Exploring Labuan
Since Remembrance Day we have not done much off the hotel property other than our daily morning walk. The other night we took the hotel shuttle into town, about a 20 minute drive. Our destination was JJ Nazar Utama Jaya Restaurant. We have enjoyed the other JJ Nazar restaurant location several times, we thought a switch was in order. This second JJ Nazar restaurant is located near the UTC and Labuan Central Market. Unfortunately the market vendors were all packing up around the time we arrived. The market is a huge building that contains hundreds (we guess) of vendors. They sell all kinds of things from fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, stingless bee honey and clothing. We need to get back to buy some stingless bee honey. We got some last years and it’s great in tea for a sore throat. It tastes much much better than Buckleys! The honey is dark and has a citrus flavour.
To keep our restaurant comparison fair we ordered Vegetable Pakora, Dal Makhani, Chana Masala, Garlic Naan and Mango Lassis to drink. The verdict is in. The Naan and Mango Lassis are better, the Chana Masala is similar and the Dal Makhani is much inferior at this second location. Also, the air conditioning is run by the women with long sleeves, long pants and head scarves. We were cold. Actually the muslim women wear clothing that would be comfortable in 15ºC. It never goes below 27º here. Black long sleeve t-shirts are common for the men. Hot! Hot! Hot! They must think we are wimps. Supper was RM64.40 under $19. CAD
After we left the restaurant we walked around a night market and ate some Apam Balik, one of Malaysia’s favourite snacks. They are made with watery sweet dough painted into a little pan and cooked for a minute or less. Peanuts and chocolate are sprinkled on top and when removed from the pan they are folded in half. See video below from last year.
After we walked around the market we checked out the super store nearby. They have everything from booze to food and soap. We were now killing time until our 7 pm pickup. We got out of the huge mall and store area and went across the street. There was too much traffic for our driver to easily find us. Once across the street we went into an Indian store in search of some coconut oil and deodorant. The guy at the till was glad to sell us India’s most popular hair coconut oil. Its 100% pure oil and works great as a skin moisturizer and protectant. It seems to keep from getting heat rashes and fungal rashes which can happen when you are constantly sweating in 80% humidity. Gary swears bugs get stuck in the oil before they can bite. Conversation with the Indian store guy went much like this – Where are you from sir? Reply, Canada! We then hear how great a place Canada is and they have welcomed so many Indian immigrants. As hard as Trudeau tries to discredit us, we still receive a favourable welcome, even from Indians. Yay Canada! 🇨🇦
We have mentioned previously how welcoming the people of Malaysia are. Here in the East Malaysian States of Sarawak and Sabah as well as the Malaysian Federal Territory of Labuan where we currently are located, people are even more friendly and welcoming! We had a little baby across from us at breakfast, he really gave us the stink eye! He was pretty cute! His parents said he stares at any stranger – we think they were being kind! The Hotel was busy this weekend with the Malaysian Airforce group stationed here in Labuan. There was lots of little kids, many families here have 3 or 4 kids. There were lots of people around and in the swimming pool.
The next day, Sunday was not nearly as busy. We had a late start to our daily walk. We left the hotel around noon and did our usual stop at the Warung Chailuk pit stop for lemon iced tea. We enjoyed 6 little donuts and 4 pieces of deep fried banana. Tomorrow the owner/cook is taking a week off. Unfortunately this coincides with our last week in Labuan. One full week of walking each morning with no iced tea. We may switch to ice cream at the little store nearby. Either way we are going to miss the table and chairs overlooking the beach while enjoying the cooling breeze. It was a great way to cool down before the walk back!
