My heart belongs to me

On my last night in Kuala Lumpur, 2 of my friends–one new and the other old, came to see me at the hotel and we went out for dinner.

I’ve known Y since 2006, having met in a training that I participated in Hanoi. We would see each other two more times in other training workshops in 2007. And whenever I was in KL, we made arrangements to see each other. I am witness to her on-going transition from a university-based researcher to a development worker. In the time that I had known her, she had come out to her Chinese-Malay family as a lesbian. I met R in a training I attended in Chiang Mai late last year. He’s the same age as my mother, but there is such youthful mischief in his eyes it is easy to mistake him as much younger than he actually is. Like me, he works in the field of HIV prevention, focused on vulnerable populations. He’s German, but has lived in Malaysia for almost 20 years, ‘partnered’ with a Malaysian law enforcement officer for 6 years.

Since I had eaten Chinese food on my first night and had eaten my fill of Malay food the whole day, we decided to have some Korean food for dinner. Fortunately there was a Korean restaurant within walking distance from the hotel so we left Y’s car in the car park and walked out. It was a nice evening for a walk, anyway.

R had never tasted any Korean dish but he said he was willing to try. I told him that Korean kimchi is like the German sauerkraut. Also, with the years that he’d been in Malaysia, he has also grown accustomed to eating spicy food. 

However, as we were ordering food–looking for pork dishes, we learned that the Korean restaurant was serving only halal food. So no pork. R did not like beef so Y and I ordered some kimchi soup with seafood for him. Y ordered Beef spare ribs soup. Like the creature of habit that I am, I ordered my favorite Korean dish, Bibimbap. We also ordered a Korean pancake with leeks and shrimp to share. The thing I like about eating at Korean restaurants is even if you order just one dish (which is already a hearty meal by itself), there are a lot of side dishes.

Y confessed to being very hungry already so we started eating as soon as the food was laid on our table. We chatted while eating, catching up on the things that had happened since the three of us were last together in November 2007. My Bibimbap was very good; the taste reminded me of the one served in my favorite Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh. The pancake was also delicious.

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