A day in Penang

Penang was the next destination, more specifically the old town section, Georgetown. This was the centre of the British administration, when that was a thing, and is now a real melting pot of varied cultures and communities. Our first taste of that was on the night we arrived, when walking to dinner we came across a street parade (at 9.30pm, no less) for the Chinese mid-Autumn festival. 

The next day we spent criss-crossing the streets of Georgetown and exploring. First destination was the clan jetties, where family groups from different parts of China set up communities, fishing and trading posts. A lot of the area was destroyed in WWII, but there has been a concerted effort to conserve and rebuild, with the jetties becoming a tourist attraction in the process. There are still a large number of people permanently living there, mixed in with a wide range of tourist trap shops.

We walked through the rest of Georgetown gradually throughout the day, and explored Armenian Street - although no longer a hub for the Armenian community, Chinatown and a range of temples and old mansions. We also got a tour of the local mosque, which was built in 1801 by Indian Muslim traders. Malaysia is the first country we visited on the trip with a significant Muslim population, and it was interesting to see mosques as a common feature, amongst the familiar Buddhist and Hindu temples.

Our explorations were great, with the layout and architecture making it a very rewarding place to explore, with a lot of little nooks and crannies to stick your head into. The food is excellent, with a range of different cuisines on offer. Malaysia has been a place with a variety of influences so we found it difficult to find distinctly local cuisine, it's really more of a fusion, for the most part. However, we did find some nasi lemak for dinner, which is the national dish of Malaysia. Or so we were told.

There is a huge variety of street art around the city, including a series of 80 bent metal sculptures exploring the history of the place. It all lends to the ambience and the interest that makes Penang worth a visit. 

We finished the day with a post dinner cocktail at one of the few places that was open on a Monday night. We were greeted at the door by a concerned looking bar tender who wanted to make sure we knew we were entering a bar and not a restaurant (we definitely didn't look young a cool enough). They had a line of cocktails "inspired" by the seven deadly sins. James went for Envy, Gillian for Wrath. Read into that what you will...