wet soup

one of the great things about malaysia is the food culture. having cheap, good tasting and simple food here only takes finding the local mamak or hawker stand. going out and for a quick dinner of chicken satay, sup ekor (thai style oxtail soup with chili padi) and apple juice is easy. it's just as easy as finding grilled seafood, dim sum, sushi, chicken rice, pizza, waffles, chinese/malay/indon fried-rice or italian style pastas. for me, getting any of these only means running down to the near by expat/hawker place full of small stalls in an open air settings.

although even in paradise you can run into issues if you are not careful. tonight was satay and soup night. as i got ready to go out the door, i decided to slip on sneakers, this is the first time i have worn then out in months. because they dry immediately, i normally have on croc sandals (called slippers here). it has been raining all day, but it was nice and clear as i looked out the patio door, so why not do something different.

i made the 3 minute drive down to the hawker stands, and luckily found parking right on the street. as i got out, i thought of the rain again and considered taking my umbrella from the backseat. again, i decided against it. the massive storm earlier in the day was over, there was no way it could rain again. the skies had emptied just two hours before, complete with amazing lightning shows, and it now looked clear. safe to walk a block down the street and have a quick meal.

i am sure you see where this is going. 10 minutes later, i am sitting under a roof, with empty tables around me. i had taken a covered table just in case; most people were out in the open air. as i paid for soup, the last of my order to be delivered to the table, people started to scramble under the roof quickly filling all the other tables. the rain i was so sure was not going to happen was about to start; i knew by the sound of it down the street. i used to sense coming rain by random drops lightly touching my skin, now it’s the roar of torrential downpours marching towards me.

as i finished eating with a half soaked table, the wind picked up and people continued to push tables more tightly together. closeness was to avoid the wind driven drops from drowning their table, their food and themselves. as people jammed in more tightly, it was as though the rain was reaching further in to touch the hiding tables. i moved my table in closer to the one next to me, the chinese kid there smiled with camaraderie created by avoiding the storm.

as i finished my meal, my table was fully wet, my shirt was damp on the back and there was no more room to squeeze in. the rain was still pouring, thunder was in in the distance and i needed to make the decision on waiting it out or walking in the pouring rain. the thought of that umbrella in the back seat made me smile. the fact that the rain had taken out the satellite service for the liverpool game that was just about to start, helped the decision. if there was football on the projection screens i would have stayed, without it time to go. no use running, i was fully wet as soon as i moved from the covered table.

in the car, soaked to the bone, thinking i had not been out in rain like this since the bali christmas monsoon. i was just glad i had leather seats. if not, my car would smell like a wet dog for the next few days.

back home i realized how nice it is to be in the topics. the floors never have rugs to worry about getting wet, the windows can be open with cool breeze blowing in even during the worst of storms and once you hang your clothes up you are warm and dry in minutes.

even torrential rain storms and flooded streets don’t stop malaysia from huddling together under a roof and enjoying cheap, easy, simple meals with smiles. getting soaked doesn’t stop an american from understanding that this is one of the best things about being here.

even better if you learn to enjoy the rain as much as the soup.