I’m not really the food connoisseur that Joylani is, but I feel that the food in Malaysia is good enough to warrant a post even from me. I can confidently say that it’s the best food all trip. But first, lets review. European food was pretty bland and unexciting. Besides being pretty familiar to my American palate, its also cost-prohibitive. There were aspects that I enjoyed though. Who can argue with having a glass of red with every meal, in Italy and Greece. And I ate about 5 kebaps a day in Turkey. Indian food was generally pretty good. Good flavors and spices, cheap enough we could order whatever we wanted whenever, although we were also continually sick for a few months there. Everyone in Nepal eats dal bhat for every meal and while its okay sometimes and the ingredients vary a little from place to place, how can you get excited about the same dish at every meal? Thailand was a wonderful change after Nepal. Thai food isn’t my favorite, but there’s always something good available. I can stand eating pad thai, noodle soup, and barbequed meat at every meal. Plus, two 7-Elevens on every block helped quench our thirst and snacking needs. Lao pho is the best meal I’ve had all trip. When possible I always had some beef pho, sometimes 3-4 times a day. The baguettes were okay too. Not too many dishes, but my favorite dish so far. Cambodian food was okay. Not the most sanitary stuff, but there were a handful of dishes that were okay. Now, Malaysian food. Like Thailand, good food is always available. But your average dishes here are not just good, they’re great (like Frosted Flakes). Chicken or beef satay with peanut sauce beats pad thai any day. And a roti canai with a hot cup of teh tariq is equivalent to my favorite meal in India: Keralan parota and chai. Plus, there’s always Chinese pork buns or red/black bean buns to snack on. And the shaved ice deserts cendol and ABC are musts every post-meal. The only food I don’t really like is the Chinese food. I’ve realized on this trip that I don’t really like Chinese food, I like American Chinese food. Broccoli beef, various types of fried chicken meat, and other stir-fried dishes. But judging by Lao, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia, Chinese food usually consists of rice or oily noodles with chicken or pig entrails- chicken gizzards and nasty pig parts are favorites here, although pig faces and unmentionable cow parts are favorites in mainland SEA. It seems to me, that Chinese food is basically prepared by chopping up an animal and throwing some random parts on a pile of rice. Hopefully, I’ll like the Chinese food in China better than SEA. While I’m on the subject, I’ll get all my gross food aversions out. Lao and Cambodia’s fertilized eggs were pretty grosso. Carts full of fried insects, spiders, and larvae all over the place in Thailand weren’t too appealing. Goat heads and buffalo hooves for sale at the butcher shops in Kathmandu weren’t too appetizing either. So I guess Chinese restaurants in Malaysia aren’t too bad, relatively speaking.