2023 Penang and Singapore

Well naturally I fagged out last night so kinda didn't write a very inspiring entry. But a great night's sleep despite the room being freezing but it made for a snuggly sleep. Plus the firm, king size Asian bed was divine. However I woke at 4am which was Sydney time but luckily I snoozed heavily till 6am to lots of beautiful bird noises.

They have a lavazza coffe pod machine which took ages to get working but we managed long blacks (no milk) which is what we both needed, not having had coffee the day before (well, ony a weak one for me anyway). Plus some dippy biscuits. We did a grand reveal through two, great big doors from our room out to the beautiful gardens and pool. What a place we've found :)

Breakfast at 8am with the Drinnans in the wonderful, cool courtyard. Freshly squeezed juice - I chose watermelon - and then a smorgasboard breakfast with an option for a la carte. Not so surprising that everyone started with the Asian selection which today was, for me and Mick, roti with dahl, then Mick went back for congee whereas I went the old vegemite and toast. We had filtered coffee but you could order a cappucino or other made to order coffee. The food was fresh and plentiful, but intimate sizes so there was no waste. The fresh fruit, cereals and home made jams looked very inviting.

Our first morning was to head to the mini mart to get beer and bits. It was only a short walk away but in that time it took us 45 minutes because there were so many pix to take. Lots of drains, lots of broken footpaths, lots of old colonial houses in all states of repair and disrepair. I never realised mould could be so colourful! Either restored or dilapidated there were so many glorious doors and windows to capture. As Georgetown is renowned for its street art we saw the little building where Jimmy Choo had his first shop. Wow.

Back to the hotel where we dumped our shopping then we started the heritage walking tour. This took us to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel which is on the water. A beautiful old colonial building built by the same people as Raffles in Singapore. It was seriously beautiful. The key reason for our quick visit there today was to book in for high tea on Friday - defs a tad frocking up for that!

Then a slow (and very hot) meander past the high court building, city hall and town hall. All white with multi-paned windows and arches and big columns and large, grand, shaded porticos. A remider of how dominant and domineering and preposessing the British Empire was in Asia - mirrored in every colony including our own country.

By now it was getting bloody hot so we stopped for a refreshment. The others had icecream - cocount, lavender and honeycomb, chocolate and orange - but I had a lychee and rose soda - very light, slightly sweet and very cooling. Back out into the sun to head towards the Peranakan Museum (fun fact I still hadn't found anywhere that sold wine).

The Peranakan Museum is another old Straits Chinese trader's home, which is compared the the Blue Mansion where we are staying. A similar architectural footprint though I think a fair bit smaller and it's green. Plus as it's a museum it's very loaded with a lot of the furniture and belongings of the original family. And I think a lot of add-ins as well. It's extremely opulent and lavish, I think because it's so filigreed and golden and packed with stuff. There was a collectibles wing - one filled with jewellery and adornments and the other with hundreds of beaded shoes! Very sad to see shoes and old photos of women with bound feet. I thought their tiny shoes were for small children, though at a first look they looked like those high sided Tibetan slippers. High sided because of their poor artritic crippled feet. Very sad.

By this stage we were so hungry and being down in Little India the hunt is on for a place to eat. Preferably with beer but that didn't happen. Many of the paces were closed but we weren't sure if it was because it was a Wednesday or Covid. Dunno? So we saw a place packed with locals; an open air place with tandooris and curries. Tandoori biryani for 4 thank you (no beer to be had). But OMG the best food I've eaten in weeks so the most I've eaten in weeks. It was so damn nice. A breast and wing of sour, red, smoky chicken, flavoured yellow rice with cloves and cardamons and flecks of carrot and green stuff, red onion and lime, a little dahl and a sweet mint chutney. What made it better was tiny hairs of basting brush on the chicken - awesome :) (and a weird drinks robot - refer Jono from work).

Wandering back the boys were getting tired of Josie and I flitting into Indian shops to look for tableware and junk jewellery. We packed them off to try and find a bar while we wandered back, browsing different Indian shops. Sooo much colour and so many textures and treasures to be had. Gorgeous cushion covers and bejewelled bangle boxes and salwar kameez. All so cheap but where would you wear those lovely outfits? Josie and I each bought a pair of earrings - hers dainty (little head) mine ginormous (big head).

We wandered back through the backstreets - so prettily run down but no energy or people - not sure what's happening there? We were hanging for a beer when we got back and the boys were having a bevvy on the verandah.

We all later ended up by the pool, having a laugh and chat and beer etc etc. Quick fun dinner next door at the undercover hawker stalls. Chicken and beef satay and I had a small char kuay teow. Then Josie and I had crispy Chinese packakes with brown sugar, peanuts and banana.

I grabbed a white wine from the bar to take back to the room which I'm enjoying now writing this.Read more