I’m back in the US after a 3-week vacation in Malaysia. One of my luggage bags didn’t make it on the same plane and had to travel to the US via Amsterdam. Two days later, my left behind suitcase finally arrived at my door around midnight yesterday.

Surveying the contents, I immediately saw a piece of yellow paper informing me that my two packages of dried sliced ham (bak kua) has been confiscated. Bummer

A thorough check led to the sacrificial mooncake-prodded and poked by the officers of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As I had specifically bought only mooncakes with no salted egg yolks, I’m glad the officers checked first and did not blindly confiscate all of them. Because of one mooncake’s sacrifice, the other 12 mooncakes survived the journey intact.

From Cha-plang photos

From Cha-plang photos

At least the mooncake was smashed while still in the plastic wrapper, so it is still edible.