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Today I made a remarkable observation: The number of KFCs in
Malaysia has the mosquitos outnumbered and it can only be a matter
of time until Malaria is all but a faint memory. Yes, KFC as in
Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are more KFCs in the whole of Malaysia
than McDonald's, Starbucks', and mosquitos taken together. And
in all of those KFCs you can see happily smiling Malaysians munching
away on Super-Extra-Mega-Crispy Chicken.
In my opinion, it can only be a matter of time, maybe 1-2 generations,
until Malaysia will have the same health problems as the United
States. While this may not hold true for the lowest income classes,
the more affluent middle classes certainly can be found in all
those shopping paradises eating Western food like Pizza Hut's
pizzas or KFC's crunchy chicken. In fact, the favorite food among
Malaysia's youth is pizza, just like in the United States (1).
One of the reasons why Germany has been able to withstand (to
some extent) the consequences of the onslaught of fast food is
that sport is widely practiced by the adult population. (In the
U.S. despite a highly visible high-end, sport is much less wide-spread,
with large parts of the population getting no exercise at all.)
Here in Malaysia, I don't see any of that physical activity that
might fight obesity.
On my walk around the city, I saw a guy selling a tiger claw
(and other parts of the tiger). In fact, he had pictures next
to the claw showing him with a dead tiger in the jungle. Actually,
I'm not sure whether he was selling the claw or just the "Macho
Man" condoms lying next to it. I couldn't figure out because
he didn't speak English. While you can get along with English
in Malaysia, it is way less frequently spoken than you might hope,
and it takes patience to communicate and get what you want. In
any case, Kota Bharu seems to be more rural than the other places
I've been to. You can see live chicken ready to be killed for
you (just
like in Cambridge), or already dead and plucked chicken, or
just their feet, if this is to your taste.
Yet another observation is that every second day in Malaysia
must be a government-sponsored holiday. In strongly-islamic Kota
Bharu, where the Muezzin woke me up at 6am or so (2), Saturday
and Sunday are supposed to be regular workdays for banks and museums,
but not today of course, because we have yet another holiday.
This also meant that I didn't get a seat at the beaches where
I wanted, so I delayed this until tomorrow, when Malaysian vacationeers
return home.
The highlight of the day, however, was my first really tasty
dinner. Until now, I had eaten mainly Chinese, and it was at best
soso. Tonight I had Ayam Percik from the Yati stall at the Kota
Bharu night market, and it was wonderful! Finally! I had been
told so much about the great Malaysian cuisine, but somehow it
had evaded me. Until now! What a delight.
(1) Taken from the New Straits Times, Friday June 7th, 2002.
Which confused me, because I thought at least the Chinese lack
a specific enzyme that is needed to be able to digest cheese.
But maybe that doesn't hinder the taste?
(2) The volume with which the Muezzin's prayer singing is broadcast
makes Swiss church bells sound laughable. Here is what to do if
you don't want to hear it: Put in some earplugs, put over your
ears some substantial headphones, put on some heavy techno, and
put it on maximum volume. Any one measure alone won't do it, trust
me. I think here is a lesson waiting about separating state from
religion... In Switzerland, you could sue the church for ringing
the church bells too early in the morning as some considered this
unruly behavior in a residential neighborhood.
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