Penang Hill

Penang Hill

Today was an early start.  First stop a famous dim sum restaurant for breakfast.  If you are not there by 7.30am you have to queue for a table! We tried a variety of dim sum including prawn, chives, aubergine, sweet salt custard bun and what looked and tasted very much like a Portuguese egg tart - all very good!

We then headed to Penang Hill for the 2km hike up to the highest point in Penang.  2km may not sound far but factoring in the intense heat and humidity and the steepness, it was​ was very hot work.  We were rewarded after our 1.5 hour hike by specular views and an Ice Kacang (saved ice dessert) topped with a large scoop of ice cream - just what we needed.  The hike down was slightly quicker although the heat of the day had started to set in.

Next stop, lunch.  We headed to a hawker market with a stall famous for its Laksa, the only dish it serves.  We had to wait for a table as it was so busy. The taste of the laksa was great, washed down with an ice cold sugar cane juice.

Onwards to a Sunday arts market with lots of beautiful handmade items and a display of paintings by Rohinga children.

A short walk brought a us to the Protestant Cemetery where we joined a heritage walk about the 'famous' people who were buried there including Francis Light, the Englishman who founded Penang.

In the evening we went to an Indian restaurant famous for its enormous roti tissue.  This is a huge (took up three plates) long crispy roti which is coated in sugar, condensed milk and honey - amazing!  Perfect end to the day. 

George Town

A fairly leisurely start to the day and we enjoyed breakfast of fruit, boiled eggs and Chinese tea.

We caught the bus from outside where we are staying straight into the centre of George Town. It is a fairly slow journey because of the traffic.

Our plan for the day was to explore the streets searching for street art. We took lots of photos of various art on the walls and took our first food stop at a famous cendol stall. Well it wasn't actually the famous one because of the size of the queue. We actually had a tip to ignore that one and eat cendol at the one opposite. The reasons being that there is no waiting, they have a seating area and actually they make better cendol! In fact it was so good we also ate a bowl of iced kacang (both are a shaved ice sweet dish with red beans). 

Following our self guided street art tour we stumbled across our hotel from our last visit in Penang, The Noble. We had a quick look around and nothing had changed, even the man sitting at the reception desk reading the newspaper! We saw lots of Chinese temples, a number of mosques, hindu temples....

Next we visited Little India where we purchased a few Indian spices to make recipes we had collected. We did go to a famous cake shop, China House which was in a rather funky old colonial building. The cakes looked amazing but as we had already eaten our two ice desserts we resisted the temptation. We came across a little shop selling Masala tea and we couldn't resist. Feeling a little peckish we then ate in Little India, Masala Dosas were our weakness.

Moving on from India, we headed to China where we strolled along the ancient Clan Jetties. Some are more commercial with souvenir shops but we stayed on the more traditional wooden ones with basic houses and friendly locals. One of the clan jetties had a huge Chinese temple under construction.

Time flies when you are having fun and it was time to leave and make our way down the ancient streets of Penang to Khoo Kongsi Chinese temple. It is the most ornate Chinese temple in Penang. Tonight they have a special show of cultural song and dance. We sat at the front and enjoyed 3 hours of Chinese and Indian entertainment from lion and dragon dancing to Bollywood hits. It was great and the single dragon dances were so funny, especially when they asked for volunteers to have a go. It looked hard and they made it look even harder!

After the show we enjoyed an Indian meal of rice and around 6 different curry sauces from the large cooking pots. It was delicious, especially the sweet black sauce. 

The bus 301 took us back to where we were staying and we slept well after our busy day. 

Organic Garden

First stop breakfast at another food area in Penang. A Chinese noodle dish, Nasi Lamak and a steamed red bean bun, all washed down with tea tarik. Breakfast Penang style.

We continued our journey to visit an organic farm hidden amongst the urban sprawl of Penang. We were fortunate to see the beautiful lotus pond with flowers in full bloom. We also witnessed some funky science where essence was being extracted from Pandan leaves. Not only did we get to meet one of the farm owners but also a friendly Australian exploring the area too. 

Drip coffee was served to us all. The beans were carefully ground and weighed to make the perfect mix. Very nice and very precise. 

Next it was time for a dip in the pool to cool off. We had to borrow swimming hats as they were mandatory but the water temperature was just perfect. 

After we had recovered from our 4 lengths of the pool, we caught the bus into Georgetown. We had registered for an evening walking tour which started at 18.30... However, we missed the start but managed to catch them up. 

The tour was great. It took us around the old town, focused on British Malaysia and the colonial architecture that remains. Many stories were told of the town's history and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

What does everyone do after a very strenuous walking tour? Go to Little India to eat of course and that is exactly what we did! Vegetarian thalis and dosa helped fill us up. 

At the bus stop we chatted to a lady from Malaysia about her time in Europe. She could certainly talk... but even though her visit to Europe was 20 years ago, she spoke with such enthusiasm and excitement! 

It was getting late and there was no sign of the bus so we used a Grab taxi discount code to ride back to our accommodation for the same price as the bus. 

A long walk

After finishing off our last coco cereal, we left our hotel room and headed off to see the Sultan. Well, not actually him but a museum telling the history of his reign set in what had once been the Sultan's Palace. It is a very beautiful building and we were the only ones there, which meant we could take our time reading the display boards. The museum keeper told us our next stop, the art museum was closed so we headed back to the hotel to check out. 

We walked with our bags to the next museum which took about 30 mins. A friendly man stopped and asked us if we wanted a lift. We told him where we were heading and he pointed to the museum, right in front of us! We thanked him for his kind offer. 

The museum told the history of the Kedah region of Malaysia and whilst we explored the guards guarded our bags. There was information in English explaining the textile growth, rice production, weapons, the different cultures; Malay, Indian and Chinese. 

We continued our journey on foot and this time a kind lady offered us a lift. We told her we were going to the bus terminal and she offered to take us. We found out she liked travelling too and used to be an air stewardess! We thanked her for her kindness and said goodbye. 

Now we had arrived at the bus stop about 2 hours too early. Walking was really hot and we were grateful for the lift. We searched for somewhere to cool down and KFC came to the rescue. In fact we spent the next 2 hours there playing Suduko and waiting for our bus. 

The bus left a few minutes late but the journey on the top deck gave us great views of the countryside. As we arrived near Butterworth the rush hour started and the traffic got quite heavy. We dropped people off in Penang Sentral before continuing across the main bridge and onto Penang Island. The bridge is soooooo long! 

We finished our journey at Sungai Nibong bus terminal. Next we searched for our accommodation and found it easily. Following this we went to eat at the Super Tanker hawker market. The food was delicious. We had a Laksa and a prawn noodle dish, which was a specialty of the area. Next stop Tesco. 

Tesco was so like every Tesco in England. We forgot where we were as we searched the isles for our breakfast. Very surreal!

Taxi, Ferry, Bus, Walk

We woke up, enjoyed a quick breakfast of banana and chocolate crunchies and left the Rainbow Lodge behind. We used the WiFi to order a Grab taxi and applied a discount code we picked up from a billboard at the airport. It all went through OK and about 2 mins later our driver arrived.

A nice relaxing, relatively long taxi journey later and we were in Kuah. We were dropped off at the ferry terminal and bought a ticket from the booth behind KFC. We had some time to kill so went to see the symbol of Langkawi, a huge eagle, on the quayside. There was a quaint garden to walk through but we decided we wouldn't have time to explore much of it. Instead we headed back to the ferry and away from the flag following groups from the cruise ships. 

The ferry to Kuala Kedar was smooth and pretty fast. When we disembarked we were in Malaysia, well it was certainly a thousand miles away from what we experienced on Langkawi. Local people, local shops, local buses! 

We walked to the end of the terminal and waited for the bus to Alor Setar. We didn't need to wait long and the white bus whisked us off to the main bus station. We were going to buy a ticket there for tomorrow's journey to Penang.

We got our ticket, had a chicken rice dinner before walking along fairly main roads to the Bee Motel. The journey was fairly dull, just traffic and tarmac. We checked in, left again and went off exploring. 

Just a street away from where we are staying are food markets, not just one but lots! We resisted and went to see the main attraction, the Zahir Mosque. Not many people stop in Alor Setar but that's good for us. When we arrived at the Mosque, we were welcomed, lent some extra items of clothes to cover up and taken on a free tour by a super friendly man. 

The building is beautiful and we learned a little about it and about Islam. There were some enormous doors with special features representing the 5 pillars of Islam, the 6 beliefs of Islam and the 17 prayers (well it is not actually prayers but relates to the 5 prayers a day). 

There was a stunning ceiling, pretty stain glass windows and we had a fantastic time exploring with our guide. 

Next stop was China Town. We passed a dragon boat practicing on the river and stopped at Cafe Diem, which won the 2019 heritage building award. It was really quite pretty. China Town = FOOD! We sat and ate very tasty roast duck at a small cafe before heading back to our hotel for a short rest and an aircon fix. 

In our room the curtains had fallen off the rail and we couldn't reach to get them back on. We asked one of the hotel workers to help, assuming he would fetch something to stand on, but no. He opened the window of our room on the 3rd floor and climbed up onto the window ledge. Half hanging out of the window and very nearly falling out of the window, he managed some how to get the curtain hooks back on the rail. Tense moments for us and we were just watching! 

In the evening we went for a walk to view the major attractions by night, all lit up. The Mosque, Clock Tower and Drum Tower all looked great. We then sat and watched the local people at the fountain, which was also lit up with dancing water. A very peaceful setting to spend the evening. 

Rain Stops Play

Rain, short walk, rain, beach, rain, shops... 

And, when we say rain, we mean Rain! There was flooding in Langkawi yesterday, now there is even more. 

We are hoping this earlier than usual rainy season goes away! 

The Sun is Here

The sun was shining and we headed out in search of breakfast. We didn't get very far and found a local stall offering self service. You basically added your own rice and chose from a range of dishes. We opted for a plate of vegetables in a coconut sauce. It was good. However, a little further along the road a lady was making roti canni and we couldn't resist. We sat down and ate some more.

Fully fuelled we headed to the rice museum which was set in quite a picturesque area, even though it was only just at the end of the main street. The museum was deserted apart from a few cute cats. It was interesting to learn about the progress from tradition rice harvesting to the modern day techniques. We enjoyed the simple museum and it was even better as we were the only ones there. Everyone else was out enjoying the jetskis, banana boat rides and parascending. 

Shopping was next on our list and we stocked up in a supermarket just outside the central area. We dropped our goodies at the hostel and headed to the beach. We are not fans of just lying around in the sun so walked along the shoreline. We saw a lot of black shells, a few dead cuttle fish and many tiny dead fish. We are not sure why... 

We checked out a few duty free shops in the evening plus took a quick peek in the huge aquarium. We watched the 'largest freshwater fish' (Arapaima) spend his days pacing his tank but we spent most of the night entertained by a local band of buskers. They were really good and drew a large crowd. The best part was that loads of people joined in; took the mic, danced. A good evening had by all. 

Indo Ends

Our time in Bali has sadly come to an end. We have enjoyed spending the last few months at the beach, most of our time spent in the sea!

Our secondhand bodyboards served us well in the reliable surf of Kuta beach but sadly have now been passed on to the new owner.

We have spent the evenings enjoying many live bands from local 'pop' groups to Irish fiddlers. We have mixed music with dance and have seen Balinese traditional dances but also the latest street dances too! 

Our regular lunch and dinner stops will be sorely missed and we have met some really friendly people. We have even spent some time learning how to weave plastic coffee sachets into a variety of different hand bags!

Our last morning and the alarm rang out for our 3.30 am start. We were grateful that we could easily walk to the airport and didn't need to organise a taxi. Our flight to Kuala Lumpur left on time. We did a 4 hour transit at the airport, which was extended to 5 because our plane had 'technical difficulties'. We read the same Air Asia magazines as our first flight but this one only lasted an hour and we arrived on the island of Langkawi, Malaysia! 

We needed to arrange a taxi as there are no local buses on Langkawi. It is a duty free 'holiday' island. The airport taxi was double the price of our Grab taxi. Grab is the Asian version of Uber and is all done through a mobile App. However, the airport wifi wasn't working. We hardly use mobile data on a sim, so that seemed a little expensive. Behind the information desk, a friendly Malay helped us and ordered the Grab taxi using their phone. Thank you! 

Our ride to the beach resort was fine and we arrived at our hostel. Most of the time in Malaysia we will be staying in dorms. If you book a double room... the Malaysian Government add a room tax. For us staying in cheaper hotels, this often adds 25% to the price!

The hostel was clean, we dropped off our bags and hit the beach. Langkawi has 99 islands, most covered in dense trees. You could see many from our walk along Cenang Beach.

The weather was a little overcast which reminded us of home. It has been a long time since we have seen such dense cloud cover. As we walked around the area it was very flooded. It turns out that the rainy season has turned up rather earlier than expected. This means we could be in for a lot of downpours over the next month! 

There is one main street here lined with duty free shops, selling alcohol and chocolate, just like at every airport. We resisted and drank Teh Tarik at a small local food market. It was so good. We also ordered Nasi Lemak. One with chicken and the other with small dry fish and egg. Both really delicious. 

Amed Abandoned

After an amazing time in Amed, snorkeling, listening to live music on the beach and incredible views of Mt Agung, we said goodbye to this sleepy little paradise. We are switching the snorkeling once again for surfing!

We walked the 2km to the Perama bus stop at the Amed Cafe. We waited a short time for the bus. The Perama bus took us back to Kuta along the coast via Candidasa, Padang Bai and Sanur. We arrived in the centre and walked to our homestay haven - Pondok DenAyu. We dropped our bags and went surfing! 

The evening was spent listening to a live band at the Lippo Mall.

There are certainly more people here than a few weeks ago but fortunately where we are staying is outside of the busy area. Homestay haven!