If you haven’t noticed yet, it seems that finding good, accessible wireless access is not really much of a problem at all so far… (lucky for this, my first online trip journal experience). Am very happily showered and cooled down after a full afternoon and evening in Penang, Malaysia. Very much a backpacker visited place with a good number of foreigners like me wandering the streets (lots and lots of Australians)– and mixing in (though a bit awkwardly) amidst the full regular life of the people who live here.
More specifically, it’s the Georgetown area of Penang–a recently named UNESCO World Heritage site for its pluralistic combination of religious practice
Kuan Yin Teng temple- Penang
(Buddhist temples, Christian churches, Chinese temples and Islamic mosques), along with its ethnic diversity and port heritage. All these things quite wonderful…the buildings, original and reused in different states of repair, disrepair and utility.
Quick side note: Can I mention cost? I’m staying at the Banana Guest House on Lebuh Chalia (right between the historic areas of Little India and Chinatown), and while it’s a backpacker kind of place with pretty simple accommodations and shared bathrooms, it’s 40 Malysian ringgets
a night. (that’s $13 USD). The food I ate that I describe below? About $1 USD a plate. My budget Air Asia flight from Singapore to Penang? About $90 Singapore dollars (that’s around $65 USD). That’s something to write home about…
My journey of choice here centers more on the renowned food of this place–its abundance and variety itself a consequence of the city’s growth as described above. The food I ate today didn’t disappoint. (though I will admit: the first thing I had when I stepped off the bus from the Penang International airport was a McDonald’s ice cream cone…) In Little India, a
Little India experience-Penang
paper thin tosai with various curry sauces and potatoes– the thing came out and it was literally two and a half feet long and five inches in diameter. Delicious.. and the next people who came in (Australian or English father and son?) saw what resided on my table, and promptly ordered two of the same for themselves. In the evening, went out to the street hawkers in Chinatown and had a plate of the city’s famous Char Kway Teow (“medium-width rice noodles stir-fried with egg, vegetables, shrimp and Chinese sausage in a dark soy sauce”).
Life is good in this food rich city without a doubt.
One Comment
If you are in Ipoh try visit the Perak limestone caves, 20 minutes drive from Grandparents graveyard. Food try Ipoh shreded chicken ho-fun (noodle) ….