Gurney Drive I spent the last few days hanging out by myself, or with friends I just met. I've wandered around George Town a little more with P and A. MM (Malaysian Mum) took us all for steamboat at MamaVege on Saturday (24th): We ordered two kinds of soup, which are served in bubbling pot on a hot plate built into the table. Plus a selection of vegetables, not-meats, and noodles, which we drop into the soup and watch simmer. Then I wandered around Gurney Drive, an area north of George Town where there are lots of fancy condos and hotels and is a common place for tourists to stay. It's a far cry from the 'heritage' of George Town, and largely malls and plazas and shiny new buildings. I thought there might be some form of beach access, but it's mostly off limits because of construction in the sea (Penang Island is all out of develop-able land). At one point I wandered down a side street in the hope it might lead to the ocean, but it turned out to lead to some guy's orchard. Just as I realised I was on someone's land and should probably leave, the owner, Bok, popped out of the bushes to say hi. He told me all about the fruits he was growing (coconut, jackfruit, various others) and that he does it for fun not profit, now that he's retired from managing a security firm. He picked a small, yellow relation to the guava (English name unknown) from a tree for me to try; it was mildly sweet and fragrant. I eventually made it to Straits Quay, or at least the shopping/hotel complex part of the area. There's a trail along the seafront that leads from Tanjung Bungah to Straits Quay, once you can find the way in. It runs behind a huge area of luxury villas, most of which are still under construction. It was more peaceful here than walking along the road... obviously. All of the villas have pools facing the sea. A good place to stay if you want to veg out and aren't interested in the local area or culture. I walked back along the seafront until I returned to Gurney Drive. I spent a short while in Brown Pocket, a cafe on the 6th floor of Gurney Paragon mall with big windows and great seaviews. Their wifi wasn't working though so I didn't get much done. It started to rain. I went upstairs two more floors to the cinema to see Rogue One. It was great. I ate at TinTin vegetarian in the basement of Gurney Plaza (the next mall along), where by chance I also found vegan coconut ice cream by Sangkaya. Penang Hill Yesterday (25th) I climbed Penang Hill with P and A. We walked first to the Botanical Gardens from our apartment, which took around 45 minutes. We started our climb from the Moon Gate. The first stretch was a lot of steep steps. This turned into steep climb with fewer steps and more sliding in mud. Someone had built a tin-roof kitchen part way up the hillside, where a bunch of elderly people were cooking noodles. I don't know how they got there. Later the path skirted around the side of a hill for a while, so it was fairly level. Then down a bit, then back up to being really steep again. We crossed paths with the railway, and and met a sprightly teenager who, after borrowing P's phone to make a call, guided us the most direct route to the top, which was again sheer steps. It was pretty exhausting; she patiently waited for us. The climb took about two and a half hours. At the top are a few places for a good view, but not as many as expected. There's a food court (we got juice) and tons of random tourist shit like an owl museum, a toy museum, and terrible merchandise. There were loads of people (there's a train to the top from Air Itam). There's also a mosque and a Hindu temple. After sitting around for a while and re-energising, we walked to Monkey Cup, a small cafe a little apart from the crowded area. There we had coffee in their garden, and enjoyed quiet jungle surroundings. I met a local scorpian. I was assured that he wasn't poisonous, and his stinger is "just like a little ant bite". Figured it can't be worse than Tigo. He didn't sting me, anyway. We wanted to take a different route down, and got directions (and a hand-drawn map) from staff at Monkey Cup. We followed a narrow concrete path winding down the hillside. At some point we missed a turning and ended up clearly bound for Air Itam, rather than back to the Botanic Gardens. Oh well. We walked through hillside farmland and enjoyed views into the central valley and across to the coastline. In Air Itam most restaurants were closed (between 3 and 5 is not a good time for seeking lunch in MY) but we managed to get some kway teow from a hawker stall, negotiating the exclusion of egg and prawn from mine. It started raining; we took an Uber back to George Town, because we'd walked quite far enough, and between three of us it cost the same as the bus (6 RM total). Back home, A and I soaked in the pool for a while. Later that evening we ate at Lily's, a vegetarian restaurant close to the apartment. It was great; we shared satay, I had lam rice (rice in gravy with tofu and vegetables), and an almond jelly tofu fruit dessert. Staff were reallly really friendly, too, and the food was far lighter and less greasy than similar places. Today... I'm staying home, trying to write some code.
So I knew there was a volunteer-run, pay-what-you-want vegetarian Indian restaurant somewhere in George Town, but somehow neglected to find it and save it on a map with the rest. And today I discovered... It's around the corner from where I live. So it's probably a good job I didn't find it sooner as I'd have neglected all of the other restaurants, but really. The food is so good, and the ambience is beautiful. It's part of a temple; roof but no walls, surrounded by trees and plants and bamboo, with tranquil music playing. While I was there, the sky opened and the downpour clattering on the sheet metal roof added to the peaceful atmosphere. To top it all off, one of the staff gave me a ride home as it was still raining heavily when they were closing up. Absolutely <3
There are a whole bunch of big Buddhist temples not far from my apartment. I went to see them today. They include many shiny things, giant domes, belltowers, and a sleeping ('reclining') buddha. There was a great big angry bird with a sword, which I decided must be Tigo's ancestor. From the top of one of the towers I could see my apartment. In general, they were a lot bigger and had a lot more to see than I expected. Photos and walking trail.
Last night I joined the CouchSurfing Penang meetup at coffeeshop/bar Behind 50 on Love Lane. They're a really lively and enthusiastic bunch, locals and travellers alike. They meet every Friday, and frequently arrange adventures. After a couple of hours and a group photo, they broke into two groups: beer and food. I joined the food party, and we got curry from a 24 hour place in Little India: a huge plate of cabbage, rice and dahl for 3.50myr (about 64p). Rohan, the main organiser, was kind enough to give me a ride home after that, since it was about midnight by then. They're going on a motorbike trip to the mainland this weekend, to see a ton of attractions and camp overnight. I'd seen the post about it on their CS group a week or so ago, but it read like it was for people who could ride motorbikes... it didn't occur to me to ask if anyone was going in a car with a spare seat. Turns out a few of them are, but now I have other committments this weekend. But I'll certainly be joining their next adventure!
I went for a walk around my neighbourhood today. As ever, in search of the nearest sand and sea. This time I headed in a straight line towards the nearest coast. It's consistently inaccessible, but there's a seafront seafood restaurant called Ocean Green and their driveway leads to a small tranquil beach. Barely a sliver of sand, but just enough to walk along or sit around for a while and listen to the rhythm of the ocean. And the caw of crows, which makes a change from seagulls. There's trash and boats making the water grimy, and the beach less than idyllic, but there are also no tourists. One or two locals working on boats or digging things from the sand. I made my way north, until I couldn't walk any further along the beach. I got as far as I got when I was coming from the other direction on my walk home from Gurney Drive a couple of weeks ago. I backed up, and entered Northam Beach Cafe, an open seating area outlined by hawker stands. It was just before 16.30, so they weren't quite open and the staff were just stirring. I took a seat in one of the blue plastic chairs, which had the KL Tower embossed in the back, and watched the sea. I could see distant mountains on the mainland straight ahead; construction and cranes off Gurney Drive to the north; and heavy equipment of George Town jetty to the south. It wasn't long before one of the guys wiping the tables asked me what I want to drink, so I ordered a small apple juice, no ice: 5myr. Steep, I think, but it came in a pint glass. He was also able to furnish me with the wifi password (northambeach123). Suddenly this becomes a viable place to work. At hawker areas like this, you order food at the individual stalls, but give your drink order to someone who comes to your table. In both cases, you pay when your item is brought over to you. It doesn't look like there's much in the way of veggie food. I saw signs for fruit rojak, beancurd, and grass jelly though, so maybe I could hang around for a while without starving to death completely. I also saw popiah... I wonder if they'll make it without meat and egg. It's a shame this place is only open in the evenings. On the other hand, it doesn't have walls, and I have the wifi password now, so I'll see if I can get away with sitting around in the morning sometime. Northam Beach Cafe started to get busy around 18.30, though not all of the stalls were open yet, including the potentially veggie looking ones. As I got up to leave, my table was immediately jumped on by two guys who had been about to sit down nearby. I looked around, and realised every other seaview seat was taken, though most of the rest of the place was empty. People were gravitating to the outer wall. Five minutes later, I'm in JanXDen Greenlife. A weird name for a restaurant, but an incredible menu. All vegetarian, with eggs and milk labelled. I'd read somewhere they had a lot of vegan desserts, but was disappointed to see a massive selection of eggless cheesecakes containing milk, and dairy-free waffles made with egg. They have some unfamiliar jelly things and tofu things though. Just nothing that'll hit the cake spot. I ordered pasembur and black sesame doufu hua. The pasembar is similar to rojak; the same spicy peanut sauce. Shredded veggies and cucumber, but this time with boiled potatoes and vegetable fritters, and pappadom pieces on the side. The doufu hua is savoury and nutty from the sesame, but a little sweet from the tofu, served in a teacup (but far to thick to drink). Perfect for washing down the spicy salad. There's also a chocolate flavour, which I see a future with.. They have some great looking pasta dishes and savoury porridges I want to try, as well as nasi lemak. Plus a breadcrumbed/fried Mexican spice plate. I would eat more now (because eating is fun, not because this meal wasn't satisfying) but I shouldn't... There are four kids here being very loud, and nobody else. They're playing board games and drawing and flailing and yelling at each other, and their surroundings in general, in a seamless mix of Chinese and American-accented English. There's wifi and power.
I had a vague plan of hiking from the Botanical Gardens to Batu Ferringhi. I found a trail from Batu Ferringhi which claimed to connect to a road to the Botanical Gardens, so I figured how hard could it it to be to reverse engineer it? So I met a bunch of my new energetic vegan yogi friends in the Botanical Gardens at 8am, and we wandered around a bit before embarking up Penang Hill, which all trails seem to lead to. About half way up Penang Hill we saw this dilapidated and entirely unreliable sign to Batu Ferringhi. We decided not to follow it, and instead carried on to the top of Penang Hill, as nobody else I was with had been up before. We had been following the jeep track, but diverged onto a muddy trail when we found one. This was the route I took last time, when I started at the Moon Gate. Starting by the jeep track is much faster, though far less interesting in terms of terrain. At the top I had cendol (twice the price of at the bottom..) and the far more experienced yogis than I piled up a bit, for a fascinated audience of tourists and locals alike. The beach was calling, so we decided to charge back to the Botanical Gardens as fast as we could, pick up T's car, and drive to Batu Ferringhi. Close enough, right? About one quarter of the way down the hill an unsmiling chap offered us a ride in the back of his truck. We accepted, enjoyed the bouncing rollarcoaster ride, and cut about 45 minutes of our journey. We drove to Batu Ferringhi, and chilled on the beach opposite the Tropical Spice Garden. It had been overcast for most of the hike (good) but the sun was emerging while we were at the beach. It was hot, anyway. I lounged around in the sun for a while, then relocated to lounging around in the shallows of the sea. Lying on the sand, letting the waves wash over me was thoroughly tranquil. The sand at this beach was great, too. Big grains, so they weren't annoying and sticky like normal sand. As it moved around underneath me due to the waves, it felt like a body-scrub massage. I went in deeper to float a bit for a while. It wasn't long before stabbing pains in my leg propelled me back to shore. Jellyfish alert! "Pee on it" said everyone. T went to warn an elderly man who was playing in the sea with his young grandaughters. "Pee on it!" they said in Mandarin. Another passer by stopped to see what the fuss was about. He also said "pee on it" in Mandarin. I didn't retain how to say "pee on it" in Mandarin, but I should ask T and add that to my repertoire of useful foreign phrases. My leg went red and bubbled up in a couple of places. It felt like it was burning. It wasn't unbearable pain, but coupled with a probably-sun-induced headache I had I felt pretty crap. My understanding friends got dressed and we all piled back into the car to find a pharmacy. My headache worsened and the car ride escalated everything. By the time I was home I was in full migraine mode and had thrown up a couple of times. On the way, C helped me buy rehydration sachets and Tiger Balm, so when I got in drank loads of water and then slept for 14 hours. I was skeptical about the medicinal properties of Tiger Balm, but I applied to to my head, shoulders (hiking/backpack aches), and jellyfish wounds and everything seems to be magically better. I'm disappointed that this day didn't end with us all checking out a new vegan restaurant, but I'm grateful to have met wonderful people who looked after me. Better luck next time. Rest of photos here.
Pee on it: Penang Hill, Batu Ferringhi, and a close encounter with a jellyfish
For some time now I've been wanting to hike from Air Itam to Balik Pulau (which literally translates as 'the other side of the island'). We finally got around to it on Monday: GJ and H, and Tammy and Jon from Wholey Wonder. We started our journey at Purple Stone Vegetarian Food Center in Air Itam, around 8am. We ate loads of delicious and extremely cheap things to set us up for the day. A selection of bao to share, some people at the buffet, and I had won ton mee. I was delighted to be able to get a nasi lemak parcel. They sell the normal versions everywhere on street corners for between 0.50 and 1.50 rm, but they contain anchovies and egg. The little triangular parcels are so enticing, so I was happy to get a veggie one (containing peanuts, veggie sambal and a little mock meat) for the road. Tammy and Jon moved their car (with us in it) to the top of Kek Lok Si where there's cheap parking. We walked down a bit to find the start of the hiking route. It was blocked by a police barricade, and we were told there was a landslide and no way through to the Dam. Not the type of people to let a little landslide derail our plans, we walked to the road that goes around to the other side of the Dam to see if we'd have better luck there. It wasn't long before we were distracted by a trail into the jungle, and we left the road. This trail rapidly deteriorated until we found ourselves fairly stuck on a hillside. After a few false scrambles, Tammy noticed a trail of paper triangles stapled to various leaves and trees, so... we followed it. And followed it. And followed it. We climbed, sliding through the mud, clinging to trees, clawing at roots. Some of the trees have spikes growing out of their trunks; I grabbed them once or twice. We chatted about snakes and monsters. It was tenuous at times, but finally whoever laid the trail of paper triangles came through, and we made it back to the road. But not the road we started from... the road we had been blocked from heading down originally. We continued along it and ran into no more problems, which I suppose means we managed to clamber around the landslide somehow. The next landmark was the Air Itam Dam and reservoir. We walked clockwise around, stopping at a couple of Chinese temples on the way, until we reached a fork. We took the left track, and proceeded west. After this point it was mostly a gentle downhill slope. We proceeded through plantations of herbs and fruit (spotting bananas, papaya, and jackfruit, amongst others), and got some amazing views over parts of the island I haven't seen before. It took us about two and a half hours to reach the start of Balik Pulau. We walked for another hour, seeking Chin Choo vegetarian, which I had on my map. Alas, it wasn't there. At least we tried. There's a little history in Balik Pulau, but it's a very small town so not a lot to see. We decided the beach was too far to continue walking to, as the others wanted to do other things with the rest of their day. We took the bus back to Air Itam, and then drove to Janxden near Gelugor for a late lunch. Photos from the hike and GPS trace.
I'm definitely getting a Penang belly.
So much for recovering from Langkawi, it's the peak of festival season across the various different cultures and communities in Penang. Balloon festival (4 Feb) After the ferry from Langkawi returned me to George Town, Malaysian Mum picked me up from the jetty without my asking, because she's nice like that, and delightedly exclaimed that my skin is now darker than hers. It wasn't long after I got home before I was heading out again. GJ had made it to George Town too, Ira was staying in a room in my apartment, and GJ had met H, another aspiring vegan, on his ferry. When I meet aspiring vegans I feel obligated to share my knowledge and food discoveries, especially when they're as excited about food as I am. So I took GJ to Ee Beng first, and we ate quite a lot. Then we met H on Love Lane, and walked through town to Little India. IN NR Thali Sweets they ate curries and I bought some of all of the vegan sweets to share. We stuck around until Ira could join us. We walked to the jetty and picked up a free shuttle to the Polo field, where a balloon festival was happening. There were loads of food options here too. We walked around then chilled on the grass and waited for the hot air balloon and fireworks show to start. Chinese New Year (4 Feb) We took the bus back to Chew Jetty then watched the Chinese New Year dancers, fireworks, and wandered around. Bumped into some others from the Penang CouchSurfing community. Walking back after midnight, in every direction were fireworks and on every street sudden firecrackers. Lots of people, lots of scared stray dogs. I've had a quite enough of the Chinese fixation with fire and loud noises. Pulau Penang is the best place in Malaysia to watch CNY celebrations, anyway, because of its about 70% Hokkien Chinese population. Photos of balloon festival and CNY celebrations. Ira and I got back to the apartment around 1, and jumped in the pool. My feet and legs were still on fire from mosquitoes and ants, plus the jellyfish stings from almost two weeks ago started scarring and itching. Temples (5 Feb) The next afternoon I met them again at Wholey Wonder. After lunch and yoga, we headed to Air Itam to see the Temple of the Jade Emperor and Kek Lok Si. There wasn't much going on at the former; the Jade Emperor's birthday was the night before, when it had been very crowded. We waited around at Kek Lok Si until it was dusk, when all of the lights came on. Photos of Jade Emperor Temple and Kek Lok Si. Thaipusam - coconut smashing (8 Feb) This morning I met up with some people from the Penang CouchSurfing group at Times Square. The Thaipusam chariot is being hauled from Little India to the Waterfall Temple, about 15km, today. As it goes, very slowly, people smash coconuts into the ground in front of it. The coconuts are hastily cleared up by small diggers and men with large brushes, to allow the chariot to proceed. There is free vegetarian Indian food everywhere, which is awesome. And a general party atmosphere. Lots of bright colours and music. While we waited for the chariot and coconuts, we also wandered around a couple of the nearby temples. I threw a coconut but I'm pathetic so it bounced instead of smashed. My wish isn't coming true. I did get pretty well covered in water and bits from other peoples' coconuts though. More coconut smashing photos. Thaipusam - evening festivities (8 Feb) In the evening I walked along Jalan Utama, the road which leads to the Botanical Gardens. It was lined on both sides with stalls, refreshment stands, and people handing out free vegetarian food. People were dancing, sitting around, and the atmosphere was incredible. I stuffed my face with chapati and dahl and followed the road. Lots of people were heading towards the Gardens, and turning off to climb the steps to the Waterfall Temple. I followed the crowd; it's 500-and-something steps up. Lots of people were carrying pots of offerings. As we neared the top, I started to feel conspicuous; I was pretty much the only non-Indian (there were one or two Chinese people by this point, but most Western tourists had remained at the bottom) and was starting to worry that there was some ritual happening inside the Temple I'd have no idea how to take part in. The line became single file, and segregated into three sections. One was obvious: the people with pots hanging from hooks in their skin. I'm not sure what the difference between the other two were. I was also a little worried as my shoulders and knees weren't completely covered. But it didn't matter. Aside from having to leave my shoes (which I'd been carrying) outside, I made it into the Temple and simply wandered through. The people with pots had them emptied into.. I dunno, a bigger pot, on the way in. The pots contained some kind of white milky substance. I wandered around the Temple a bit. Behind it was more free food and seating. People were milling around everywhere, just hanging out. The views of George Town from the top and the way up/down are amazing. My shoes went AWOL, but then I found them again, and headed back down. On my return along Jalan Utama I picked up a stack of food to take home. Most of the stalls giving out refreshments were interestingly by electronics companies. Pretty much everyone I know in Penang was there, but I didn't find anyone because the crowd was so huge. Photos of the evening of Thaipusam. Thaipusam - piercings (9 Feb) I got up early and went to the stadium to watch men having dozens of hooks with things hanging from them poked into their skin. Some men had little swords through their lips, and some have big hooks in their backs from which they will pull chariots later. In other words... aaarrghhh whhyyy lahh Photos of Thaipusam piercings. This evening on the way back from the Penang CS meetup I got caught in a torrential downpour (as usual). But when I made it to my road, I was handed a carton of soya milk. A bit further down, some noodles. Voila! Thaipusam is outside my front door tonight! So from my balcony I watched more coconut smashing, and eventually the golden chariot was pulled past. Pretty neat. More pictures from the balcony. So I am still somewhat in Langkawi vacation mode thanks to festivities and new friends... and there are still things going on until at least the weekend. But, I will get back to work.
Today bengo and I inadvertently hiked the Penang Hill Forest Challenge ('the longest trail in Penang'). I had pieced together two other hiking trails and filled a gap in the middle, but it turns out that if you do this from the other end, it has an official name. Here is the GPS trace. Anyway, we started from home, and walked to the Botanical Gardens (about an hour). We took the 1500 steps route up Penang Hill, using Path A to reach the top (about 2.5 hours) where we relaxed with fruit and fruit juice for a while. We walked along Summit Road to Western Hill. There's a trail on the left going down, after about 20 minutes. We first missed it and continued down the road, which quickly became signposted as private property. We backtracked; the actual trial is pretty well signposted. From there there was lots of climbing - up and down - supported by a rope most of the way. Lots. Of. Climbing. And another hill. Then some more climbing. Oh look another hill. And a vertical slope. And some scrambling. And another hill. And so on. We encountered only 3 other groups of hikers on the way. There were a few points for nice views, but mostly trees. And hills. And another hill. But just because I was cursing every step doesn't mean I wasn't having fun. 4 hours later, the beautiful sight of local families splashing in pools nearby the Teluk Bahang Dam welcomed us. We dived in and sat in small waterfalls until our legs came back. The pools are in a nice park, which also houses the Forestry Museum. It was very peaceful. Once we'd recovered, we walked up the road to see the Dam and reservoir. Then we backed up and followed the road to Teluk Bahang village. We stuck our thumbs out but nobody stopped. We forged ahead to the beach, and immediately encountered Cat Beach - a cat shelter on a small, beautiful, secluded beach. Run by volunteers, in exchange for housing. I paddled, and hung out with the cats for a while. I think I see... my future. We stopped for vegetable fried rice at a small stall, then caught the 101 bus home. Complete set of photos here.
More AS2 wrangling. Shortlisted three titles for my thesis. Ate at lots more new places. Wrote up my #ownYourData study as a 1200 word extended abstract for AoIR. LEFT PENANG ;_; :O After 80 days, many new friends, and a lot of food. Arrived in Ipoh.
Ahh, Penang skies display purple sheet lightning for several hours, many nights. I'd almost forgotten. It's beautiful. Then comes the RAIN.