We arrived in Penang Saturday afternoon, after a mere 2.5 hours flight from Jakarta. Upon arrival, we took Uber straight to George Town, where our hotel – Ren i Tang is located (I will review the hotel in a separate post!). George Town is one of UNESCO world heritage sites and a popular tourist spot. Since it was our first time in Penang and we only had 2 nights.. staying in George Town was perfect.
I don’t mean to disappoint, but our first destination that night was actually.. a mall. Hahaha. Yep, we went to Gurney Plaza because we, well excuse me, I need to restock my Benefit powder and the shade that I’m using was out of stock in Jakarta. So we went. It took us 20 mins to get there, again using Uber. While on the way, our Uber driver told us that there’s a hawker food center just next to the mall – Gurney Drive. I quickly made settled my cosmetics situation and we walked to Gurney Drive for dinner.
We realized two things when we got there. First, a lot of stalls were closed. Second, there are two food sections. I don’t think the sections are official, but if you entered from Gurney Plaza’s side, you’ll find a section full of stalls selling Char Kwe Tiau, Seafood, Wonton noodles, and the likes. Keep walking further into the area, and you’ll find another section full of Halal food stalls, like satay, nasi goreng, and martabak.
The place was quite full when we got there so we quickly settled in to the first empty table that we found. We then took turns, at least one of us stayed in the table while the others can buy their meal. We ended up with Char Kwe Tiau, two kinds of seafood, and oyster omelette on our table. Yummm!
But as we were busy enjoying our meal, we were approached by an angry looking uncle from a dessert stall in front of us. He was talking very fast in Bahasa Melayu/English that we did not really understand, but we surely know that he was pissed. After a while we realized that he was asking us to buy from his stall because we were sitting in front of it! His Ice Chendol looked really good, actually. But I was saving it up for dessert. But because he approached us, I ended up buying anyway. Then another uncle came and delivered my Ice Chendol. He too did not look happy. Again he was talking fast and from his mixed language we understand that it’s somehow forbidden to sit in a table and not buying from a stall close by.. because then he’d have to clean up the table without getting any benefit from the purchase. Well.. well.. okay then, we’ll note that for next time!
After eating we went back to George Town area for sightseeing, again with Uber. We wanted to go to Khoo Kongsi because we read on the internet that there would be Chinese New Year lights decorating the whole area. But when we got there, it was closed! At first we thought that it was only because we arrived too late, but when came back the next day, it was still closed for the Chinese New Year period. Bummer 😦
So after the failed Khoo Kongsi visit that night, we spent some time walking around Armenian Street – again very popular as it’s the place where this mural is located:
Yep yep, you might be aware that this particular bike mural is widely associated with Penang, just like Dita said :). Of course I took a picture of myself there but decided not to post it here hahaha :p
Our next destination was China House – a heritage building with bar, café, art gallery, and bistro inside. We sat in the café and watched a very nice jazz performance from a local band while having finger food. I was really enjoying the atmosphere but as it was getting late, we decided to head back to our hotel.
As we were walking, we found an Indian/Malay food restaurant by the name of Kassim Mustafa. We read that it’s really famous for the Nasi Kandar and it opens 24 hours… so we decided to give it a try. Nasi Kandar is basically rice, veggies, eggs and chicken eaten together.. very similar to Nasi Padang/Nasi Campur in Indonesia. It was sooo good, very rich in flavor, typical Indian/Malay style. I also ordered Cheese Naan, although not that special (of course the one I had in India was better), but successfully cure my cravings for Indian food!
So that’s how our first night in Penang went. Will write more stories on my day two and three, soon! 🙂
Christa Bercerita 
Oh no Christa, please don’t hold yourself because of me. I want more of picture of you! That sweet smile 😉
Awww so kind of you! Hihihi nooo fotonya ngga bagus soalnya malem diambilnya 😉 nantikan foto2 di post selanjutnya yaa hohoho
Naan 😍 chi pasti rasanya ggrrrrr gitu y pas si uncle ngoceh 😌
Iyaaa puji kita liat2an bengong.. Berasa dituduh makan ga bayar gitu lho, kzl! Eh sempet baca di Tripadvisor ternyata kejadian gitu lumayan sering disitu 😔
😦
Hahaha, uncle-nya kasar juga ya. Tapi memang rasanya stereotype uncle-uncle di Malaysia/Singapore memang gitu sih, jadi ya mau gimana lagi, haha…
Di Singapore Agustus lalu aku juga dimarahi sama seorang auntie karena pengen beli nasi doang. Dibentak dong, hahaha
Hahaha iya bener, auntie uncle di daerah itu emang terkenal galak yaa.. atau bisa jadi mereka gaya omongnya emang gitu, cuma kita aja nganggepnya marah2 hahaha..
Oh gitu ya peraturannya Chris? TFS jadi tahu. Ah, food glorious food, jalan-jalan itu memang asik makan-makan ya.
Np 🙂 Iyaa kemarin itu salah satu tujuan kesana emang buat makan, apalagi masakan peranakan, tapi sayang banyak yang tutup karena CNY.. nanti aku bahas di post selanjutnya. Anyway makanan India melayu juga sedappp sih hehehe
duhh jangankan di Penang, di kantin2 di Jkt aja masih suka gitu sihhh…kalo duduk depan stand-nya dia dan gak beli dari dia pasti diomelin atau gak digangguin dengan nyodor2in menu sambil maksa gituuu
Iya siihhh bener, tapi entah kenapa yang kemarin itu uncle nya galak banget lhoo.. kita sampe liat2an ngerasa kayak makan gak bayar hahaha padahal ya bayar, cuma ciut juga berasa dimarahin gitu 😐
Wah, cerita uncles akan jadi catatan, kalo sewaktu-waktu ke Penang lagi. Ah, itu foto wajib emang di murla Georgetown yah, aku tetep posting yang di depan sepeda, kekekeke. China House sepertinya menarik banget Christa.
Iyaa China House seruu.. kita kesana malem2 jadi ga terlalu banyak foto, kalau siang pasti lebih seru hehe.. Aku ngga post foto di sepeda karena fotonya malem2 terus kurang terang hasilnya :)))))
Ah, fot sepeda itu, icon banget. 😀 😀
Aku ambil pensil (nyatet) tentang China House.
Nasi kandar!! Ya ampuuun pengeeeeen hahaha..
Aku juga pengen lagiii.. kurang puas :p hahahaha
Jadi kalau kita makan di sebuah meja, minimal mesti beli di food stall di depannya, terus di yang berdekatan juga ya Mbak? Wah wah… saya baru tahu nih, TFS Mbak. Tapi makanannya memang sukses bikin ngiler… kalau di luar negeri itu kok porsinya banyak-banyak banget ya Mbak? :haha. Kerenlah.
Iyaa kayaknya begitu peraturan tak tertulisnya.. Sama2 Gara.. Kalau Nasi Kandar itu porsi nya ambil sendiri lho, ya kayak ramesan gitu. Itu porsi kita terhitung kecil dibanding normalnya karena udah kenyang sebenernya hehehehe
Oh… berarti boleh ambil sepuasnya ya :hehe.
Duh, Armenian street nya manis banget buat difoto deh ❤ ❤ Btw, aku kalo di food court suka ragu kalo mau duduk di depan warung lain. jadi selalu cari aman, karena kadang di sini ada juga yang serem kayak si uncle :p
Iyaa semua pojoknya manisss buat foto2 Tash. Gemes! hehe.. wah untung disini belum pernah dapet yang serem gituu.. masih aman2 aja hehehe
Baca pengalaman sama si Uncle jadi ingat sama pengalamanku sendiri waktu jalan-jalan ke Monas sama teman dan tante. Kita duduk di meja depan sebuah kios soto, tapi kita pesan makanan dari kios di sebelahnya dan asyik ngobrol selama dua jam di meja kios soto tersebut tanpa membeli apa pun dari kiosnya. Pas udah selesai makan dan kembali dari toilet, si tante yang tinggal di meja ngomong kalo si ibu pemilik kios komplain ke dia kalo kita terlalu lama duduk di tempat dia tapi gak beli apa-apa..Karena merasa bersalah, akhirnya kita bertiga pun membeli teh botol dan aqua dari kios si ibu dan duduk duduk lagi 😀
Ternyata model2 uncle itu ada dimana mana ya.. hehehe.. dan ternyata peraturan tidak tertulisnya sama aja dimana mana hihi
Wahhh nasi kandarnya menggiurkan. Dan suasana kotanya asyik bangat yach. Sayang unclenya koq kasar amat yach, tapi rata2 cara mereka ngomong emang seperti itu sich hiksss..
Iyaa kotanya enak buat jalan2, makanan juga enak.. kalau aja restoran peranakan banyak yg buka, pasti lebih mantap lagi hehehe.. iyaa kena dehh diomelin uncle2 hehe
Chris, nyobain makanan India yg pake daun gak?
Nggak Non, enak juga yah? kita makannya masi sampe Nasi Kandar dan Briyani ajaa.. padahal ada di depan hotel tuh restoran yg jualnya.. huhu
Enak banget hahaha. Kita kalau ke Penang harus makan makanan India dengan daun tapi mungkin kalau gak suka makanan India bisa jadi gak suka hehe
Aku sukaaa hahaha 😍😍😍 bakal nyobain deh kalo ke Penang lagi
Yupe, harus dicobain kalau emang seneng makanan India hehe.
Perutku langsung krucuk2 lho Christa lihat deretan gorengan itu hahaha asli kangen gorengan abang2 aku walaupun entah minyaknya sudah berapa lama dipake. Trus Karim Mustaffa juga bikin ngiler, ingat touch screen warteg2 haha.
hueheuhe nahh iya mirip warteg den.. makannya juga pada pake tangan gituu.. mantaapp :p
Wah, si onkel itu kudu dinaikin suara juga tuh seperti nya…. widihhh… bayar juga om!
Pengen banget ke George Town nya, saya senang dengan kota UNESCO… dan sebenarnya senang juga cobain kuliner khas…
tapi sekarnag jadi tau lah kalo ke sana, kudu kasi tampang galak duluan…
Hahaha kasi tampang galak sama lempeng kali ya, biar mikir 2x dia buat ngomel2 🙂 semoga kesampean ke Penang nya!