Penang

I've lived in Penang for six months or so when I did my student exchange in USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) back in 2008. So if getting to Bangkok felt little like coming home, getting to Penang definitely felt like it too. There is a taxi counter in the airport arrivals hall and they have list of destinations with fixed prices. It's recommended to use the stand instead of hailing a cab outside the airport, because some drivers easily "forget" to use the meter and you can get ripped off. So we got our taxi tickets for 44 ringgits and got to our hotel in George Town. After checking in and chilling a bit we headed out to find some food. After 5-10 minutes walking we hit the jackpot as we found a little street filled with different stalls selling all the local specialties. Penang is a melting pot of cultures and it also means a diverse and delicious food culture. I ended up ordering some Hokkien Hae Mee from an old Chinese lady who didn't speak English almost at all. The dish consisted of some noodles, chicken, prawns, fish cakes and some other not-so-easily-recognizable ingredients in a savory broth. I had some Dragon fruit juice to go with that which actually cost more than the food but 14 ringgits (2.9€) for the whole set was not bad at all!

Some of the food stalls

Slurping it

After the meal we continued our walk, the next stop being KOMTAR. It is easily seen and recognized from all around George Town, but as far as shopping goes there is very limited options and many of the shops have shut down. We spent some time there wandering around in few interesting shops we found and then continued our way along Jalan Penang towards George Town nightlife. It had been two hours since the food stall stop and we were getting pretty hungry so we went to Red Garden, a hawker center with dozens of food stalls to choose from. I went with roasted duck and Sini had some Nasi Goreng Pattaya, both dishes tasting delicious. Our stomachs full we walked to the nearby bar area to enjoy some liquid bread before taking a taxi back to our hotel.

The following day we went to Gurney Plaza, a nine stories shopping mall with 380 stores. Beats KOMTAR. Other than that we just took it easy and stayed at the hotel and later went to Red Garden again. 

There's a ton of street art scattered around George Town and we went on a hunt to find some on the third day. Chinatown was a good place to start so there we went. Sini had saved a screenshot of a art map which we used to find some of the paintings. Locals were very interested about the art pieces also and there were many groups doing some spotting around the city's tiny streets. We also spotted Chew Jetty across the street and went there for a walk. There are Chinese clans living in villages built on stilts above the water and Chew Jetty is one of the most visited ones. The jetties were formed in 19th century when Chinese immigrants came to Penang and worked near the port and nowadays they have UNESCO world heritage status.

After spending some time in the jetty we slowly made our way to a scooter rental place I had spotted earlier online. This time they actually asked if we had international driving licenses and after presenting them we got our scooter pretty quickly. It was a reputable company with plenty of good reviews but it's still always a good precaution to take pictures of the scratches and other damage the bike might have so they don't blame you later for those and ask for money. We made our way towards my old hoods in Gelugor. During my studies we lived in Sunny Ville and although I've visited Penang after that I've not been to our old place since.  Luckily they didn't ask us anything at the gate and we got to the premises for a short visit. The cafe had changed a bit but otherwise the place looked pretty much the same as in 2008. From Sunny Ville we rode to Bayan Lepas, Balik Pulau and took the curvy hill road back to George Town. After returning the scooter we had dinner in Red Garden. Yes. Again. Hey don't look at me like that, if Anthony Bourdain has eaten there they must have some pretty darn good food!

We still had one stop before going to sleep. We went to KOMTAR's bus station and got our tickets to Cameron Highlands for the next day. Across the station I spotted a place selling Cendol and that was on my list for dishes to try so I got a bowl of it. As weird as it looks it's actually very good even though I'm not usually a fan of sweet things. There's coconut milk, grass jelly, shaved ice and tons of palm sugar. Malaysian version also contained some red beans, yummy.

This might take a while..

Sunny Ville :)

@ Red Garden

Cendol

A short stop to Cameron Highlands

We were supposed to be in front of the bus ticket booking office 10.30 am, but being too optimistic about how long would it take to get there we were running late. Our Grab (similar to Uber) was there around 10.45 am and then we run with the guy we booked tickets from to the minivan and it actually took maybe another 15 minutes before we left the station. The minivan took us to the other bus station and it took over an hour before our bus got there. On top of that the bus ride took over four hours so it was getting dark already when we got to Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands. We had only rough conception of where our hotel (Heritage Hotel) was located so it took some time to find it. We asked around and after a few missteps we found the place. It was getting late so we looked for a place to eat dinner nearby and called it a night.

The next day we had some daylight to explore the city. It definitely has some Europe vibe to it as the buildings look like they're taken from some village in the Alps. The climate is also cooler and it was a nice change after the hot and humid weather we'd had so far. We looked for a taxi and asked how much would it be to visit the nearby tea plantation. The driver said 20 ringgits for the return ride and a hour of waiting there. That sounded good so off we went to the Cameron Bharat Tea Estate. The views were nice and we took a walk down also. After coming back up we had some tea at the restaurant there. When we got back and paid the driver insisted that the price was 20 ringgits one way. The guy seemed nice and it might be that he wasn't trying to rip us off but nonetheless it was a good reminder to make sure you agree on the price beforehand. All in all Cameron Highlands was a nice place to visit but maybe not worth it if you're just visiting for a one day because of the long bus ride. Luckily we have time :)

- Matias 

Tanah Rata

Life is like a box of chocolates

Our route so far