Posted by Jason Our second and final stop in Malaysia (sadly, also our final stop in Asia) is the island of Penang. We spent all 3 days in the state capital Georgetown, which in 2008 was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Georgetown, especially the old town, has a charming colonial feel with its Chinese shop-houses, narrow roads, clan houses, and colonial-era mansions. We booked an Airbnb private room (our first time using Airbnb in Asia!) at a huge apartment on the 37th floor along Gurney Drive, a popular waterfront road. Our hosts were a friendly Dutch couple and we enjoyed hanging out with them and their two cats, Spruti and Kiko. The panoramic view of the ocean from the apartment was pretty amazing! The apartment is walking distance to the nearest bus stop, so on our first day there we took the bus to old town and did a self-guided walking tour. The tour consisted of the history of Georgetown and its famous street arts. Our walking tour took us to the Chew Jetty, a family village built on stilts along the shore. The waterfront village consisted of mostly private residences, with retail activities in front of some houses. We tried some durian ice-cream from a pretty convincing store owner. The taste of durian somewhat masked the smell of sewage coming from below the jetty... On May 1st, we woke up early-ish to go to Roti Bakar on Transfer Road, an open-air "restaurant" famous for its Roti Canai (Malaysian style savoury pancake) and soft poached eggs on toasts, and we had ourselves a Penang style breakfast! Afterwards, we took a bus to Kek Lok Si Temple, a huge Buddhist complex with an oversized Buddha statue. The temple is so big, it needs a tram ride to transport the visitors from the bottom to the top. We met up with our friend Nat and her friends for dinner at Pulau Tikus Hawker Centre. They came from Kuala Lumpur to Penang for a short get-away and had conveniently booked a hotel right next door to our apartment on Gurney Drive. They also rented a 10-seater van, which made zipping around Penang very comfortable. The amazing thing about having dinner at a hawker centre is we got to taste a little bit of everything. It was like eating at a food court...but better. Way better! However, it wasn't enough for Nat's friends. After we polished off all the fried oysters, wonton mee (mee = noodle), curry mee and satay, we went to get more food at this crack-in-the-wall noodle shop. Although I wasn't hungry (we did JUST have dinner), I couldn't resist the delicious Hokkien Prawn Mee. One of the restaurants in Penang that really made an impression on us is China House. It is a group of heritage shop houses connected by hallways and courtyards. Each shop house is decorated differently and serves a different purpose. One room is a trendy coffee house, and we walked through a doorway to find a hipster bar next door. Karbo and I went there for lunch on our own, and on our last night in Penang we visited again with Nat and her friends for dessert and drinks. We strongly recommend a visit to China House when in Penang! Unlike in Europe, we rarely cooked in Asia. It was partially because eating out in Asia was generally cheap, and staying in hotels and with family made cooking impossible and unnecessary. However, it was mostly because the food was just so damn good! From pho at 7am in Hanoi to the nostalgic taste of black pepper bun in Taipei. From the tastiest pineapple bun in Hong Kong to the sweat-inducing spicy green papaya salad in Luang Prabang. Our taste buds have never been so stimulated before. As excited as we were to embark on the next chapter of our journey to Australia and New Zealand, it was not easy saying good bye to Asia, but off we went to the land down under!
1 Comment
Carolina Monteiro
8/26/2016 09:36:22 pm
I bet that the food was great. I really want to go to Asia and try the different recipes they have in there! the pictures were great! love it!
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