My Exotic Experience at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) Village in Pahang, Malaysia

Having experience living in a city (Kuala Lumpur) for around seven years, I began to take for granted the things we have in the city. In the city, we often have everything at our convenience such as easy access to shops and malls, public transport and household equipments that make our lives a lot easier. I never understood what the church pastor told us about going to places where such facilities are hard to be found to come back feeling more grateful of what we have. I have to admit that I was afraid at first to visit the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village in Pahang, but after my first visit there, I discovered that I actually enjoy experiencing the different lifestyle there. 

The lifestyle at the Orang Asli village is very different from the lifestyle in the city. The people there have no washing machine, fancy kitchen gadgets or restaurants. They live a very simple life. 

Most of the Orang Asli people earn their income through farming and rubber tapping. They work hard and wake up very early in the morning to make a living but only receive a meagre salary for that. Though they earn very little money, I found that they were still happy. This is very unlike the city folks who always complain about their salaries and often chase after more money. 

During the church excursion, we managed to bring food, clothes and household equipments for the Orang Asli people. While distributing the donated goods, I could notice their happy faces while receiving things that would otherwise be thrown away by the city people. 

Our church excursion team was blessed to be invited for an Orang Asli wedding banquet while we were there. It was a chance of a lifetime. The wedding feast was held at one of the village bamboo houses. The banquet spread was very exotic and unfamiliar to us. However, being an adventurous person, I did not have any problem eating the food served at the wedding. But what was really mind boggling was stomaching down an Aboriginal delicacy prepared specially for weddings - monkey meat and brain. Though surrounded by fear, everyone from the church excursion team ate some of the monkey meat and brain to show appreciation to the wedding host on what he/she has prepared for us. My favourite of all the food served at the wedding was the turmeric flavoured sticky rice (glutinous rice). 

Overall, my trip to the Orang Asli village was very enriching. I highly encourage others to visit the Orang Asli village if given the chance to do so at least once in their lifetime. 

The police checking point before entering the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

A herd of cows grazing at the grass at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The wedding venue at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The food we ate during the wedding banquet. It was a feast indeed.

The Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village.

My honeymoon at Krabi, Thailand

There are some holidays that we often forget about. But there are some holidays that we never forget. I would have to say that my honeymoon at Krabi, Thailand was a trip I would probably never forget. 

One thing you will need to know about Krabi. It is that when people say they went to Krabi for a holiday, they usually do not mean that they had spent their time at Krabi town for a holiday. They usually mean that they had spent most of their time at some surrounding islands around Krabi or at Aonang, a coastal province of Krabi. There are many tourist destinations around Krabi. However, I made a research over the internet and decided to spend my time at Aonang mainly because it had much more affordable accommodation compared to the ones at the other neighbouring tourist destinations. 

Aonang is about 40 minutes away from Krabi International Airport. There is a tourist bus that you can take from the Krabi airport to send you directly outside your hotel at Aonang. Taking the tourist bus will only cost you a fraction of the price as compared to taking a taxi to Aonang. The accommodation at Aonang is very reasonably priced. My husband and I stayed at Aonang Goodwill Hotel. The hotel is situated right at the heart of Aonang town which was good for us as we saved a lot of money on transport as everything is at walking distance from the hotel. We only paid $50 per night for the hotel as I managed to get it at a discounted price from www.agoda.com. The only setback is that if you book a room from that website, you will not get a refund if you decide to change your travel date. 

Aonang is a really nice place. It’s filled with street stalls, clothes boutiques, souvenir shops, restaurants and pubs. There is also a clinic and a pharmacy there just in case you get sick or hurt yourself. You’ll never get bored at Aonang as there are plenty of activities to do there. 

As a Malaysian, it was only natural for me to go food hunting in Krabi. Those who say that the Thai food sold in Thailand is not delicious must be kidding. I still remembered a friend of mine telling me that the Thai food she ate in Thailand was not as nice as the ones sold in Malaysia right after her holiday at Bangkok. After my trip to Thailand, I felt that was totally untrue because I found the Thai food sold in Thailand so delicious. During my time at Krabi, I tried eating as much local food as I can. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough meal slots to eat them all. I loved especially the Thai tom yum soup, fish cakes and fried spring rolls. I also enjoyed the sticky rice and mango dessert there. 

During our honeymoon, my husband and I went for an elephant trekking trip as well as a visit to a catfish farm. We also went on a speedboat to do our island hopping trip. The elephant ride made my husband and I really dizzy but it was still quite fun. The island hopping tour was a really good experience for us. I just cannot describe how beautiful the islands were and how the crystal clear water sets the islands apart from other islands and beaches that I have visited.

My husband and I during the elephant trekking

The spectacular view we enjoyed during the island hopping trip

One thing I learnt through experience – when you want to experience activities that are only done by the locals, always talk to the locals and ask them. We spoke to a local who worked for a breakfast coffee shop right across our hotel and found out that there was a local market that the locals love to visit during the week. 

The journey to the market was tiring because it was a long walk. But when we reached there, we instantly knew the trip was rewarding. That’s because at the market, we got to buy some cheap local food. I bought a sticky rice and mango dessert for only RM1 (about $0.30!). That’s not all...on the way to the market, we discovered a really good eating stall that sells food catered to the locals at the locals’ price which was much cheaper as compared to eating at the stalls situated at Aonang town. This place is called ‘Sareefah Food & Beverage’. They sell ala-carte dishes as well as specially cooked Thai dishes. We ended up eating most of our meals at this place because the food tasted so good and we could get all the seafood we wanted at such a good price (at a non-tourist price).

 

Our favourite eating place in Aonang. It's called Sareefah Food & Beverage

The Aonang local market. Most of the people there are locals

Just before our holiday ended, we decided to take a trip to Krabi town. We booked a return bus trip from Aonang because it turned out cheaper than taking a taxi there. We got to Krabi town by bus. However, when we wanted to return back to Aonang, we waited and waited for the bus but it never showed up. So in the end we spent more money because we had to take a taxi back instead. Krabi town is just a normal town with some cheap food and shops selling clothes, textiles and souvenirs. I still prefer Aonang to Krabi town though as the place is more interesting to me. 

Krabi is a tourist destination that I would recommend to anyone if they want a relaxing holiday. The people there are really friendly and the place is just so peaceful. I would encourage you to go to this beautiful place if you are given the opportunity. 

I hope you enjoyed my illustrations on Krabi. 

How to get Children to like Eating & Cooking

                                          

                                                                                                  Image taken from commons.wikimedia.org.

Foodies, travel enthusiasts and people who love to cook with growing children may want to bring up their children to appreciate a good eating adventure and like having fun in the kitchen.

Although I do not have children of my own, let me share with you some of the tips and tricks that my grandmother used to raise me and my sister to become avid foodies and cooking enthusiasts...

MAKE EATING FUN

- Make eating a fun activity. As quite a picky eater during my early childhood, I used to play and eat at the same time. That was one of the only ways I will eat whatever I was given because I found it a fun activity.

- Organise an eating competition. The person who eats the fastest wins. No rewards are necessary. The reward is the honour of winning.

DEVELOP FUN FOOD ITEMS 

- Make food as appealing as possible to children - hide vegetables in food by blending them and by using them to decorate food. 

- Children like stuff that are small in size. For example, they would like tiny cupcakes, cheese sticks, mini chocolates bites and colourful stuff (though too much artificial colouring is not good. Try and source out for natural colouring from your baking specialist stores or supermarkets). Try to make you food into bite sizes to attract your children to eat them. 

- Always change the menu. Getting them to be adventurous by letting them try new food is vital to ensure they will be food enthusiasts in the future. 

APPOINT MINI KITCHEN HELPERS 

- Nothing beats a good time in the kitchen where children bond with the adults by learning cooking traits through a fun time in the kitchen making something they themselves like to eat like cupcakes and cookies. Many children first learn how to cook by baking. 

- Appoint each person with a cooking task - like measuring the flour, sugar, etc or mixing the cake batter. Baking is a good way to cultivate the love for cooking among children because it turns ‘play dough’ into a real-time activity that actually produces real food. Why would they want to play ‘play dough’ if they could play with ‘real dough’ and eat something they have baked as a reward? 

- Don't be angry if your child eats raw dough. If you punish them you will make them resent cooking. It is no harm to let them eat a bit of raw dough. Tried and tested .I have eaten tonnes of cookie/cake raw dough when I was a kid. Nothing happened to me. Not even a stomache. 

- Let them play ‘cooking’ with toys. In Malaysia, this is known as ‘masak-masak’. Although they are only playing with miniature pots and pans, they may soon turn their ‘play time’ into a real interest in cooking. 

DO NOT BE OBSESSED WITH FOOD HYGIENE 

- Don't be too worried about food hygiene. I mean, you can take it into account but do not be too obsessed by it. 

- As a child – I used to eat at roadside stalls around the villages, at shacks built with zink roof illegally and at food stalls with no proper hygiene. That was okay. 

- This is because if you bring up a child with food that is not too hygiene, they will have a much stronger in immunity to the food they eat in the future. I have a good reputation for having an ‘iron stomach’. When everyone else gets stomache because they ate at a shop that is not so clean, my stomach feels perfectly fine! This is because I was brought up in an environment where I ate at places that are not necessarily hygiene. Because of my upbringing, I can eat anywhere..and that's the coolest part of it all. 

I hope sharing my childhood experience will be helpful to you. There are no full proof methods to get your child into becoming foodies - but the methods I mentioned earlier worked for me and my sister. Happy trying!