Something Malaysia this way comes

Although most of my travels in recent times are in and around central Texas, there was a time when I saw new places, exotic lands, and fantastic destinations. The very first trip I ever made on an airliner was to British Columbia, Canada. I was 22 and I loved it! Seeing as how BC is far from exotic, I might save details of my travels to Canada for another time.

I was fortunate enough to spend roughly a month in Malaysia when I was in my early 20s. Most of my time in Malaysia was spent in Kuala Lumpar (“KL”), but I also got to visit Ipoh and Pinang. The Malaysia in my mind and the real country were nothing alike.

When told I had the opportunity to go to Malaysia, I was excited, but scared. I had never been out of North America. My thoughts raced as to what medical vaccinations I would need for my trip; luckily, I didn’t have to get any shots before I left the states.

Seeing as how I was there for a decent amount of time, I won’t go into detail about all the things I saw, felt and experienced. Some of the interesting things I experienced, was eating at US restaurants while there. Schlotzsky’s, A&W, TGIFridays, and KFC were some of the American chains that I had the opportunity to try.

You may be wondering why I ate at American chain restaurants while in a foreign country, let me say that some of the sights and smells of the cities weren’t really conducive to building an appetite for wanting to try something new. The piles of rotting vegetation outside some of the street vendors were awful! Nothing like smelling rotting vegetation outside a restaurant you’re about to eat in. No thank you!

So, this is why I stuck to American chains, at least initially. The first chain from the states that I tried was Schlotzsky’s. The regular size original was about the size of the smallest sandwich Schlotzsky’s offers. It didn’t have the usual ingredients as the original here in the states. It didn’t contain the cheese or black olive goodness that I’m accustomed to. They didn’t have ham on the menu, at least what I recall. So, overall, the food was similar, but no where near as good as the original here.

An issue that they have in many Asian cultures is timing food correctly for parties of several. When a dish is prepared, it is served whether all the other dishes are complete or not. Of all the American chain restaurants I experienced while there, TGIFriday’s was the worst.

The overall food quality was about the same…..mediocre at best, but the waiters/waitresses looked very excited to be serving this fat American. Another chain I visited was KFC. Normally, I’m not a KFC fan, but the one I tried in Malaysia was terrible. The chicken pieces were very small and looked like reject chicken parts. I don’t recall the taste of the food. I almost think I threw it away it was so repulsive looking.

The food I had at one of the local restaurants in Pinang was very yummy. They had both traditional Asian dishes, as well as some of my favorites from home. I ordered sesame chicken and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (YUM!). The food was very flavorful and I regretted not having eaten more traditional and local dishes.

After getting, roughly, ¾ of the way done with my meal, I found some surprises in my food! I won’t be too graphic, but let’s say that I found bugs in both of the dishes I had been so enthusiastically enjoying about 10 minutes previous. That was the end of my meal and that, my friends, is exactly why I ate at American chain restaurants while in Malaysia.

This entry was posted on July 4, 2009 at 10:47 and is filed under Not necessarily "road" trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.