Georgtown is located on the island of Penang in the north-west of Malysia. It was, like Melaka and Singapore, one of the first British settlements. Here the two big asian culturs of Indians and Chinese come together and the city in general feels like a melting pot of whole asia.

Because of this and other things, we especially liked Georgetown:

• the so far best night marked in New Lane
• interesting talksin the Pedal Inn with the Hosts Steven & Newton
• the very likable Nonya* with her Otak-Otak (creme of fish in banana leafs)
• the probably most easygoing rickshaw driver (which probably had something to do with his age)
• a very enthusiastic amateur dancer at the Japanese festival
• very good Char Koay Teow in the very busy Cafe Heng Huat
• the best Indian food in a long time
• locals at the fruit stand who give us mangosteens because they realize we don’t share their enthusiasm about the durians (the famous stinking fruit is in season right now).

Not even the Hello Kittys on the school busses can change anything about our positive feelings about Georgetown. We almost extended a second time but the cool of the Cameron Highlands managed to lure us in.

* Baba-Nonyas or Peranakans are the descendants of chinese settlers who married malayan women in the 16th century. Name and religion come from the chinesie fathers. Language, culture and clothing from the malayan mothers. Baba = man, Nonya = woman.

Peranakan Mansion

Night Market @ New Lane

Kek Lok Si Temple

Char Koay Teow

Japanese Festival

Indian Food

Khoo Kongsi

This city was only intended as a stop-over on our way west. That was a good decision.

Arriving from Kuala Besut was already quite tedious as no taxi driver really seemed like he wanted to take us. We had already observed this–let’s call it–apathy of the local population on the island.

Eventually a public bus arrived and one hour later we got out of the bus in pouring rain in the capital of the muslim-oriented state of Terengganu. The guy in the hostel didn’t even try to convince us otherwise: “The night market is here, another market is over there. Apart from that, there is nothing to see.” (to be fair: currently here is Ramadan)

Our travel guide was praising the night market as one of the best in Malaysia. Well. Not so much. We blame the rain. After all, the day had one culinary highlight in store for us: Coconut-ice cream:

Top to bottom: Breadcrumbs, peanuts, ice cream, rice.