Pasar malam or night market is a part of our lifestyle in Malaysia. By 5 pm the road has to be clear of cars so that the itinerant hawkers can set up their stalls.

There are three rows of stalls lined up along the whole length of the road and all kinds of things and food are sold. Once it is not so hot, people throng the pasar malam to buy their weekly provisions.

I never miss going to the pasar malam whenever I’m in KL. My daughter and I will buy our fruits and dinner from there. It’s usually very crowded so we go earlier to avoid the crowd that usually comes around 6:00 to 6:30 pm. That way we avoid the queues at the popular stalls.

Fruits are very cheap, e.g. you can get beautiful honey mangoes at a low price of 3 kg for RM10.00!! Oranges go for RM1.00 each and even persimmons are very cheap. Once I bought 15 persimmons for RM10.00 which is a pipe dream in Sabah.This time I saw lots of dukong, a hybrid I think.

You can buy cooked food,like roast duck, satay (charcoal-grilled chicken and beef on skewers )
fresh vegetables, fish, prawns, flowers,

clothing, footwear,
tidbits, sunglasses, etc. etc. The variety is so great that it’s impossible to list them all. I believe no one cooks dinner on Sundays because you can buy your favorite food at the pasar malam.

You can also have your fondue-like food. You just select whatever raw food on skewers and cook them in boiling water. Then you eat them with your choice of sauce. There is usually a good variety of seafood, meat and vegetables. Some people call this “lok lok” meaning you cook your food in the boiling water.

Even the foreigners know how to come to the pasar malam to buy their provisions or to eat at the stalls. The assam laksa ( a spicy soup noodle ) is a favorite with most people. This is one of my favorites too. I love the poh piah ( spring roll with vegetable filling ) and the paper thin pancakes ( apong ) and sometimes I go for the “lok lok”. My daughter likes the sweet corn and the sotong balls ( minced cuttlefish balls ). We usually buy back the poh piah,
the yau char kueh,
apam, sweet corn. Before we reach home we already finish eating the apam and yau char kueh!!

So depending on what you want, you can find it all at the pasar malam. The hawkers move from place to place. We have them on Sundays which is very convenient. This is one reason why I don’t take a flight home on Sundays. Cannot forgo my visit to the pasar malam!!

Folk Remedy for the Runs

Here’s something practical and useful to share. You never know when it might come in useful and it could possibly save lives.

This is to stop diarrhea or if you’re having the runs.

Boil a handful of rice in a big pot of water e.g. 2 litres. Let it cool and drink this rice water. The person suffering from diarrhea must drink lots of it.

Doctors don’t know the why or how this rice water helps to stop the diarrhea but it certainly does. It could be the starch-like sugars in the rice water. Some babies with diarrhea can digest the starch more easily than simple sugars.

Should you find yourself in this unfortunate situation someday, you may want to try this folk remedy

Post-menopausal Fat

Do you know why women put on weight after menopause?

An obvious answer is the changes in hormone levels. Estrogen levels decrease once a woman is menopausal and this causes her to put on weight. Fat gets stored in the abdomen just as in men and this raises the risk of heart disease. Muscle also turns to fat because of a more sedentary lifestyle.


Her metabolic rate slows down as she grows older and if she doesn’t change her eating habits, it goes without saying that she will definitely put on weight. As a woman ages, she doesn’t require as many calories as when she was younger and more active physically.

Thus she should opt for more vegetables, fruit and soup. Meat intake should be reduced. A juice of vegetables and fruit combined will be good for the digestive system and it will detoxify the body thus helping in weight loss.

A woman in her sixties no longer has to run after young children as her brood will have grown up and left home. She also slows down when doing work as she is not as energetic as before. Besides, housework is not as physically demanding as it used to be with all the household equipment at our disposal.

Is there anything that a woman who finds herself putting on weight, can do? Yes indeed, there are ways to beat the bulge.

The simplest way is to take brisk walks everyday.
A daily forty minute walk at a brisk pace, and not the slow sashaying walk while gossiping with a friend, will boost the metabolic rate and burn calories, at the same time building muscle and increasing bone density. This is important because as a woman ages, she tends to lose bone density and this makes her vulnerable to bone fractures as osteoporosis sets in.

Another alternative is the stationary bicycle on which she can exercise while watching television. If that is not an option, then head for the gym where there will be exercise equipment. Gym memberships can be expensive so investing in an exercise bicycle is worth considering. It can be used anytime and other members of the family can also use it.

Weights are also good for building muscle but start off with small ones such as a 1-kilo dumbbell. The weight can be increased as muscle strength develops.


However, if she is far too overweight, she can always take weight loss supplements. Fat binders are recommended so that she will not be absorbing all of the fat in the food she consumes and this will speed up the weight loss.

Swinging By: Be warned!#links

Be warned!

I don’t want to frighten you but I see so many people who are overweight and obese these days. Let’s hope you are not among them.

Many people opine that growing fatter is part of being middle-aged. However, I have seen children and teenagers who are very overweight and obese!

It is not true that middle age brings along with it fat, especially abdominal fat. Men tend to become pot-bellied while women become thick-waisted with a sagging belly.


I wonder if overweight people realize that they are at high risk for deadly diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cancer.

Diabetes or Type II Diabetes which is contracted usually in middle age, is a fearful disease. In fact, my doctor told me, “ This is one disease you don’t ever want to get.” Unfortunately, it was too late for me. I’d already developed it. Both my parents had it and there is a genetic pre-disposition for off-spring to develop it too. In fact many of my siblings also have diabetes.

Why is Diabetes such a dreadful disease?

It is a leading cause of blindness as well as kidney disease. Moreover, it increases the chance of developing heart disease and suffering a stroke by almost 400%. It can also cause erectile dysfunction in men.

Overweight people also have high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Yes, young people, even teenagers who are overweight have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They don’t know it because they do not check with their doctors; this is simply because it just never occurs to them that being overweight has serious health issues. So parent, beware! Don’t overfeed your children to the extent that you put their health at risk.



So if you are overweight, do something about it. Apart from the fact that you will look better if you lose weight, a reduction in body fat will have a substantial effect on your health and you may save yourself the consequences of developing the dreaded diseases mentioned above.

For more information on losing weight check this out.
http://bit.ly/955m2z

Bugged by Stomach Aches?

Don’t ignore stomach aches. They could be a symptom that all is not right in your body.

Colon cancer patients recall experiencing stomach aches and those with pancreatic cancer share that they felt a dull ache pressing inwards. Liver cancer patients complain of stomach cramps and upset stomachs which are sometimes assumed wrongly to be stomach ulcers. People with leukemia have an enlarged spleen which causes abdominal ache on the lower left side.

An early sign of stomach cancer is pain in the upper or middle abdomen which feels like heartburn. This pain can be alleviated by antacids so that you may be misled into thinking that it was caused by too much acid in your stomach. You usually feel full after a small meal.

This feeling of fullness even though you ate very little is also a sign of liver cancer. It is accompanied by an ache in the lower right side of your abdomen.

So if you have frequent bouts of acid stomach, an unexplained abdominal ache, or a full feeling after meals even though you’re eating less than normal, it is advisable to see a doctor for a proper checkup. A recurring stomach ache that is not the result of a digestive problem should be investigated to eliminate fears that you could be suffering from any of the cancers that are linked to abdominal aches and pain.

I had bouts of nausea and a dull ache in my abdomen and this led me to the doctor's clinic where tests were done and it was discovered that I had a huge cyst in my pancreas. Unfortunately it wasn't a cyst but a tumour.

Further tests indicated that it was a benign tumour so I'm still here today but minus a number of internal organs which had to be removed to facilitate the removal of the tumour which was as large as a big guava.

So don't ignore any recurring stomach aches. They are your body's way of telling you that something is wrong.

Melaka, a Historical City

Last weekend my grandchildren and their parents took a leisurely drive to Melaka. What should have been a two and a half hour journey became four and a half hours with many traffic light stops as they negotiated their way to their boutique hotel. My grandson Stephen said," It was soooo booooring!" Many streets were one-way and there were many visitors that weekend.

They shared some of the snapshots they had taken of the places they visited, including the hotel where they stayed, an old shophouse converted into a lovely boutique hotel filled with antiques.



Many of the centuries-old buildings are reddish and they include Christ Church and former government buildings which have been converted into a museum.


Another famous landmark is the A'Famosa gateway, the only remnant of a huge fort perched on a hill which protected Melaka against marauders in its heydays.

Melaka retains much of its history and the following snap gives a view of the city from a vantage point.

There are many side streets that have little shops selling things and one of the more famous streets is Jonkers.


There is also a Nonya & Baba Heritage Museum which is not to be missed if you happen to go to Melaka.
The Nonyas and Babas decended from the intercultural marriages between the locals and the immigrant Chinese many generations ago. They are renowned for their special cuisine and their cakes are mouth-watering.
No one makes nonya cakes like the nonyas and their butter pineapple tarts are absolutely delicious, coming from me who is very fussy about the quality of pineapple tarts.

The Chicken Rice Balls are very traditional and you rarely get them elsewhere. The chicken rice is compressed into balls. The normal chicken rice is usually served as rice cooked in chicken fat and onions and this gives it the distinctive aromatic flavour. When I was a child, there was a special shop in Kuala Lumpur that used to sell chicken rice balls but of course it no longer exists today.


The picture below shows the old Clock Tower and the Trishaw which is prettily decorated and for a fee, it will take you on a city tour.
The Melaka River Cruise is also not to be missed. There are the old houses on the river banks and there is a pretty riverside walk for those who wish to walk, exploring the city on foot. Incidentally the back of the houses front the river.

There is also a Portuguese settlement which turns into a twinkling fairyland by night during the Christmas season.
At night there is the pasar malam or night market where a variety of wares, including souvenirs are for sale and the stalls offering local hawker food to satisfy your stomachs.

Melaka is a unique city that beckons not only history buffs but the ordinary person because you get lots of great food and antiques which you can still buy, apart from the usual souvenirs. I shall re-visit it later this year.