Recap of 2012 travels

Hello everyone,

It’s the last day of 2012. For today, I am recapping the journeys I made in 2012, along with a few related entries.

(Some of the cities do not have related blog posts because I am working on a really limited internet connection back home in Sabah. I’ll follow up with the posts once I reach the land of high speed internet–Singapore.)

In case you find this entry a little TL;DR, I want to wish you a happy 2013. May the new year be filled with (productive) travels.

Ciao!

-Yun Qing

January 2012

Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

yqtravelling january seremban negeri sembilan — Seremban

In a nutshell: The Seremban which D and I visited was sleepy. There wasn’t much going around as it seems like most of the people prefer to look for a living in Kuala Lumpur.

Funny poster: Bill Gates, a murderer

Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

In a nutshell: The reason I dragged D along to PD was to wash my feet in the ocean. My family has a ritual of stepping into the ocean when the new year comes to “wash away the bad luck”. PD wasn’t as fantastic as what my primary school sample compositions tell me. I much prefer the beaches in Sabah.

2012′s first sunset

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Back home for Chinese New Year which is the most important festival for my family. I didn’t visit any new places while in Sabah.

February 2012

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Impromptu trip to meet up with Nguyen in KL. It was great fun meeting her again after my trip to Saigon after graduation.

Glutton in Kuala Lumpur

March + April 2012

Yogyakarta + Solo, Indonesia

In a nutshell: Back in Indonesia after D and my first trip back in 2009. It was great seeing the ancient monuments in Borobudur and Prambanan.

Sunrise at Borobudur: Expectations/Reality

In a nutshell: The side trip to Solo was fun too since we visited Candi Sukuh and watched Orang Wayang.

Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Finally back to crossing Malaysian states off my list. Ipoh will forever be remembered as the town with great food (almost as good as Penang) and a “castle” that is not really a castle.

May 2012

San Jose, California, USA

In a nutshell: On a business trip to cover an event in San Jose. I had the chance to visit Cupertino and see the Winchester Mystery House. I didn’t get to see much of the city because I was stuck in the convention centers getting my bills paid.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

San Francisco, California, USA

In a nutshell: Side trip from San Jose after the business trip. I had planned to visit Napa Valley for a night but decided to stay in SF for the whole week. I saw two great shows, visited many fine museums and cycled a little.

June 2012

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Back home for a classmate’s wedding. didn’t get to visit other areas since I was back for only the weekend.

Anatomy of a Chinese wedding in Malaysia

July 2012

Hoi An, Vietnam

In a nutshell: A 5-day trip to central Vietnam. I had planned to visit another historical town, Hue, but decided to spend all the time in Hoi An. I ate a lot, drank a lot of coffee and cycled a lot.

August 2012

Jakarta, Indonesia

In a nutshell: A short weekend trip to the capital of Indonesia. We weren’t caught in traffic jams as we took the TransJakarta public bus. I didn’t do a lot of research so we ended up walking aimlessly.

September 2012

Tokyo + Kamakura Japan

In a nutshell: A day trip to historical Kamakura on the day I reached Tokyo. I love the little town with its little big Buddha and quaint streets.

In a nutshell: A 4-day business trip but I pre-extended the weekend before work. I had the chance to overnight in Ooedo Onsen Monogatari and catch Gintama Land before it was over.

#FoodFri Glutton at Tsukiji, Tokyo

Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Returned to Kuching. Trip wasn’t as great but I got to meet J the night before.

October 2012

Bangkok, Thailand

In a nutshell: My first visit to Thailand. I narrowed down my to-do list to a few sites and spent a productive weekend.

Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia

In a nutshell: State 9 of my Visit Malaysia project. A small town where our fourth prime minister, Dr Tun Mahathir, was born. Visited the Alor Setar tower, the second tallest TV tower in Malaysia, and saw a bird’s eye view of the town.

Dinner & miscommunication for breakfast in Alor Setar

Padang Besar, Perlis, Malaysia

In a nutshell: State 10 of my Visit Malaysia project. Went to the market bordering Thailand. I was a little disappointed that the market didn’t straddle the border with stall owners on one side accepting ringgit while the other baht.

A guide to walking from Malaysia to Thailand

November 2012

No major travelling for the month. It wasn’t as bad as I expected because I had other things to busy myself with during the weekend. For example, reading Web comics, watching Youtube, eating, reading things online etc.

December 2012

Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia

In a nutshell: Back home for the Christmas holiday because of forced leave implemented by the company. Went on a roadtrip with Mom to the north of Sabah. We read a lot, ate a lot of fruits while at the hotel. Also visited the “Tip of Borneo”.

How has your year of travelling been?

#FoodFri 10 yummy things I ate while travelling in 2012

It’s the last #FoodFri of 2012. Here at YQtravelling, I want to take a trip down memory lane and bring back memories of the best food I’ve eaten this year.

Seafood in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

I’m starting the list with a staple dish when I am back home for the holidays–seafood. In my case, seafood usually means crabs because they are cheaper than prawns and much fleshier than clams.

As for seasoning, I do not have a favorite and will eat crabs anyway it is cooked.

Do you have a special dish for the year 2012? Share it in the comments below.

A look back at my 2012 travels

Hello everyone,

I’m back home in Sabah for the holiday. My parents cancelled the house’s broadband service so I am stuck with using 3G on my phone. This means no aimless Youtube surfing or blogging.

Luckily, I’m now in a hotel lobby that has Wi-Fi so I can publish this post. My mom and I are in a 2-day roadtrip to Kudat.

Anyway, it’s the last week of 2012 so I want to bring you back to the different trips that I made this year. (A full recap of the towns I’ve been to later this week.)

First and last trip of 2012
First: I was travelling with D to Negeri Sembilan’s Seremban on New Year’s eve. We continued to Port Dickson the next day so that I could wash my feet in the ocean. (It’s a tradition for me.)

Last: I’m back home for the December break! I guess the Kudat trip I’m in now counts as the last trip for the year.

Best and worst Malaysian state this year
I haven’t been visiting as many Malaysian states as I promised myself last year. If I have to pick a favorite state (or town) this year, it would be Ipoh, Perak. Ipoh has lovely food and even one (kind of) historical ruin.

I’ve liked all the states which I visited but I totally hate the 13-hour bus ride–including 6+ hours of post-holiday traffic jam–that spanned from Kedah to Kuala Lumpur.

Longest bus ride
Related to the above, the longest bus ride I took was from Alor Setar to Kuala Lumpur. It caused enough travel trauma that I didn’t travel since then. (Kidding, I haven’t travelled in November because I’m trying to save more money.)

Longest flight
Tokyo to San Franciso: 9h, 30m, 8,224 km.

I took Delta for my business trip to the USA. The flight was better than I expected because they serve Coca Cola in cans. Gulp gulp gulp.

Unexpectedly nice and not-so-nice city
San Francisco was more awesome than I thought it would be: the buildings, the museums, the shows, the sea. Plus, lavender is planted as street plants there. I am sold!

Unfortunately, Jakarta wasn’t as exciting as I hoped it would be. The food wasn’t as fantastic as Yogyakrta.

Best and worst paid accommodation
I’m leaving out hotels that I stayed in as part of my business trip because it’s not fair to compare heaven with earth.

The best place I’ve stayed in this year is Manohara Hotel when D and I were in Yogyakarta. Well, the price is correlated to how great the beds are. The second place goes to Tune Hotel Asoke which was really 5-star hotel for 1-star price.

As for the worse accommodation. The Port Dickson room had thin walls and a common shower with only cold water. It was next to a night market which blasted music till 3 a.m.. The other guest had a kid who was screaming in the morning. But…the worst hotel award should go to the hotels in Yogyakarta where D and I caught bed bugs.

Funniest and least funny memory
Funniest: In Prambanan city, a random man called out to D and I from his stall: “AJINOMOTO!” It’s like a man shouting at two random white persons: “COCA COLA!”

Least funny: Being chat up by a hobo-like person on the San Francisco bus. I had to switch my seats to the front so I was sitting near the driver. The kind lady sitting at the front made up for the weird chat.

Yummiest and most disgusting meal when travelling
Cannot choose. TOO MUCH GOOD FOOD during the year.

As for worse meal: supermarket sushi.

Most and least productive trip
My weekend in Bangkok was really well planned, if I do say so myself. I’ll share the itinerary one day.

The least productive trip is either the Kuching trip or the Jakarta trip. I think Kuching might top the list because it was my second time there.

Well, that is all with the recap! I have to go. My people need me!

How has your year of travelling been?

Penang ferry ride from Georgetown to Butterworth and back

Penang’s ferry service is supposedly the oldest ferry service in Malaysia.

My parents and I went for a ride during our trip to Penang. We planned to take the bus back on the bridge but we couldn’t find the bus so we took the boat back again.

From Georgetown, there is no fee for passengers.

But it was about RM1.20 on the way back.

Passengers share the upper deck with cars. There are only a few seats by the side of the ferry and these are usually taken up if you do not run fast enough.

Child's life jacket — Child’s life jacket

Since I do not take water transport much, I really liked the ferry ride to and from Georgetown.

For those who are too lazy to plan things to do in Penang, consider taking the boat. The scenery might be better at night when the city sparkles.

Trip to Pinang Peranakan Museum

What do you do when you are planning a trip to a place where you’ve been to with Person A but now you need to Person B to the same place.

That was the question I had to answer when I was planning my parents’ trip to Penang. Previously, I went to the Pearl of the Orient once with L. I didn’t really want to visit sites which I’ve visited because it would be a waste of time for me.

However, I made an exception for the Pinang Peranakan Museum.

Background of Pinang Peranakan Museum

Pinang Peranakan Museum's facade — Pinang Peranakan Museum’s facade

The museum was previously the house of a rich Peranakan family.

Even though the mansion is big, it doesn’t seem be to big enough for a family with 3 generations, including the multiple concubines and their kids. Perhaps the lower ranking people lived in the compound and not the main house.

Pinang Peranakan Museum's interior — Pinang Peranakan Museum’s interior

The museum is divided into two levels. The lower level is the place where guests visit. It includes a gigantic dining table, a room for card games and loads of antique.

Many of the wooden panels or carvings were decorated with a layer of gold (probably only paint) which made the whole floor look a little like the showfloor for houses targeted at the nouveau riche.

The upper floor is similarly packed with antiques but is more “personal”.

The wedding room is a little ominous with the red lighting which made the room feel like a brothel instead of the suit of a newly wed couple.

After seeing Singapore’s Peranakan Museum, the Pinang Peranakan Museum feels like everything was thrown together in haste for the exhibition. This isn’t a bad thing because it feels more approachable. It’s easier to imagine how the family might have lived..

I’m a star

Based on the fading movie posters at the entrance, the house was the filming location for multiple period dramas.

A popular Singapore period drama, Little Nyonya, might be filmed here. I’ve never watched the drama but after reading the character bios, I think I might like the show because it doesn’t have a “Happily Ever After” ending.

The parents and I at Pinang Peranakan Museum

The compound of the museum had a few bamboo-like plants. They were decorated with the entrance stickers which were stuck on by tourists. I like that it gave the green tone of the wall and plants a pop of color.

Comparing Pinang Peranakan Museum and Singapore Peranakan Museum

If I must choose between Pinang Peranakan Museum and Singapore Peranakan Museum, I would choose the museum in Penang as my favorite.

The site feels more friendly and human because all the wares are right in front of you.

If you like reading explanations in museums then Penang’s peranakan museum might not suit your taste.

Singapore’s Peranakan Museum is housed in a beautiful building but the content of the exhibition is a little sterile. It played up the peranakan nostalgia to the highest volume.

Visiting information:

Location: 29 Lebuh Gereja George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Entrance fee: RM10
Time required to look around: ~1 hour

Like Penang? Check out my other posts on the Pearl of the Orient.

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I’m in Dec 2012 issue of Jetstar Asia magazine

Hello folks! I’m finally published in a print magazine.

Ta da! It’s Dececember 2012 issue of Jetstar Asia’s magazine (page 111). It’s a short piece on the Blue Mansion in Penang. The house was lovely but we couldn’t take photos inside. :(

YQ on Jetstar Asia, Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion — YQ on Jetstar Asia Magazine

OK, maybe my article is not as glamorous as a full spread photo + text article but it’s a step, isn’t it? (Although a rather small one.)

Full story appears at Jetstar online mag.

If you are interested in the competition, here are the details.

Wait a minute, it seems like I’ve not written much about Penang. I’ll do just that in the following weeks. Stay tuned.

Travel happy.
-YQ

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A guide to walking from Malaysia to Thailand

When I was planning my trip to Padang Besar, Perlis, I wanted to walk from Malaysia to Thailand so I could tell people, “Yup, I’ve walked to Thailand from Malaysia before.”

So I flipped through the traveller’s bible, aka Lonely Planet, and was shocked.

In the tiny two-inch column for Padang Besar, the guidebook said: “Very few people, if any, walk the more than 2km of no-man’s land between the Thai and Malaysian sides of the border.”

NO INSTRUCTION, IT’S THE DAY OF DESTRUCTION.

After freaking out, I decided to become one of the “very few people” to walk to Thailand and back. And write a post about it. (Although another reason I’m walking is that I am too stingy to pay for the RM40 cab fare.)

A guide to walking from Malaysia to Thailand

Step 1 Get to Padang Besar’s immigration checkpoint

Malaysian side of immigration checkpoint border

The entrance of immigration checkpoint is right in front of the big roundabout. Walk up to the toll booth-like area, keeping to your left since cars and motorbikes are on the right.

Step 2 Get your documents verified (and stamped)
Pass through the immigration checkpoint using the electronic gates if you have a Malaysian passport.

If you have a foreign passport, you’ll need to get it stamped at one of the officer’s booth.

Step 3 Walk a lot
It’s quite a long walk to the end of the border from the document checking area. Even though you will see a path (which is persumably for pedestrians) near the walls, do not take that route as it brings you to a dead end.

Admire the murals while you walk. I am not sure who the murals were put up for, perhaps it is for drivers who are stuck in a traffic jam.

Wave as drivers drive pass and motorcyclists give you a second look. Sticking out a thumb to hitchhike here does not work. I tried.

You will eventually reach the end of Malaysia’s border where a few officials hang around.

Step 4 Explain why you are walking to anyone who asks
The immigration officers will be curious why you are walking when there are motorcycle shuttles. The excuse “Because we want to” does not seem to satisfy their curiosity.

The officer practically interrogated us after looking at our passports. When we said we just wanted to walk to Thailand, he told that there were motorcycles shuttling people across. I asked where the motorbikes are, he pointed to the other end. I told him that I will not walk all the way back just for a motorcycle.

After being released, we walked to the Thai part of the border.

Step 5 Reach Thai border
There are no lines on the road to tell where passengers can walk, so be careful of traffic.

Follow the cars and where a bunch of people are filling up forms. Fill up the form and pay RM1 to the immigration officer.

Step 6 Enter Thailand
With the new stamp in your passport, head out of the immigration checkpoint. Do not be alarmed that it looks exactly like Malaysia but with Thai signs.

A guide to walking back to Malaysia from Thailand

Step 1 Get to Padang Beser checkpoint
The line back to Malaysia is not the same as the one you came in from. It’s at the other gate.

Step 2 Get passport stamped
Get your Checking Out stamp and hand over another RM1 to the person behind the booth.

Step 3 Walk back to Malaysia
The Malaysian folks will be less curious about you by now. Walk on. Same as usual, walk on the left side of the road to avoid traffic.

There is a sad duty free store along the no-man’s land.

Step 4 Get your documents verified to enter Malaysia

Show off your passport to the official at the toll booth. You must get an entry stamp or face being stripped naked during interrogation when you want to leave Malaysia. This is serious business.

Step 5 Get your luggage scanned
There’s probably no one in luggage check so just ignore this step.

Step 6 Back in Malaysia
At the end of the Malaysian customs, another officer will be interested in why you are walking. Answer his questions even though you know all the answers are in the passport which he is holding. Smile pleasantly.

Have you walked through the Malaysian-Thai border before?

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Dinner & miscommunication for breakfast in Alor Setar

Hello, it’s #FoodFri again. I came back from a trip to North Malaysia last weekend. It ended a bit badly, I’ll share more in another post but at least the food was great.

After checking in our hotel in Alor Setar (before 10 a.m.!), we went out looking for food. The lady manning the small stall at the hotel/recreation center/swimming pool didn’t give very good directions so we had to hunt around.

Luckily, just one ditch away, a kopitiam was open. Yippee! (Wikipedia has a nice entry on what a kopitiam is.)

Even though there were a lot of people, we found an empty table and settled down. There were two stalls selling soupy dishes. At the back, a man was standing behind a huge firey wok and making stirfry. Interesting!

Interestingly, everyone was having rice and plates of side dishes for breakfast. RICE FOR BREAKFAST!

I guess I will have to explain. Even though we are overseas Chinese folks, we usually eat lighter stuff such as fried rice, noodles, bread, nasi lemak and that sort for breakfast. It’s only during lunch or dinner that we actually order plates of side dishes to go with our rice.

Things were very different in Alor Setar.

Another different thing was my ability to communicate with the locals. I grew up speaking my unique blend of KK accent Mandarin which I am sure is understandable by other Malaysian Chinese speakers.

But things were different in Alor Setar. The teenage boy could not tell me clearly what they served. Instead he said they didn’t do noodles. (We found out on Sunday that there was fried noodles.)

When the lady took our orders, I asked that they serve a larger portion of vegetables. She said they could not make the portions larger as the orders depend on the number of people there were.

Fine, I asked her to make a 3-person portion for only vegetable. I wasn’t sure how or why she misheard it as “There will be three people.” and made corrections to her pad.

I gave up asking for a bigger portion of vegetables and asked her to serve the two-person portion.

Everyone at the kopitiam ordered steamed fish, so I asked for one too. Without my prompt, she said they had silver pomfret. Since they only had one type of fish, I expected her to scribble down the fish in her order.

But she didn’t write on the pad so I asked if there were other types since it looked like she was expecting me to say something. She replied that there was only silver pomfret.

Well…I guess we will take silver pomfret. Thankyouverymuch.

I had communication problems with the tea girl as well. I asked what sort of Chinese tea they had.

She mumbled a reply. I asked if they had Xiangpian. She shook her head and mumbled the two brands they had. I gave up and repeated the last name that she said.

When the tea came, it tasted just like Xiangpian.

P.S. The Chinese tea we usually have in Sabah are low-grade tea leaves mix and comes in plastic glasses. This tea pot and dainty cups means Alor Setarians take things seriously.

It was the strangest meal I’ve ever had.

Chicken and fish in Alor Setar

Despite the weirdness going on, the food was delicious.

Herbal chicken was the only chicken dish they had so we got half a chicken on the first day.

Instead of an overcooked tough bird, the meat of the chicken was tender and the skin translucent.

The chicken juices tasted like good chicken soup and went very well with the rice.

Steam fish is a specialty of the shop as literally everyone had one on their table.

The silver pomfret came buried under an avalanche of fried garlic. It was an OK dish since I’m more of a chicken person.

Misc side dishes

We don’t really get to eat piping hot veg dishes in Singapore so we vacuumed these dishes rather quickly.

Best kopi in Malaysia

The coffee that we had on our first day was indisputably THE BEST KOPI IN MALAYSIA. It had a caramel taste, according to D. I could only tell that it was delicious.

Have you been to Alor Setar? What do you recommend eating there?

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The real 24 hours in Kuching

My weekend trip to Kuching from Sep. 15 to 16 wasn’t my most productive trip.

By productive, I mean having a planned itinerary packed with activities from the minute I set foot in the airport to the second I head into the boarding room.

You would think that as the author of 24 hours in Kuching, I would have everything planned out.

Nope, I didn’t.

Instead, I accidentally left my guidebook at home and didn’t really bothered doing much research.

So, here’s what really happened that weekend.

1:18 pm Walk out from Kuching airport

I was adamant to find the public bus into the city, despite Lonely Planet saying it will be a difficult task. I walked from Kuching airport to the east (left) in search of the long-distance bus terminal.

D who took a cab some days before said it’s within walking distance from the airport with an umbrella or else it’s a RM17 ride.

So I walked on the side of the road, stepping on broken stones and grass. I don’t think the road builders were expecting anyone to walk on that trail so it was pedestrian unfriendly.

While I walked, trucks and cars zipped pass. Some in the truck would cheer (or cat call, depend on how you see it) me on. I considered hitchhiking.

1:37 pm Reached Kuching Sentral

It wasn’t long until I saw the two-storeyed Kuching Sentral. There were loads of shops inside the airconditioned building but I needed to find my bus.

A man working for the long distance bus companies asked where I was going. He pointed to the opposite side of the road and said I can find my bus there.

I asked if there’s a bus stop. He told me to wait at the side of the road which bends in.

1:44 pm Bus that never came

I waited for about 20 minutes under the sun, with my umbrella. No bus came.

1:58 pm Had milky cold coffee

I gave up and went to a coffeeshop nearby for a drink. The coffee was more milky than the usual ones I have in Singapore.

2:29pm Waited more for bus

I walked around Kuching Sentral and saw a real bus stop. The bus didn’t come.

2:41 pm Got on cab

I gave up and took a cab. RM30. I should have saved myself the time and took a cab straight to the hotel.

The cab ride felt really far. I even passed many places I was sure was opposite the bank of where I was supposed to go. I did reach my hotel in the end.

3:10pm Reach hotel

I made a video of Tune Hotel Kuching before heading to the shower. I’ve included the video in my review of Kuching Waterfront Tune Hotel.

3:42pm Checking out Kuching city

I walked along the Kuching River. There was the Sarawak Regatta happening so it was really packed.

I checked out the Chinese temple which I didn’t manage to see during my last trip.

As it was the last day of Ghost Month, people at the temple were busy preparing for the night’s event.

I walked among the shop houses, found two other nice temples.

I walked to Padang Merdeka but couldn’t find anything fun to do.

4:35pm Rain

It's raining (men). — It’s raining (men).

It suddenly started pouring. I had my S$2 umbrella with me so I braved the heavy rain and went to the open air food center nearby.

Most of the stalls were closed. I ordered a kolo mee which was tasted slightly better than the regular “gan lao mian” I have back home. I am not sure why people are obsessed over it.

When I finished my meal, it was still raining heavily. I stood at the sidewalk of the shops, listening to a mix versions of Adele’s “Someone like you” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style“.

4:47pm India Street

I head to India Street while it was slightly drizzling. Only the smell of incense shows that it’s India Street as the wares sold are seen on any other street.

5:02pm Hide from rain by river

I walked to the river again. My umbrella was collapsing from the wind.

One of the rowers shouted from his boat about my umbrella. I waved. They hoot.

One of the stall owners told me to hide from the rain under the roof of the stalls. I was given a chair later. I chat with the people there. A kid was speaking pidgin Chinese but not directly at me.

One of the man asked if I needed a ride tomorrow. RM300 for a day’s tour. I said, No thanks.

When it looked like the rain was slowing, I said my thanks and left the stall.

5:34pm Had bad cake watching Silent Hill

As I walked along the street, I saw a sign for Maria’s Cake House and headed in.

My coffee cake wasn’t terribly good. My coffee was so so. But I enjoyed watching Silent Hill.

During my teatime, J, who moved back home to Kuching, asked me if I was free during the night in a text message. I happily said: “Yes.”

I was in the shop for a long while before I went back to the hotel for a nap.

7:43pm Wake up from nap, play Pocket Planes

Woke up. Received a message from J that she was waiting for her friend to carpool.

Played more Pocket Planes.

10:29pm Supper with friend till late midnight

Car came to pick me up. We went to a restaurant nearby for food and gossip.

Night ended at 1 a.m.

Day 2 in Kuching

The last 6 hours of Kuching was filled with food which is a very good way to end a trip.

Woke up at 9:30 a.m.

Laid in the comfortable bed for a long long.

10:10am Check out and off to museum

Very surprised that D & M were already at the museum before 10 a.m. I packed quickly and check out.

The Sarawak National Museum was only so-so. There were a lot of stuffed dead animals, if you’re into that kind of thing.

The special exhibition on funeral rites was a lot more interesting.

11:33pm Breakfast of Sarawak Laksa

After the museum, we head to a random kopitiam for breakfast. My Sarawak laksa was great.

We walked around the area and to India Street. It was market day so the narrow corridors were cramped with stalls and customers.

12:17 noon Drink at Little Lebanon

Found the Lonely Planet-famous Little Lebanon where we stopped for non-alcoholic drinks. My mint tea was quite good.

We walked along the river, among the crowd. Nothing much to do and it was hot.

We went to hide in a shopping mall for the airconditioning. Most of the shops were closed.

1:33pm Lunch

Found a lunch place. Service was very very slow. I had cheap lamb chop.

2:00 p.m. Cab back to airport

Hailed a cab to the airport. RM27.

Have you been to Kuching? Was your trip productive?

#FoodFri Penang cendol @ Georgetown

Cendol is probably my second favorite Malaysian dessert. (The first being “bubur pulut hitam” which is black glutinous rice soup with coconut milk.)

The best cendol I’ve ever had was in Georgetown, Penang.

I usually like my cendol icy with lumps of teeth numbing ice so I was very disappointed when I got a warm-ish bowl of cendol from the “Penang Most Famous Teochew Chendul” (Yes, that’s its name!).

But after a sip of the coconut milk, I was hooked.

Even L, who was repulsed by the florescent green cendol in Singapore, enjoyed the Penang dish very much. She admitted that the mild green cendol looks more edible than the artificial coloring added in Singapore’s dessert.

L and I visited this stall for all three days we were there (or was it two out of the three days?)

The green worm-like cendol was soft and had real pandan flavor. The sweet red bean gave the pale milk a hint of rouge.

Even though the melting lump of shaved ice didn’t help much with making the bowl cooler, it helped cooled me down in the hot weather.

I found out about the stall from a work acquaintance. I bumped into her on my way home on the train. She said she visits Penang a lot for work and recommended the “cendol stall opposite the police station”.

She told me that there are stalls selling cendol on the same street. The acquaintance said I need to pick the stall with blue bowls. It’s also closer to the junction and doesn’t have chairs.

(This site has the map if you are interested in visiting the stall: http://www.onestopmalaysia.com/food-reviews/penang/penang-road-cendol.html)