Welcome to the world of Malaysians, via MinNature Museum. An exhibit that captures the slide of life of Malaysian so well in such a small scale. These are the scenes of our lives, something we can all relate to, and close to our heart. For example the street view above, a typical shop house street, and the iconic roti man. Every kids love the roti man! They come with their bell, usually in the afternoon or evening, and not only do they deliver bread, they also have lots of snacks and junk food for sale! I lost a lot of money to him when I was young. Mainly I bought coconut candy, and bangkali roti kahwin (which is bangali bread with butter and kaya). The roti man also provides credit, in a form of a 555 notebook! Haahaha. Ah, so much memories....
For the Malays living in the kampung life, scenes of a traditional kampung must also bring back memories of balik kampung. For me, I live opposite a Malay kampung in Penang now, and I have a lot of fun watching the daily lives of the people living there, especially the pakcik in his sarong, the kids playing carefreely, the ladies all covered up going to the mosque, or the irritating teenagers with their motobikes.
Above is a scene not so common in Penang, it captures the scene of a "pindah rumah". In some states, when a Malay move house, they literally move their house! Since the houses are made of wood, and placed on stone steps, you can literally lift it up and move it around!
Near the sea, or on small islands, there are also kelong life. I've visited one around one year back called Pulau Aman in Penang. Wooden platform built on sea water. You can usually order and eat seafood on such places. Fishing was the prime vocation here. Everything is always super laid back here, probably due to the gentle and warm sea breeze.
Surrounded by sea water, kids are usually awesome swimmers. Toilet holes usually just lead right into the sea water! You can throw your leftover food into the sea too! It's not rubbish if it can feed the fishes below!
On the east side of Malaysia, as in Borneo, there is also the orang asli lifestyle. Above is a long house of the Iban, and a Iban warrior dancing in front. I've never been to a long house before, except maybe in a museum. But I've visited Kuching before, and saw the beautiful traditional dance of the aborigine people there. I recall there was also a lot wild board dishes being sold there by the Chinese living there, lol. We had wild board curry while we were there. A nostalgic dish my Dad used to buy back from the market on rare occasion when it was on sale.
The above was quite a cute scene of kids going to school, crossing the terrain like a pro! I guess this is more common in East Malaysia. I've lived most of my life in towns and cities, so hard for me to verify this. But it looks something out of a Lat Cartoon if ever Lat grew up in Sabah Sarawak :)
MinNature also have a exhibit on bird nest trade in East Malaysia, and it was massive! If you've ever been into such a cave before, you would know how gigantic those caves can be, and how awesome those people working there, climbing those wooden ladder without safety nets or equipment. They are the real spiderman!
Nearer to home, the indian barber shop. Every guy I know in Penang has their hair cut by an indian barber, or at least, in my family at least. They were a lot cheaper than the chinese barber. And they gave very strong head massage! I've never been to one, since it's almost exclusively for guys only. I was always stuck in a chinese woman's hair saloon where they perm lady's hair. I hated being there as it was boring. Now that I'm all grown up, I still hate going to the hair dresser. In fact, for the past year, I've resorted to cutting my own hair since my favourite lady barber closed down ! Saves tonnes of money and time! And most of all, saves me the small talk I have to make.
Hawker centers and food streets are a way of life for Malaysian. A place where everyone can order the food they love to eat, and of course the sharing of food such as satay, cuttlefish kangkong, pohpiah, lor bak. The most fun activities, especially when you go out with a bunch of people that can eat a lot. But for some reason, I tend not to bring my foreign friends here, especially if they are angmoh friends, or 'angmoh' cultured people. Some are not used to the hygiene level, or the crowd, or the heat, or the food, lol. Boy are they missing out!
Durian seasons, you can also find durian vendors around. I've never eaten durian in a food street in Malaysia before (although I have done so in Singapore!). Mainly cause they usually overcharge. We locals usually buy them back and eat it at home where we can lick all our fingers in comfort!
I also took a photo of this BBQ chicken wing stall. Ah, the nostalgia is strong with this photo. Of dinners and late night at Song River cafe at Gurney Drive where my family use to go to. These are luxury dish, and I get excited every time there is an order being made. The smell and taste of it, heavenly. It was also something my 'MakYong' (god grandmother?) used to buy back for us for supper after her gambling session. Sometimes she brings home just BBQ pork sausages. Heavenly! Not the most healthy midnight snack, but so full of love <3
And every 7th month, the Chinese Opera is out in full swing entertaining the dead. I was a big fan of these operas! Whenever I see one, I would inform my Dad, and he would bring me there after dinner. I wasn't there for the show though, I was there for the food! Specifically the dessert like "Leng Chee Kang", and "Ngoh Xiang" (5-spiced pork rolls). Ah, those good old days. Now, it's hard even finding any operas!
But lion dance is forever still popular, especially during Chinese New Year. And I am never sick of watching them. Even now, whether in Malaysia or Singapore, if I hear the gong, I gotta go watch it. Especially if there are high stilts involve! It's mesmorising!
Above is a scene from the back stage of a chinese opera. You can always see this if you walk behind the stage. You can see them putting on their thick makeups, and you can see the musical instrument they use too. The costumes and the props are also visible.
Lastly, scenes of home life. It kinda brings a comfortable feeling to the heart, knowing that someone took the time and effort to preserved such a mundane slice of life as hanging of washed cloth at home, hangers, random vase with plants etc. Someone must have loved their home very much to do all these. And I feel the passion very much in every little details they put into the display in this museum.
Ending this entry with a pet dog and his dinner :) Again, someone took the time to do this, appreciate it. It also reminded me of my childhood days, when 'MakYong' would cook the dog's pork rice at 1030am, and how I came running down from her home to ask what was the wonderful smell, only to be told that it was dog food ..... Whiskey and Brandy (yes their dogs were named after alcohol cause my "AhKong" god-grandfather was an alcoholic) has such wonderful pampered life!
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