Chilling in Langkawi

So, I spent the past five days in Penang with my brother and his girlfriend. To sum it up:

On Dec 8th, we went to the Hotel Cititel my great-auntie's 90th birthday party. This was pretty important, as it was the inspiration for the trip and most of my relatives were there. I was worried that Yi Wah and Leanne weren't going to make it, because they hadn't arrived in Penang when I arrived on the morning of the 7th. They flew into Bangkok and spent a few days there before getting into Penang the evening of the 7th.

We were lucky enough to stay at the Northam Hotel, which is managed by the amazing Jack Soo, a high school friend of my uncle's. Jack gave us the royal treatment, showing us all around Penang, including to the Penang Sports Club, the best hawker stands (aka street food) and just generally made us feel at home.

The hotel was just down the road from my great-grandfather's (former) house on Gurney Drive. The land was sold many years ago and the lot is sitting empty, waiting to be developed into luxury beach condos. Penang is a funny mix of well-maintained colonial style buildings, dilapidated houses and schools and super modern high-rises. The contrasting architectural styles are a perfect example of the contradictions of modern Penang.

Penang is an eating city. It seems that the good majority of our time there was spent eating, digesting and talking about food. It' s no wonder for a city that is majority Chinese, as well as largely Indian. Malaysians love "hawker" food and we certainly ate our fair share while we were there. Some of the Chinese food I was familiar with from Taiwan, while things like Hokkien mee (a soup with a spicy prawn base, two different types of noodles, prawns and fried onions) were a welcome surprise.

After about 5 days of gorging myself on Penang hawker food, I decided it was time to move on from Penang. I dropped Yi Wah and Leanne off at the airport today and headed to Langkawi. There are two ferries from Penang to Langkawi everyday -- at 8:15 and 8:30 am. Instead of waiting another day, I took a 200 ringgit (~US$60) taxi ride to the Langkawi ferry terminal and then a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride. The taxi driver and I had an interesting conversation about Malaysian politics, reincarnation, proper breathing techniques for mediation and enlightenment. Now I am chilling out in what the Lonely Planet says is Malaysia 's best-known holiday destination. All the Malaysian school kids are on holiday right now, so I was lucky to just show up and get a decent room.

Dinner was at Champor-Champor, a nice expat joint run by a Dutch man and his wife. She's had the place for 12 years (he's been there for the past 8). I had the pan-friend bamakoise (a local fish) with banana, sauteed cabbage/veggies and white rice, which is apparently a South African dish. Delicious, especially with a few cold Tiger draught beers. I might have found paradise.