Penang: The Sites

After a lovely bit of relaxation at Koh Jom, we continued on to Penang.  It was a long day: two hours crammed in the back of an extended cab pick up, two hours on a bus with Thai pop songs cranked to 11, then four hours in a packed mini bus from Hat Yai to Penang.  Our mini bus driver stopped twice to make some sort of hand off/transaction to dudes on motor scooters.  This is the kind of thing appears to be standard practice – the few natives on the mini bus didn’t even flinch.

Anyways, Penang is incredible.  By far the most compelling city we’ve visited.  It’s got a gritty, colonial look that’s very attractive.  Mostly two story buildings with shuttered windows and a ground floor set back from a portico-ed walkway:

The tourist sites – forts, temples and the like – have been interesting.  Here are some highlights:

Above and below is Fort Cornwallis, on the northeast corner of Penang Island.  It’s one of the island’s original structures, built by Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang. 

Our favorite Fort Cornwallis Anecdote: Capt. Light apparently exhorted his sailors to clear the island of brush by firing a cannon load of silver coins into the wilderness.

 

Sweet barrel-soldier.

This is Khoo Kongsi, a Chinese Clan House.  The Fujianese are really big on ancestor worship.  The Khoo Clan, an extremely wealthy bunch of Fujianiese traders and merchants, built this extravagant clan house to honor their ancestors in 1906. 

My Favorite Khoo Khongsi Anecdote: The men of the Khoo Clan gathered in 1835 and decided to build a clan house.  Donations were collected.  For ten-plus years, nothing was done.  The money was invested until they had enough capital to construct an adequate clan house, opened in 1851.  For some reason, I just can’t picture this happening today.

We’ll have more about the Penang’s food in the coming days.  It’s been the best of our trip so far.

The Best of Street Snacks- Drinks Edition: Penang

Kickapoo Joy Juice: I initially bought this guy on a whim. With such a funny name, how could I not try it? However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted delicious- like Sprite but more citrusy, and it quickly became a must-drink. Sold in all restaurants and bodegas (well 7-11s), it’s easy to come by and is surprisingly refreshing.

Coconut Milkshake: While eating lunch on our first day in Penang, I noticed a young man rushing these delicious treats to nearly every table in the food hall. Seeing as they were so popular, I knew I needed to figure out what the buzz was all about. One sip was all it took- creamy, cool, sweet, a winning combination. Ice + fresh coconut + coconut water + 1 scoop of Vanilla ice cream = heaven. You may find me peddling these in Chicago, come summer, as the rest of the US needs to know what they’re missing out on.

Iced Coffee: We were first introduced to SE Asian style iced coffee in Thailand. By adding sweetened condensed milk, it’s much sweeter than the ice coffee I drink at home; often tasting more like coffee milk than coffee. However, a new addition in Penang was the handy wrist strap. We saw countless vendors with their drinks hanging off the sides of their carts, so they could snag a sip between filling orders. Unlike Thailand, where this treat can be found all day long, in Malaysia it seems to be more exclusively a morning drink, and can be trickier to find later in the day.

Vavavoom! Koh Jum

Problem: Our remaining beach time in Southern Thailand was limited. We wanted to find a place where we could relax without tourists, read to our hearts content and spend much time swimming and sunning.

Solution: Koh Jum

We had only planned on staying for 2-3 days, but we ended up staying for 4 nights. To get to this little piece of paradise, you take a bus to a ferry to a long tail boat:

Choose a not so humble bungalow in which to dwell:

And the rest will take care of itself. A sampler of activities from the past few days:

shell collecting

sunny snorkling

seaside reading

scooting around the island

by the end of our stay, we felt relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to head to malaysia. in short, like this:

Postcard from Ao Nang

After a few days of hiking in Koh Sok National Park, we were ready to leave the forest and head back to the beach. Unlike Koh Chang, the beaches in southern Thailand are surrounded by beautiful limestone cliffs and soft white sand. The majestic scenery in this area has been used in movies like The Beach and the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun.

We’ve spent the past three days soaking up the rays, in the touristy hub of Ao Nang. A mini photo summary of what that’s looked like:

We’re waiting for the ferry to head to Ko Jum, a smaller and quieter island in the Andaman Sea. This is probably our last week in Southern Thailand, so we plan to make the most of it.

The Best of Street Snacks: Koh Chang

Waffles can reliably be found in any city in Thailand. Common flavors: Chocolate, raisin and corn. Shocking revelation: Corn is hands down the best flavor. The kernels add just a little extra sweetness and are a pleasant surprise. (Side note: The Thai love canned corn on everything. We’ve seen it sold as a topping with shaved ice and with peas in ice pops.)

Banana Pancakes are a signature backpacker treat and they are delicious. The bananas are sliced and served in a crepe-like dough, fried in a big wok, and topped with any of the following: vanilla syrup (gross), honey, chocolate sauce (very tasty), or sweetened condensed milk (the clear winner). Banana pancake vendors only come out later in the day, around mid-afternoon, but are open until late in the night.

Banana Fritters, similar to maduros, are sold in bags for 10-20 Baht. Often coated in sesame seeds, they are one of the most snackable treats we’ve come across and taste good both fresh out of the fryer and a few hours later when they’ve completely cooled.

Meat on a Stick, specifically chicken, is the best savory snack we’ve found. Often served with a spicy chili sauce and sticky rice, it’s the perfect late-night snack.

Thai Menagerie, Pt. 2

The other day we rented a kayak for a paddle around Kai Bae.  Afterwards, we grabbed a traditional Issan lunch (grilled chicken, labb, som tam, sticky rice) from a local man with a food cart/side car contraption attached to his motorcycle.  Walking back to the road, we were confronted with this sight:

An older European was smoking a cigarette near the wall.  He calmly pointed towards the kids and whispered “crocodiles.”

Sure enough, there were a bunch of crocodiles on the other side of that wall.

There must have been 15 or so crocodiles in there.  Around the walls, in the pool, everywhere.  We have no idea how  they got there – certainly not of their own volition.

Our best guess: someone is raising these guys for their pelts.  That’s a lot of boots.

Motorcycle Diaries: Koh Chang

We rented a motor scooter yesterday. 

Our chariot:

It’s a peppy little automatic scooter.  Everyone on the island seems to drive them.  They probably outnumber cars 5 to 1.

The tourist maps distributed to new arrivals really play up the island’s waterfall situation.  About a half dozen are prominently noted.  We checked out two. The first was a total scam, advertised by a guesthouse to get away with charging a 20 baht entrance fee.  The second was much more worthwhile, if not exactly breathtaking.  We hiked 3/4 of a mile into the jungle for this:

After the waterfall, we grabbed lunch at a lovely little roadside stall - seafood with garlic and pepper, seafood in red curry, a minced pork omelette and an ice cold Leo to wash it down.  The omelette was excellent. 

From there, it was on to Long Beach and the Koh Chang Historic Naval Memorial.  The latter refers to a naval battle between the Thai and the French in 1941.  Apparently, the Thais received a thorough drubbing, which explains the amount of resources poured into the commemorative monument/archway:

On our way back to Bang Bao, we spotted this gem:

We’ll close with a brief (and very amateurish) video.

Postcard From Koh Chang

It didn't take us long after arriving in Bangkok to decide that we wanted to escape the hustle and bustle and head someplace much more relaxing and low key. The perfect antidote to the city: the beach! Or in our case Koh Chang, an elephant-shaped island in the gulf of Thailand.

We quickly settled into the cozy bungalows at cliff cottage. All are very rustic and scattered on a large hill. Half have incredible sunrise views and the other half have equally amazing sunset views.

This has been our home for the past few days and will continue as such until Wednesday.

The sunset from our porch.

Thai Menagerie

One thing the guide books did not tell us about Thailand: the domesticated animal situation is ridiculous.

A few examples:

1. At this very moment, I am within spitting distance of three gorgeous dogs. We're seeing at least a dozen dogs a day, maybe more. Almost all of them are very cute.

2. Walking from town (Bang Bao) to our bungalow, we pass by a whole crew of chickens. They walk around the paths during the day, and sleep in trees at night. Also, these roosters look fierce. Gillie and I give them plenty of distance (and avoid eye contact - seriously), lest they come after our ankles.

3. Last night after dinner, we saw a giant black pig (boar?) trotting down the road into the village. This guy was HUGE - maybe 800+ pounds, or several Warren Sapps. A couple of dogs barked at him for a while, but they got bored. We tried to get a picture of him as he sauntered past us, but it was too dark.

4. Our first day in Bangkok, we saw a black lab trotting around with a small bag of garbage. He had a definite sense of purpose - after walking 60 or 70 feet, he stopped and readjusted his grip on the bag. This is underwhelming in prose, but just amazing in real life. We're certain that he is a specially trained garbage dog, ridding Bangkok's parks of litter.

Not in New York Anymore

On our arrival in Bangkok, Gillie and I flagged down a cab for the 45 minute ride to our guest house. After ensuring that the guy had a meter (otherwise they quote you a price three to four times the metered rate - think the touts outside JFK luring tourists into $60 rides to Manhattan), we happily got into the cab.

For the first five minutes, it was just like a NYC cab, except smaller and much less bullet-proofed. Then, the driver hits a button, and from the center console emerges a 7" LCD screen playing a Hong Kong gangster flick. You know you're in good hands when your cab driver is watching a movie while talking on a cell phone while navigating dense Bangkok traffic.

The movie ended about 20 minutes into our journey. The driver pops another disc in, grabs the remote from the center console, and navigates through the DVD menu to a new-ish Jackie Chan picture.

Moral of the story: I kind of miss the TLC.

Bangkok by Night

Remember those day time snack vendors? They turn into road side restaurants after dusk, and stay open late into the evening.

Dogs! Everywhere! And cute ones at that.

You gotta buy your Buddhas somewhere. Reminds me of the trophy catalogs your gym teacher would get.

Bangkok by Day

Food vendors sell a wide variety of snacks on every corner.

Bright pink, Malibu Barbie cabs.

Big lizards!

Tiny plants near bus stops keeping the air clean.

china airlines (a sampler)

Airplane food:

Pork with rice. Potato salad with smoked salmon. Fruit cup.

Beef with noodles. Potato salad with smoked salmon. Fruit cup.

Pork with rice. Glass noodle salad with smoked salmon. Fruit salad, a la can. Coconut spice cake.

Some notes on the China Air dining experience:

1. The roll always came out hot, piping hot. It was fantastic.

2. They love smoked salmon. Salad needs jazzing up? Add some smoked salmon.

3. The first two meals above were served at approximately 8:30 AM EST. The Taiwanese don't believe in eggs for breakfast.