I had a couple of hours to kill in the Jakarta airport during a layover, and I figured I’d get a bite to eat. There were a few interesting looking places, but the soups at A Fung Baso Sapi Alsi caught my eye.
I kinda felt like having chicken rice for my last meal in Malaysia, but I wasn’t particularly keen on walking in the sweltering heat to a restaurant that probably would have been closed thanks to Chinese New Year.
I happened to be passing by a hawker centre in Penang while a special ceremony for Chinese New Year was happening. It involved dancing and drums; when one of the proprietors noticed my interest, he came over and explained it to me.
Chinese New Year threw a huge monkey wrench into my Penang plans; something like 75 percent of the restaurants I tried to go to turned out to be closed.
But in the case of Tong Lek 8 Cafe, I’m not even mad. I randomly found it after the place I wanted to go to turned out to be closed; I’m so glad I got to try out their amazing food.
Yes, it’s fairly grim, but checking out cemeteries while travelling is oddly compelling.