Hello from Penang! I arrived after nearly 24 hours of travelling, 3 airports, 2 planes and a taxi!Boy was I tired, but the hotel definitely made up for it. I’m staying at the Eastern and Oriental hotel (or as my taxi driver put it, ‘Those in the know call it the E&O!’) This hotel is truly magnificent, and I’m luckily staying here thanks to a discounted rate due to me earning some”free” nights on a hotel booking site for previous bookings!
As I was pretty tired when I arrived at around 10pm, I went straight up to the room, had a bath (how could I resist with that gorgeous bath sitting there?!) and went to bed. See below for pictures of said bath and the room, which is gigantic, I nearly couldn’t find the bed when I walked in!
Cut to this morning, and I went down for breakfast, I say breakfast but there was literally every type of food you could imagine, curries, sushi, omelettes, cooked breakfasts, waffles, pancakes and a whole host more! I wasn’t particularly starving, so just had some cereal and fruit (including yellow watermelon, never seen that before!)
Next up was a tour of Cheong Fatt Tze, or The Blue Mansion ( it is very blue, not hard to see where the name comes from!)
Can you see why it is called The Blue Mansion?
This house was built by Mr Cheong, who was known as ‘the Rockefeller of the East’ and was once the richest man in China. He was a businessman, but later became the Chinese Consul for Malaysia, and Economic Adviser to the Emperor.
The only way to view the house is by taking a tour, or staying in the hotel that it has now been converted to. My guide was called Clement and was a very knowledgeable Chinese man, who explained why the house had been designed the way it was, in keeping with Chinese customs and Feng shui, and why certain things were certain ways (for instance, I didn’t know that Chinese people avoid the number 4 as it sounds very similar to the word for death, and like the number 8, as it is very similar to the word for luck! There were lots of 8s in the Mansion!)
He also explained that in the early 20th century when the house was built, rich people loved importing goods from Britain to show their wealth, so the house had tiles from Stoke on Trent, and iron work from Scotland!
I come all the way to Malaysia, just to find tiles from Stoke!
It was a very interesting tour, and a good way to see the Mansion. Cost was RM17, which is roughly £3.50, and the tour took around an hour.
By the end of the tour, it was pretty much lunchtime…so I headed out in search of food. I’d read about a place called Joo Hooi, and decided to try it out. It was about a 10 minute walk, but it did decide to rain along the way. Luckily, I had my umbrella in my bag, so I went on.
I arrived at the address, and there didn’t seem to be anything there, apart from a bakery next door to where it should have been. I thought I’d have a scout around and see, and it has moved a few doors down the side street next to the original location. Look for the sign saying ‘Famous Penang Road Chendol’ and you’ll be right!
I went for Assam Laksa, which is a spicy fish broth with rice noodles and herbs.
To say it was delicious is an understatement! It was spicy, but not too hot, packed full of flavour and the noodles were divine! I’d heard that Malaysian food was some of the best around, but this was excellent! Cost was RM4.80, which is less than £1!
The place itself is a stall, with a little covered area with plastic chairs and tables behind. You find a seat and then go to the stall and order, point out where you are sat and they bring it over and collect payment.
The seating area is communal, with tables sitting between 4-8, so you just grab a seat on any table. I sat at one with two people who left shortly, and then whilst I was eating three more people came to the table. They were locals, and initially it was just two ladies, who both were surprised that I could handle the spice of the broth, and then when their companion joined them he also asked if it wasn’t too spicy! Obviously I look like I can’t handle the heat! They did give me a tip to not have any desserts made from shaved ice (a common thing here it seems) as they won’t be made from bottled water and as the man said “Your tummy won’t be able to take it!”
It is now raining quite heavily here, so I’m in the hotel, but it is due to stop in around 30 minutes, so I think I’m going to head out then to the Botanical Gardens and Penang Hill.
That’s it for now…more to follow!
Adventures with Ray Ray 