On Sunday, Eric’s cold was much worse when he woke up. He was feeling awful, and wasn’t up for going anywhere or doing anything, so we had a quiet day aboard Kosmos. On Monday (yesterday), he was feeling somewhat better, so we ventured out. The first outing was to a strip mall we had seen from the taxi on our way to Melaka that looked like it was within walking distance. It turned out to be about a mile walk. In the strip mall are 4 restaurants, a small grocery store, two small mini-marts, a clothes store, fishing store, and a store that sells cameras and does portraits. Across the street from the strip mall is a hospital. Up the street we could see an office building. Not much for excitement, but at least there were a few restaurant choices.
We chose an Indian restaurant called Cahaya Musthafa. We each got an order of paratha bread Christi egg and Eric plain and we shared the entrée, murtabak paratha. We were expecting small fried pieces of meat baked into the bread. It was actually a patty with the different meats all ground into it, along with seasonings, and the patty was in the center of the bread. It was very good and cheap. The whole meal, including three beverages came to USD $2.50.
Our next big outing was for an early dinner at the Selesa Resort, which is the hotel the taxi driver taking us to Port Dickson had tried to drop us off at. Architecturally, the building is quite interesting, and it looks like a nice place. The walk was just under a mile the other direction. We went into the main restaurant and were told it was closed for a private function, but we could go to the café. The café is located at the back of the hotel next to the pool, with a view overlooking the new houses under construction at the marina.
We both tried something new. Eric got Cantonese Noodles, which is noodles with chicken, squid, prawns and vegetables in egg gravy. Christi got Penang Char Kway Teow, which has similar ingredients in a different kind of sauce. We rate this place the same as the marina restaurant, terribly overpriced by Malaysian standards with food that just isn’t very good. But at the least the portions are decent sized. Halfway through the meal Eric announced his tummy wasn’t feeling good. By the end of the meal, neither was Christi’s. We both wound up with sick tummy that night, and we aren’t sure if it was from lunch or dinner. Poor Eric was still feeling rotten from his cold, so he was extra miserable with the tummy sickness.
Meanwhile, the neighbors aboard Shayile had invited a local Indian couple over for dinner to celebrate their first anniversary. They invited us to join them, as well. Fortunately, their dinner didn’t start until 2000 (8:00 pm), and by then our system was cleaned out and we were feeling up for a visit, though Christi wasn’t up for eating. (Mention food?) We had a wonderful time visiting with the locals. They shared a lot about Indian culture, as well as what it is like for Indians living in Malaysia. We had wondered if the laws that heavily favor the Malay people group have created racial tension with the large Chinese and Indian populations, and it sounds like it has. It sounds like the non-Muslim are not very happy about the inching towards a more conservative Islamic state. We found it interesting that Hindus are allowed to convert to Muslim, but it is illegal for a Muslim to ever convert to another religion. Also, if a non-Muslim marries a Muslim, it is mandatory for the non-Muslim to convert and all children must by law be raised Muslim. The wife is a school teacher, so we learned a lot about the school system. Kids start learning English at 5, and in addition to English class, science and math are also taught in English, which is why everyone’s English is so good. They were fascinating to talk to and we wished we could have visited with them longer, but by 23:00 (11:00), we were really tired and needed to go to bed. And they had to go to work the next morning.
Today, Eric was finally feeling good enough to do boat chores. He changed the water maker filter and cleaned the bilge filter. He also fixed boom rope holder and changed the boom ropes, which, as we had mentioned were damaged in the awful trip up from Bali. Christi, on the other hand, was excessively tired, had a headache and was crabby, all definite signs she is getting sick.