Penang (Day 131): George Town Street Art and Heritage Weekend

July 9, 2016

After last night’s wan tan mee, I knew that I would really enjoy my time sampling all of Penang’s delicious food. I get why it’s Malaysia’s food capital now. I feel bad that Tim isn’t feeling well enough to eat anything. Hopefully his stomach is all better so he could at least try some. We got a Penang Street Food guide and it’s pretty overwhelming – too much food, too little time.

Meal planning in Penang
Meal planning in Penang. This guide lists all the famous Penang dishes and a list of where to find the “best”/most well known places.

We got ready and went down the hall for breakfast. Breakfast was alright. They had eggs made to order and other Malaysian breakfast options. I’ll probably try some of those tomorrow. We got to breakfast close to when it was ending so pickings were pretty slim.

Free breakfast buffet
Free breakfast buffet at Chulia Mansion

We began our walk towards Armenian Street (Lebuh Armenian), where the majority of George Town’s street art is. We had a map that listed out where all the murals around the city were. We only made it to 80% of them today (making sure we saw the most famous ones). On our way to Armenian Street, a lot of the streets were blocked off to cars as the city was beginning to set up for festivities that were going to happen tonight for Heritage weekend.

Kapitan Keling Mosque celebrating its 215th anniversary this year
Kapitan Keling Mosque celebrating its 215th anniversary this year
We've reached Armenian St., cars aren't allowed to drive through it.
We’ve reached Armenian St., cars aren’t allowed to drive through it but scooters can.
Some of George Town's famous street art
Some of George Town’s famous street art
Walking through the busier streets of George Town
Walking through the busier streets of George Town
You can find these metal art cartoons all around George Town
You can find these metal art cartoons all around George Town

Half way through looking at the street, we stumbled upon CF Hawkers Market. We had just watched a portion of Anthony Bourdain’s episode this morning and he went there with a local guide at night. They were open for lunch so we decided to find something to eat there. More than half the stalls were open for lunch but many of them were closed until dinner time. I got a char koay teow (6 MYR = 2 CAD) and a watermelon juice (2.80 MYR = $0.90 CAD) for lunch.

The hawkers markets in Malaysia (from the couple that we’ve been to) are different than the ones in Singapore in that you don’t pay upfront when you order. You order at the stall and then you sit down and they’ll come find you and bring your food to you. There’s no buzzer or number system (at CF Market), so you’ll see food vendors wandering around the seating area with trays of food looking for their customers. Also, beverages are all sold from a central vendor, whose workers go around to each table and ask if you want anything to drink. All the drink selections are usually on big signs around the market.

Outside CF Hawker Market
Outside CF Hawker Market
Inside CK Market
Inside CF Market
Char Koay Teow, wasn't on the list of suggested places but it was still good. Portion was a bit smaller than expected though (for Malaysian standards)
Char Koay Teow, wasn’t on the list of suggested places but it was still good. Portion was a bit smaller than expected though (for Malaysian standards)
My half eaten noodles with my watermelon juice. At hawkers markets in Malaysia you pay when they bring you your food, not when you order it. They don't have a number or buzzer system, they'll just come find you where ever you're sitting.
My half eaten noodles with my watermelon juice.
Char koay toew stall at CK market
Char koay teow stall at CK market. Later saw char kaoy teow by our hotel at 1.80 MYR for a small.

It was really hot out today and there weren’t many trees or shade in George Town. Tim was feeling pretty tired and weak so we headed back to the hotel for the afternoon so he could rest. On the way back to the hotel, there was a famous chicken and BBQ pork (char siu) restaurant across the street that I wanted to try.

When we got back to the room, we rested up and I looked up the hours and saw it closed at 2:30pm AND they aren’t open on Sundays. Disappointment. I will not be trying Penang’s best char siu. Tim stayed in the room to rest and I went back out to see if the hours were wrong online. Nope, they were right. It was closed. I walked down to 7-Eleven to get some Gatorade type drink for Tim and on the way back I passed by a Hainanese chicken restaurant that looked good. I ordered one plate to take back and try. It was only 5 MYR = $1.65 CAD for chicken rice with a mix of boiled chicken and roasted chicken. The Chinese Malaysian vendors have all been really friendly and helpful so far. Actually much friendlier than I found the vendors in Singapore’s hawker markets.

Chicken rice at 3:30pm in the afternoon
Chicken rice at 3:30pm in the afternoon
My first take out meal in a plastic bag (Asian style)
My first take out meal in a plastic bag (Asian style). A mildly spicy sauce for dipping. Tim ate some plain rice with a piece of chicken – yay!

After an afternoon’s rest, Tim was feeling better so we went to one of George Town’s hawker’s markets called Red Garden. It’s listed as a place to get good satays and it’s also where Anthony Bourdain got Penang’s fried oysters while he was in town. The walk to the market was only about 8 minutes away. It would be faster if George Town had proper sidewalks. Most of the time you have to walk on the street hugging parked cars.

Walking down Chulia St. to Red Garden
Walking down Chulia St. to Red Garden
Red Garden Hawker Market
Red Garden Hawker Market

We arrived at Red Garden Market just before 7pm and it was still light out and not that busy yet. The crowd was a mix of locals and tourists, but it was probably more tourists than locals. Tim and I did a loop around the market to see what we wanted to eat. Since we came here for satay, I ordered 10 chicken satays (they come in orders of 10) and a small order of fried oysters (from the stand that Bourdain went to). Tim went to get a bowl of lor mee, which are noodles served in a thick starchy gravy – it’s a Hokkien dish eaten by Malaysians and Singaporeans. The prices here were a bit higher than what we’ve been seeing on the street but it was still very cheap and reasonable for western standards. At this market, each vendor asks for your table number when you order so they can find you – this seems more reasonable than just searching for you aimlessly.

Satay stall at Red Garden
Satay stall at Red Garden
Fried oyster stall that Anthony Bourdain went to
Fried oyster stall that Anthony Bourdain went to
Lor Mee Stall
Lor Mee Stall

Everything I ordered was really good. The fried oysters were actually more of an oyster omelette similar to the ones you find in Taiwan. It had that same starchy consistency but had a different type of sauce on it which I enjoyed more than the Taiwanese ones. Tim took a few bites of his noodles and he was done. He was being a bit too ambitious about what he could eat right away on a recovering stomach. Since I was basically eating all the satays and fried oysters myself, I didn’t attempt to try to finish his noodles. The lor mee was a very hearty soup noodle since the soup is so thick, but I probably wouldn’t order them again.

10 chicken satay skewers (10 MYR = $3.25 CAD)
10 chicken satay skewers (10 MYR = $3.25 CAD)
Fried oyster (small order for 10 MYR = $3.25 CAD)
Fried oyster (small order for 10 MYR = $3.25 CAD)
Tim's lor mee (6.50 MYR = $2.10 CAD). There's a mix of egg noodles and vermicelli underneath the thick layer of soup
Tim’s lor mee (6.50 MYR = $2.10 CAD). There’s a mix of egg noodles and vermicelli underneath the thick layer of soup

After dinner we walked back into the centre of town to check out the George Town Heritage festivities. We only went to some areas of it because Tim wasn’t feeling 100% (Tim: Kaitlyn feels like it’s very necessary to mention multiple times how I’m not 100% :P) so we wanted to have an early night to rest up. The festivities that we did see were a bunch of traditional Penang games for children to play and a performance by the Penang Chingay Association.

Kapitan Ketaling Mosque
Kapitan Ketaling Mosque, 215th anniversary celebrations. Looked like they had stalls of free food earlier.
Performances outside of the mosque
Performances outside of the mosque
Traditional games were set up along the street
Traditional games were set up along the street
Games were set up around the street. This one is basically duck duck goose
This one is basically duck duck goose
Penang Chingay Association
Penang Chingay Association. They balanced the Malaysian flag on their heads and passed it around using their feet. Some were a lot better than others.

We headed back to the hotel and got our free drinks upstairs. The movie tonight was “The Kingsman”, a movie we’ve seen before but was still good enough to watch again.

Hopefully Tim will be back to normal tomorrow! It’s our last full day in Penang before heading back to Vietnam. Our 4.5 months away is almost over.

Steps today: 11,000

Singapore (Day 67): 23 Hour Layover

May 6, 2016

We had a good rest in Singapore at the Bliss Hotel. The bed was very comfortable, but if you’re a light sleeper, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel. You could hear everything in the rooms next door as well as what’s going on in the hallway (a lot of people got up early, probably to catch flights). We washed up and headed out for the day at 10:00am. Our first stop on our day in Singapore was to go to Maxwell Food Centre for some Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Singapore is known for its hawker markets and this was a priority for me on our layover here. I love Hainanese Chicken Rice, and at home, my favourite is from Cafe D’lite in Aberdeen or Mamalee’s in Kits (which used to be called Cafe D’lite), so that’s what I was comparing Singapore’s rice to.

Bliss Hotel is located right beside the Chinatown SMRT station, which is only about a 6 minute walk to the Maxwell Food Centre. The chicken rice stall that is the most famous is called, Tian Tian, and according to Trip Advisor, it opened at 11am. When we got to the market, we found Tian Tian and it was already open. There was no line up, which was surprising, but I guess it was only 10:30am. I ordered a medium sized chicken rice plate ($5 SGD = $4.75 CAD). We read online that Tian Tian had a former disgruntled chef who left them to open his own stall, called Ah-Tia, a few stalls down at Maxwell. We tried one from each stall to see whose was better. They tasted the same to both of us, the rice at Tian Tian was a bit softer (and better) than Ah-Tia (But Ah-Tia’s set was only $3.50 SGD and it included soup).

Our walk to Maxwell through Chinatown
Our walk to Maxwell through Chinatown
Hindu Templ on Pagoda Street in Chinatown, Singapore
Hindu Temple on Pagoda Street in Chinatown, Singapore
Chinatown Street
Chinatown Street
Almost at Maxwell Food Centre. The main entrance is under construction.
Almost at Maxwell Food Centre. The main entrance is under construction.
Tian Tian at Maxwell
Tian Tian at Maxwell
Tian Tian's medium sized chicken rice for $5 SGD. They have a small for $3.50 SGD.
Tian Tian’s medium sized chicken rice for $5 SGD. They have a small for $3.50 SGD.
Chicken rice from Ah-Tai ($3.50 SGD = $3.32 CAD). They only have one size.
Chicken rice from Ah-Tai ($3.50 SGD = $3.32 CAD). They only have one size and it came with chicken broth.
Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown
Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown

So what’s our verdict on the chicken rice in Singapore? The rice itself was the best I’ve had, but I wasn’t that blown away by the chicken. They served me all white meat so maybe it isn’t fair to fully judge, but I actually like Cafe D’lite’s chicken better. The white meat was juicy but it wasn’t as flavourful as I would’ve hoped for and the chilli dipping sauce was very spicy (not a sweet and tangy spice like at home).  Maybe I hyped the chicken rice too much in my head, but in actuality, Vancouver does have some of the best food and I don’t take that for granted.

Maxwell Food Centre only has ceiling fans so it was very hot inside. We had a bottle of free water we got from the hotel, and I drank it all in a couple of minutes. We saw a bunch of fruit juice stalls and got fresh watermelon juice for $2 SGD = $1.90 CAD.

Watermelon juice for $2 SGD
Watermelon juice for $2 SGD
Maxwell Food Centre
Maxwell Food Centre from the other side

After brunch, we walked towards the water to see Singapore’s Merlion fountain. Singapore has some really interesting architecture which I really appreciated. Before coming to Singapore, I knew it was a city full ex-pats but I didn’t realize it was so multicultural on its own. I would prefer to live in Singapore than Hong Kong, mostly because the city is quite attractive, clean, not as crowded, and everyone speaks English. I know you can move to Hong Kong or most cities without fluently speaking their native tongue, but I also understand that living in Hong Kong without being able to speak much Cantonese is restricting if you can’t really communicate well with coworkers on a casual basis.

Red Dot Design Museum
Red Dot Design Museum
Singapore's famous Marina Bay Sands view
Singapore’s famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Merlion
Merlion
Tried to get all the Singaporean highlights in one picture
Tried to get all the Singaporean highlights in one picture
Mini Merlion. Finally some reprieve from the scorching sun.
Mini Merlion. Finally some reprieve from the scorching sun.

We took a bunch of pictures around Collyer Quay, which is where you’ll find a good view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Merlion. The waterfront area was full of SE Asian tourists, mostly Thai. I think we got the most sun and truly experienced the Singaporean sun in those 15 minutes we were out. Any area with a bit of shade, there were people huddled together. For once, I saw the appeal of using an umbrella to block out the sun and I wished I had mine with me.

After we finished taking our pictures, we went to the Fullerton Hotel, which is across the street. It’s a beautiful looking hotel that used to be Singapore’s main post office. It felt so good to be in an air conditioned building. If you’re ever needing a reprieve from the Singapore sun, I highly recommend hanging out in the Fullerton Hotel’s lobby. They have free wifi and their washrooms are very nice.

Fullerton Hotel in Collyer Quay
Fullerton Hotel in Collyer Quay

After taking a break at the Fullerton, we walked down the street to another hawker’s market, Lau Pa Sat. This market is located in the middle of the downtown/financial core and is a popular lunch spot for office workers. We went to Lau Pa Sat at basically the worst possible time, 12:10pm. Lau Pa Sat is a nice looking market, but like Maxwell, there’s no AC. Since the sun had been scorching for a while now (34 degrees and humid), the the market was very warm. We did a few loops around the market to see what we were going to try. The main reason why I wanted to go to Lau Pa Sat was for their satays, but after we arrived I read that the satay stalls are only open at night (7pm and onwards) and are set up outside the market. I guess we’ll have to come back to Singapore another time.

Lau Pa Sat Festival Pavilion
Lau Pa Sat Festival Pavilion
Inside Lau Pa Sat
Inside Lau Pa Sat
Sugar cane juice ($1.80 SGD = $1.70 CAD) and dried pork belly noodles ($5.80 SGD = $5.50 CAD)
Sugar cane juice ($1.80 SGD = $1.70 CAD) and dried pork belly noodles ($5.80 SGD = $5.50 CAD)
Ban Mian, Tim's noodle place.
Ban Mian, Tim’s noodle place.
Char Kway Teow ($4 SGD = $ 3.80 CAD)
Char Kway Teow ($4 SGD = $ 3.80 CAD)
My noodle stall
My noodle stall

Our meal at Lau Pa Sat was by far the sweatiest meal we’ve ever had. I don’t think I’ve sweat so much in my life while eating a meal. When I tried to put my elbows on the table, they would slip off because my arms were drenched. If we were to go back to Lau Pa Sat, I would try their Indian food, it looked really good.

We passed by all the closed satay stalls on the way out
We passed by all the closed satay stalls on the way out

After Lau Pa Sat, we headed towards Clarke Quay. There are shops in the area which we took our time to walk through (thanks to the strong AC). There are also a lot of bars and restaurants that aren’t open until dinner. Clarke Quay area seems like it would be more fun at night time, so during the day it wasn’t that interesting to walk around. You can take boat rides from Clarke Quay to Collyer Quay, where we were earlier.

Clark Quay
Clark Quay
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Green tea flavoured vanilla ice cream from McDonald’s. (0.90 SGD = $0.85 CAD)

Down the street from the Clark Quay area is a fun and colourful building. It used to be the Singapore Police Station and now it’s the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth. Inside the atrium area there’s a brief history run down of the building and police history in the city. Apparently Singapore used to be a crime ridden city back in the day.

Colourful former Singapore Police Station, now the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth
Colourful former Singapore Police Station, now the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth

We had about 3 hours until we planned on going to the airport. At this point in the afternoon, we were both feeling really tired from the heat and walking around with our day packs (old Macbook Pros are not light). We hung around the City Hall/Raffles area and took refuge in Raffles City Mall, which had a lot of internationally branded stores. We decided to hang out at the food hall to relax and sit for a bit before picking one of the stalls to eat from.

Raffles City
Raffles City
Inside the food court at Raffles City
Inside the food court at Raffles City

I was excited when we saw the choices we had for dinner because there was a “HK Style BBQ” stall. I told Tim I had been craving Cantonese BBQ for a while, so this was perfect. Unfortunately, this did not satisfy my cravings. While it was good, it wasn’t really the same. They poured a thick brown sauce on top of the meat and rice, which if I had known they did, I would have asked them to put it on the side. I think the sauce threw things off for me. Maybe I’ll find some good BBQ in Chinatowns in Australia.

Tim got curry chicken. It was quite spicy, but good. ($5.50 SGD = $5.22 CAD)
Tim got curry chicken. It was quite spicy, but good. ($5.50 SGD = $5.22 CAD)
My Cantonese style BBQ - char siu and BBQ duck
My Cantonese style BBQ – char siu and BBQ duck, it came with a bowl of soup ($6 SGD = $5.70 CAD)

At around 6pm, we made our way to the train station across the street (City Hall stop) and headed to Changi Airport. It was rush hour on a Friday afternoon, it was busy but it wasn’t too crowded. It’s hard to identify office workers in Singapore because they are dressed fairly casual here. I think because it’s so hot here, people just don’t care.

St.Andrew's Cathedral
St.Andrew’s Cathedral right outside City Hall SMRT station
Waiting for the train to Changi Airport
Waiting for the train to Changi Airport

We were flying out of Terminal 3 at Changi, which is different from the terminal we arrived in. Terminal 3 was much nicer and is the largest terminal at the airport. This was the first airport we’ve been to that you go through customs before you clear security. Once we got through customs, we were in the shopping area (which is pretty good) and we realized we didn’t even go through security yet. At Changi, you go through security when you enter your gate area, right before boarding. It’s a different system and one that I don’t really get the logic behind. If you wanted to buy anything from duty free, you had to buy it at least 90 minutes before your flight because you couldn’t take it through security with you. Also, people are waiting around any way and usually once you go through security and customs, you just need to relax before your flight. The way it is at Changi, you still have one more thing to line up for and another stage to deter you from buying a bottled drink from a restaurant.

Terminal 3 departure check in floor at Changi
Terminal 3 departure check in floor at Changi
Brookside chocolates from Surrey to Singapore. $27 for a bag!
Brookside chocolates from Surrey to Singapore. $27 for a bag! They sell those at London Drugs.
Ippudo at Changi
Ippudo at Changi. Tim probably would’ve wanted this if we didn’t eat already.

We boarded our flight to Melbourne and it left at 9:15pm. The flight was quite full and our seats weren’t the best. We were in the middle of the plane right in front of one of the washrooms. The only upside was that no one was behind us. I was surprised that the flight time was only 6 hours and 20 minutes (online I read it was 7 hours and 20 minutes). I slept for most of the flight and only woke up when it was time for breakfast.

Singapore Airlines is really good. I would recommend it if you have the chance. They’re part of Star Alliance and they don’t charge fees the way Air Canada does (on reward tickets). It’s too bad they pulled their Vancouver route a few years ago.

Steps today: 26,000