Downtown food tour (days 2 & 3)

Penang is absolutely known for its food.  In fact, the first time I ever heard the name of the island was when a restaurant in Chapel Hill opened called Penang.  I had no idea what it served.  I still don't know what it served, but Seth and I have been doing nothing but sampling the local cuisine since we arrived.  We are pretty adventurous--we prefer to eat with the locals and will try almost anything.  However, I draw the line at organ meats.  Seth doesn't mind these parts, but he said he won't eat frogs (and there was an opportunity for that two nights ago). I think I'd do the same. The fun part is that the food is so cheap here that if for some reason a dish isn't agreeable, it costs almost nothing to buy a different one (a big meal costs about $1 to $1.50). 

Our first breakfast: curry mee (curry soup with egg noodles, similar to Australian laksa).  While we were eating in her home this lady showed us photos from her trip to Europe.

 

Serving at one of the outdoor markets: chicken heads

One of the temples we came across in Chinatown

Due to the crazy mix of cultures (Malaysian, Chinese, southern Indian, Muslim, some European and Thai), there are lots of foods to try.  We wanted Indain for lunch but had no idea what or how to order.  I made gestures to order a fish curry, rice, veggies, and was very pleased with the results. 

The bustling stall where we had lunch

Little India

The name of this tea sounded like masal.  It basically tasted like what we call chai. 

We spent the later (and hotter) part of the afternoon wandering around a gigantic shopping mall.  Apparently it is attached to an even larger shopping mall in the Komtar tower, but we didn't know this at the time.  Here is a grocery store in the mall that sells very cute individually-wrapped sushi, made by an equally cute Muslim girl (the cute Japanese girls were probably hired by the more authentic sushi shops).

This smaller mall has 8 stories with a cinema and Karaoke bar at the top

Ice kacang, a dessert similar to cendol, made with shaved ice, sweet red beans, sweet corn, pieces of nutmeg flesh, sweetened condensed milk, and ice cream on top. Delicious!

Hawker stalls with hanging squid

In the evening we took the bus to meet the rest of the family at a complex of hawker stalls just outside of town.  What you do is claim a table, then go around to the different stalls and pick out the food you want.  The food is brought to your table and you pay when it is delivered.  We ordered a bunch of dishes to try and we ate family-style. 

Seth ordered an authentic assam laksa (the local Penang variety, which is very different from the coconutty version you find in southern Malaysia and in places like Australia).  Unfortunately I think I prefer the Australian "abomination"

We go out running early in the morning, before the sun is up.  We found a small park by the water where we can do laps.

Our laps include going around Fort Cornwallis

For breakfast we had some thick, black loh mee (surprisingly mildly sweet) and spicy hokkien mee

 

Some stalls around Chinatown

Pickled fruit is popular here--I wish I knew what these were!

Jack fruit

Lunch was Indian food again.  This was a very popular cafe, and like yesterday, we were rather confused when ordering, but it was worth the effort!

Fish curry and vegetable curry

View from Komtar (a very tall building)

We took the lift to the 60th floor of Komtar. You can see our hotel down below (lower center-left: Hotel Sentral Georgetown)

We stumbled upon the larger shopping mall in the Komtar tower. Holy crap it was huge.

Night-time hawker stalls.

Happy Boxing Day from Penang

After 36 hours (apartment doorstep to hotel lobby) we made it to Penang, Malaysia!  It was a nice, smooth ride, for the most part.  The biggest glitch was feeling ill on the flight from NYC to Frankfort, which I will blame on the food served at our beloved Lounge Club.  Figures, I get sick before even leaving the country.

Upon arrival yesterday morning we were met at the airport by my cousin, Christina, and her husband, Kevin (this is the lucky couple that will have their second wedding this weekend).  They took us to the hotel outside of town where the rest of my family is staying (Aunt Mary, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Dee, Uncle Dennis, and my cousins Peter, Nathan, and Eileen).  Seth and I were aching for a run to stretch our legs, and we managed to recruit Peter to join us, even though it was stinking hot (near mid-day), and he had just woken up after having a big night out (apparently running is a good way to burn off excess alcohol).  

We navigated some very busy streets and found our way to an incredibly lush botanic gardens.  I made my third running mishap in less than two months when I ran my forehead right into a rusty metal bar, which knocked me flat on my back.  Peter's first words to me were "It's ok, Michelle, I was the only one that saw that!".  Thanks for the reassurance, Peter.   

Running with Seth and Peter to the Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens, a nice retreat from the city

The bromeliad collection

Cooling off in the bacteria-infested stream (it's ok, being a military guy, Peter had all his shots)

Oh my god, we saw tones of monkeys!

No durian on elevators :o(

We had well-deserved showers and Kevin took us for a mini tour of George Town, the city center.  The streets reminded Seth and me very much of Vietnam, while the more modern culture and cars (instead of mopeds) seemed strangely Australian...

Kevin and his uncle took us to the best cen dol stand in the city.  It is an icy, coconut milky, beany dessert, and absolutely awesome! 

Uncle Dennis wasn't sure about it

Mini cake stand

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire on Christmas day!

The rest of the day was spent lounging at Kevin's mother's condo outside of town.  Eileen, Aunt Dee, and I helped Aunt Mary make her award-winning Swedish meatballs for a traditional Swedish Smorgasbord Christmas dinner.  What a treat that was! Unfortunately I did not get Aunt Mary's secret family recipe...

We had a great time mingling with Kevin's family and my own extended family.  There was much Christmas spirit in the humid, tropical air :o) 

Getting ready to make Christmas dinner

The view from Kevin's mom's place

Meatball masters

The boys making themselves useful :P

The cold dishes portion of the Smorgasbord

Strong Swedish Glogg

The island by night. There is a mosque near here that blares the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day.