Apart from the typical lack of sleep, my body has been having a really hard time handling the food in Southeast Asia. I love SE Asian flavours, especially Thai and Malay food, but can’t say that my stomach does. I’ve been having to rush to the washroom everyday, sometimes multiple times a day and it strikes at random times. Eternal diarrhoea. It sucks. I’ve never had so much Asian food back-to-back-to-back. Especially Chinese food. And I hate most Chinese food. Both in terms of taste and how my body handles it. It’s too greasy. I hate hot pot. I hate stir fry and kung pao chicken and steamed veggies. I especially hate Magic Noodle. Sorry guys but fuck Magic Noodle. Dim Sum’s the only exception. But yes, I’ve been eating way too much Chinese food in Asia because it’s basically the only thing the folks around me eat. Both friends and family. I’ve made strong mentions that my body is having trouble with the greasy foods and yet I’m still being taken out to hawker centers. Blah. But I take it because I rather not drag anyone down. I’m such a pushover. I think my body is too used to having Western meals as its main diet. I haven’t had a nice Western meal since Singapore when I was playing it safe the days leading up to my marathon run. I’m patiently waiting until I can have a nice refined Western meal or at least some fusion. I’ve really been enjoying the sweets here though! They’re always a safe option for me. Been having a lot of chendol, ais kachang and kueh. Oh my god, the taste of childhood. You betcha that ABC meant a very different thing for me when I was a kid. I was pretty bummed out last week because I really wanted to eat apam balik but all places I found online were closed but friends+family surprised with a ton of them when I woke up.
I’m making a note to mention some other occasional positive things:
It’s nice to wake up to a hot cup of milo with nothing scheduled for the day. I’m sitting next to a jungle with roosters crowing in the background. This is nice. Caught a multi-eyed butterfly which was stuck indoors and helped it get out this morning. The poor thing kept smashing itself into the windows. And now I’m off to have some roti paratha for breakfast.