Street Food and Art in Penang

After spending four nights in Kuala Lumpur, we decided to take a break from the big city and make our way north to Penang. Another sticky 5 hour bus and it was clear that air con is hit or miss in Southeast Asia. Even if you are told there is air con, don't believe it till you feel it. For miles all we could see were long stretches of palm tree plantations for the lucrative palm oil. Penang is an island located on the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia and unlike KL there is evidence of the former English colonization in every corner of Georgetown, the town where we were staying. Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, but also unlike KL Penang seemed slightly less religious. We arrived on Easter Sunday and spent the next few days enjoying a different side of Malaysia.

Overall, Malaysia is a multicultural buffet of Malay, Chinese, and Indian flavors and Penang's night markets were the best way to get our taste. This was my first time away from home for the Easter holiday. Although our Easter dinner was far from anything we would have eaten at home, the tasty food helped to divert my attention from missing familiar Easter traditions. One night market was conveniently located down the street from our accomadation in Georgetown so we happily found ourselves there the first two nights for dinner. Aside from the unforgettable food, I'll never forget a cook that looked strikingly similar to the grumpy old man from "UP". He was cute in a grumpy old man kind of way, underbite and all.

New Lane Night Market

Easter Dinner

Over the next few days we spent our time sightseeing and walking, per usual, around the city. We made sure to check out the Camera Museum and the street art. The street art scene has exploded in Georgetown over the past couple of years and many different murals and iron work pictures are spread all through out town. With a map in hand, the street art became a fun scavenger hunt for us. We checked off the art on the map while exploring the city.

 

Click here to see some more pics from this day

While exploring town, we also ventured onto some of the old jetty communities like Chew Jetty. These communities were built on docks over the water over a hundred years ago and the homes are still inhabited. We could peer into the different houses as we walked along and caught glimpses of what life is like there. There were little shops set up in many of the homes and we tried some durian puffs which were sweet and creamy. They were best eaten in one bite if you could fit it all in your mouth... otherwise things got messy.

more street art on the jetty

Tastes like heaven, smells like hell

The food in Malaysia was so tasty that we decided to learn how to make some of the popular dishes ourselves. We signed up for a class at the Tropical Spice Garden which was located about an hour away from our hotel. Like the locals, we took the public bus to class and since it was rush hour we left extra early. After stepping off the cramped bus, we realized that we may have overestimated how long it would take us. With 45 minutes to spare, we walked across the street to the beach where I spotted a 6-7 foot long monitor lizard. He walked across the sand and was hanging out on the rocks catching his breakfast of crabs. I was weary but Jon ventured closer to get a picture of the fella. We lost track of time while chasing the dragon. We hurried back to our tour of the garden and subsequent cooking class. The citronella oil we used did little to protect us from the ruthless Malaysian mosquitos. So as we swatted them away we tried to keep our focus on our lecture of the spices and their benefits.

Monitor Lizard

After the walk in the garden it was time to cook. Each student had their own work station and we were each able to make our own dish. The set up was excellent! We made traditional Asam Laksa, a shrimp dish as well as a sweet sticky rice dessert. After class, we sat in the garden and enjoyed the fruit of our labor. Not to be biased, but my Asam Laksa was the best I've ever had. I also look forward to showing off our newly acquired pineapple cutting skills when we make it home!

Jon and our awesome cooking teacher, Pearly Kee

Finished product!

"The greatest reward and luxury for travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time" -Bill Bryson