Since the last post we flew from Bali to Penang in northern Malaysia. Our AirBnB room in Georgetown has an amazing view.

For breakfast on the first full day in Georgetown, we went to a highly rated spot nearby–Swee Kong Coffee Shop–that specializes in Mee Goreng–a noodle dish that was pretty popular with the locals. The place wasn’t exactly what had pictured.

The food was pretty good, but the highlight of the morning came as we walked around the corner. There we found a stall selling Puta Mayam– little piles of green noodles that were dusted with shredded coconut and palm sugar. Yum!

She used a ricer filled with balls of the dough mixture to make the noodles on a basket. These were then steamed and allowed to dry a bit before serving. We bought a serving of five but wished we had bought more. They were light and yummy.

Apparently this is a popular snack in southern India called Idiyappam. The owner of the stall, “Famous” Uncle Joe, was from a town south of Chennai. He was exceptionally and worth meeting if you happen to stop for a snack.

While walking through the nearby wet market, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt from a place in Little Rock. He was on the phone or I would have asked about the shirt. The market itself was quite hectic as people on scooters stopped at the various stalls to get some food.

After breakfast we rode the furnicular up to the top of Penang Hill overlooking the city. The wait for the train was almost an hour long on Sunday, so we probably should have waited a day. They sold an express ticket, but I didn’t want to spend $60 for the two of us. All said, the view from the top was amazing, and the cool breezes were a relief from the heat below.

Speaking of heat, on the ride up to Penang Hill I spotted a stall selling cane juice. After riding back down we walked down the street to get to the stall for a refreshing drink. It was much further than it seemed during the cab ride, and in the afternoon heat we were ready for a cold drink by the time we arrived!

After a cool break/nap back in the room, we went to one of Georgetown’s oldest night food markets on Kimberly Street for dinner. We had Char Kway Teow–fried rice noodles, Assam Laksa–a spicy soup (forgot to ask for no cucumber though), some pork Satay–grilled pork on skewers, and honey lemonade to drink. Here’s the guy making our Char Kway Teow; it was good but I actually have had better on a trip to California.

They had a stall where you cooked your own food in hot pots paying by the stick, but how long is “cooked”?

We also tried durian for dessert. I could smell them from half a block away; there are signs in many public places that say “No Durian” because of the smell (it wasn’t offensive to me). It tasted kind of like banana pudding on steroids. Tracey didn’t like it at all…

Just a quick note about cabs. Instead of Uber, both Bali and Malaysia have an app called Grab that is very similar. A ride almost anywhere here in Georgetown is around $2 USD, and the drivers are usually only a couple minutes away when called.

Next up is a trip to a Buddhist temple (and more food).