Another good night sleep. I woke, finished blogging, showered, ate breakfast (tuna sandwich, pineapple, red bean buns). We are catching on and did some shopping yesterday to buy food for breakfast since all the restaurants are closed because of Ramadan.
Tonight we find out if the last day of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) begins tomorrow or Saturday. I didn't know this either, but no one knows when the last day of Ramadan until the last minute. This is because the Malay Rulers have to observe the crescent moon showing that a full month has past. Tonight is the night they will confirm if the crescent moon is present. Either way, the Prime Minister of Malaysia declared a public holiday starting tomorrow (Friday) through Monday. So, starting Tuesday we should have no problems finding food at all times of the day.
By the way...here is a shot from the window of our 17th floor apartment. Behind those trees on the right is where the market is that Tim and I bought last night's dinner,
Tonight we find out if the last day of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) begins tomorrow or Saturday. I didn't know this either, but no one knows when the last day of Ramadan until the last minute. This is because the Malay Rulers have to observe the crescent moon showing that a full month has past. Tonight is the night they will confirm if the crescent moon is present. Either way, the Prime Minister of Malaysia declared a public holiday starting tomorrow (Friday) through Monday. So, starting Tuesday we should have no problems finding food at all times of the day.
By the way...here is a shot from the window of our 17th floor apartment. Behind those trees on the right is where the market is that Tim and I bought last night's dinner,
This is the view off the hallway outside our apartment looking the other way. Kuala Terengganu is a pretty good sized city.
As usual, during the drive we kept on the lookout for fresh produce. Our first stop was a produce stand that sold durian. The last time we had durian was at a gourmet durian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. This time we are going to have what the locals have....just old fashioned kind. It only cost us 20 MYR => $4.50 USD versus the 70 MYR =>$16 USD that the gourmet place charged us.
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We are not allowed to have durian in the car because of the pungent smell, so we sat outside the car and enjoyed this fabulous treat. As a matter of fact, I much preferred this variety of durian. It wasn't as smelly...actually it barely smelled....and it tasted sweet and milder.
After the durian we continued our drive, which was pretty congested. With the holiday coming up, people are driving all over the county to get home to celebrate with family. Think of this as the Christmas Eve Eve of Muslim people.
After about another hour or so of driving we were all getting hungry. We saw a market on the side of the road, so we pulled over. We were hoping to find some prepared food, but it was just produce, dried fish, and ingredients for baking. We did get to try a new fruit that we haven't eaten before as pictured on the left below. It is Salak, the fruit of a palm tree. It is about the size of the fig and looked pretty good when the woman was kind enough to peel it for us. The darker colored one tasted blah and left a dry feeling in the mouth. The lighter colored one tasted a bit like honey, but not the best. Needless to say, we didn't buy any. But Susan did find some nice vegetables and we bought some mini bananas,
After the durian we continued our drive, which was pretty congested. With the holiday coming up, people are driving all over the county to get home to celebrate with family. Think of this as the Christmas Eve Eve of Muslim people.
After about another hour or so of driving we were all getting hungry. We saw a market on the side of the road, so we pulled over. We were hoping to find some prepared food, but it was just produce, dried fish, and ingredients for baking. We did get to try a new fruit that we haven't eaten before as pictured on the left below. It is Salak, the fruit of a palm tree. It is about the size of the fig and looked pretty good when the woman was kind enough to peel it for us. The darker colored one tasted blah and left a dry feeling in the mouth. The lighter colored one tasted a bit like honey, but not the best. Needless to say, we didn't buy any. But Susan did find some nice vegetables and we bought some mini bananas,
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Needless to say, we didn't buy any. But Susan did find some nice vegetables and we bought some mini bananas, mangosteens, and jambu air (rose apple).
We arrived at our rented townhouse right at 2 PM, checked-in, unloaded the van, and headed out to the mall. Peter needs new shoes and we need to buy some food in case everything is closed this weekend for the holiday.
The mall we found was very nice. A huge building with different stores, a market like atmosphere, food court with an A&W, sushi, ice cream, fired chicken...pretty much everything, another food court with traditional Malaysian food, and a large supermarket upstairs.
The mall we found was very nice. A huge building with different stores, a market like atmosphere, food court with an A&W, sushi, ice cream, fired chicken...pretty much everything, another food court with traditional Malaysian food, and a large supermarket upstairs.
Google image of Mydin Tunjong Hypermarket
The supermarket isn't what we are used to in the United States. Dry fish displays, Fish and seafood sitting out in displays for shoppers to help themselves. Checkout lines for men or women or families.
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After picking up food for breakfast and lunch, we decided to get some takeaway for dinner. Tim, Peter, and Susan agreed on some fried chicken from Marrybrown, a Malaysian chain like KFC. I went for a more traditional Malaysia meal of fried fish with rice. Sorry, there are no photos since when we got home we were all starving and scoffed down the food as fast as we could.
After dinner we flipped though the antenna TV we were provided and nothing was on, so we all retreated to our rooms for the night. Tomorrow we will explore this town and then drive out of town to check out two Buddhist temples. Until then...
After dinner we flipped though the antenna TV we were provided and nothing was on, so we all retreated to our rooms for the night. Tomorrow we will explore this town and then drive out of town to check out two Buddhist temples. Until then...
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