March 25th: Rest Day in Chukai
Day 163
One thing we have learned is to know when to stop.
I never knew how much I missed Chinese food. It’s not just the food either, Chinese restaurants are a very social setting and it was comforting to hear the constant clattering of dishes and the regular rise and fall of conversation. Much of this town has the appeal of something familiar. Small businesses of every sort sit shoulder to shoulder with their owners and costumers chatting and shouting greetings to their neighbors. Of course the greetings are generally Chinese to Chinese and Muslim to Muslim, since Malaysian society is very much segregated. But there still is a strong current of community and the majority of businesses are aimed at locals. For instance there is a barber shop, which Cher noticed has thick opaque curtains, that can be drawn over the door and the windows so Muslim women can remove their hajibs. There is also traditional Chinese dry goods store, which I smelled before I saw it, with assorted dried fish, mushrooms, and of course rice and other household essentials. Along with mechanics, hardware stores, grocery stores and people going about their daily lives we are of only mild interest and anonymous and unnoticed and we can go about our day as well.
Sitting here at a desk, in our clean functional room, well fed, clean and relaxed it’s easy to forget that we underwent any struggle whatsoever to get here. Refueled and a little bit Hong Kong home-sick we look forward to finding more Chinese food. For those reading at home we also get homesick for our families and friends but that normally happens right before we fall asleep, and our belly’s are full.
