I have a funny encounter with the
nenek of
IAAI Malay Food at Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre.
It all started when I ordered a bowl of
mee siam with her at the stall. I spoke to her in English but she replied to me in Malay which I did not understand.
I simply smile and nodded at her words. After I received my bowl, I chose a table in front of the stall and started snapping away with my camera.
Then, I heard
nenek giggling. I turned to look at her and she gave me two thumbs-up with a big grin on her face. I gave her two thumbs-up in return.
She came to my table with a packet of
assam in her hands and began telling me what I believed to be how she used it in the
mee siam I was having. I wished I understood what she said so I could put in the extra info here.
After finishing my
food, I walked up to
nenek to tell her that her
mee siam is "
sedap" and ordered another round of
mee siam and
mee rebus to take away for the folks at home. Then, I finally understood why she keep talking to me in Malay - she thought that I am a Indonesian tourist because I was taking photos.
But why Indonesian of all places? Well, technically she isn't wrong as I do have some Indonesian blood in me though I cannot speak a word of it to save my life.
I bade farewell to
nenek and she was still grinning from ear to ear.
