Penang – Where to, Gumshoe?

Penang (Day 132): George Town, a Hawker’s Delight

July 10, 2016

We woke up this morning and looked at the calendar. Exactly one week until we’re home. So crazy! We read that Sundays in George Town are very quiet so we had a leisurely morning ourselves. We’re both getting a bit of a cold, so today is mostly going to be a rest day for us as well (I guess that’s our sign to come home soon).

Tim was feeling better today and even ate some breakfast. We got there around 10am and breakfast ends at 10:30am. The staff in the restaurant aren’t very friendly or personable. They don’t acknowledge you or even break a smile. The clock inside the restaurant is also 5 minutes fast, so at 10:25am, the attendant started unplugging and turning off the appliances and then turned off the lights. There were about 5 tables still eating, so this was pretty rude and unprofessional. They should really change the clocks in the restaurant.

We’ve been catching up on Suits (on Netflix) over the past couple of weeks, so that’s what we’ve been doing while resting. It wasn’t until around noon that we headed out for the afternoon. Our main attraction for today was to visit “Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul“.

Penang Road restaurant was about 8 minutes away from our hotel by foot and away from the heritage area. When we arrived, we found a crowded looking alley with people lined up at the teochew chendul stand. It was a bit confusing because they have a cart outside with the chendul and then a whole lane was made up of their restaurant stalls. We walked down a bit further to get char koay toew (6 MYR = $1.95 CAD) and sat down to eat it. When we were sitting and eating, staff kept coming up to us asking if we wanted chendul. It was only then we realized that all the stalls belonged to them too.

The row of stalls had many of Penang’s specialties, so you could check off a lot of Malaysian dishes at one location. There was no way we would be able to check off all the food on the list in just a few days, but this was a start. I saw an Assam laksa (aka Penang Laksa) stall closer to the beginning of the alley and was interested in trying it. I’ve only ever had Singaporean laksa (curry based laksa), which is more popular and common at home than this one. I know there are some restaurants in Vancouver that serve Assam Laksa, but they like to warn customers before they order it because it may not be what they expect – with that warning, I never ordered it. Since we’re in Penang, the birthplace of this type of laksa, I wanted to try it.

While I was waiting for my laksa to come, Tim went to the Penang fried chicken stall and got a thigh and a wing (6 MYR = $1.95 CAD). As with other hawker’s markets here, we ordered at the stall and they found us. We had a few waitresses on occasion asking people if this was their dish – they should have a numbering system like Red Garden. The Assam Laksa (4.80 MYR = $1.56 CAD) was surprisingly good – but has a very fishy smell (so if you don’t like fish you shouldn’t eat this) and is sour and a little spicy (more like a tom yum broth than curry). There was a lot of ingredients in the soup and when you watch them pour the soup into the bowl, they scoop the soup and then drain all the liquid out but hold in all the “junk” in the bowl (repeat a few times). Tim’s chicken was good and I liked the sweet and spicy dipping sauce they gave with the chicken.

After we were done our mains, I ordered a chendul (2.70 MYR = $0.88 CAD) from one of the waiters. I know they have a few different options to choose from but since we weren’t near a sign or a menu, I just showed them a picture of the chendul from my food pamphlet. The chendul the waiter brought us was a coffee flavoured ice with coconut milk, green pandan “noodles”, and red bean. I can see why people like having this dessert in hot climates, it’s very refreshing! But the ice also melted in a couple of minutes, so you should eat it really quickly.

After lunch we walked back into the heritage zone and saw how dead the city was. Even more so than the two previous days, more businesses were closed on Sundays. We walked down a street called “Love Lane”, which was close to our hotel, which had a bunch of Chinese association buildings and schools. All the businesses were closed but all we could hear through the closed doors were the clanking of Mahjong tiles. I wanted to take pictures of all the Grandpas sitting around playing MJ but as I peered through the window, someone would always see me looking.

We spent the rest of the late afternoon watching Suits and resting up since not much was open and we didn’t want to push ourselves too much and be more sick over our last week away. Being away for 4 months, it’s impossible not to have rest days or else we would’ve burned out a long time ago. This last part of our trip has been more “go go go” since wanted to see a bit more during our SE Asia leg. Looking forward to Phu Quoc and just being able to fully relax and not feel like we have to see anything.

For dinner we decided to go back to the food vendors on Lebuh Chulia where we went on our first day here. Since it is Sunday many of the vendors that are usually there were not. Only about half of them were still set up today.

Tim got a Hokkien “bak chang” (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves or a “dung” in Toi San) which he was craving since it looked and tasted like the Taiwanese ones rather than the Cantonese ones I’m used to (he ended up ordering a second one after he finished the first). I ordered Penang style chee chur fan (rice roll with hoisin) and a small order of wantan mee. We grabbed a seat and the beverage station at this particular group of vendors was a fruit juice stand. The lady came around and asked if we wanted something to drink, so we shared a guava juice.

The juice stand looked like it was made up of a Mom, Dad, and their middle aged daughters. We sat at a table close to them and it was entertaining watching the Mom (boss lady) bark at everyone about the orders. They spoke Cantonese, Hokkien, and Mandarin interchangeably so it was hard to follow. I could understand bits of the Cantonese (mostly just the names of fruits) and Tim could understand most of their Hokkien and Mandarin. Hokkien is the same as Taiwanese but in Penang they speak Penang Hokkien which is slightly different.

We’re leaving Penang tomorrow and heading back to Vietnam. Our flight to Ho Chi Minh is at noon, so we have to leave George Town around 9am. The hotel is going to book us a taxi and they advertise a ride to the airport for 50 MYR = $16 CAD. This is a bit more than coming here on the airport vouchers but it’s safer to pay the hotel than go in a metered taxi in Malaysia.

Steps today: 7,000

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Kuala Lumpur/Penang (Day 130): A Nice Change of Scenery

July 8, 2016

Packed up and ready to go, I was a bit sad to leave our room and the hotel. It was a really comfortable bed compared to Asian hotel beds that are fairly hard and the room in general was a lot nicer than what we’ve been used to. The hotel is what I’ll miss most about Kuala Lumpur…

We decided to go for breakfast at the lounge instead of the main hall today to avoid any crowds. I think we both want a bit of peace and quiet before we made our way to the airport. As expected all the Malaysian tourists who were at the lounge for cocktails weren’t there for breakfast. If you only want western choices then being in the lounge is better, but if you want more options, downstairs is better. I think if it weren’t a national holiday I would have liked to eat downstairs everyday, but having to deal with the crowds negatively outweighed my desire for more food options.

After checking out, we made our way to the Ampang Park LRT Station to go to the airport. We asked the hotel how much a taxi would cost from our hotel to the airport and they said it would be around 150 MYR = $50 CAD using their services. They said a metered taxi would probably be around the same. We read that taking a taxi to the airport is more of a gamble because Malaysian taxi drivers are notorious for ripping off foreigners and there’s no law that prohibits them to do so (as per WikiTravels) so they take full advantage. At least at the airport there was the voucher system so they couldn’t play around with the meter.

Basically taking the express train to the airport was our best and safest bet. We still had credit on our MyRapid card so it was good we could use it to get to KL Sentral Station. KL Sentral Station is about 6 stops away from Ampang Park and cost 2.40 MYR = $0.77 CAD. When we got to Sentral Station there were signs for the KL Airport Express train which was easy to follow.

Tim read that using the kiosks to buy your tickets give you additional discount so we used one. But after punching in which terminal we wanted to go to the price wasn’t discounted! After we went through the prompts and Tim paid (with his Mastercard), the price changed from 110 MYR = $35 CAD (for both of us) to 88 MYR = $28 CAD. We saw a sign later that if you pay with Mastercard you get 20%! What a pleasant surprise.

We boarded the train (which reminded me of the trains from HK Airport) and we were some of the few people with luggage. If you’re flying Malaysian Air, Emirates, Etihad, or Cathay, you could check in and drop your bags in at Sentral Station. The train was spacious and comfortable – there’s even free WiFi on board!

We got to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in less than half an hour after leaving from Sentral Station (we buffered a lot of time just in case). We were flying with Malindo Air (Malayian and Indonesian), a fairly new airline that’s based out of Malaysia. Our flight to Penang was only 135 MYR = $43 CAD per person, which included bags.

KLIA domestic terminal is very modern, and it had a lot of stores and dining options after you cross security. We walked around and saw a fast food looking restaurant called Marrybrown. It looked like a Malaysian Jollibees, as the menu was mostly fried chicken. Apparently they have locations around Indonesia, Brunei, India, and Sri Lanka. Tim ordered a chicken meal and I ordered nasi lemak with chicken (or nasi Marrybrown as they call it). Their chicken was pretty good. I liked it better than Jollibees, but not as good as Popeye’s!

We headed to our gate after lunch and found out that our flight was delayed because the plane that we were waiting to take hadn’t landed yet. We didn’t end up taking off until about 3:30pm, almost an hour delay. The flight was on a 737, which was a lot bigger plane that I was expecting for such a short flight. I wasn’t complaining since I really do hate small planes. Our flight wasn’t even half full, I wonder how Malindo is making any money with their cheap airfare (and baggage included).

The plane was nice. It had leather seats, in flight entertainment (I watched an episode of Modern Family), and more leg room than Air Asia. Malindo Air was recommended to me by my former manager, who is planning a Malaysia trip in the future. He’s tall so the leg room matters more to him than it does to me. But I do appreciate the extra leg room to stretch out. They gave us water and some crackers for snacks, which was nice of them for a 40 minute flight.

We landed at Penang International Airport, grabbed our luggage, and bought a taxi voucher at the taxi counter. Since we’re staying in Georgetown, it’s considered zone 5, which is 44.70 MYR = $14.50 CAD. We took our taxi voucher outside and hopped into our cab which took us into Georgetown, ~18km away from the airport.

While driving into Georgetown, the city seemed quaint and charming. I liked it already! We’re staying at Chulia Mansion, which is central to many of the heritage sites in Georgetown. The hotel has a lot of perks for guests – free drinks each night at the roof top bar, free ice cream and cookies everyday starting from 2pm, free breakfast, and 1kg of free laundry each day. As soon as we checked in, Tim wanted to go the kitchen and get ice cream (he loves ice cream). Overall, pretty happy with the hotel. The room is clean, the perks are nice, the location is central, and it was only $55 CAD/night.

After our ice cream break, we walked around town to get a preview of the town. We walked past Lebuh Chulia’s street vendors, which were all very busy serving dinner. All the food looked and smelled delicious. I’m most excited about all the food in Penang. We walked through Little India towards the Esplanade and City Hall. We both didn’t sleep that well last night and with our long afternoon at the airport we were both tired.

We walked back towards our hotel and I got a Malaysian wan tan mee (their version of wonton mein). The wan tan mee stall had one of the longest line ups and while watching the cooks put together a bowl, it looked good, so I ordered a small bowl (3.80 MYR = $1.25 CAD, large bowl is 5 MYR = $1.65 CAD). It’s a dry noodle (thin egg noodle) with a dark brown sesame/soy sauce covering the noodles, slices of BBQ pork (char siu), vegetables, two boiled wontons, and one fried wonton. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten this trip. Tim’s stomach wasn’t feeling great still and he took a bite and agreed. I think we’ll be back!

We came back to the hotel and washed up and then went upstairs to get our free drinks from the bar. They had a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options (you get one free drink per night). At 8:30pm at the roof top bar, it’s movie night. Tonight’s movie was Pitch Perfect 2, which we saw together in theatres when it came out. We enjoyed our drinks and they gave us free popcorn while we watched.

Looking forward to exploring more of the heritage buildings and sights in Georgetown tomorrow. Hopefully Tim will feel 100% so he can eat all the delicious Penang food.

Steps today: 10,500