97 km

After we left the internet cafe we made a quick stop at a grocery. I went in to buy bread for the next day and Dave waited outside with the bikes. When I came back out, of course he was eating. He’s a rather large fan of eating when we’re on tour, never seems to get full. So anyway, Dave was sitting down in front of this little cart eating, with an excited Malaysian man chattering away with him. The man was all excited and light on his feet, sort of dancing around while talking. I came up to them and Dave handed me a puffy bread thing, saying to take a bite. It was a puffy little bite of heaven! It’s called Pau Pau Lai Lai, and it’s steamed bread with filling, either sweet or savory. Dave had bought a sardine one and a coconut one. Then the guy started bringing out more for us to try, saying he was giving them to us for free. He really wanted us to know about this yummy treat, because he said we’d be seeing it all throughout our trip. I guess he and Dave had quite a chat while I was roaming the entire grocery store looking for the elusive bread.

After talking with him some more, Dave asked if he could take his picture and he proudly posed by his cart. He has seven kids and a wife, so he works from 7:00 am to 3:00 am selling the bread while his wife bakes them at home. That’s seven in the morning, through the day and night, to three in the morning. When he spoke of his family and his desire to work and support them he got very serious. Then soon enough he was laughing and talking again, and wishing us the best of travels. He asked if we would send him a post card from the U.S. when we returned, so he wrote his address for us and we will.

(Updated to add: Dave lost a week’s worth of pictures on a flash card that went bad and this was on it. We’re so sad we can’t show you this guys joyous face.)