Learning to Be on Your Own and Enjoying Exotic Cuisine in Malaysia
Serena Chang | July 19, 2010
Beach at Batu Ferringhi, with roommate Au (right), who is from Thailand.
I never thought that I could be away from my family for a whole summer. I certainly never expected to travel more than 30 hours by myself to reach Penang, Malaysia. Now a week into my nine-week research internship via the PRIME program, I am still in disbelief that I am actually here.
It took me a couple days at least to get used to my new life. I especially missed my family during my first few days. Like the other students living in the hostel, each day I must make a sweaty journey to and from campus lugging my laptop and backpack. Instead of returning to a cool, breezy room, I make do with a fan and an open window. In the bathroom, I realize that I have to wait 15 minutes before I can flush the toilet after someone else uses it, because it takes time to refill the water tank. Despite the muggy climate, I still have a hard time adjusting to the cold showers.
But I really, really wanted to come. I had heard previous PRIME students had wonderful experiences in Penang and I was eager to experience a culture so different from my familiar American one. While there is a large Chinese population in Penang, there are also many Malaysian and Indian residents. It is wonderful to be surrounded by this cultural and religious hodge-podge, as I witness the chummy mix of Buddhist temples, Hindu temples and Muslim mosques throughout the city. The lab I work in at Universiti Sains Malaysia also hosts a diverse population of different ethnicities.
I am eating the famous Penang laksa at a roadside food stand.
Thanks to my kind friends from the lab, I am able to sample a great variety of local foods and visit many tourist spots. Here I am in taste-bud wonderland. I savor the Malay curries, oily and rich with coconut milk and exotic spices. I enjoy the Chinese hawker food, ranging from fried noodles, sweet and spicy with soy sauce and chilies, to hot oyster pancakes and fragrant warm chicken rice. I also tried the pungent durian fruit, with a texture like baby skin, and the delightfully tangy mangosteen for the first time.
In search of adventure, my friends and I headed to Kek Lok Si Temple, the most massive Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, with gorgeous imperial towers and numerous golden-skinned gods smiling in eternal tranquility. Afterwards, I got to eat the famous laksa, a divine red spicy sour noodle soup cooked in fish meat broth, a definite highlight in my trip.
We also drove to the War Museum, where we got to climb through some very dark and cramped escape routes, and view the living spaces for soldiers during the early 1900s. This past weekend, we drove to the famous seaside night market at Batu Ferringhi. There, we posed by the serene beach and mingled with tourists amongst imitation Louis Vuitton purses, cheeky T-shirts, and glittering trinkets.
While I relish my carefree sightseeing, I have quite a bit to learn at the lab. My research project aims to modify human glycan receptors and measure these effects in binding to the hemagglutinin protein of the influenza virus H1N1. I still have a lot to figure out, especially using computer modeling programs and gaining a better background for my project. Fortunately, we have a workshop each day for two weeks, where the more experienced doctoral students instruct the rest of us on how to use the programs we will need to implement our research. As the only undergraduate in the lab, I am trying to learn as much as I can.
Although I still miss home, I am excited to spend more time with my new friends and work more on my project. Already, I feel like I have learned much about what researching is like, what Penang life is like and how I can survive on my own in another country. At this point, I am extremely grateful that I have such kind people who take such good care of me and bring me to lovely places to eat and sightsee.
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