The food capital of Malaysia

After reading our stolen guide book, we'd decided we had to visit the food capital of Malaysia and so this morning we got up and had lots of jam and toast before heading to the bus station to catch a bus. We'd booked a bus online for half 10 in the morning, thinking we'd have plenty of time and we wouldn't have to rush. I wanted to be there half an hour early so I said we should leave at 10 to (the bus station was only 5 minutes walk away). Of course, Matt was being his usual slow self which stressed me out and so we didn't get to the bus station until 10 past. We then took another 10 minutes to find the correct desk to get our ticket and eventually found the bus at about 25 past. The bus driver then told us we had the wrong ticket. This meant running back up two flights of stairs with our bags and changing the ticket (we may have booked the wrong bus). Finally, when we made it downstairs, we got on a bus (I think they put us on a later one but we were just directed onto a bus) and made our way to Penang, an island in the north of Malaysia. 

We stopped off for lunch at some kind of service station and went to a place where you chose various dishes to go on your plate. I had rice with a beef dish that was quite nice. The beef was a tad chewy but it was in a slightly spicy sauce that was good when mixed in with the rice. I also had some pak choi and a boiled egg. The egg was a mistake as it had some kind of salted vinegar thing on it that tasted rather disgusting. However, it all came to less than a pound so I was happy. 

The bus took four hours in total and dropped us off at a ferry terminal (there are bridges but we'd messed up with the bus). The ferry cost barely anything and only took an extra half an hour, including the wait for it, so we arrived in Penang mid afternoon. Penang isn't a large island but it has a few towns dotted about on it. The capital was Georgetown and that's where we'd chosen to stay. We caught a local bus up the road and found our hostel which was rather amazing. It had a lovely interior with huge posters of Roman Holiday and Singing in the Rain. There was also a nice movie area and rainfall showers in the bathroom. Sometimes luxury is necessary. 

We wandered down the street and stopped for a drink at a very cool looking cafe (there were loads of cool looking cafes). I chose a walnut iced mocha that was quite nice but was far too expensive for what it was. We then wondered through the streets, taking in the lovely old buildings with impressive street art. There was a little India that played Bollywood music and sold curries at stalls. It was past 6 by the time we were there so we sat down at some little tables and had a chicken curry each with a roti and rice. The chicken curry was nice but nothing on Thailand. We also ordered a strange stringy yellow pancake thing that we saw them making. It was good dipped into sauce but I have no idea what it was called. 

It was still earlyish and we didn't want to go back to the hostel yet so we found some more food stalls and ordered a juice each as well as a speciality dish. It was like a spring roll (not a deep fried one) with crispy rice and spices and other things in it. It was good but nothing special; there wasn't a lot of flavour. Our juices were grape and orange with sour plum. Grape was the best as it was subtle and not too sweet. 

It was still only 8 by the time we'd done there so we found a sweet looking bar and ordered a bottle of wine. Maybe slightly extravagant but we hadn't spent much on alcohol in a long time. The wine was good and we played a few card games whilst we drank. A nice introduction to the food capital of Malaysia but so far I wasn't hugely impressed with the food.