Day 50 - Malaysia!!! Georgetown: A Foodie and Art Lover's Paradise

I enjoyed my nice room until checkout at noon. I was anxious to see the city, but also wanted to take advantage of my room while I had it.

I am absolutely in LOVE with Penang Island and Georgetown.

There are hawkers (what they call their food cart vendors here) on every corner, and down alleys spread across the heart of the city, you can find the most amazing art on the crumbling walls of the colonial heritage buildings. This part of the city has been added to the Unesco World Heritage List, and for good reason. It's just awesome. So much history, art, culture, and food from countries around the world, all clustered in this area.

 

 

 

The food.... The glorious food.... The eastern Asian and Indian influence is VERY strong here, so those are two types of foods readily found on almost every corner. Many places or stands are open 24 hours a day, so you can really just eat yourself silly, if you pace it out right. ;)

The stand below is probably my favorite so far. All the skewers have a color painted on the end, which relates to the price. It's kind of like a street fondue. You are handed a plate, and then you go to town picking your skewers, many of which were definitely too weird for me (tongue, mini hearts of some animal, black rotten looking eggs), but some were just too good. You dip them in the boiling broth to warm, and then enjoy with the satay sauce, or spicy chili sauce. When you are done, you hand them your sticks and they quickly add them up so you can pay.

Another meal: Red curry fish head, with mint. Sounds odd, but OMG.... So good.

The rickshaw drivers all decorate their carts with flowers and other various accesories. Just one more beautiful, cultural delight to feast your eyes on in Georgetown. (And they don't hassle you!!)

I haven't seen a single kitschy tourist/souvenir shop yet, either, just artisans, bakery's, antique shops, etc. I really am in heaven!!!

I'm exhausted from miles of walking (or actually more like running around) taking everything in. It's a very easy area to navigate, and there are actually walking maps to all the art and areas of interest - again, so organized and awesome!

I have so many more photos I want to share, but I can't upload them all on this guesthouse's internet connection. :/

More to follow tomorrow!!