Penang, Malaysia: Day 1 - All about food!

I was about to leave my second home in Malaysia and the best place to visit before going back to the Philippines would be Penang!

Penang (pronounced as Pineng)

is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south.

Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. It is composed of two parts – Penang Island, where the seat of government is, and Seberang Perai (formerly Province Wellesley in English) on the Malay Peninsula.

Highly urbanised and industrialised Penang is one of the most developed and economically important states in the country, as well as a thriving tourist destination.

Penang has the third-highest Human Development Index in Malaysia, after the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor. Its heterogeneous population is highly diverse in ethnicity, culture, language, and religion. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite. (wiki)

We planned for this trip a month ago and with the reviews that I got for this place I got even more excited.  Initially we planned to take the sleeper train - it is an 8 hour train ride with beds, it would have been an experience but it didn't pushed through because I was late to book our tickets. I was not able to anticipate that our trip fell into a holiday and never thought that a lot of poeple will be going back to their home towns.  Anyhow, we just booked a bus (5 hour drive).  We booked the Alisan Bus from the Puduraya Bus Station and left at 11:59pm. 

We arrived Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal at around 6:30am where our rented van was waiting for us.

We drove all the way from the bus station to a nearby market to have our breakfast.

I was told by my friends that when you are here in Penang we have to be mindful of the hawkers! Why? Look at the places where there are long queues and you can never go wrong with the food! This is what we saw and without any hesitations we queued up!

Wow! With it's cheap prize it was definitely a delicious and worth the queue mee!

After filling our stomach's we then proceeded to our first destination. I printed a tourist friendly map on how we can tour Georgetown and it was very helpful. 

We started at the Queen Victoria clock.

Also known as the Jubilee Clock Tower, in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, is a Moorish-style Jubilee clocktower at the junction of Lebuh Light (Light Street) and Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street). Built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee, the tower is sixty feet tall, one foot for each year of Victoria's reign.  (wiki)

Then next was at the Fort Cornwallis where we had a few lovers shot with Reo and Joel.

These walls reminded me of Melacca!

Just across the field was the City Hall and the Town Hall.
Then on to the St. George Church.

While we were driving along the tiny streets of Georgetown, i appreciated it's beauty. Its vintage look and very calm environment never failed to relax me. 

As we drove along the streets of Georgetown, we were able to see some Art Walls and we took this chance to take our shots.

The Art Wall in Penang started in conjuction with Penang’s Georgetown Festival, certain old walls within our dear capital has gained a new lease of life, thanks to the awesome efforts of Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic. (www.onlypenang.com)

Some Art Walls that we saw there includes this cute couple! I am in love all over again!

This Art Wall is not just painting - it's like stick drawing but made out of pure metal coated with black paint (at least that's my visual assessment).

I will be writing a separate entry about Penang's Art Wall.

Just when we were on our way back to our Apartment we saw another long queueu.  You know what this means ~ it means we need to have a taste of the buzz!

Wow it was definitely worth the queue because the Cendol was just creamy and so refreshing!

After a few minutes, we checked into our Apartment.  Reo was the one in charge of our house and when we got there I was so happy to see the place! I so loved it and the bonus that we got was our friend Ate Rachel and Ate Kris (pinays) who accommodated us in our three days, two nights stay there at the Century Bay Apartments.

When we got into the Apartment, we just rested for a while and then took a dip into their wonderful recreation area. We took advantage of their pool, sauna and basketball court.  Other facilities included a gym (complete facilities), billiards, library and other games that you can do while in there.

Just before dinner, we packed up and prepared for our next destination which was Dinner! 

They say that Penang is a Food Destination and it was.  When I looked for great food to eat, the first thing that came out from reviews  was the Char Koay Teow.  I read some reviews and found out one of the best Char Koay Teow in Penang.

He was just along the Anson Road together with the other hawkers stall. Sweets is not a mee lover (more on Filipino Style Spag) but he loved this particular Char Koay Teow! Which means it was really worth the time to look for!  You will see a lot of Char Koay Teow stalls in Penang but this one stands out because Manong is cooking his Char Koay Teow using charcoal, I do not have a scientific explanation about it (maybe google has) but it really tasted different!

We enjoyed our dinner and didn't notice the time.

We went to our next destination which was the Pasar Malam around 9pm and the stalls were already packing up, it was also drizzling and thus we decided to go back to our apartment to rest.

Worth it Day 1, can't wait for the following day!

Xoxo