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Penang - Food and Murals
posted : Sunday, September 25, 2016
Went back to the house to pack up and head towards the train station. Decided to detour a bit to buy taufufah too before we go, and as a result cut it a bitttt too close to our train time. Turns out train got delayed by about half an hour (surprise). Though it did get us to Butterworth in a relatively fuss free time of about 1.5 hours.
Off we go!
Car rental guy was supposed to drive over to the station but I think either he got a bit lost or he was late to begin with, so we ended up waiting for about half an hour. Got a Myvi considering there's only 4 of us (Winnie pulled out of the Penang leg because she just changed job and she still on probation in her new company and hence no leave) with not much luggage. Turns out to be a great decision because Myvi is so much easier to park hahahaha and traffic in Penang is crazy.
Self checked in at our Airbnb which is above a shopping mall at the waterfront Karpal Singh Drive and as it turns out, the cleaner hasn't cleaned the place yet. So ML made a complaint to the owner, and we headed out for food (didn't I say this was a food trip?) while the cleaner does her work.
Nice loft style. Love ceiling to floor window panels.
First stop: what else but char kway teow???!! The original stall we wanted to go (Siam Rd) wasnt open so we went to one coffee shop (same street as the red hat auntie one but we didnt try that coz reviews says the auntie had bad attitude and has jacked up prices because of her fame)
Orh jian from the same coffee shop.
Went to this place called Laksalicious I think. For assam laksa (strangely didnt go for a coffee shop version which probably would be more authentic). This is the nyonya lemak version.
The real assam laksa. Still not a fan of assam.
Some of the recommendations were kind of meh and to be honest I have forgotten all the coffee shop names by now so this may not be of much use hahahah. Oh well just feast on the photos then.
This is very iconic now.
Chinese-y architecture.
Which one first?
I'll have that.
I want dimsum!
Cute!
Idea was to pretend to be part of a mural. Execution left much to be desired (we look like idiots trying to scale a wall).
Headed over to Chew Jetty.
Reminds me a bit of Kampong Ayer.
Jetty
Us!
Off for dinner. Actually don't know which meal already. This is like our 3rd meal in Penang already.
BKT, Malaysian style! I don't care if Penang isn't famous for this.
White curry noodle. We agreed that it was the most disappointing thing we ate all day. Didn't try looking for a good one either.
Night time was spent driving an hour of windy road to Batu Ferringi to visit a night market, and back. To be honest nothing much to shout about at the night market though I suppose it should be way nicer during day time, being a beach area and having many many resorts around. Headed back to the apartment which had been cleaned to rest. 
Highlight of Batu Ferringhi was supper. Grilled stingray.
And satay.
Checked out the rooftop of our apartment. Pretty good views at night.
Waterfront view.
The next morning - check out time! Honestly didn't spend enough time in the apartment hahah. Went to grab prata breakfast beforehand first though, before returning to pick up our belongings. And this time round the cleaner was damn punctual, waiting outside for us to vacate the place. 
View at dawn.
Prata breakfast!
Then off for more food #glutton. And revisited the murals because ML insisted that we missed out a few must-take ones. 
Cecil Street Market - our first stop of the day.
Pretty random kuey tiao soup but it was really good!
Char kway kak which I was looking forward to but fell flat.
Lens.
Ban cheng kueh, slightly different version.
Very thin shell with variety of fillings. Ok ok nia. Still prefer the old-school ones with peanuts :)
Off to hunt for chendol!
Like they said, famous chendol.
Really refreshing for another hot hot day.
Had assam laksa from the same coffee shop.
And lor bak. A.k.a ngoh hiang. Which was pretty good!
More mural hunting.
"Kids on swing" mural.
Coconut ice cream which Sam says is famous. Anyway can't resist anything cold in this weather.
Popiah from a food court (some medan selera place). Not a fan of popiah, so didnt try, but others say it's not bad.
Decided to check if Siam Rd uncle is open for business...and he is! Snagged up a seat at the coffee shop (queue wasnt long).
Yay! And it is easily better than the one we had the day before. Yum!
Contemplated doing an escape room game before heading to the airport but conceded that there wasn't enough time. So ended up hanging out for a bit at Queensbay Mall before heading to the airport.
Wefie while in traffic jam.
And that concludes the Ipoh/Penang trip! Inclined to agree with Chris that Ipoh warrants a return because honestly didn't do it much justice, then again, the main agenda there was the wedding mah. Penang also quite rushed although ate all we could/should. Not sure if we have seen enough of what Penang had to offer though, so probably it also warrants another trip back. Weak ringgit also made spending much more comfortable. Car rental is a must. I can't imagine traipsing around on foot or public transport.
All in all, an enjoyable trip once again and another location off bucket list!
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