In Penang for the weekend!
Preparations are underway for the Thaipusam festival. Several roads have been closed off, traffic jams backed up for a fair bit of distance.
Post-trip comments
So why Penang this time around?
1. The History
Together with Malacca and Singapore, these three states form the Straits Settlement, the backbone of the trading along the Straits of Malacca during colonial times.
Image from http://www.chinapage.com/map/map.html
To this effect, Penang should be very much like Singapore. However several aspects would influence how it grew as a town, a port, a country, then a state.
Penang remains one of the two Malaysian peninsular states that are ruled by a Governor, as opposed to a monarchy. (The other being Malacca).
Several streets in Georgetown, the capital of Penang are listed in UNESCO World Heritage site.
2. Food
As a melting pot of several cultures, Penang boast a variety of original food, some are pretty popular food exports (or at least in Singapore). Assam laksa, chendol and Penang white coffee. Another one that’s pretty popular, but is not exported, is Nasi Kandar.
3. First trip in ages
Nuff said.
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