Back in Hong Kong

Blogging has become more difficult lately. Perhaps we are trying to not spend the last of our time in internet shops or maybe there is less to report. Anyway, we have arrived back in Hong Kong. It is nice to be back in a familar place with people we know and where transport is easy to figure out. It is much less intimidating to figure out the transit second time around. We are looking forward to spending our week here before heading back to Canada.

Delicious

We have not blogged in a while because we were busy lazing around in the sun on Tioman Island. We spent nearly two weeks on the island because we did not want to be trying to travel during the Hari Raya celebrations at the end of Ramadan. Hari Raya is a big deal here. It is as big as Christmas at home. Many people travel to spend the holiday with their families. It was ironic because so many businesses were closed on the island on the tenth and eleventh of September that, while the Muslim locals were eating goodies to celebrate the end of their fast, the tourists were on an accidental fast if they were not lucky enough to find an open convenience store where they could buy some cookies for lunch. We fared alright because we asked around about what would be open when and we stocked up on snacks beforehand.

There is not a lot to do on Tioman Island except sleep in late, read books on the deck by our room or under a shady tree by the beach, and swim or snorkel in the beautifully warm ocean with the bright coloured fish and coral. A few days ago we hiked through the rainforest to the other side of the island so we could relax on that beach instead. On our walk back two days later we saw giant monitor lizards (these ugly critters are all over the island), a bunch of cute little monkeys, two long narrow snakes with bright green bellies, and around 4.5 million mosquitoes.

Yesterday we crossed the Malaysian peninsula and now we are in Melaka. We did not have a good first impression. Our bus ran very late so we did not get into town until around midnight. When we got to the hotel where we had reserved a room, we found the door locked and no one answering the doorbell or telephone. We were in a strange town after midnight and we had to find a new place to stay. Luckily everything turned out OK, and we are staying at a place just down the street from where we originally planed to stay.

Today after sleeping in very late we decided to head over to Chinatown to have a look around. We had a lot of fun. There were lots of things to see and yummy things to eat. We browsed around some really nice shops. Finally we were tired and hungry, so we looked in our guidebook and saw that there was a restaurant nearby called Capitol Satay. When we got there we found a cue that went out the door and down the street. We thought it must be good if this many locals were waiting to get in and we decided we would get into the line and see how fast in was moving. It was not moving very fast. The friendly family behind us in line assured us that it was really good food and we should not leave Melaka without trying the satay, so we stuck it out.

Wow! It was worth the wait. We were directed to a buffet set up where we chose skewers of raw chicken, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and deep fried bread. When we got back to our table they brought cubed bread and cucumbers and placed a giant pot of satay sauce on a burner embedded in the center of the table. Satay fondue. I don't know what genius first thought this one up, but I think I love them. It was one of the most delicious meals of my life. Seriously. I think this rates right up there with European chocolate on my list of things I like to eat.