Malaysia and Singapore!

Hi everyone!

So sorry for the less-than-frequent postings recently! I just got back from a 2-week trip to Malaysia and Singapore. I had never been to Malaysia, and it's been over twenty years since I lasted visited Singapore, so it's pretty much like I was visiting for the first time.

It was an incredible trip. I was blown away by so many aspects of this region: the diverse cultural vibes of each city, the friendliness of the people, the unique tropical landscape, and (of course), the phenomenal food. It's really, really hard to condense and squeeze these two weeks into a manageable-sized "teaser" post, but I will try.

I will spend the next several weeks (or longer!) diving into the details of my trip - everything from making roti jala and curry from scratch and picking fresh mangosteens off of trees during a jungle hike in Malaysia to exploring Singapore's fantastic hawker stalls and being blown away by its dizzying array of excellent Chinese food. There will be recipes from a cooking class I took. And lots of food pictures, of course.

I honestly can't wait to share it all with you.

For now, here's a little peek of what's to come!

Lift off!

It was a long, long, long flight out there. Not since my trip to Australia in 2012 did I spend this long getting to another location. We flew a circuitous route to Dallas first (4 hours) before connecting to Hong Kong (17 hours) and then to Kuala Lumpur (3 more hours). We finally arrived at our destination 30 hours after leaving our home in Cambridge.

Needless to say, I was exhausted. Even though I sleep horribly on airplanes, I zonked out immediately on that last leg to Malaysia.

We arrived on Monday evening and had one full day to explore Kuala Lumpur together before Bryan had to head off to his work meetings. We visited many of the classic sites, like the Petronas Twin Towers, the shopping district Bukit Bintang, and the Islamic Arts Museum.

On Wednesday, Bryan headed off to his conference and I was on my own! Often when I am on my own as a business trip tag-along, I like to sign up for classes and tours in order to meet some of the local people as well as make new friends.

I signed up for an excellent cooking class from LaZat Cooking School {post detailing my experiences here}, which provides transportation from your hotel to their beautiful hillside open air kitchen.

I had a blast there, learning to how to make Otak-Otak (fish wrapped in banana leaves), Kari Ayam (chicken curry), Roti Jala (a delicate lacy pancake), and Onde Onde (an addictive pandan flavored sticky rice ball filled with palm sugar and coated with fresh shaved coconut).

The food was delicious (and not too hard to make!). I plan on sharing all the recipes and tips with you in future posts!

The next day, I got picked up at the crack of dawn (actually, a little before sunrise!) at 6AM from Open Sky Unlimited, a one-man operated tour company that takes people on really interesting hikes on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. I signed up for a jungle waterfall hike, which takes you to the edge of a protected rainforest in Malaysia into a beautiful waterfall.

Before heading out, our little group of four (that's his maximum group size for these tours) stopped by a traditional mamak stall. Mamaks are Muslim Indian owned open-air restaurants that are open 24 hours and serve a variety of halal dishes. We had two meals here: breakfast, where we sample several types of roti canai (the super thin pancake this guy is making), as well as a post-hike lunch, where we had a delicious assortment of other very classic mamak dishes (e.g., rojak, nasi goreng, and nasi kanda).

I had never been inside a rain forest before, so all of it was fascinating to me.

We saw so many different exotic fruit trees. Pictured above you can see jackfruits growing on trees. To the right is a rambutan tree. We also saw ginger flowers, rubber trees, mangosteen trees, tons of bamboo, and even durian trees!

The final destination of the hike was this gorgeous waterfall. We were the only people there, and we all took a nice long extended swim. Our guide challenged us to get right under the waterfall.

I am not a good swimmer and I sort of freaked out, but he was really encouraging about it, and I was so glad that I mustered up the courage to do it. It was a bit tough for me, mentally (after all, I kind of hate getting my face wet, a consequence of learning to swim too late in life!) but I did it! And I have photos to prove it!

At the end of our hike, he took us on one last dip, this time to a much tamer area where we could just enjoy the scenery and relax with the bubbling stream around us. Again, there was no one else in sight. It was so relaxing.

This hike was truly one of the highlights of my trip to Malaysia, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves experiencing nature!

Malaysian style Hokkien Mee and eating with my hands at an Indian open air restaurant

Throughout the next several days, I was able to experience many other aspects of Kuala Lumpur's food through self-exploration (Bryan and I visited food halls or restaurants at night) as well as through a walking food tour of Kuala Lumpur with Food Tour Malaysia.

Indian style doughnuts, such as chickpea fritters on left (my favorite!) and savory spiced fried rings

Alas, our time in Malaysia came to an end and we hopped on a plane early Saturday morning to arrive in Singapore by 9AM. Bryan wanted to maximize our time in Singapore over the weekend since we both had to leave by Tuesday.

Singapore

In many ways Singapore resembles Malaysia in that both countries are heavily influenced by Chinese and Indian cultures. However, we could immediately sense the many differences between the two countries the moment we arrived.

We entered this very modern area called Marina Bay, which includes all sorts of interesting architecture. That's our crazy looking hotel/casino in the back, the Marina Bay Sands, meant to emulate a boat on top of the waves.

There are some fantastic looking gardens right behind Marina Bay Sands (called Gardens by the Bay), which were built only a couple of years ago. Artistic, space-age looking trees tower high into the sky.

Down the way there are two HUGE greenhouse domes that are filled with all different types of incredible plants from all around the world. One of them even has a multi-story waterfall inside the dome.

It's hard to describe the sheer vastness and diversity of it all. You'll just have to come see it.

The Marina Bay Sands is the most expensive building in the world, clocking in at $4.7 billion USD. Its best known feature is the Infinity Pool, a loooooong shallow pool spanning across all three towers at the top of the hotel.

The water appears to go right to the edge of the building and there are stunning views all along the edge of the pool.

You can't come to Singapore without visiting one of its many hawker stall centers - it's the ultimate Singaporean experience. We went with local friends who helped us order a bunch of very classic Singaporean dishes. Pictured above: fresh coconut juice from a coconut, oyster pancake, rojak, grilled sting ray, satay skewers, Hokkien mee, and chicken wings.

One of my only food memories from my first visit to Singapore back in high school was Popiah, a delicious fresh spring roll filled with jicama, daikon, peanuts, cucumbers, and hoisin sauce. It was fantastic - just like I remembered. It's still one of my favorite Singaporean foods of all times.

We had one fancy tasting meal at Iggy's, which included creative courses like these real and fake truffles pictured above. The black spheres are actually deep fried quinoa balls! The shavings are real truffles.

Singapore is filled with a myriad of excellent Chinese food due to the proximity of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. We had phenomenal dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, a one-Michelin starred Cantonese restaurant from Hong Kong. It was really the best char-siu (BBQ pork) bun I had ever had in my life.

We also tried Crystal Jade, one of Singapore's most famous Chinese restaurants. Their pork belly was perfect in every way. Honestly, everything was really, really good.

You can't leave Singapore without eating Chili Crab. There are many places to get it, but most people say The Red House on the east coast of Singapore has the best. Its view of the water is a bit compromised compared to the other restaurants in that area, but the crabs and their tasty red sauce totally makes up for it.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

I was blessed to gain one unexpected day in Singapore when my early morning flight was canceled due to a typhoon in my stopover city, Hong Kong.

Singapore Botanical Gardens

I ended up spending the morning at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which was beautiful. It was nice to have a couple of hours to keep Bryan company before he left for his 4PM flight to India.

When Bryan left for the airport, I hopped over to the Art Science museum right at the base of Marina Bay Sands. After seeing a really fascinating photography exhibit by Annie Leibovitz, I just sat outside the museum and enjoyed the lily pads, beautiful skyline, and the surprisingly comfortable warm weather while waiting to head to the airport myself.

I sat there reflecting about how thankful I was to have this opportunity to join Bryan on this two week trip to southeast Asia. Even though I've been to Asia a lot, it's mostly been Taiwan and Japan.

It wasn't until last year that I visited Thailand, and this was really my first exposure to Singapore and Malaysia. I have learned a ton about the food in this region on this trip, yet I feel like I have barely scratched the surface. I can't wait to come back and continue learning more about this fascinating region, its culture, and its food.

Stay tuned for many, many posts that will go much more into detail of all the great food and travel experience I had on this trip!

UPDATE - Links to Posts Below!