Penang: Adventures in Food and Culture

My second-to-last weekend in Malaysia also happened to be Lunar (or Chinese) New Year. Thanks to Malaysia's massive Chinese community, both Thursday and Friday were public holidays, so it was a perfect opportunity to take a trip and celebrate the near-completion of my year-long contract. After much debate (Singapore? Tioman? Stay home?) I finally settled on the island of Penang - a large island that comprises much of the state of the same name. We were quite a group: myself, and four of my coworkers, so it promised to be a fun couple of days.

The bus encountered far less traffic on the way than I'd anticipated (I'd been expecting crowds rivaling those from Hari Raya, whose stop-and-go traffic back in July turned what should have been a six hour journey into a 12 hour disaster) but upon reaching the ferry dock it became clear that the roads had been more or less clear because the entire population of Malaysia was waiting in the ferry line. We were just preparing to wait several hours when a guard hurried up to us and asked whether we had luggage. We gave him confused looks - everyone in line had luggage - but presented our bags in evidence and allowed him to usher us passed the rest of the travelers whose bags were apparently less visible (my theory is that their skin was less white and their hair less red, but sure, let's make it about the bags). We reached George Town around mid-afternoon, then went to grab some lunch. Penang is famous for its food (especially its Chinese food), so we were disappointed to find that all the Chinese restaurants were closed (being Chinese New Year). In the end we opted for a delicious (if painfully pricey) Italian meal (prepared by a real Italian chef, with real Italian cheese, but the waiter still set the table backwards). Mmmm mushrooms and cream sauce...

After lunch a couple local girls (two volunteer teachers who work at our centers) agreed to point us in the direction of some of George Town's famed street art and elaborately decorated mansions:

Street art...

... of various quality

Candles and offerings in one of George Town's Chinese temples for a prosperous New Year

Beautiful Chinese mansion

From their we made our way out toward the strait, where we walked along a kind of enclosed boardwalk made up of some small shops, as well as a few private homes, with signs begging tourists not to photograph their inhabitants watching TV in their front rooms. There was a great view off the pier, which we were allowed to photograph:

From there, like all good Malaysian residents, we went to a mall, and finally, just as the sun was setting, to visit the massive Kek Lok Si temple, which was decorated for the holiday with lights like I've never seen. We saw it first from a distance as we drove toward it, and then as we drove with the traffic up the slope that led directly up to it.

The sheer number of lights was extraordinary, and the temple looked like something out of a fairytale. There was a huge mass of people at the temple as well, flocks of people gathered to either sightsee, and even more people who'd come to leave offerings and donations at the temple. A handful of monks wandered around as well.

The following day, I woke up early. While my friends were still asleep, I had a nice walk through the city, which was much quieter than it had been the day before - no crowds on the streets, and hardly any cars at all. There were, however, lots more beautiful temples (though none decorated to quote the extent of the one on Thursday night) and old mansions. Around Little India, I heard the sounds of Chinese drumming, so I wandered over toward the sound.

I stumbled upon a dragon dance rehearsal! It was so fun to see, and the kids dancing were just adorable. They didn't get very far: they kept being told to repeat the same portion over and over, but as I was watching a huge crowd formed around me. Apparently it was time for people on vacation to wake up and get moving. I returned to the area of town where we were staying and met the group for lunch (a malay buffet of ice and veggies and tofu). Then, at the suggestion of the hostel staff, we headed to the appropriately named "Green Mansion," where we toured the gorgeous old building and immensely amused our tour guide by telling him we were from Perak (our state in malaysia). The inside was beautifully decorated in the 18th and 19th style of the Baba Nyona people who inhabited it, with artifacts of the time period a bit of historical information from the guide.

We had a very relaxed afternoon, mostly just enjoying the peace of the city in holiday mode. For dinner we had another set of Italian food, and were treated to a real live lion dance show, which was very cool (nice to see the actually performance having already seen the rehearsal!).

The next day, I woke up early again and wandered around market which was not too far from where we were staying and was enormous - a huge outdoor area with food stalls, fruit, seafood, etc. and the hother n an even bigger covered area that spanned several blocks with clothes, sarongs, and all kinds of goodies. I met up with the girls for lunch (penang laksa, which I'd been waiting for all weekend and which did not disappoint!) and then we headed into Little Indina for some touring and shopping. We paused for a couple of lassis before heading home for a short break until dinner. We walked out to the pier but found the food stalls there all closed or closing, so instead wound up in a mediocre tourist restaurant.

Sunday we had a 2:00 bus back to kampar, so we'd already agreed on heading to the ferry at 11, so I had a breakkfas of delicious dim sum (which more than compensa for the so-so dinner the previous night) before we jumped in a cab over to the dock. There were very few people there, so we easily got on the first boat that arrived, but everything went downhill after we boarded the bus: the driver got lost and drove the wrong way for a few hours, and then once he found the way, traffic was so bad that it tripled (at least) our travel time home. In any case, we had a great weekend away, really relaxed (with a lot of good food!). I liked George Town a lot - it's one of Malaysia's two heritage cities (the other being Melaka) and is full of beautiful buildings, cultural intersection, and history.