Malaysia (Part One - Penang)

Warning: Most of our Malaysia blogging is going to be centered around FOOD. The multiple cultures and culinary styles here has merged into an amazing food scene, and we took full advantage.

After our multiple attempted border crossings, and a final successful one, we were in! However, we did not really have a gameplan and stood on Malaysian soil with nowhere apparent to go. With nothing else to do, we began walking towards the town where we assumed we could catch a bus to Penang, a northern Malaysian town where we planned to spend our first 3 days in Malaysia. In the mid day heat, we considered ourselves lucky when a taxi drove past and took us to town (it was going to be a looooong walk). While the taxi price was more than we thought we should have been charged, we coughed it up from the small amount of money we had exchanged across the border. We arrived at the bus station right as a bus was leaving for Penang, our destination. Lucky, right? Well, as mentioned, we had VERY minimal cash so we didn’t have enough to pay. They said they’d wait as Kyle sprinted to a nearby ATM. After several attempts and no success, he ran to yet another ATM that locals pointed him too. Unfortunately, this one did not work either. He returned defeated and we believed we’d be unloading our bags and the bus would go on without us, but to our delight the bus driver said hop in and try an ATM at the next stop. At the first stop, we were able to get cash and finally pay our fare (it still took multiple ATM attempts though).

Once we arrived in Penang and took the ferry over to Georgetown (the ferry cost 2 Malaysian Ringit, or $0.40), we checked in and quickly went to get food. We found a Chinese restaurant right next to our place where we devoured dumpling soup (wanton mee), a pork rice special, and a few pastry’s to sample (not to mention some much needed coffee). It was our first time on the trip that we were handed a pencil and paper to write down our choices as we ordered. Malaysia has a huge Chinese population/influence, and this restaurant had a typical Chinese-food-type menu and ordering style.

Note that, in addition to the Chinese population, Malaysia has a huge Indian background. The 3 groups (local Malays, Chinese, and Indians) are represented everywhere, and have greatly affected everything from architecture, to traditions and holidays, to official languages, and ESPECIALLY the food.

We also realized that we had once again come to a country with a large Muslim presence where many are still celebrating Ramadan. We once again got to hear the call to prayer multiple times a day, and witness the Iftar meals and special menus set up all over the city.

After exploring the city and catching the fort, some of the famous Georgetown street art, and meandering through a jetty (housing complexes that the poorer class has built on wooden planks out over the water), we ventured back to our area to hit the night food market. Now, these night food markets are some of our FAVORITE things as you may have noticed from our Thailand blogs, with endless varieties of food to choose from at very reasonable prices. One of the unique things in Malaysia is that many places have tables open for anyone - regardless of where you get food from WITH the expectation that you buy a drink from them. If you do not buy a drink, many places will actually charge you a per person fee. We chose char kuey teo, which is similar to pad Thai, and followed up with a few karipops (meat filled pastries). To get out of our drink charge, we ordered a carrot juice and a soda.

We were so relieved to finally be in Malaysia after the entry process and border failures, but tired so we turned in for the night. This was one of the accommodations that we have to share a few details about. We keep them very cheap, and this particular hostel looked awesome from the photos, with cool community spaces and a highly-rated restaurant. While the restaurant at the bottom did, indeed, look like it’d be awesome, there was no one there working it. We had difficulty finding staff to check us in, and received no information about breakfast times, where our room was, or any of the basic info you usually receive. We wandered upstairs and after looking around a bit found a hallway with room numbers (just a door entry from the upstairs bar/live music set). We quickly noticed none of the rooms were enclosed, there was 1 air conditioner in the hallway and all the rooms had 4 foot gaps between the ceiling and wall for A/C to enter. There were plywood-like walls between rooms, and to top it off we had bunk bed with barely enough room to set our bags on the ground. The sanitary piping for the floor above us ran right above the bed, so we got to hear the water flow everytime anyone from above used the restroom. The plus side was, there was a community pair of green wooden sandals to use to visit the shared bathroom. (Shared bathrooms have been what we’ve found are the biggest money saver in looking for accommodations). Adding to this, most of the bathrooms we’ve had in Asia are toilet/shower/sink all in the same space so if you shower, your toilet and sink are soaked and the bathroom is constantly in a state of dampness.

We decided to workout in the morning at the “gym” our place had - which was a few dumbbells, bars, kettlebells, and yoga mats in an outdoor area that was very dirty. Following the workout, we ventured out for a more strategic exploration of the major street art works, to visit a few more of the jetties, love lane, temples, and more. We ate in Little India for lunch and grabbed a street murtabak (sort of an omelet wrapped in newspaper) for an appetizer before we chose the busiest place in the street to eat. As we sat down at the restaurant they simply asked what type of meat and what spice level we wanted, without any menu of any type. We had no idea what to expect and we also realized everyone was heading straight to the hand washing station as no food came with silverware. This was when it actually hit us that we were at a real Indian restaurant, where everyone eats with hands only - and we gladly washed our hands and prepared for our first rice and curry meal using nothing but our hands. Being the only tourists, they did actually bring us silverware that we happily ignored. It was delicious (and not too spicy), but a new cultural experience that we got to enjoy together.

We stopped at one point in the afternoon for a coffee (cough cough, really for some A/C - it’s gets HOT being outside for hours at a time) and tried the famous “white coffee”, which is simply a coffee bean roasted and dried slightly different that creates a smoother and more buttery taste. We then continued over to the Top Tower to try and have an evening tea before hitting dinner. The tallest tower in Penang, it’s supposed to have a rope bride course outside of the restaurant and boasts spectacular views. They also required a pre bought ticket, which we didn’t have. Instead we headed to a popular bar on Love Lane for happy hour before getting dinner. Dinner was at one of the Hawkers markets - which is a big enclosed area with tons of tables that are a free for all and you then go order from any restaurant. We chose different places (Kyle opting for a chicken satay and Nicole for a spicy noodle soup) and finished our meal with a Chinese pancake. Getting a table was CRAZY, as, like we mentioned, they're open for anyone from any of the stalls to use.

Another thing to note - Malaysia is NOT a big drinking culture. Beer, wine, and liquor are very expensive so we mostly opted for tea, coffees, and juices during our time here.

Heading home after dinner we made some plans to head to the Cameron Highlands the following day. We woke up and worked out again before ferrying across to the bus station. At the bus station, they told us we could only buy tickets to a town called Ipoh and get a bus to the Highlands from there. Like all busses that we had been on thus far in Asia, it was ready to board right when we got to the bus station and took off immediately (no time to grab snacks for the long journey). It was o big deal though as we were excited to get to the Highlands. Unfortunately, our first bus arrived 30 minutes after the last bus for the Highlands had left. We found a nearby hotel and decided we’d catch the first bus in the morning. It ended up not being until 12:30 pm….they have 3 busses operating daily at 12:30, 2:30, and 3:00. Don’t ask us about the schedule but like everything else, it’s most likely due to COVID. We wandered around to see if there were any good Ramadan meal specials (searching for these and never finding them open turned into a common theme in Malaysia), found some drinks and a food truck stall and called it a day. Luckily, most places in SE Asia have been 12 pm checkout so we headed to the park for a morning run (if you're wondering why we have ramped up the workouts, it's because we signed up for another 10K in June). Then off to the Highlands we went!