First thing in the morning we headed to Penang. But first we indulged in airport Dim Sum. It was good for airport food. This was followed by Air Asia pasta. I had ordered a healthy airplane meal, however, I didn’t argue for a variety of reasons including that I was full of dumplings.
On arrival we grabbed a car and told him the address which he didn’t know at first. This involved contacting are Airbnb lady and a lot of confusion. In the end we found it. On the drive there we were included in our driver’s animated conversation about the Indian men in Penang and how they were the only ones who drank alcohol. He followed this by telling us that they drink early and then go home to beat their wives. This was complete with gestures.
The Airbnb lady was very clear that we could not check in early, so we stopped at the restaurant beneath and got a snack. Both S and I changed because it was incredibly hot and humid. We then decided to walk to the Chew Jetty with our bags (Hooray for carryons. Although, off road wheels would have been nice). The Chew Jetty is named after the Chew clan and is houses and shops and a temple on stilts. It was built in the mid 19th century. After exploring that we went to another clan jetty on the way back and I bought a homemade lychee popsicle.
We made it back to the airbnb, not completely drenched and the cleaners were still there as well as our host. She showed us around and also demonstrated her portable wifi (which was pretty cool and traveled with us around Penang).
A wanted to go to the main Buddhist temple, Kek Lok Si, so that is where we headed. It was begun in 1891 and continues to be a work in progress and is known as one of the largest and finest Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia. It is built over 30 acres, has millions of Buddha images, and is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.
As we arrived it began to rain, which continued off and on for our entire visit. In person it kept going and going. There were so many different parts and ceremonies. There were wishing ribbons, where you could send almost any wish imaginable to Buddha, including one with Disney princesses on it. The pagoda was built to reflect the Chinese, Thai, and Burmese people, each level representing a different country. There were gardens, statues and a tram to the top where there was a large statue, a temple and fountain.
We bought snacks in the shop just outside the temple as we waited for our Uber. We then headed to New Lane for street food. We arrived just as it was opening and I immediately bought skewers and got in the already long line because it was already a long line. A went and explored and picked another dish a fish mousse and then S did the same and brought back soup. I finally got to the front of the line and had an error in judgement and only asked for 2 servings. The woman in front of me had gotten three. I figured that she had friends. We ended up at a table beside her and realized that she had gotten all three for herself. She clearly knew what was going on.
We had to order drinks to sit. I got my favorite watermelon no sugar with a little bit of salt. A and S got mango and a passion fruit. The dish that we had stood in line for was Char Kway Teow. It was a mouth-watering combination of shrimp, seasoning, egg and rice noodles. It was the best thing I would eat in Malaysia (and I will deeply regret not ordering 6 servings for many years to come). I thought about going back but the line was soon out of control (more so than a holiday at a Disney park or the opening of a Kardashian store). We sampled a lot of the other dishes and they were all pretty good.
It was time for dessert. A brought back these things that were kind of like baby crepes only smaller. The one filled with banana was out of this world. I decided I wanted the fruit, ice and jelly dessert. I went to the stall and stood waiting at first patiently. But then she served the two people behind me. As one of two tall white chicks (S being the other) I found it hard to believe I was invisible. I began to motion for her attention. Eventually a woman that was seated nearby came up and asked me what I wanted. She also explained that this particular lady didn’t serve white people. She offered to help me. She told me to sit down. She then put in my orders, brought them to me and took my payment.
After that there were definitely no empty spaces in our digestive systems, so we walked and ended up at the mall looked for a splitter for As iPhone (no dice. This was shocking in the land of digital review mirrors). On the way out of the mall we ran into the "Barbie Death Camp" of Christmas displays.
After this we hopped in an uber and went to the large night market, which was amazing and equaled more food. I don’t think my love affair with markets will ever end. We bought jack fruit and jellies and many rice flour baked goods. We also got something we thought was a dessert but turned out to be cucumbers and hoisin sauce. We discovered coke fried chicken, but didn’t try it (I realize this was possibly a majorly missed opportunity in some people’s eyes).
After covering the entire market we decided to head home to eat our rice-y things and watch South Park.
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