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Published: March 31st 2009
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Red Garden Food Paradise
To give it it's full title After getting the boat from Pangkor to Lamut, the bus from Lamut to Butterworth, then the ferry from Butterworth to Penang, we arrived at our hostel, Star Lodge, which had been recommended to us by a lovely Spanish guy in Pangkor.
Penang is a lot like Melaka, but bigger and busier, so it’s not as charming.
The hostel was grand, just as the Spanish guy had described. A really sweet old Chinese man who ran the hostel recommended a place to eat called Red Garden Food Paradise. He gave us a little flyer and as it was round the corner, we decided to give it a whirl. And what a food paradise it was! We walked in and were greeted with a massive selection of dim sums, all in little metal pots. Not being able to walk past them, we got to work and ordered far too many of them for starters! All the tables were in the middle and the food stalls of every kind were around the outside - so you just walked around to see what took your fancy, ordered and then they brought the food to your table and you paid there - brilliant! We
ended up with an array of dim sums, sushi, satay, chicken wings and Thai food. Then at 9pm, the fun really started and a man with a keyboard came out onto the little stage in the centre and serenaded us all!! After eating ourselves silly and reveling in the wonder that was Red Garden Paradise, we took ourselves home.
Next day we had a walk round - there are lots of old shop houses in Penang which are so pretty. We went shopping and bought a new memory card (exciting stuff), then set out to find something tasty for lunch. We found a place that did the best BBQ pork and rice for just 10 RM (70p!). After lunch we went to Fort Cornwallis (see photo of Matthew trying to shoot Marissa with the rifle - luckily for Marissa it wasn’t loaded), which is where the English first set up when they decided to take over Penang (what, somewhere else?!). There’s a really old canon there and some original buildings (including a prison cell), which house an exhibition on Penang. It was Friday, so we decided to go out on the town, and we headed back to the hostel
to get ready. Matthew discovered that they sold beer Chang and was very happy! We worked on the basis of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and decided to eat at Red Garden Food Paradise again - and again we were suckers for the dim sums!! After that we went into town, and it was like being in Loret De Mar - a bit mad! There was a club called Slippery Senoritas and DJ Tom Piper was playing. He DJ’d mash up style so we had a good boogie and watched all the Malaysians drinking whole bottles of whiskey and letting their hair down! Woo hoo!
On our third day we went to a nearby beach called Batu Ferenghi - it was nice to get some beach action even if the sand was a bit rough! For tea we decided to go to a place recommended in the Lonely Planet for its Baba-Nyona cuisine (that's Chinese-Malay remember?!). We arrived and were greeted by a lovely lady who seated us at our table and promptly told us what we would be having to eat. Not wanting to argue we agreed to everything she suggested - top hats, pork roll,
spring roll, curry kapitan, pork stew, New Years Eve vegetables (yes you've guessed, they are eaten at New Year) and otak otak (a kind of fish mousse wrapped in a banana leaf). Well the lady clearly knew her stuff because what an amazing feast - maybe one of the best meals we've had yet!!
Next day we had bacon croissants in bed (yum) then went to Snake Temple. We can't really remember the story but it is something to do with a monk loving the snakes (which are vipers) and either while he was alive or after he died the snakes decided to move in to the temple (FYI the snakes have been de-venomed so they're not dangerous). After our bus journey we arrived at the temple, which to be fair wasn't the grandest, more like a house. We were expecting a huge place with snakes everywhere - oh well. We stepped into the room and at first couldn't see any snakes, but upon closer inspection we could see a few chilling on top of some pictures on the walls and there were a couple in a plant in the corner. They weren't moving at all which caused Matt
to think that they were plastic. Marissa didn't want to believe this so we watched one for a while and eventually it moved - yay! After we went into the snake zoo which was attached to the temple and saw a pretty horrific snake show where a 6 foot cobra was nearly let loose into the audience (that's Malaysian safety rules for you) and the bloke kissed it on the head. Becoming creatures of habit we had our BBQ pork and rice for lunch and then went to Red Garden Food Paradise for tea (where Matt had a selection of fried starters and cheesey rice and Marissa had prawn crackers and prawn mee (noodles)). Heading back to the hostel, Matthew discovered the "joy" that is Kickapoo Joy Juice (see picture). This is a ridiculously sugary drink which is neon yellow and has a similar effect to Red Bull - kids shouldn't even be allowed to look at it. We also started our Black Jack tournament, with Marissa getting off to a losing start (Matthew 17, Marissa 6). The battle may be lost but the war is not!
On our last day we decided to treat ourselves to a Tiffin
lunch at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel, which is the first hotel that the Raffles' brothers ever opened - so it's pretty nice. We were told that they no longer did the Tiffin lunch - they had replaced it with a buffet lunch which we couldn't afford - gutted! So we set off in search of a cheaper alternative and found a hotel called Salsas doing a 3 course meal for cheap. We had salads to start then Marissa had lamb and prawns and Matthew had a mixed grill, and the pudding was a "trio of desserts". It was all very tasty and it was nice to have some "Western" food. After lunch we went to the Penang museum. We then went back to the E&O Hotel for their version of the Singapore Sling - Penang Punch! We wanted to take some photos to replace the ones we lost of us at Raffles - silly really! Still, it was very nice sitting sipping our punch amongst the rich folk! That night we went out for a curry - Marissa had keema which was almost as good as D's (hee hee).
The next day we left Penang for Langkawi.
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