Powering through Penang

Hello and xin chào!

The past few days in Hanoi, I've been showing around my newishly-wed cousin, Tierney, and her husband, Shannon. It's the first time I've seen anyone from back in the States in seven months, so I was really excited to see them. It's also fun to see the city through fresh eyes—it makes me appreciate Hanoi's ample quirks that much more. I've also gotten to check out a few places I had never been, like the Hỏa Lò Prison museum (known in its most recent incarnation as the Hanoi Hilton). Please note that I am still here for another five months if you're feeling adventurous!

Anyways, this post is about my trip a few weeks ago to Penang, an island off the coast of Malaysia. Roughly 200 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur, it's home to Malaysia's second largest city, George Town (pop. of metro. area: 2.4 million).

Right around the corner from my hostel.

George Town was founded by the British East India Company in 1786 as a trading hub alongside Singapore and Malacca. Consequently, the city center features a massive, UNESCO-listed collection of 19th-century colonial architecture.

Some old buildings with fading Chinese signage.

A Malay woman next to a street sign written in both Malay and Chinese.

Tamil signage in Little India.

This trading history also endowed Penang with a unique demographic mix—George Town is roughly 53 percent Chinese, 32 percent Malay, and 9 percent Indian. Penang remained a British colony until 1957, when Malaysia gained independence, so that and the ethnic mixture means that nearly everyone speaks English—quite well, too.

Lanterns and shophouses at Khoo Kongsi.

Day 1, I arrived beyond exhausted. On Saturday I taught for eight hours on five hours of sleep, and then Sunday I flew out at 8am on four hours of sleep. Nonetheless, I pressed on and visited Khoo Kongsi, a turn-of-the-century Chinese clan association.

A lantern inside the main temple of Khoo Kongsi.

Penang, as a trading hub, attracted large numbers of Chinese immigrants in its heyday—much like Hội An. Where the latter's assembly halls were organized around provincial origins, Penang's clan associations were organized around families or clans. Thus Khoo Kongsi contains a large temple, several shrines, and shophouses that were used by the wealthy Khoo family.

A bowl of laksa.

That afternoon I also tried Penang's most famous dish, assam laksa. It's essentially thick rice noodles in a sour broth based on fish and tamarind. It's filled with shredded fish, shrimp paste, mint, and assorted vegetables. Aside from a few common foods and flavors—basically nuts, cilantro, anise, and, unfortunately for this dish, mint—I don't think I'm a picky eater. But even apart from the mint, this was not for me. I didn't find the flavor bad so much as odd. At the time, I was really bummed out that I didn't like it, but since then I've heard it's an acquired taste, which makes a lot of sense.

Masjid Kapitan Keling at sunset.

After a much-needed afternoon nap, I wandered out in search of more food. I happened to pass the beautiful Masjid Kapitan Keling, a mosque built in 1801, at sunset and during a call to prayer. (Malaysia is the first and currently only Muslim country I've ever been to.)

First I tried some wanton noodles, a specialty of the Chinese community and, incidentally, also something I ate in Hong Kong. (Like before, I found it rather bland. Is this just what Cantonese cuisine is like? What am I doing wrong?)

Nasi Kandar Beratur in the daytime.

I spent a little time at a coffee shop before heading back to my hostel. I happened to be passing by the mosque again around 9:50pm, which was strangely convenient timing for me to grab a second dinner. During the daytime, there was a totally different restaurant, but at 10pm the famous Nasi Kandar Beratur would open.

My plate of spicy, unidentifiable goodness.

This was where I finally clicked with Malaysian food. I had nasi kandar, essentially steamed rice with Indian Muslim curry. I queued up for 10-15 minutes before choosing from trays of curries and vegetables, which would be put on rice and covered in the standard nasi kandar curry. Since this was second dinner, I just got some chicken curry. I don't fully know what else made it on the plate, but I do know it was really spicy and rich with flavor. I absolutely loved it—with the caveat that it was so heavy and spicy that my stomach did not feel quite right afterwards. It was worth it, though.

Typical Penang shophouses.

The former entrance to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion.

The next day, I ambled my way down to the beautiful Pinang Peranakan Mansion museum, a restored mansion built in 1893. (Pinang is the Malay spelling of Penang.)

Upstairs at the mansion.

The mansion houses countless antiques and artifacts celebrating Peranakan heritage. The Peranakans, also known as the Straits Chinese, are the descendants of 18th- and 19th-century Chinese immigrants to Penang.

Looking across the central courtyard towards the dining room.

Detail of an upstairs window.

Like Khoo Kongsi, the mansion grew out of the wealth of the Peranakans from the lucrative trading in Penang. There was also an annex with even more antiques that was very nicely air-conditioned, so I sat down there for a little bit before heading out into the ceaseless sun and humidity.

Spotted on my way to lunch.

It was time for lunch, so I headed off to a hawker center. (Imagine a very basic, outdoor food court with nearly two dozen vendors.) I was looking to try a super spicy dish called mee goreng, which originates from Indian Muslims in Penang. (Writing this, I found out that what I had was actually a variation on mee goreng called mee sotong, or squid noodles.) It was so, so delicious and totally unlike anything I'd ever had before.

My mee goreng/sotong and coconut shake.

To make the dish, thick egg noodles are fried in a curried tomato sauce and then topped with green onions and cuttlefish stewed in a sweet chili sauce. On the side, I ordered a coconut shake (with a dollop of coconut ice cream on top!) from a neighboring stall. The sweetness of the shake really complemented the intense spiciness of the noodles. Sadly, the combo of rich, heavy food and brutal heat totally dampened my appetite, and I couldn't finish everything. Definitely worth trying regardless.

View from the Esplanade.

After lunch, I ventured back into the sun to check out the Esplanade on George Town's waterfront. With the turquoise water and ample palm trees, I was reminded of the Caribbean—there was even a big cruise ship docked nearby.

Penang City Hall with the Malaysian flag on the left and the Penang state flag on the right.

Right across the street from the Esplanade was City Hall, home to the whole island's municipal government. (In order of ascending authority: there's George Town the city, Penang the island, and Penang the state.) Next, I headed along a surprisingly industrial stretch of waterfront to the Chew Clan Jetty.

Residential section of Chew Jetty.

The 200-yard long jetty features a dense collection of basic houses and businesses, all stilted offshore and connected by nothing more than a plank walkway.

Looking out across one of the jetty's few unused plots.

The Chew Jetty and handful of other clan jetties surrounding it date to the late 19th century and housed Chinese immigrants who worked in the harbor. The main stretch of the jetty had a lot of souvenir shops and the like, but there was a lovely offshoot that was residential and near-silent, which I loved.

A man napping on the jetty.

When I left the jetty, it was nearing 3pm, and the heat had been relentless, so I took a nap back at my hostel. Still exhausted, I woke up with barely enough time to make it to the Komtar observation deck to see the sunset. The tallest building in Penang, Komtar is the blue-windowed building peeking out from behind the roof in the photo above.

Komtar rising above traditional shophouses just before sunset.

I made it just in time after 15 minutes of speed-walking (and photographing) and 15-20 minutes of the absurd pomp and circumstance that accompanies observation decks like this one.

Panorama from the observation deck taken on my phone. (Click for full-size!)

I was rewarded quite nicely, I'd say.

View of George Town's heritage zone just before sunset…

…and after sunset.

I was amused to find that for nightfall, apparently, the Chinese Genting Dream had LED lights that said "I love Penang" scrolling across all the cabin balconies. After getting all my photos, I decided to sit on the observation deck's surprisingly nice terrace and have a glass of wine. Which then turned out be two. I ran out of cash earlier in the day and didn't have enough time before sunset to stop at an ATM on my way to Komtar, so I had to meet a card minimum. I also screwed up the ringgit-to-dollar conversion, so that was $15 I didn't want to spend on drinking white wine alone.

I also hadn't eaten since lunch at that point, so I was ready to go to sleep when I took the elevator back down. On the way to my hostel, I stopped at a really cool burger place—figuring it was a nice opportunity to have good Western food—and had a burger with fried chicken, cheddar, bacon, slaw, caramelized onions, and spicy mayo. Needless to say, I was pleased.

Somewhere on a main street.

The next day, I wandered out to find a place to rent a motorbike. I tried two places, but both turned me away when they found out I didn't have a license. (This is absolutely not a problem anywhere in Vietnam.) I didn't want to try my luck any further, so it was time for Plan B: get a cab up to Kek Lok Si, the largest and most important Chinese Buddhist temple on the island.

Kek Lok Si pagoda from below.

Perched in the foothills above George Town, Kek Lok Si is famous for its pagoda designed with a mix of styles: the top tier is Burmese, the middle tier is Thai, and the bottom tier is Chinese.

Part of Kek Lok Si with residential towers in the background.

A garden at Kek Lok Si.

The complex turned out to be massive, with temples and shrines all stacked up the side of the hill. There were also gorgeous, immaculately maintained gardens all around.

Lanterns for Lunar New Year.

Buddha statues with George Town skyline in the distance.

The views towards the city were amazing. Also, since Lunar New Year was only a few weeks prior, there were red and yellow lanterns strung up everywhere—which made the temple that much more atmospheric.

More lanterns!

A panorama from my phone. (Click for full size!)

I kept on winding my way up through the temples towards the pagoda, but before getting there I took a tiny inclined elevator up to see the 99-foot-tall statue of Chinese goddess/boddhisatva of compassion Guanyin.

The statue of Guanyin is on the left.

The statue was cool to see up close (since it was a fair bit above the rest of Kek Lok Si). Though the temples below were all built between 1890 and 1930, this statue was only built in 2002. What I enjoyed more, though, was the view.

Turn on the sound in the video above—you can hear the Muslim call to prayer echoing from all the mosques below. (That also happened while I was at the Komtar observation deck.)

Some sort of tropical flower in the gardens below the pagoda.

One last view of lanterns below the pagoda.

I headed back down to the temples and finally stopped at the foot of the pagoda. This area was super tranquil, with lush vegetation and lanterns everywhere. So ended my afternoon at Kek Lok Si.

Somewhere in the heritage zone.

I got a taxi back into the city and whiled away the rest of my afternoon at a nice cafe. (If you haven't noticed yet, that's one of my favorite activities in any city I visit.)

My bowl of Hokkien mee, with a spoonful sambal to mix in.

For my last meal in Penang, I decided to try Hokkien mee. Originating in the cuisine of China's Fujian province, the Penang variant of the dish comprises egg noodles in a spicy prawn broth with sliced pork, beansprouts, fried shallots, morning glory (also known as water spinach), and sambal (chili paste). Living in Vietnam, I'm a little oversaturated with noodles + broth dishes, but this was so worth trying. After a couple false starts, I came to love the diverse collection of dishes characterizing Penang's cuisine.

Unfortunately, the only flight from Penang to Hanoi departs at 6:20am, so I had to wake up the next "morning" at 3:45am to get to the airport. I think I slept like 2.5 hours. The 3-hour flight back to Hanoi was probably one of the top 5—definitely top 10—most miserable flights I've ever had. C'est la vie. Thanks to the fact that Penang was an hour ahead of Hanoi (despite being to the west), I made it back to my apartment around 9:30am and got right back into bed.

Check out more photos from Penang here! My next trip? Heading to Cambodia in two days—stay tuned.

Till next time,
Gray