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 Let me share with you some facts about Malaysia. Some facts that are not well known, quirky and sometimes, totally obscure. (I have added and made some amendments from the original blog)

Only In Malaysia:-

Independence Day

Malaysia celebrates its Independence Day twice in a year. Once every August 31 which we called "Hari Kemerdekaan - Independence Day", and the other one is every September 16 of which we called "Hari Malaysia - Malaysia Day".

Malaya; this is the former name of Malaysia got its independence from the British on 31 August 1957. At that time, Malaya was also known as "Tanah Melayu: - which literally translated as "Malay Land". At this time, Malaya only consisted all the states in the Peninsular or West Malaysia which were 12 states. So Independence Day celebrated Malaysia's Independence from the British.

In 1963, three more states joined Malaya from British Colonisation. They were Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah and Sarawak are also known as the East Malaysia. However, later Singapore ceded from Malaysia and became an Independent Country on its own.

Nine Sultans For A Small Country

Malaysia consists of fourteen states with two Federal Territories. Nine of these states have Sultans (Kings) as their Head of States. These Sultans would presides over Religious and Ceremonial Matters only. Every five years, they would elect among themselves to be the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Yang Di Pertuan Agong - or The Royal Highness, or the Head of Malaysia. Since Prime Minister has the Executive power in Malaysia, the Royal Highness, only presides over religious and ceremonial matters.

Perak Man

One of the oldest Paleolithic human skeleton who was estimated to be 10,000 - 11,000 years old was uncovered in Perak - one of the states in Malaysia, thus the name. Perak can be directly translated as "silver". The irony was that there was no silver being mined in the state, but it was famous for its tin mines.

Eating is Our Full Time Occupation

Only in Malaysia that eating is an obsession and a full time job. This is typical eating times for us Malaysian.

Breakfast  : 7.30 am to 9.30 am

Morning Tea : 10.30 am to 11.30 am.

Lunch  : 12.30 noon to 2.00 pm. 

To combat the sleepiness, we need to have our afternoon tea

Afternoon Tea : 3.30 pm to 4.00 pm.

Dinner : 8.00 pm to 9.00 pm

Supper : from 11.00 pm onward. 

This is because we need to store some energy while sleeping, therefore we have to have our supper. Try to remember the schedules for the Morning Tea and Afternoon Tea especially when dealing with Government agencies.

Where We Can "Pull" Our Drinks

Do you know only Malaysians can "Pull" their hot drinks? LOL. Over here we like to have our hot drinks to be "Tarik - or literally means Pull". We would ask for our hot drinks to be "pulled" to make them cooler and frothier. The most popular "pull" drinks are "Teh Tarik - Pulled Tea" and "Kopi Tarik - Pulled Coffee".

Where The Citizens Can Eat "Nail", "Stone" and Such

We love to eat vegetable which we called "Pucuk Paku - literally translated as "Shoots Nail" or for you guys, it is known as Ferns. We also love to eat or drink our "Jambu Batu - or directly translated as "Guava Stone ". It is just the normal green guava. 

We also love to eat our fruit "Buah Mata Kucing" which literally meant as " Fruit of Cat's Eyes". LOL. It is just a local longan. Do not fret. We also love to drink "Air Batu Campur - Water Mix With Stone" . It is just an ice blended concoction with some fruits, red beans and a few local ingredients.

Finally, only in Malaysia there is a Granny Talking Cat that chats in an English Chat Room. Gotcha. LOL