Om nom nom nom

Well if it didn't look like a food blog before, it's certainly going to now. My apologies in advance! Penang was was our next destination and they don't call it foodies heaven for nothing!

Our first stop on the food trail was Red Garden: an open food-court-type place and a must visit for backpackers. Lots of delicious cheap food stalls, beer girls everywhere and in the evening it really comes alive with live music, karaoke, and lots of singing and dancing - a very fun night. It's also here where I found the best wonton noodle soup ever. I could eat that stuff for days it was so good!

The best wonton noodle soup ever!

The next day we had a bit of a look around Georgetown which is the historic part of Penang where we were staying. A lot of really old buildings with some fantastic architecture and something going on down every little side street. We also checked out the old Fort Cornwallis, though there wasn't really too much to see as it was pretty run down and not very well looked after.

Next on the food front was Guerny Drive, another area with tons of food stalls. Jade of course wanted to try everything and pretty much did! After assam laksa, char kway teow, wonton noodle soup, chicken satay skewers, Nasi Lemak and two watermelon juices needless to say we were satisfied, full, but not out of pocket. All that for only 26 ringgit ($10), you can't beat that!

The next day we took a short bus ride to the outskirts of the city in order to see the Buddhist Temple Kek Lok Si. We got off in the middle of a busy street market and set off to find the path up the hill to the temple. Once we found the path we were quite surprised as it was more like a tunnel. Hawker stalls lined the way selling everything, their goods pressing in from all sides including over head. Jade had to walk hunched over the entire way up! We exited the hawker tunnel past through a small building site and entered the temple. Form there we took a small cable car further up the hill to see the main temple and got a pretty spectacular view of the city too.

Walking back down the hill through the hot humid heat, a bowl of soup was the last thing I wanted. But the small and very busy hawker street stall at the end of the road was meant to make the best Assam Laksa in Penang. So of course we had to try some, and it's true, this one was definitely good. I'm still not 100% sure about it though as it does have a very unique flavour. It's very meaty, sweet and sour, spicy and fresh all at the same time, it really has a lot going on and and I'm really not doing it any justice. You'll just have to go try some for yourself.

The very tasty assam laksa

On one of the other sides of the island there is a beach called Batu Feringgi, lots of people had said it was really nice so that's where we ended up next. Extremely touristy and over priced would have been a better description though I think. Tourists far outnumbered the locals and everything was double the price compared to Georgetown. Sorry to say but the beach wasn't anything great. We were also pestered every two minutes by someone wanting us to hire jet skis. However the night markets were quite good and had a larger variety of goods than those in KL. A day here was all we could handle before craving nice cheap food and a bit more local atmosphere, so back to Georgetown we went.

On our very last, very hot afternoon in Penang there was only one thing we wanted: a bowl of icy cool cendol. Nothing tastes better in the sticky heat. Consisting of shaved ice with palm sugar syrup, coconut milk, sweetened beans and some green noodles on top, cendol's just so cool and refreshing. And while it may not sound or look that good, trust me you will want seconds. No wonder it's a national dish.

Very yummy and refreshing cendol

On the morning of our departure there was one last thing we had to try. A local breakfast favourite, Dim sim. Arriving at Tai Tong Restaurant in the middle of Georgetown I think the only way to describe the setup would be like watching a pit crew working on a race car. A team zips out and reassembles the car in a matter of seconds, then off it goes. Our dim sim pit crew were three old Chinese woman who, before we had even sat down, started serving us from their trolleys stacked high with food. We ordered a few different dumplings, buns and Chinese tea, all of which were delicious especially the chicken dumpling.

Our pit stop breakfast

Feeling very satisfied from our dim sim breakfast, we picked up our packs and headed back into the early morning heat to catch the ferry back to the mainland. From there, our next destination: the island of Langkawi.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay in Penang forever though that's probably a good thing else we'd come back a lot heavier than when we left! But it's time to say goodbye for now though we'll be back one day to eat, see and experience some more of this fascinating place.

Into the highlands!

After nearly a week in KL we thought it was about time for us to move on. With so much to do we could've stayed longer, but we had heard good things about the Cameron Highlands (and not just the name!) so we went to check it out.

The bus to get there though took almost 5 hours and the last couple were through some very narrow, windy mountain roads, so to say the least I wasn't feeling too great when we arrived. But when we finally stepped off the bus somehow we were back on the coast. So much cooler than where we'd just been, damp, pouring with rain and bush everywhere. Yup we were definitely on the coast!

Misty rain clouds rolling in

Where we were actually staying was a small town called Tenha Rata, you can walk from one end to the other in about 10mins and more than half the shops are restaurants. But if there's one thing we've learnt so far: Malaysia loves its food and you're surrounded by it everywhere you go!

Our lovely hosts at the guesthouse suggested we try a local Chinese restaurant's steamboat for dinner, think fondue expect instead of the chocolate sauce it's a chicken broth or Tom yum soup. We still weren't entirely sure what we were meant to do as a gas cooker and two giant platters piled high with meat, seafood, veggies, noodles, eggs and tofu were bought out to us but the guy said just chuck everything in for two minutes then enjoy, and enjoy we did! This was the best meal we have had since being here, it was delicious and so fun trying to dip everything in and fish it out with chop sticks too.

We woke early the next morning and got ready for a half-day guided trip to local sights and attractions. Our timing was perfect, as the heavy rain had stopped and the sun shone between clouds when our guide picked us up, along with two other couples who were staying at the guesthouse. We set off to the highest mountain in the area which involved a winding drive up a narrow road to the top. It had been raining heavily all night so it was a bit cloudy unfortunately, still a pretty awesome view though.

View from the top of the mountain

Next was a walk into the mossy forest, just down the mountain a little. Again we thought we were on the west coast, and there was even a manuka tree! Our guide really knew his stuff though as he told us about all the different plants and what you could do with them if you were stuck in the rain forest. Saw banana plants, lemongrass, a plant that would stop the bleeding from a leech bite and even tasted the freshly picked leaves off a cinnamon bush.

Venus fly trap type plant, bugs fall in and drown

We then stopped off at the Boh tea plantation which was pretty awesome (Mum you would definitely like this). We stopped by the fields so we could see what the plants looked like and watch the workers picking the leaves, well when I say picking I guess I really mean mowing. They use a two person hand held lawn mower with a bag on the back to catch the leaves. Then we went up to the factory to see the tea making process followed by a nice cup of tea in the cafe afterwards.

Tea plantation as far as the eye can see

The tiny white dots are the sacks of tea from the pickers

The leaves being crushed

After the leaves are dried in a big oven, they are ready to be packaged

And finally the end product!

Last stop on the tour was the butterfly farm though for the bus load of girls who were visiting it also, Jade was the bigger attraction! We couldn't take two steps without them coming up and asking for a photo. After they had each had a single photo with us then a big group one as well, we really wanted to start charging! After 15mins and many photos later we were quite exhausted and finally got to look at the butterflies (both living and dead) and other insects they had there.

Some members of Jades fan club

After the tour finished we made a quick stop at the strawberry farm. Although the waffle and strawberry sundae we got were good, NZ - your strawberries are way tastier. Then Jade wanted to walk back to our town, which was the next one over. We didn't exactly have a map only a quick snap on my iPhone of a path our Guesthouse host had said to take, but nothing was clear and no sign posts meant we weren't 100% confident we were going the right way. We did eventually make it after first being caught in a down pour, lucky for us we had our trusty emergency ponchos! I may have had a sight difficulty in getting mine on, as the arm holes seemed to be sealed together and when I finally managed to get it on the rain had stopped! Oh well, we certainly amused some of the locals who thought it was very funny to see us striding down the street in our plastic sacks, at least we didn't get wet!

Poncho success!

As nice as the Cameron Highlands are we were definitely ready to move back down the mountain to some warmth, so stay tuned for the next instalment.

First week in Kuala Lumpur

I've finally found some time to sit down and start writing this blog as Jade has been keeping us very busy traipsing all over KL, always in search of the best food and things to take photos of! (I'm going to have to take back my comment Jess about him not being too bad, he's taken a ton of photos!!)

Anyway what have we been doing you ask? Well quite a lot actually. I'll tell you about Kuala Lumpur for now, there'll be more to follow. We flew into Kuala Lumpur and eventually made it to our guesthouse right in the heart of Chinatown with a bus stop right outside, a lot going on and so noisy which meant we didn't get much sleep that night (or the next few nights for that matter!). The first few days were pretty overwhelming: it's hot and humid and people are very much in your face asking you to look at things, buy something or telling you you need their product. After a couple of days you just get used to it and learn to keep walking and not make eye contact, it's quite amazing how quickly they can switch into sales mode when they think they might get a sale out of you. One minute they'll be sitting at their stall, texting and ignoring everyone. Suddenly they see you and they're up, animated, telling you everything they have on offer: "come Miss", "you need watch Miss?", "I give you good price Miss!". It can be quite a lot. And this isn't limited to the hundreds of market stalls, you get the same thing in the malls too.

In all of the craziness we did manage to find the infamous Lot 10 Hutong - a mall food court like no other. Such a cool place and we could stay there for days trying all the different food. In fact we did go back a couple of times so we could try all the things we wanted (and could still go back and not have the same thing twice). Lot 10 was setup by the CEO of the mall basically taking all his favourite street food stalls off the street and putting them into one handy food court designed by Yuhkichi Kawai, an award-winning Japanese interior designer. The char siu noodle dish and banana puffs must get a special mention - they are seriously delicious!

Part of the food court maze, you could get lost in here!

Jade enjoying some weird noodle dish

One afternoon we caught a train from the central station to the Batu Caves, a Hindu temple within a mountain. One word: amazing. To get to the temple you have to walk up 272 steps to the cave with the temples inside. At the top you get a pretty amazing view, complete with monkeys eating bananas all the way up also. The temples are pretty fascinating all intricately designed and set in a giant limestone cave which is very impressive. It's just a shame about all the rubbish although the temples themselves are spotless, there is rubbish piled up in every corner. It's nothing unusual though, everywhere you go there is rubbish dumped and piled up all over the place. I can definitely see now why New Zealand has the clean green image it has.

Entrance to the Batu Caves

Monkey!

So much rubbish!

One night Jade dragged me to some really out of the way random street that was meant to have authentic Malay food. I really wasn't fussed on the curry he choose for me as I had no idea what anything was and was even less pleased when I saw giant cockroaches crawling around out back. Jade really enjoyed his though and soon wanted to go try the weird looking bright green furry balls for dessert that we had walked by earlier. Neither of us had any idea what anything there was but we dished up a plate, which also included a custard-like looking cake to try, and found a table amongst the wandering stray starving cats. Jade tried them first, biting into a green ball. Squelch! A thick black sweet liquid exploded from the middle. Yum! I have to say they were both extremely good! Some googling later and we found out these deserts are called Kuih. We think the green balls were Klepon (a Malaysian boiled rice cake, stuffed with liquid palm sugar and rolled in grated coconut) and the cake Bingka Ubi (a Malaysian tapioca cake) both of which I'd recommend trying.

Klepon and Bingka Ubi, yummy!

Well I think a stop here on our way back home is a must and may have to buy another bag or three! So many shops and so many malls and they're all right next to each other, I think I'm definitely going to have fun!

Anyway that's been the great KL so far, stay tuned for more adventures from white toast and jam.