Penang - Selamat Datang!

Jeff and I spent five days in George Town, the capital of Penang, during the Xmas holidays.  Normally, we are very organized when we travel: we have read about our destination, and we have planned what we want to see and do.  This time, we got on the plane to Malaysia with some printed articles and a few items of clothing in our carry-on bags.  We hadn't bothered to check if the flight was non-stop, nor had we checked the length of the flight.  Luckily, we were bumped up to business class, because the flight turned out to be a long one, with a stop in KL!  (btw - unlike North America, we are always fed on short-haul flights in Asia).

George Town was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 2008.  It is an example of a multicultural British colonial trading port, replete with domestic and religious architecture representing the Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities that have inhabited it for over two hundred years.  I personally feel that Unesco selected it because of its food!  The yummy nyonya dishes that have resulted from combining the best of the three ethnicities are a foodie's delight.  Imagine visiting a place where the most popular brochure is the one listing the food specialities of the region, as well as the addresses of all the food hawker stalls in the city.

Our culinary experience began at lunch on our first day.  We headed to a restaurant famous for assam laksa, a tasty noodle soup with a mackerel base.  What makes this dish special are its tamarind, lemongrass, and mint flavours.  While we were seated in our own booth (a rarity in such a crowded place where people share tables as a rule), we looked around at the crowd:  locals of every ethnicity, lots of Chinese tourists (we later discovered that Penang is a popular spot for Singaporean Chinese to visit), and us - the only Caucasians in the place.

I always like to see what other people are eating, so as we were shlurping our soup, I noticed a mouth-watering dessert being shared by some people at the next table.  They told us it was called ABC.  Its proper name is ais kacang, but that's too much of a mouthful - pardon the pun - to say.  We just had to have one!  As we have discovered during our travels, local food is made with readily available cheap ingredients which are often combined in the most unusual ways.  I never would have thought that piling sweet red beans, dried fruits, toasted peanuts, creamed corn and strips of jelly on top of a mound of refreshing shaved ice would taste so good!  Penang cooking uses the "shit arayn" method - throw a little bit of this, a little bit of that, into a pan, mix it up, and it comes out delicious.

Our feasting continued that evening at Mama's Nyonya Cuisine, a restaurant run by four sisters who serve their mother's famous dishes, including fish head curry and fried eggplant.  We were stuffed, and decided to walk off our dinner before heading back to the hotel.  Lo and behold, we found a modern mall with a Starbucks, shops, and lots of holiday decorations.

Food featured prominently during the rest of our stay.  One evening, we decided to walk to Ocean Green, a highly-praised Chinese seafood restaurant on the beach.  The map we were following deceived us - the address looked so close, however ....  We set out from the hotel as the light was fading, and 45 minutes later, in total darkness, we realized that we were "sort of" lost!  Food is never far away, though, and we found the Northam Beach Cafe, a superb eatery with more than 30 food stalls.  Once we found a table, we went around the stalls ordering different dishes.  The vendors bring the food to your table.  Beer waiters roam around taking your orders, too.  In addition to Asian delights, there were also Western food stands, and I even found French crepes filled with apple compote and drizzled with chocolate for dessert. All this for about $10CDN for two!

We did manage to get to Ocean Green the next evening, but safely by taxi.  This was much more upscale than most places in Penang - white tablecloths, fine service, and more expensive dishes.  Although our steamed fish was delicious, we decided that it was a lot more fun eating in the large hawker bazaars.

Many of our friends and family tell us that we are very adventurous when it comes to eating street food in HK and the rest of Asia.  So far, our constitutions have not failed us, but when I saw the fellow "cleaning" the chickens in a back alley, I almost decided then and there to go vegetarian for the duration of our visit!  (To our future visitors - this is not a sight we have seen in HK.  There are very strict sanitary laws here, especially since 2003 and the SARS epidemic).

Our hotel was centrally located, so we were able to walk to most of the architectural wonders of the city.  The old town has a unique type of architecture - street after street of two-storey shoplots.  The small stores are on the ground floor with apartments upstairs.  A few buildings have been renovated, but there does not seem to be an overall plan as yet to restore entire neighbourhoods.  There are several streets of these dilapidated houses that are being used as cheap accommodations for backpackers.  It surprises me that there are many people of my generation who appear to have been on the road all their lives (the long Rasta hairdos give them away).  You can certainly do Penang on $10 a day!

The Chinese, Indian, and Muslim communities settled in separate neighbourhoods, with signs, smells, and music illuminating which area you are walking through.  Because the city is so compact, there are mosques, churches, Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu temples on almost every street.  The Chinese in Penang came from many different cities in China, and each group built a clan house - like a Landsmanshaft - to serve its community.  We were very impressed with the Keling Mosque, the (Chinese) Goddess of Mercy Temple, and the (Hindu) Sri Mariammam Temple, as well as an assortment of Christian churches, too.  After four days, we were "churched out"!

Although there are no synagogues in Penang, I did notice these windows on the Keling Mosque!  One hot afternoon, we decided to cool off in the State Museum, which tells the history of Penang.  The very first information panel mentioned that, in addition to the British, Chinese, and Indian people who came to seek their fortunes, there were also Armenians (e.g. the Sarkie brothers who built the fancy hotels in South Asia) and Jews.  Nowhere else in our guidebooks or brochures were Jews mentioned.  We also found a reference to the Jewish cemetery on Jalan Zailin Abidal - formerly Yahudi Street, which naturally became our next destination!

As we were walking down "Yahudi", a vicious-looking dog suddenly darted out at us.  After snarling and barking, he turned and led us to the gate of the cemetery.  An old Indian caretaker welcomed us, and began to show us around.  The grounds are meticulously groomed - we assume that there is a world-wide Jewish organization that funds the preservation and maintenance of remote places like this.  The cemetery dates back to 1835.  The last burial took place in 1978.  Cohens and Levis are buried in a separate, roped-off section.

The Jewish cemetery was in stark contrast to the Protestant cemetery, where the British founders of Penang are buried.  The place reminded me of a Tim Burton horror movie - overgrown, creepy, and laden with garbage.  The grave of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang, looked ransacked - the wrought iron fencing around the grave has been stripped (probably by the Japanese during WWII), and there is no plaque denoting his significance.  Even the trees look lifeless.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were many Chinese businessmen in Penang who were as rich as Rockefeller.  Two of their homes are now museums - the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, and the Pinang Peranakan mansion.  These houses are filled with treasures.  We were assured by the guides that they are both excellent examples of fung shui.  Both houses have central open atria - almost like ancient Roman villas.  Gorgeously carved wooden staircases lead up to the second floor which hangs over the main floor like a Spanish hacienda.  

A trip to Penang wouldn't be complete without a visit to Fort Cornwallis.  There wasn't much to see, but the view of the Straight of Malacca was quite lovely!
We also enjoyed our walk along the water to the Chinese clan jetties which reminded us of the fishing villages in HK that are built on stilts.

Penang is still very much third world.  After three days, I started to reorganize it - e.g. the tourist offices in George Town are almost inaccessible.  One is on the 52nd floor of the only skyscraper - we needed a special pass to enter the elevator!  The passes were obtained at a government office, where no one spoke English, and there were only Malay signs.  I also wanted to fix the bus service.  We waited at the main terminal for a bus to the botanical gardens.  After an hour and a half, we were told that the bus was late.  Duh!  Needless to say, we never did visit the gardens, nor Penang Hill.  Penang Hill used to have a funicular similar to the Peak Tram in HK.  The funicular broke down in 2008.  Although the tourist brochures announced the reopening on December 10th, 2010, we were informed (Dec. 27th) that it hadn't yet been repaired!  On our last full day in Penang, the water was turned off in the city of George Town from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  When I stepped into the shower at 6 p.m., I forgot to run the water beforehand.  Brown, rusty gunk gushed from the tap for five minutes.  Yuck!

All in all, another fascinating Asian holiday - good food, interesting sights, and just the right amount of frustration.