Penang

Woke to the sounds of birds chirping and the fan whirring in the predawn. Such an iconic Asian morning! I tried to capture it in my mind for later.

Our morning routine is that Mick makes coffee for us both, check our phones of course, and do our washing. Mick makes his water purified staminade and we get ready for 8 am breakfast with the Drinnans.

Our breakfast area is such a serene and unique space - it's easy to spend time eating slowly and savouring the breakfast selection. Today's Asian was nasi lemak (Mick chose) and clear noodle broth with tofu, chilli and spinach, soy sauce and sesame oil (both of us). With a side of watermelon juice. I also managed a piece of vegemite toast and a filtered coffee.

We wanted to see the Penang street art so that was on today's agenda with Ian as the guide. And because it took us to the depths of Chinatown we were hoping also to see some of the main temples and clan houses that were in the guidebooks.

We headed out into an overcast day with a slight breeze. The security guards manning the gates know us now and are friendly and chatty with us which is nice - the boys always have a laugh with them. So begins our wander down to Chinatown which is maybe a kilometre away?

Still so many of the shops aren't open but it seemed a bit livelier today. We're beginning to think it's typical Asia where it doesn't start ramping up until the afternoon.

Anyway we walked around and looked at the street art. Such clever painting and use of the urban space. Sadly though a lot of them are seeing the effects of the tropical wear and tear, inevitable in Penang. I also suspect that some of the render on which the street art has been painted may have been taken? Not sure.

And it was getting hot. Like really hot. Like very fucking hot. Thank god I had an umbrella because it was really hot (insert crazy laugh). I'm very lucky in the heat because though it can make me feel uncomfortable I can kinda handle it and it doesn't make me feel like I'm going to die. Josie isn't a big heat fan, but kudos to her, will push through to do the touristy thang. But damn we tried to find somewhere to stop for a drink but blah blah not open, no milk, no soda so we threw our hands up and walked to the clan jetties on the water.

So. on the water there are maybe 6 or 8 jetties. These jetties grew up randomly on the water during the 1800s when Penang was one of the East's busiest and most lucrative trading ports. The Chinese workers built thier homes on stilts over the water which became known as the clan jetties. So we walked down 3 of them: 1 rustic family residential, 1 tourist crap; 1 residential but slightly upmarket. I loved the first one. Though being bloody hot in the middle of the day there were no people about but you could hear TVs, radios, chinese music, kids crying, men yawning, sleepy conversations. All their homes on stilts with tiny front yards and letter boxes and washing hanging out and pot plants and air con units all linked with a jetty pathway of wooden planks. I wonder who lives here now? Are they descendants? Is the rent cheap? Lots of questions.

So the next jetty we found an open air restaurant which - thank god - sold (expensive) Tiger beer and hot char kuay teow (CTK im gonna call it from her on in). I love how the Asians see us coming and lure us in with the fans they will only turn on for us and not their own people! A nice 45 minutes relaxing and cooling off. Another jetty and we were frying so we decided to call it a day and walk back to the Blue Mansion.

On the way we just had to stop into a large Indian supermarket in Little India to get into the aircon. though they didnt sell wine they sold cheap bollywood earrings (AUD3-5) which we can use as tassels for our cushions for our bed at home. Onward to a sports bar for drinks and to cool down (again) and watch world wrestling.

A few quiet hours before dinner which was at a Nonya restaurant in the opposite direction to where we are staying. A nice surprise this street which had lots of nice family restaurants. At this nice little place we had pork sausage, chicken rendang and water spinach with bean sauce. It was sooooooo goooood all for MYR70 which was AUD 23.

Off to bed I'm tired.Read more