websites, most of which were trying to sell me said cucumbers, is that oriental cucumbers are thinner, longer, sweeter, and have less seeds. I tried to come up with some sort of innuendo to make that funny, but it’s early, and I’m coming up empty-handed.

Cucumbers aren’t the only things in a pickle in Taiwan. According to this fellow blogger, Taiwanese make a kimchi of their own (though they probably don’t call it that), except it comes out a little milder and sweeter. Having tried kimchi made by some local Koreans here, I’d be happy to try such a thing.

It makes sense that pickled vegetables are popular the world over, since it’s generally a very useful and cost-effective method of preserving food. I wasn’t sure if Taiwan would do this as well, simply because it is a semi-tropical country, and being the little temperate zone girl that I am, I’m quite naive to the food cultures of people who have a longer growing season.

Dave and I have been living on local produce only for about a year now, and so we think we will try to continue the habit in Taiwan, if it’s possible. Look for an entry soon on Taiwanese local foods.  Given that we’ll be living in the capital and cities are usually well stocked, we’ll probably have good luck with that.

Until next time!