Tag Archives: Malaysia

Stinky Durian

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There’s a food obsession in Southeast Asia that really stinks.

It’s for a food so pungent that some of the hotels we’ve stayed at while traveling here have signs in the rooms telling guests to not bring the food inside.

Yet we’ve also seen other tourists, mainly from China, flocking into shops to sample and buy the food, which isn’t cheap.

Is it stinky cheese? Stinky tofu? No, it’s a spiky fruit whose odor has been compared to sewage or gym socks.

My fellow Americans, behold durian.

In this part of the world, many consider durian a delicacy. They love its custard-like texture and complex flavor profile. When durian is in season, they search for it in night markets and roadside stalls. They gather with friends to compare flavors and discuss which varieties are best.

I took this photo of Chinese enthusiasts at a durian shop in Penang, Malaysia, taking selfies with the fruits and buying them as fast as the owner could sell them.

Champa and I tried a durian puff pastry at a night market and some durian ice cream pops, as you see in the photos above and below. I wanted to like them but almost gagged. The smell was overwhelming. Champa’s reaction was milder.

Like most Westerners, I didn’t grow up with durian. My brain wasn’t wired to think of it as a comfort food. When I finally tried it in Malaysia, the smell was a barrier for me rather than a signal of something desirable. I was like someone who never tasted beer and only found it bitter rather than savoring IPA varieties with friends.

Chinese tourists now travel to Penang and elsewhere for durian tours, much as Americans travel to Napa for wine. In both cases, group dynamics play a role. The foods can nourish tradition and identity along with the palate.

I didn’t want to be a typical Westerner who tries durian and says, “That’s disgusting!” I honestly tried it with an open mind along with my open mouth. But durian just didn’t pass the smell test, at least for me.

Sorry durian, but I whiffed.

Overlooked Malaysia

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American travelers seeking an East Asian trip with interesting culture, delicious food and affordable prices often default to Thailand or Vietnam. For a different vibe and a higher price, they may pick Japan or Korea. 

Few even consider Malaysia — but they should. 

We just visited Malaysia for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It’s a comfortable, affordable, friendly place where English is widely spoken, the food is terrific, the nature is stunning, traveling is easy and cultural diversity is the norm. 

Malaysia has about 33 million people and a per capita GDP of about $12,000, making it an upper-middle income country. It’s modern, industrial and comfortable, especially in the urban areas where most people live. We traveled everywhere by Grab — like Uber, for a fraction of the price — paid with credit cards, used our smartphones and stayed in hotels and Airbnbs that were lovely but inexpensive. 

Malaysia is a long way from America and it gets hot. But especially during this tense moment in our own history, it has a lot to teach us with its tolerant blend of religions, regions and ethnicities. Malaysia combines Malay, Chinese and Indian influences into something unique.

We flew from Taipei to Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, a region of nearly 9 million people and some of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers. The photo shows us beside the iconic Petronas Twin Towers renowned for their Islamic-inspired design.

We also visited the famous Batu Caves (see my video), the national museum, art galleries, Taoist temples, mosques and markets.

We then took a bus south to Malacca, which I described in an earlier post, before turning north to Penang. Along the way we stopped for a few days in Ipoh, where we visited cave temples, learned about the local tin industry and wandered night markets offering everything from fried insects to bubble tea. Our hotel was a restored mansion of a wealthy Chinese businessman.

Penang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surprised us with its sparkling condominiums, fancy shops and general modernity, which has attracted expats from around the world. We stayed with Singaporean friends who now live there and had dinner with two former Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Malaysia in the past and retired there eight years ago.

We learned about Penang on a free walking tour, rode the funicular to the top of Penang Hill, visited the Kek Lok Si Temple, toured the Pinang Perinakan Mansion and sampled the city’s famously diverse cuisine. 

Finally we flew to East Malaysia on the island of Borneo, for a wildlife tour and two nights in a jungle lodge. We saw orangutans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, swarming bats and more — even a crocodile that had just started eating a python (Watch my video about our Sabah adventure.)

Americans who skip Malaysia are missing out on all this. If they look beyond the familiar travel brands and give it a try — as we finally did — they’re likely to wonder why they didn’t come sooner.

Borneo Video

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Swinging orangutans, bat swarms and a crocodile eating a python. We saw all this and more during our wildlife trip in Borneo. This video, also on YouTube, has the highlights. https://youtu.be/–oDbP3zB7w?si=sSUCF0GXOjF6Qpmp.

Batu Caves Video

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The Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur are one of Malaysia’s most memorable sites. See why in this one-minute video on YouTube.

Strait Talk

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Centuries before the current fighting in Hormuz, another strait was the focus of geopolitical competition. 

It’s the strait here in southwestern Malaysia beside the historic city of Malacca, also known as Melaka.

During the 15th and early 16th centuries, Malacca was arguably the most important port in the world. One look at this map explains why. 

Almost every ship traveling between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea had to pass through the Strait of Malacca. 

Spices from the Moluccas, silks and porcelain from China, cloth from India and gold from Sumatra flowed through its markets. The local government developed an elaborate system for managing all of it. 

Many Malaccan traders and officials became rich. Champa and I came here on Friday and are staying in a hotel that was once the mansion of one of the wealthiest of them, Tam Kim Seng. As you can see, the building has been beautifully restored. (We had no idea of this when we booked it as a good deal online.)

Malacca’s wealth and strategic location attracted the attention of European powers that were just beginning to pursue their imperialist policies. The Portuguese conquered Malacca. Then the Dutch displaced them. Then the British. The Japanese took over during World War II before the British returned. Finally Malaysia achieved independence in 1957 and became the country we know a few years later.

If you’ve never heard of Malacca, that’s largely because nearby Singapore began displacing it in the 1800s because of its location, deeper port, friendlier trade policies and British preferences. Malacca faded and Singapore thrived. 

Today Malacca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a population of just under 1 million people. We’ve enjoyed exploring its temples, markets, river and other sites, some of which illustrate this post. It’s really a lovely place to visit. 

This unexpected history lesson has been a bonus and, given what’s happening in Hormuz, a welcome sense of perspective about the current turmoil.

To be sure, today’s global economy is far more interdependent and fragile than the spice ships that sailed to Malacca. Oil price spikes and stock market gyrations occur within hours, not months or years. 

But Malacca reminds us of the continuing truth that narrow waterways offer leverage, control of them brings economic power and outside nations often intervene to secure access. 

When you look at a globe and see the Strait of Gibraltar, the Turkish Straits, the southern entrance to the Red Sea and, especially, the Taiwan Strait, among others, this is a lesson worth remembering. Hormuz is not the only place where the strait and narrow can be dangerous.