It is our last morning in Taiping and the question is “What to eat for breakfast?” Supposedly Malaysia has 13 states, but in reality there are only two: Hungry now and Hungry later.
It is a well worn path. The lobak stall in the kopitiam under the Peace Hotel is still closed. Permanently? No idea. So we go back to the nearby Marut Larang Hawker Centre where a wide choice of food stalls awaits.
B orders a prawn mee, Alex, sup kway teoh. I have curry mee and they are delicious, with a thick coconut broth. I order us some lorbak from another stall, then some kuih, including a deep fried bun with sweet glutinous rice in the centre that B loved when she was younger. I fall in love with it too.
We catch a Grab rather than try walking with luggage to the station. I explore the adjacent old wooden station building, which now houses a laksa and cendol cafe, closed until lunch. Opposite is Station Roti Canai. Wouldn’t have minded that for breakfast.
I buy a bottle of Spritzer brand water, a local product. The big sign outside the station says it is high in silica. So sand, basically.
We are catching the ETS express to Butterworth. After we board Alex struggles to get his bag on the overhead shelf and mine gets knocked off, falling on the passenger behind. My sore shoulder now hurts more trying to lift it.
The journey is less than an hour, past agricultural countryside of palms and rice.
Penang has a lot of industry, as is apparent as we approach. I give the family the choice of a ferry ride or a longer Grab ride to the hotel. They take the latter and we cross the very long 13.5 km bridge from Butterworth to Georgetown.
Our current state is hungry, so after checking into the hotel we need to find a late lunch.
The Jen is adjacent to some shopping centres, but we get terribly confused trying to find our way through their maze-like connections.
Somehow we get to Jalan Penang, a canyon of old shop houses. The Kek Seng Dessert House cafe claims to have been open since 1906 and certainly looks the part.
I order popiah, which is served in a soup,. something I’ve not encountered before. Neither B nor I really like this version. She does enjoy her famous durian ice cream. I try an ice cream soda float, which I’m assured uses sweet corn ice cream, not durian. I don’t really like the former either, but it’s not too strong. The float is okay, nothing special.
Across the complex overpass bridge lies a very busy kopitiam which includes Penang Road Famous Teochew Cendol. It’s packed with tourists. We’ve been there before but won’t go back. The assam laksa and char kuey teoh was expensive and stingy and nothing special. The cendol was apparently okay, but I don’t like it with the traditional gula melaka palm sugar syrup. On the other hand, the nutmeg juice drink is nice.
B wants to find the traditional Chinese herbal medicine shop where she bought some very nice soup and bak kut teh ingredients last time. So we walk through the streets of old.shop houses looking for it.
The old town has a wonderful sense of history and decay. It’s also full of foreign tourists and tiny boutique hotels and hostels, trendy shops and those that have been there forever.
We locate Cheng Woh Medical Hall. B finds her packs of soups, but there is a problem. They contain jujuba dates with seeds. These are forbidden from being brought to Australia.
Last time we had to manually remove them at the quarantine inspection. But who knows if the officer will be so kind this time? So the bags have to be cut open, the dates removed and the bags resealed again at the shop.
Alex tellse.he is hungry and wants a change from noodles. We walk back towards the hotel, try some pickled mango, decide not to buy yet. Turning into Lebuh Tamil we come across a small stall selling roti canai.and order a couple for Alex. It’s very nice.
I prefer finding things this way rather than relying on influencer recommendations. I’m sick of hearing the phrase “They say”.
We try using the Komtar Walk to get to the shopping centre and it kind of works to reach Prangin Mall. We’ve promised Alex some McDonald’s. He orders a couple of fried chickens, the spicy one actually is very spicy, unlike KFC. The chocolate and orange McFlurry is really good though.
I have an afternoon nap back at the hotel. It is raining when I wake. B wants to head out for dinner. I just want to stay in.
To be honest, I don’t really love Penang. I never have. It’s just too much trouble. The insane roads and difficulty of getting around. I’m sick of taking Grabs, sick of trying to dodge traffic due to a lack of pedestrian crossings.
At least in Taiping there were interesting Hawker centres and kopitiams everywhere. In Penang they are spread out.
I feel like an easy night. It makes you understand why people dine in the expensive hotel restaurant or use room service.
None of those are an option. B decides on the Fisherman’s Wharf Food Corner, which I know will be a tourist trap, but she wants the view.
A Grab car takes us there and we order grilled stingray, pippies and pasembur; deep fried crackers and vegetables with a sauce. B wants more lorbak, I’m already sick of it.
We are so very full by the end. To burn off some food we go for a walk along the harbourside, the Penang Bridge and Georgetown skyline lights against black water and sky.
There is another McDonald’s, another chocolate and orange McFlurry to take the edge off the spicy dinner.
We walk further before ordering a Grab back to the hotel. The driver smelled of alcohol. He’s not getting 5 stars.
It’s almost midnight. A rest day tomorrow? I doubt it.
