Pulau Tenggol- the Trip Home

On the trip home from Pulau Tengoll we stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe in the coastal state of Terengganu. I was able to watch 8 freshwater otters playing in the river next to the cafe (I have only ever seen one freshwater otter in the US, so I was pretty excited). When we got into the cafe there was a large table full of pans with various dishes in them (and obviously, not a single one of them had something that I recognized like a hamburger). Because Terengganu is famous for its sea food, many of the pans contained various heads, fins, tentacles, and other body parts I wasn't too interested in trying. Fortunately, a couple of the pans contained what looked like chicken (the feet in one of the pans helped to confirm my chicken hypothesis), so I scooped couple of spoonfuls from those pans onto my rice.

As we finished eating our lunch at an outside table, a man climbed the tree next to us, chopped off several branches using a meat cleaver, and then started stripping leaves off of the stems. They told me that the man's father had just died and he was collecting the leaves so that he could boil them to make a liquid that he would use to wash his father's body before he was buried. This washing was intended to protect his father on his continuing journey.

Keropok lekor

After lunch we stopped at a road side store that specialized in making keropok lekol, a Terengganuian specialty. Keropok lekor is basically "fish sausage". It is either served boiled with hot sauce or the rolls are cut into thin slices, dried in the sun, and then deep fried to make a "fish chip". I tried some of the sausage and it was surprisingly good (although it was certainly not Earl Campbell Sausage good).

Boiling the keropok lekor


Fish sausage


Drying sliced keropok lekor in the sun


Fish chips


To learn more about keropok lekor check out
http://www.malaysiabest.net/2006/08/28/keropok-lekor-from-terengganu/


Good Times

The group of divers that I travelled with could not have been better hosts. However, they were big time jokesters so it was always difficult for me to know whether I should trust them when they wanted me to taste something new. Were they trying to share a beloved Malaysian delicacy or were they trying to get me to eat something that tasted bad, would make me sick, or would make my poop smell funny? I never really knew (and I still don't trust a single one of them).

I don't remember when I have spent time with a group of people who laughed as much as these guys did. Several times, during yet another round of laughter, someone would lean over to me and say "you have to learn to speak Malay!". Definitely a great group to spend the weekend with!