On chickens, roads, and eggs.

After writing earlier I was tired enough to nap.  Can one nap from 0600 - 0700?  The sun was not up when I started dozing, that's not a nap.

But I awoke after an hour.  Hungry.

So, hat on, I walked across the road.  Existential threat be damned - I was no chicken today.  And, I looked rightward.  

None of the collection of restaurants directly across the road were open.  Except a guy selling Nasi Lemak from a card table.  OK, I was a chicken and decided not to try roadside, wall-less vendors.  Yet. 

I walked a hundred yards.  One place was open and had a good crowd.  But cowardice once again prevailed.  I stand out pretty obviously here.  Especially with white as snow legs and a funny hat.  (I LOVE my Tilley Endurables hats.  2 came with me on this trip; the third is too heavy for this weather.)  Fearing awkwardness is silly but real at times.

I saw a bunch of cars parked in the road and people milling so I walked there.  Yes, they had parked in the road.  To stop at the fish mongers.  Not a stall.  Just dudes with plastic crates (circa 1 meter square) loaded with ice and fish.  Small (~25-30cm long) tuna of some sort, sardine like things, stuff still under ice water that I could not see.  But I'm not equipped to handle a whole fish, cooking or otherwise.

So I meandered a few hundred feet and, lo, there was the chicken lady.  She had almost whole chickens for sale.  Almost "head to toe"...just lacking the head.  I think.  I'm not equipped for that either as I have no plans to cook. 

But I did laugh at the chickens' feet for some reason.  They reminded me of a street market in La Paz, Bolivia.  A lady there had a basket full of chicken feet for sale.  After she declined to let me take a photo I tried to do so anyway from across the street - these were the days of DSLRs and long lenses.  Her colleagues saw me and chased me away by throwing potatoes at me.

Yeah, I learned my lesson about chicken feet photos in the '90s.  Sorry, maybe tomorrow I'll suck up the courage to take a pic or two.

Back to the beach side of the road.  And, the same Kopitam as yesterday. Lemonade, fresh and wonderful.  And, nasi lemak.  This time served traditionally.  On banana leaf and wrapped in paper, folded into a small pyramid.

The hat makes the man...and the egg makes the meal

There's a bit of cucumber under the egg, the fish are under the sambal, the peanuts (alas) are absent.  Delicious!  When the anchovies are left to soften and flavor under the sambal it's really good.  Mellows the fishiness and saltiness into the heat.  Really good.  Traditionally it's finger food.  I can't do that.  So, fork and spoon are the local alternative.  I can handle them.

Nasi Lemak = 3 Ringgit - less than a buck.  Hell, less than $0.75.
Lemonade = 5 Ringgit.

This may be love.

Yes, a tasty meal for less than $2.  I kept it to that, for now.  I'll eat when I'm peckish. 




I just have to keep crossing that road.  Looking rightward and wearing a hat. 

19May24  It appears the International Sisterhood of Poultry Purveyors has a very strict prohibition on photographing their fowl.