Melaka Dentist Signage Norms

Digital photo stickers of possible dentures.

Dental staff eats lunch in the background.

Say hoi! More digital photos of dentures and messed up teeth.

Handpainted dentures. Being young, I am frightened by screws in the mouth.

Post-Hari Raya Snacktime!

Our spread. Where's the table? That's the table!

Because the Moslem population of the Philippines is somewhat geographically concentrated, we rarely witness non-Catholic festivities in the capital. Nope, no families dressed in the same color, no replicas of ketupat hanging everywhere. From what I gather from Malay friends, Hari Raya is their version of Christmas (i.e. a traditional celebration on steroids), with spreads ranging from humble to ultra-elaborate, with the accompanying consumer lunacy.

Feels like Southern Philippines.

We were welcomed into a farmer's home for some merienda. From what I gathered, these were leftover snacks from the bright festivities that had just dipped into the horizon. I didn't understand much of what they were saying, but there was a lot of laughter.

A platter of "cookies", rendang, murukku, lemang.

The food is a mixture of Malay, Tamil, and Western food. The cookies, in particular, are hard little versions of the sort of stuff you will find in Philippine bakeries-- garishly colored, very sweet, margarinized.

They turned to me and mouthed: "Malay Kool-Aid".

Vague flavor, generally sweet.

No Shoes Inside

Ornamental / light-seepin' holes in the wall doubles as shoe slots.

Last week, we visited a few farmers outside of Kuala Lumpur. I like when people are leaning in to enter a house and they look like they are doing the cha-cha, but they are actually trying to remove one shoe using the other foot. I like that primarily because it is an indicator of the lovely "no-shoes" rule. It makes a house so low-maintenance, and you can sit on the floor more.

Car seat retires as porch seat, probably one where you can sit to take shoes off.

In Philippine provinces, they do this. What about going inside the famous Southeast Asian wet bathrooms, you ask? There is usually an extra pair of wet-slippers in the shower (which is also where the toilet is, without division). In other places like Sweden, where the model of cleanliness is definitely dry, there is nothing of this sort.

Everyone is gathered round to tell us to take our shoes off.