When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me to hurry whenever I did something slowly. “Do it faster like me! Don’t be slow!” (Very Asian parent of her, I know.)
Even though I’m usually stubborn—advice is always welcome, but I’ll still filter it through my own judgment—those words slowly engraved themselves into my mind. Considering how my mom likes to repeat everything she says, it’s no wonder my subconscious picked them up over the years.
My trip to Penang this year, however, became a wonderful reminder that life isn’t always meant to be lived quickly. Sometimes, doing things slowly is the key to peace of mind.
And I learned that in the best possible way during my six-day, five-night trip to Penang this year.
***
If my usual travel stories begin with a high-spirited version of me noticing every little detail of an early morning trip, my trip to Penang this year was noticeably different. My mom, my sister, and I had finalized our trip by booking a 10 a.m. flight a few months in advance. It wasn’t as early as our previous trips, but I wouldn’t call it late either.
With that schedule in mind, I told my mom and sister that we should book a ride to the airport at around 6 a.m.
Voilà… and thus began the story of how we ended up waiting at the airport for about eight hours straight.
Yep, you heard that right.
Upon arriving at the airport, I was so confused to see that the live departure board showed our supposed flight had been canceled. Worried about the status of our trip, we immediately made a beeline for the customer service counter. It turned out we had been moved to the 2 p.m. flight—and I never received an email notification because of a miscommunication with the third-party agent through whom I had booked our flights.
Oh well.
At least we were still going to Penang. I didn’t really mind the delay as much as I would have minded an outright cancellation.
I would love to say that I spent those extra hours at the airport doing productive things (wouldn’t that be so cool?!), but meh, the truth couldn’t be further from that. I studied Chinese for only a few minutes tops before starting a C-drama called Hidden Love. And then, just like a crazy person obsessing over a TV series, I couldn’t stop.
The only thing that interrupted my binge-watching was boarding the plane and enjoying the takeoff.
And then I got right back to my series again.
Penang, it turned out, wasn’t as far as I had imagined. It took us a little over two hours to get there.
Since I was starving, we made a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts before heading to the bus stop.
But well, we couldn’t board the bus because we didn’t have the exact fare, and the bus driver didn’t have enough small change.
Tips: If you plan to take a Rapid Penang bus from the airport, make sure you have the exact fare! The Dunkin’ Donuts in Terminal 1 only accepts cashless payments, so I would suggest trying another outlet in the airport if you need to break a bill.
In the end, we decided to book a ride to our hotel instead.
It turned out to be such a beautiful ride. Penang’s sky was still bright even at 7 p.m.—the contrast with Jakarta’s was striving—and the closer we got to the heart of the city, the more we found ourselves in awe.
Penang wasn’t particularly crowded, but it was… beautiful. It reminded me of Yishun, only with a lot more festivities.
After checking into our hotel, we decided to take a stroll.
We stopped at New Lane Street Foodstalls and ordered duck char koay teow, a medium-sized fried oyster omelet, and a bowl of durian cendol.
Tips: There may be plenty of tables available, but remember to buy something from the beverage stall that manages the table you’re sitting at. (We didn’t know any better at the time—we thought we could sit anywhere as long as we had bought something from one of the food vendors. In the end, our mistake earned us a scolding. But all was well. All was well.)
And then we called it a night.
Or rather, I called it another binge-watching session…
***
If on the first day the three of us were shocked by how late it was before the sky even started to get dark, on the second day, we found out that Penang wasn’t exactly an early riser.
It was around 6:30 when I woke up, and the sky was still so dark. While my sister went for her morning run, I, um, continued my Hidden Love binge-watching.
It was really, really good.
My sister then came back with two convenience store sandwiches in hand, got ready, and off we went to our first stop of the day: Chowrasta Market.
Not only did the number of crows on the island catch me by surprise, but Chowrasta Market did too. The market was already packed when we arrived. I have to admit, I got a little tired from waiting in line for the food. We almost didn’t get a seat, but a kind elderly couple kindly helped us save one behind them when it became available.
After waiting for what felt like forever, we were finally able to devour a delicious plate of Hong Kong chee cheong fun (it had shrimp inside!) and char kuih kak.
So good! My mom even said that Penang’s food suited her taste perfectly.
Under Penang’s scorching sun, we walked to Prangin Mall to buy some souvenirs. Eco-Shop & Eco-Plus, located in Atrium B, turned out to be a very affordable place to shop. Everything we ended up buying cost only around MYR 2.60 each.
We also figured it was our lucky day because, right after our shopping spree, we found a durian stall just outside the mall.
Good news: we got the best deal ever! For two beautiful boxes of Musang King and another two boxes of Black Thorn, we only paid MYR 100.
Durian party was on, y’all.
The three of us were exceptionally satisfied.
Oh, durian, how we all love you.
Since it was already 1 in the afternoon, we decided to book a ride back to our hotel to rest for a bit. We cooled off for around two hours, and at 4 p.m., we booked another ride to Pasar Lebuh Cecil, not far from our hotel.
When we arrived, we found out that most of the food vendors had already closed for the day. But just our luck—we still got to try the famous duck meat koay teow!
It was so, so, so delicious!
We also bought some fritters: a pork loh bak and something similar to what we call onde-onde in Indonesia.
After that, we went on our hunt for the famous Hock Seng Rojak. It was located in the middle of the market and only opened at 5:30 p.m.
And so we waited. For about an hour.
Since we were the first ones there, we happily stood right at the front. The queue grew longer and longer, and at 5:45 p.m., two aunties and an old uncle finally arrived, pushing two carts full of ingredients.
Well. What an experience.
Since the rojak was only available for takeaway, we decided to slowly walk back to our hotel… But not before making another stop at New Lane Street Foodstalls! We ordered a bowl of mee wonton to go.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived safely at our hotel room and quickly unboxed our highly anticipated dinner.
Our verdict?
We absolutely loved the mee wonton—it tasted amazing—while the rojak sauce was quite a unique experience for us.
***
On our third day in Penang, our trip finally felt like it had officially begun. We woke up quite early, at 5:30 a.m., to catch the Rapid Penang bus to Penang Hill just before 7.
P.S. Well… we had actually planned to wake up at 4. But you know me and my sister—we somehow slept in together. I did because I shamelessly binge-watched Hidden Love the night before. As for my sister… I have no defense.
Our journey to Penang Hill went very smoothly. We didn’t run into any traffic, so about an hour later, we arrived at our destination.
After getting off the bus, we made a beeline for the ticket counter. Each of us paid MYR 40 for a round-trip ticket on the funicular railway.
Well, it was certainly money well spent.
We spent a few hours wandering around the hill and taking pictures.
Since we weren’t planning to stay for very long, we didn’t explore many of the attractions. At around 10 a.m., we booked a ride to a famous dim sum restaurant called Fu Er Dai.
Are you familiar with the saying, “He has ruined every other boy for me,” after someone meets the love of their life?
Well…
I think I just found the food equivalent.
Seriously.
Fu Er Dai ruined every other dim sum place I had ever eaten at. What I had previously considered amazing suddenly felt like frozen supermarket dim sum compared to what I ate there that day.
Everything was incredible, especially the quality of the shrimp. No wonder the restaurant was already packed, even during an early Sunday lunch.
I have to admit, though, that it was definitely on the pricier side. But considering how unbelievably good the food was, none of us had any complaints.
(And it’s official. Fu Er Dai is the best dim sum restaurant I’ve ever been to.)
After our extraordinary dim sum experience, the three of us wandered around the neighborhood for a while. We made an unexpected stop at Beryl’s, walked around a little more, and shared a bowl of cendol and a glass of lemon tea at Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul.
It was the best lemon tea I had ever had… (Okay, the heat definitely made me say that out loud.)
It was almost noon, and just when we thought Penang couldn’t possibly get any hotter… it did.
But the heat didn’t stop us from going on another hunt for good old, good old durian. This time, we ended up at Durian Central Macalister, about 500 meters away. We ordered two boxes of Black Thorn for MYR 70.
Even though they were pricier than the durians we had had the day before, they tasted even better. They were less creamy, colder, and much more tender.
A m a z i n g.
Eventually, the heat started catching up with us. We decided to head back to our hotel and rest for quite a while.
And “quite a while” turned out to be around three hours.
At around 4 p.m., when the weather seemed a little kinder, we booked a ride to Little India to try the famous samosa from Penang Famous Samosa.
No wonder the place was called famous. The samosa was indeed delicious.
Afterward, we continued strolling around the neighborhood and found ourselves drawn to another Indian restaurant. At Restoran Deen Claypot-Briyani, we ordered their famous roti canai and tried a plate of pani puri.
Since the food nicely satisfied our holiday craving for new snacks, we decided to walk a little farther to one of Penang’s most famous attractions: Chew Jetty.
I wouldn’t say it was my favorite place in Penang because, well… it was basically just a jetty (with rows of souvenir shops). But there was something oddly soothing about the sea breeze, the calm water, and all the strangers lazily sitting around.
My mom, my sister, and I sat there quietly for a while, taking in the beautiful view of the city across the water. Eventually, we started talking about life. And then we simply couldn’t stop.
What finally interrupted our conversation was the fact that the corner where we—and a bunch of other strangers—had been sitting actually belonged to a local food vendor. Since he was closing for the day, he asked us to move.
So we stood up and booked a ride to pick up some takeaway for dinner.
Where else would we go if not New Lane Street Foodstalls? We’re food repeaters at heart. So yes, we went there again.
Thankfully, my mom and sister had the conscience to at least try something different this time. We joined the long queue for Charcoal Seafood Char Koay Teow (which was really good) and bought a bowl of curry mee on our way back.
Oh, and we also made a quick stop at 7-Eleven to buy some necessities and a few random drinks.
The rest of the evening was slow and comfortable. We ate our takeaway dinner, chatted for a while, and then each went back to the show we were currently watching.
What a Monday.
If it were entirely up to me, all Mondays would be this lazy and beautiful for sure.
***
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