Wednesday, January 21, 2004

While in Kuantan we decided to have dinner at a seaside restaurant, it is a very popular restaurant at the seaside know as Telok Cempedak...The beach is one of the best place to swim... Except during the monsoon period from November to January every year..... Normally when the sea is not suitable to swim, a Red flag is raised to warn of the danger of going into the water... The Red flag is there today... It is rather dangerous to swim at this time since the waves would be high and it bash the beach rather hard, thus would create an under current that could swept swimmer without notice... So it is not advisable to swim at this time of the year.... We drove to the restaurant, got a parking space near the restaurant... Got a nice table with a view of the sea and order our dinner which consist of... Fried egg with crab meat, mix vegetable and fried karapau with ginger... to be eaten with white rice... It is a Chinese food eaten the Malay styles... In a normal Chinese dinner dishes are served one by one and the rice would be the last item to be served... But in our case which we call the Malaysian style of eating Chinese food is that all the dishes are place on the tables and then eaten with white rice....We had Chinese tea as a drink while eating dinner...... The weather was extremely good with slight breeze from the sea on our right... But as usual it was rather humid and we could smell the salty sea in the air... We could also hear the waves bashing the shore frequently... We ate and chat a little and enjoy the steamy dishes which was really delicious... To enjoy eating... Chinese food must be eaten while it is still stemming hot.....So we just did that and end with... My wife having a fruit juice and me my usual steaming hot local coffee.... We while the time away and then took a stroll along the path beside the beach....There were many young couples sitting on the benches on the beach and parents with kids playing kites at a space in front the restaurant... Nearby is a huge McDonald restaurant.... A reminder of the invasion of the American culture to this part of the world... We can see my people especially the youth queuing to get their dinner...and enjoy eating these fast food on the benches both inside and out side the building.....Well.. Actually it is no more an American food... It is now a universal fast food love by all... Frankly I love it too, so do my wife, the kids and of course our grandchildren.... The generation that live on fast food... I remember reading in a book on globalization a story about fast food and I shall share it here and hope the author would not mind....It start like this...One day a Japanese lady arrived in LA with her young daughter... And while walking at the airport the little girl saw the McDonald M arch...The same sign that she use to see in Japan...She drag her mom, all excited and pointed to the M sign of McDonald...And said "Look, look Mom...They also have McDonald"..... Well.. She thought that McDonald is Japanese..... That's kids and the generation of fast food.. In Malaysia American fast foods are everywhere... The menu has been somewhat Malaysianised and Halal... So if the local enjoy eating... Why not... Let it be.. That's globalization... After all this is our world and we are of the same species...Only the color of our skin makes us different.... That is the way it is... So no complain.... We keep strolling..... A grandma and grandpa strolling together like old time..... In fact we use to stroll on this same beach when we were young and latter on with our young kids around and now with them all grown up, we are back strolling together again...Like those days... A nostalgic past...A beautiful moment in time...A memories of sweet time together...Dreaming may be of the future and the future for us is Now on this beach.. So what's changes... There was no McDonald then... They was not a place to eat at all then...We just picnic here with other couples..Those were the days...Great moments of the past.... We saw all those young couples on the beaches....Just like us before....then we spot the McDonald Ice cream stand, all lighted up...I ask my wife whether she would like to have Ice cream...She did...So I ordered two and then sat on a bench facing the sea...Licking Ice cream...Two old folks licking Ice cream like kids...In front of us is a lane that part us from the beach....Couples drives slowly in their cars passes by us...And then my wife said... those couples in the cars surely would notice us licking Ice cream on this bench and must be talking about the old folk licking Ice cream on the bench... That's us... We just laugh it away...Enjoying the night away....Like those kids do... Remember we were once kids too....

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