After my first dive day I decided to check out the Chinese establishments on Gaya street for dinner at the recommendation of a fellow diver. I was early and the street was fairly dead. I decided on a semi crowded place with tables on the sidewalk devoid of white people. Immediately a group of staff gathered at the condiment table in distress as I smiled and gestured for a menu. The guy who drew the short straw to deal with the weird white woman (or was it a man?) came over in a sweat.
We only serve pork.
Can I have a menu?
All we have is pork.
Do I order inside?
Only pork.
Do I order from you?
I take your order but only pork, everything pork, ribs, intestines, meatballs, ears, all pork.
Okay, I'll take the pork!
He recommended meatballs which sounded innocuous enough and brought over a small bowl of them along with rice, tofu and a bowl of broth and then a big platter of dark greens with a hint of sweet soy and peanut. It looked huge but I had no trouble devouring it. It was quite nice especially the greens which didn't set my mouth on fire as in Sulawesi. The broth was a bit bitter so gave it a miss - turned out to be the house speciality.
As I ate it got really busy. More sidewalk tables were set up. Cars blocked the road as large parties waited for a table to clear. People lined the sidewalk and a durian vendor set up his wares on the street in front hoping to catch departing patrons.
Turned out I had dined at Yu Kee Bak Kuh Teh (meat bone tea) which is one of the favoured places for this style of slow cooking pork in a complex mix of herbs and spices. About $4 for the food and 1$ for the beer. Definitely worth a try if in KK.
Tonight it's western fare with a twist at Mad Ben Cafe. Once again my initial plans were waylaid - the salted beef burritos won over the spaghetti bolognaise. Not sure what the twist was but it tasted great - kind of a sweet coleslaw wrapped up with the beef + lettuce and some seasoned fries. I'm famished from floating - go figure!
Today was windy and overcast so vis was pretty low but still lots to see and fantastic colours - photos don't capture the richness without light$ and filter$ so my monochromatic moray eels wills have to do!
One particularly noteworthy moment was when a loud sharp crack sounded - I imagined a cannonball blasting through the water behind me. When we surfaced my dive buddy Matt, another Aussie, said he though it was an anchor dropping right behind him. Kerry the dive guide said it was dynamite - FCUK! He said the perps could be up to 15 km away (thank goodness!) we were technically diving outside the reserve so they were only breaking one law. Dynamite fishing is a quick way to make a buck and a quick way to destroy the marine environment. Easy to scoop up stunned fish and hard to catch those blasting the bejesus out of the reef. Was very surprised they were doing it in the middle of the day so close to a major city.
Glad for the presence of the dive boat. Due to the reef we don't anchor. In Australia and New Caledonia permanent morning anchors were placed for boats to tie off on but this is not permitted here. We back roll off the boat and descend without a line then as we start our 3 minute safety stop on ascent, the dive master deploys an inflatable safety "sausage" inflated from his regulator so the boat can approach. After we are visible on the surface the boat comes in closer for the the pickup. Since the boat is hovering in the general vicinity the whole time there isn't any danger of the idiot blasters coming too close.
Fish list included baby blue spotted ray, frog fish with Mick Jagger lips, snake eels, grouper, mackerel, surgeon fish, parrot fish, box fish, and a glass shrimp "manicure." They have sunk some tires to form artificial habitats. In one pyramid of tires live a colony of glass shrimp (ooo la mer!) these little dudes will come out and explore your figs her tips and check the crevices along your cuticles. It was kind of Gulliver meets Lilliputian Aliens...
Tomorrow, maybe an octopus. This is my new mantra. :-D
Can't see your photos today but it's always a nice surprise for tomorrow. I'm sorry to hear they are blowing fish up. Perhaps you will have some maimed fish on your plate tonight instead of all the pork, pork, pork. In the absence of photos I went looking again for your Yu Kee Bak Kuh Teh restaurant on Google Maps and found some pictures. Looks like the very lively spot as you described. Hope your find your 8-legged creature tomorrow and then perhaps get to eat him later!...Heather.
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