Penang and Melaka: Brilliant (and Delicious) Bookends for Malaysia

We didn't know much about Malaysia before we went and like South Korea, this fact turned out to be an advantage.  We visited Japan and China with plenty of expectations about their people, cultures, food, land, and other aspects.  Malaysia, on the other hand, was more of a mystery and we think our lack of expectations helped make our three weeks there that much more special.  There wasn't much we didn't like about Malaysia, but two of our favorite places happened to be the first and last areas we visited: Penang and Melaka.

Penang is a small island just off Malaysia's west coast, barely south of the Thailand border.  Penang's main tourist attraction is the city of Georgetown.  At first glance Georgetown is a decrepit and crumbling city, desolate and bleak.  Further inspection reveals hidden charms in the forms of diverse architecture and temples, rich cultural history, friendly people, and amazing food. Penang's diversity makes its food utterly awesome and the island a fascinating place to explore.  We meandered streets boasting Portuguese, British, Chinese, Indian (Hindu), Chinese, and Malay influences while we munched food with roots in almost all of the same places.  It is almost impossible to describe here the nirvana achieved when we took our first bites of a magical coconut tart we found a bit off the beaten path. These things were invented by the current baker's father and are different (by leaps and bounds) from the other coconut tarts we found in Malaysia. You have to weave your way through a few side streets and alleys and into a place called "People's Court," which is more like a dilapidated parking lot perched in the center of some very rundown and grotty looking apartment buildings, to get to this baking wizard, but once you do the payoff is huge.  We went back two more times after our first visit and never got sick of the tarts. Trying to describe how these tarts taste in writing would be like attempting bake a cake to convey the beauty of the Sistine Chapel. So we guess to really experience these tarts, you'll just have to go to Penang yourself!  (Jeff contends that these tarts are the best thing he has eaten over the course of our entire adventure!)

The other, more traditionally Malay, Chinese, and Indian food we experienced in Penang was fantastic, too. We shoved roti (described on English menus as "Indian Bread"), teh terrik (literally "Tea Pulled"), coffee (like the teh terrik, Malay coffee is served pre-melded with sweetened condensed milk[!]), kaya toast (kaya is a Malay jam made with eggs, coconut, and sugar), samosas, and many other very bad-for us, but very delicious street food delights.  We ate mainly from small stalls and street carts while we meandered the city gawking at temples, warming to nearly toppled buildings, and learning some Malay history. 

We ventured out of the city one day to inspect an enormous temple on a nearby hill.  The temple is known for its striking architecture, but we marveled at the pond filled with turtles down below.  The pond is populated by turtles released by locals.  By releasing a turtle into the pond, one is said to be letting go of the past and hoping for a bright future.  Apparently, a lot of residents have let the past go, because the pond is almost overflowing with turtles! 

The sights in Penang and Georgetown were interesting (especially a "lodge" built by a Chinese clan society similar to the Knights of Columbus with obvious Indian and Malay influences in the architecture), but we found ourselves always drawn back to the food.  After the hillside temple we immediately tried our first (but not our last) ais kacang, a Malay sweet treat consisting of ice cream, shaved ice, flavored syrups, corn, jellies, and red beans.  Ais kacang was far, far better than it sounds and we tried it again, despite the fact that it sounds like ice cream and shaved ice mixed with the findings of someone's trash bin.  Indeed, Penang lived up to its reputation as having the best food in Malaysia.  We were introduced to many of what later became our favorite things to eat in Malaysia. 

We took what we learned about Malaysian food in Georgetown and promptly ate our way in a zig-zag pattern down the country.  Our feast ended (appropriately) in Melaka, another fantastic food city and a town we enjoyed very much.  Melaka had it's ignored and crumbling bits just like Penang, but it had more tourists (carted in by the busload) and shine in it's tourist center.  We (happily) stayed outside of Melaka's center and, as a result, enjoyed some less touristy pursuits: We saw two movies (each less than $3 per person[!]), Jeff played pop-a-shot at an arcade neighboring the movie theater, we enjoyed brightly flavored doughnuts a-la America's cupcake trend on an expansive lawn with locals, walked to a beachless-shore lacking any other white faces, and toured an old restored Dutch shop/home with a friendly and super-informative guide (who we could tell was itching for someone - anyone - to stop by his brilliant, but empty restored home).  We also saw a five-foot water monitor lizard in the sewers through the bars of a storm drain.  The man chopping up chickens behind the restaurant fronting the drain smiled widely and told us that the lizard comes by every morning, around the same time.  He made this statement as he tossed chicken bits down to the hungry maw of the animal. (!)

The main sights in Melaka included a batch of red British colonial buildings, a bustling Chinatown, and some ruins on a hill.  But the main event was Annette's first meeting with rojak (a delicious fruit and vegetable salad covered with a sweet and salty sauce).  Annette declares rojak as one of her favorite things we have eaten on our trip so far!  The same place we ate rojak also featured an old lady making banana leaf-wrapped rice pyramids using blue rice.  The same lady also whipped us up a Malaysian burrito called poppiah, which was almost as good as the rojak.  Jeff loved the poppiah and the rojak, but the most memorable food moments for Jeff were trying the disgusting, but edible-enough looking, durian cream puffs and eating dinner with some friends we ran into who we met in Kuala Lumpur.  The best part about the impromptu double date was that the fella, Dimitri from Canada, and Jeff could make jokes about the food all night since we decided to try the local specialty of chicken balls.  How marvelous!

All in all, Penang and Malaka left a very tasty impression on us both.  But wait!  Our love affair with Malaysia continues in our next post, the Cameron Highlands!