Food, Tour of the Mine, Food, Chief of the County, Food

If it wasn't already clear, today I happily came to understand just how important food really is to Malaysians. They REALLY love to eat. Their food culture really reminds me of South Pacific islanders a lot, but with a broader variety of spices and origins.

Today was the first full work day for our project. So we took a field trip, that was really quite an adventure. We traveled first thing in the morning to Sungai Lembing to tour the existing Museum which is run by the Federal government, and then the newly opened "Living Museum" or Tunnel museum that is the conversion of one of the old horizontal mine shafts into an impressive tour, which is run by the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK).

But first we needed to stop for "second breakfast", our guides from the MPK decided, to sample some cuisine. Nasi Lemak and Mee Jawa from the locals in the newly built outdoor style eatery.

Then we were off to the Sungai Lembing Museum, which had the main floor refurbished just last year.


After that we headed to the Living Museum (Tin Mine) Tour.

Next, the hanging bridges, I should also mention that this is Sungai Canal "it's not a river any more since a flood changed the route" they tell us. Also, the area received it's name from a Legend about a Speer, Deer, and then finding the river.

and then it was time to eat again! This is a Kari Pap (Deer Puff). It tastes similar to a ground beef empinada.


While we were there eating we were informally introduced to the Mayor or "Chief of the County", as he referred to himself. He told us that previously he had worked in a different place where he had brought in a British company to help the children learn better English. He said he has been waiting for the opportunity to find volunteers to come in and help his children learn better English in the school at Sungai Lembing. We told him we would pass along his information and suggestion as a possibility for a future team to our coordinators.

On the way back to the office our guides decided we needed to sample some local fruit. They made a u-turn back to this stand to have us try Nangka (Jack) Fruit. It was not bad. It's texture is like stringy mango, but flavor more like banana. The scent really lingers for quite some time. I can only imagine how pungent the Durian fruit they always talk about must be for someone like me.

All in all, an excellent day with a ton of great information gathered about the target of our project. Our guides were extremely generous and really all around enjoyable to spend the day with.

#ibmcsc Malaysia