Ramadan continues

The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan continues on.

Some Ramadan observations

For the last eight months or so I have been fairly faithful about eating 5-6 meals spread throughout the day. Eating in this way (along with eating the right food and exercising correctly) has helped me to lose a lot of weight and feel much healthier. Thus, I can't think of anything worse for my happiness and health than having to get up for an early breakfast and then not being able to eat (or drink) again until 14 hours or so later. As I mentioned in the last post, the Ramadan Buffets are very popular. The food stalls start cooking in the afternoon (some governmental official recently issued an edict that it was illegal to start cooking prior to 3 PM). The food stalls sell take-away food that people carry away in bright red plastic bags. I don't know if I have not been very observant in the past (certainly a possibility) or whether the red plastic bags are only used during Ramadan (maybe there are spies out there making sure that noone eats out of a red plastic bag before it's time). I was in the park across from my house near the end of the fasting period a couple of days ago and there was a family with their food spread out on a picnic table just waiting for the official eating period to begin.

Here is a link to a recent article about the buffets. http://www.mmail.com.my/content/45711-seri-menanti-ramadan-binge

Here is an article about "going green" during Ramadan. From my point of view, no one appears to be listening. http://nst.com.my/nst/articles/8tap/Article/

So How Has Ramadan Affected Me?

Although the Malay population of Malaysia is required to fast (if you are Malay, then you are by law Muslim), noone else is required to fast and there are no bans about eating in public during the fasting period like are found in some middle-eastern countries. Thus, Ramadan doesn't directly have very much affect on my daily life. I try not to walk around eating or drinking during the day (I carry my Coke Light back to my room in a plastic bag), but that is no big deal.

Ramadan has had a noticeable effect on meal time. Most of the food service has stopped on UM campus. A positive result is that there is much competition for space at lunch. However, many restaraunts are so focused in on preparing their Ramadan Buffet they don't bother to prepare much of their regular menu or else the run out of food (when they run out of a dish here they say for "curry chicken finished"- so lots of stuff is "finished" during Ramadan.) I find it frustrating for them to tell me all of the things they don't have after I have ordered them, why don't they just tell me what they do have?

Tonight, I went to a place where I usually eat about twice each week, but all of the tables with chairs were reserved for the post-fasting crowd so I was supposed to sit on a stool at at table over in the corner (I declined). At that point I had the need for something familiar, so I walked over to Pizza Hut. Big mistake (remember Malaysian Pizza Huts sell fish-sticks pizza, so there is very little familiar about Pizza Huts other than the sign)! I noticed that Pizza Hut didn't turn on their air conditioning until after the fast was over and the place started to fill up with the Ramadan crowd, so eating a sweaty meal inside didn't make me too happy. The list of places that I am boycotting until the end of Ramadan seems to grow every day. Maybe I will soon be limited to making my own peanut butter sandwiches.