 |
| View of Penang from Bukit Jambul hiking trail |
By now you're probably all tired of hearing about Penang - the glories of the food, the prodigious diversity, the intriguing sites. I sympathize, but hang in with me just a little longer. We have one day to go still on our culinary adventure.
To be completely honest, our fourth day seemed a lot like the others. I think by this time I was in information and experience overload. It all kind of started running together and I felt like I needed to hide in a dark cave for a while and just process. But travel and eating waits for no woman.
We slept in late - finally checking out of the hotel around 1:00PM. I think this was the only time in the trip that we failed at our primary objective to never be hungry, which we'd all talked about on our first night in Penang. But chicken rice finally did come and save the day.
We each got a plate of rice and soup to share for the table. The soup was a thin vegetable stock - one bowl with lotus root and one with a gourd or melon. Then came the meat. A large plate of roasted chicken, its dark crispy skin giving way to thin strips of flavorful fat. Another of roasted duck, also with crunchy skin but a more aromatic spicy flavor to the meat. And the best of all, roasted pork. The chopped up pork was a mixture of textures, some bacon-like crispy pieces, others more of a succulent and juicy bite.
After eating we stopped by a haunting old cemetery to take some pictures. It was a Protestant graveyard which held most of the pioneers and missionaries that came to the island during the 18th and 19th centuries. The place was dark and peaceful.
The strangest thing about it was the young couple taking wedding photos around the graves. Wedding photos are a big thing in Asia, couples sometimes setting whole weekends aside to travel to foreign countries and get dressed up in outrageous outfits for pictures. An entourage of camera crews and makeup/wardrobe people follow the couple around, primping them and positioning them in awkward poses while the cameraman bounces around, smokes and throws fits, generally acting like the artist that he surely is. It was bizarre to see them taking pictures in the cemetery (especially considering how superstitious people tend to be in this part of the world) but our friends told us people do it all the time. It seems like an unusual choice to me.
After the graveyard it was off to a local market to get some more of the delicious roasted pork we'd liked so much at lunch. I wrote about the market experience pretty extensively on my food blog - Penang Market
We spent a good amount of time at the market while our friend did some shopping. We took pictures of the seafood, vegetables, fruits and flowers that were for sale and watched as people shuffled in and out around us haggling over their dinner ingredients.
Finally we headed back towards the area where our friends live. We stopped for afternoon "tea" and had coffee, snacks and ice cream sandwiches at a Malaysian chain called Old Town White Coffee. The coffee originated in a city called Ipoh and reminds me of Vietnamese coffee - the beans are roasted in oil as they are in Vietnamese coffee and its mixed with condensed milk.
The ice cream sandwiches were very soft ice cream layered in scoops in between toasted bread. It sounded really weird when we ordered it but ended up being fantastic. I wish they'd open up these shops back in the U.S. I'd probably be there every day. They would certainly give Starbucks a run for their money (if they got onto the merchandising bandwagon that is - we wanted to buy a coffee mug but were only able to get instant coffee packets)
Late in the afternoon, after eating most of the day, we agreed to go on a hike. If we had only known what we were getting ourselves into! The hike kicked our butts! It was one of the steepest hikes I've ever been on, the trail winding through deep jungle. Mosquitoes were everywhere and our sweat drew them to us like we were the promised land. We finally got to the top of Bukit Jambul to see the setting sun over Penang.
We took a quick break and a few pictures then headed back down quick. It was already starting to get dark and I wasn't looking forward to trying to make my way through the dense trees and uneven path in the fading light. Who knew what was in that jungle. We made it out alive, but by the time we got back to the car the sun was gone.
Which leads me to the last meal of the night. Of course we chose Nasi Kandar, the South Indian food we'd had the first night. It was my husband's favorite of the trip and we all wanted to go back for a little more curry, okra and roti. We even gave in and ordered one of the long dessert cones.
It was a pretty rowdy Sunday night at the Nasi Kandar place. A football (er, soccer) match was on - Manchester United vs. Chelsea. Malaysians are really into English soccer. They have a team of their own but we were informed that they weren't very good so everybody watched the English teams. People jostled for tables, many wearing the jerseys or at least the blue or red colors from one or the other team.
And so we come to the end. Penang was an overload for the senses. It was an experience like no other. I found a whole nation of foodies. I found diversity like I've never seen anywhere else. I found a place I might be satisfied with forever. People who know me well know that's saying a lot. I don't settle down very well. I get antsy fast. But I think Malaysia has a lot to keep a person occupied.
* * *
But what about those last two meals? That only takes us to 18 - I claimed we'd eaten at least 20!
The next morning on the way to the airport we stopped at a hawker center for one final feast of three more dishes. I guess it depends on how you define a meal, but by our count that pushes us past twenty.
 |
| Hokkien Mee |
 |
| Curry Mee |
 |
| Kuih Lapis and other steamed sweet cakes with a variety of textures and tastes |
The Final Food Talley:
Meals Previously Eaten:14
Meals Eaten on Day Four: 4
Meals Eaten on Day Five (on our way to the airport):3
The Total: 21
All Posts In This Series:
Penang: A Food Story - Day One
The coffee and ice cream sandwich look amazing! You think you know a thing or two about food and then someone puts a sandwich like that in front of you...
I know, tell me about it! It was a revelation. I hope it'll catch on all over the place.
Thanks for your comment!
I loved Penang food. At the moment, I still believe that Penang has the best street food in Asia if not the world..great entry and pics by the way!