And we arrived to our first stop in Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.
We weren't sure what to expect in Penang as we have only heard that it's a great place to visit with amazing food. We got lots of restaurant recommendations from a local, so basically we expected to eat a lot.
Penang looks quite different from what you expect of Southeast Asia. The vibe and character is a of three cultures: Chinese, Malay and Indian, with a twist from the colonial times. These definitely influenced the architecture and local food. Walking around George Town (Penang's capital) was definitely the highlight of our week in Penang. This city is a World's heritage site protected by the UNESCO and when you wander around, you can understand why.
It's quite interesting how the city how the different cultures mix in this city. There is little India, where most Indian people live, you can hear loud Indian music on the streets, Indian restaurants and plenty of tailoring shops, alongside mosques and other temples. A few blocks away is the China town, where you will see a lot of Chinese restaurants, street food stands, old Chinese mansions and temples. It is very inspiring to see how peaceful this place is in spite of their cultural differences and sharing such a small area.
Little India
Chinatown
Khoo family house
Street Art in George Town
Love Lane, next to Backpacker street (Chulia Street)
View from our apartment
Another interesting point of the city was the Jetties in the coast of George Town. Chinese settlers created this piers with houses that they used for trade. Today, people continue to live in the Jetties and some have become markets to attract tourists.
In a Chinese Jetti
Food is certainly a highlight in Penang. We essentially had a different type of food every day. As you can imagine, the food is mostly Chinese, Indian or Malay/Southeast Asian, but influenced from different regions of China and India. Therefore, restaurants usually focused in a particular cuisine. Our favourite restaurant is called Tek Sen, a Fujian restaurant (Fujian: Region of China) - the best dish was the double glazed pork, really amazing. If you ever come to Penang, this place is a must go.
Enjoying an Indian Banana Leaf meal
We also visited other parts of the island. We went to Penang Hill, well known for the British afternoon teas and great views of the city. To go up you can either take a funicular or hike up for a few hours - there is no way I was going to hike up that hill (Phil maybe could have), so we took the funicular. We also went to Batu Farringhi (beach resort area), and visited the floating mosque.
View from Penang Hill
Batu Ferringhi beach
Floating Mosque
After seven weeks travelling together, Phil had to travel for work to South Africa (to do some very important wine tasting in Cape Town), so I will do a solo adventure in Taiwan for a week. My flight to Taipei is from Kuala Lumpur, so I decided to take a ferry to the mainland and continue by high speed train to reach KL. The journey took me about five and half hours, and it felt even longer. If you need to do this journey, I would recommend flying instead, the journey is quite long by train and the scenery is not very interesting.
Ferry to the mainland
Now I am ready for my solo adventure in Taiwan! I will visit Taipei, Taipei, and the Sun Moon Lake.
Omar
This featured blog entry was written by omarp from the blog Slow Route to Sydney.
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