After a nap and a shower we headed out to explore the night life. First Jasmah took me to locals public beach/park hang out. It was a bit late for the sunrise and the place was shutting down. Here is the food area at the beach park. We had some of the corn and took some peanuts home, but otherwise this was not a place that met the Jasmah health code approval. I was pretty much depending on her to keep me healthy and safe and she was great at it.
Local Roasted Peanuts and Corn
Food Vendors
Fish Monger
Patrons here pick their own fish and it will be cooked for them on the spot or they can take the raw fish home and cook it themselves. The fish selection here on Borneo is large and varied. Many types of fish I ate I had never heard of before. The first couple of days I was asking what I was eating and how to make it. After a while, I just enjoyed it and stopped asking question. Between the language barrier and the lack of familiarity with the ingredients used I had trouble imagining that I would ever be able to recreate the dishes when I got home. I decided it was just better to enjoy them. Though I wish I could have done some cooking with some of the locals to learned from them. Maybe next time.
Dining Area
Satay Booth
After exploring the park we headed to the boardwalk/wharf to have dinner. Being a largely Muslim country, alcohol is not served in all restaurants and their are not many bars. The boardwalk is one of the places that has pubs. There were many tourist from Australia and New Zealand there enjoying the Irish pubs. Also most restaurants in KK were Halal and served no pork regardless of the cuisine.
Cool Lantern in Huge Chinese Restaurant
After walking up and down the boardwalk we chose a Chinese restaurant which turned out to be a the dodgy end of the strip. We order Peking Duck, bok choy, rice and tea. $20 for the total meal. Unbelievable. The food arrived and it was delicious and bountiful. The air was cool and lovely and as you can see by the photo of the boat below, the view was wonderful.
During dinner we encountered our first beggars. A small boy with some difficulties with his limbs came asking for money. Jasmah gave a clear signal that giving him money was not ok. She was pretty surprised that anyone came begging for money and told me it was rare to see, but we had landed on the edge of a poor part of town.
Then two boys, maybe 9 years old came to the table and asked if they could have a piece of duck. I looked to Jasmah for guidance. I did not mind sharing, but I was taken a back by his request and the rude way that he asked. Jasmah looked pretty blown away herself and gave him a look that sent him away. She said she had never encountered this before and this seemed even weirder than the begging for money. She has not really lived in KK full time for 25 years. She has visited regularly since moving to the states. She visited last three years ago. So maybe things have changed, though I am not sure in what time frame. We were glad the boys did not come back. The whole encounter made the rest of our meal kind of strange. I felt bad not sharing our bounty, but the boys did not look scruffy or underfed, they just seemed like regular kids with no manners.
View of Fishing Boat From our Restaurant Table. These fishing boats house the family and that also go out to sea to catch fish.
Starbucks is Everywhere.
After dinner we wanted a little something sweat and we decided to check out the Starbucks. We had to try one out to see how it differed from the ones back home. For one thing they make lattes with condensed milk, so yummy. We also had a slice of caramel cheesecake. The guy behind the cash register had a constant patter and was flipping cups in the air. The place was noisy and filled with young people and families. We did not really encounter other coffee places. There are bakeries and they serve coffee, though most people seemed to take the baked goods away. So I guess that Starbucks is a unique hang out and really, other than the exact same sign not at all like our Starbucks at home. It is a bit unfortunate that America is represented in Malaysia by high end boutiques, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Starbucks and television shows like Bones, and CSI.
