Blog – Singapore and Penang February 14-24 2019

February 14 – Valentines DayAfter Chinese New Year we took it easy and since Valentines Day was in a Thursday this year I played golf in Batam Indonesia with my golfing buddy Jafy while Susan worked. But I did remember a flower. (A dozen roses were 250 dollars….so I went with the thought that counts theory).

February 15

We went to Newton Hawker Center (Asian food court) that is just a couple stops from us and had some good local food. It is a relaxing atmosphere outside and has a couple of stalls with photos from Crazy Rich Asians when the cast ate there.

Susan with her new hairstyle from The Parlour where they know how to do ex pat coloring and is an excellent source for several restaurant recommendations!

February 16 Saturday

On the spur of the moment we decided to go to the Singapore Peranakan Museum.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan_Museum

Here is the definition of a Peranakan, who were early Chinese and Indian settlers in Malaysia and Singapore during the 15th to 17th centuries.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan

It turned out to be a fabulous tour with a very energetic volunteer guide who marveled In explaining the traditions and designs of a Peranakan house. And luckily for us we caught the tour just before the entire museum began undergoing a renovation where it will be closed for two years.

February 17

That evening we celebrated a belated Valentines Day at a very nice Thai restaurant where I gave Susan her souvenir from the Golden Shrine in Kyoto.

February 19, 2019

On Tuesday Jafy and I took the Batam Fast 45 minute Ferry ride to Batam Indonesia where we played golf at Tering Bay with our very knowledgeable caddies. Seems like every time I play over here I’m wearing the Gregg Schmidt green shirt from Sewickley Heights but it didn’t seem to be helping my game much, nor did the chalk circles around the holes. But it was a very fun day at a nice course.

When I finished the round I even found a 3x shirt that fit me, which was about two sizes more than I normally wear but clothes and people are tinier in Asia! Must be the rice in the diet!

February 21, 2019

The 86 degree weather in Singapore and Indonesia was a bit different from what Jennifer was looking at when she drove into work on Route 28 in Pittsburgh! Fortunately the day I left I put (well had someone else do it) some winter tires on her car, which really helped.

February 22-23, 2019

In keeping with our spur of the moment planning and our desire to see a lot of different places I booked a quick trip to Penang Malaysia, leaving Friday late afternoon and returning Saturday evening to Singapore.

http://www.penang.ws/

Penang is called the Pearl of the Orient and is well known for its excellent Malaysian food. Mark Nelligan from the BNY Mellon office in Singapore is from Penang and he gave us some excellent advice on where to tour and what to eat!

We booked a hotel at the Doubletree Penang which is on the northern side of the island of Penang since Susan wanted to continue to rack up Hilton Honors points for our tours of the Presidential libraries in the US if she ever retires. It turned out to be a very nice location away from the hustle and bustle of the Georgetown part of Penang, which is a UNESCO heritage site.

Best of all the hotel provided a driver “Bob” who met us at the airport and immediately drove us to Penang Hill on Friday night. There we took an SUV up a very steep and winding hill to the top where we some great views.

It was a bit cloudy for the sunset but still pretty nice. We enjoyed a beer and snacks and listened to a guy play “Shallow” from a Star is born.

We rode back down the hill and Bob drove us about 20 minutes to the Doubletree while giving us some background on the island. He agreed to pick us up the next day at 9 am to tour the historic Georgetown area . As you can see we had a nice view from our balcony prior to a good dinner in the Doubletree.

http://www.penang.ws/penang-top-1

Saturday February 23, 2019

Bob picked us up and we did a whirlwind tour of Penang starting with two temples.

Here we are pointing out Penang (upper left) and Singapore (below) on a globe on the city center outside a temple.

After another large temple we headed to the busy streets of historic Georgetown.

As I mentioned, Mark Nelligan from BNY Mellon is from Penang and he provided these suggestions for a Penang visit and I’ve bolded and highlighted the ones we were able to squeezen in during our 24 hour visit

“Below are my suggestions – Penang is about food so be prepared for a w/e of culinary bliss! Just ask your concierge on how to get to these places.

Friday

On arrival get a taxi at the airport or if you’re arranging a hotel car, tell them you want to do a couple of stops. First stop: the char koay teow (1st of the Big 3 must eat dishes!) stall on Hillside, Tanjong Bungah just after the petrol station. Wash it down with local iced coffee. Then ask the driver to stop at the Banana fritters (“goreng pisang”) stall in fettes park in tanjung bungah. Get the banana as well as the sweet potato. Best eaten with hot sweet malaysian Boh tea – take back to your hotell!

Go up penang hill around 5pm and have tea (scones) at the black and white house at the summit called Brown’s Restaurant. you can walk round and stay until dusk as you’ll see the lights of georgetwon below.

Suggest you go up from the Botanic Gardens car park where you can hire a car to drive you up the hill. Coming back down, take the funicular rail. At the bottom you can catch a taxi for an evening drink at 7 Terraces hotel in Georgetown. It’s a hotel as well – 7 old houses converted into a lovely boutique hotel.

Saturday

Breakfast

Pulau Tikus market opens from 7am. Great to have a wander around. But great food too. Hokkien mee (2nd of the Big 3 must eat dishes!) from the coffee shop on the corner (ask) Indian appams (pancakes) from same coffee shop. Wash down with iced coffee – penang style.

Koay kuk (rice cakes fried in lard and soya sauce and egg) in the hawker centre in the main market. Nyonya cakes near the koay kuk stall.

Loads of other snacks from stalls surrounding the market. Try whatever takes your fancy. Then head down to wander the streets of Georgetown. Make sure you walk down Chulia Street, Campbell Street and Armenian Street. Get a rickshaw which can take you to the above streets and the following: cheong fatt tze mansion in leith street the peranakan museum in church street. Khoo Kongsi – Chinese clan house.

Must visit this biscuit shop – Ghee Hiang in Beach Street. Ask for Heoh peah and tau sar peah. Best in the world! (Mark – they were excellent and we hear you enjoyed the packages of each that we brought back to Singapore to thank you for all the tips! – Jim and Susan)

Goddess of Mercy Temple

St. George’s Anglican cathedral

The Assumption catholic church (I was baptist’s there!), next to St Xavier’s Insitution, my alma mater!

Lunch

Swatow lane hawker centre

Assam laksa (3rd of the Big 3). Also try Chee cheong fun, lor bah, oh chien, poh piah (try them all!) Finish off with the best desert on the planet – ice kachang. For this go to the stall at the front entrance of the hawker centre. Do not ask for additional ice cream and fruits – just ask for the standard ice kachang. Heaven!! (It was great! Jim).

E&O hotel – It’s the Raffles of penang. Have a cup of tea in the garden.

As you’re leaving in the evening, suggest you head back to the hotel and rest by the pool and enjoy a sundowner. On the way back to the hotel, and if you have time, ask the driver to get to your hotel via the airport. This way you get to see the west of the island – will take about an hour or so. Beautiful old kampung (malay word for village) houses.”

Here are photos from some of the places we visited.

1. Streets of Georgetown

2. Koo Kongsi Klan House

3. Food – Laksa and Char Koay Teow

4. Mosques

5. Sunsets on way to the airport

6. Bob (Malaysian for “big” or so he said) our excellent guide and driver! He also taught me some helpful Malaysian words such as Terima Kasih (thank you) and sangat bagus (very good).

So Penang was a lot of fun and we’d love to go back when we have a bit more time.

Mary Kimmitt Laxton, Susan’s Duke classmate visited us in Singapore in late April and she visited two friends in Penang while here and I think she also had a great time and so she is another resource if anyone gets there!

I promised her some billing credit in the blog so here are a few of her photos and hashtags (with some embellishment by me). I should have had her along for rest of the trip as I think she is more patient on the photo taking than I am!

Morning market in Georgetown

Hokkien mee and Roti canai food

Mosque in Georgetown

Best kabobs ever. With Tiger beer, of course!Tiger beer is cheap in Malaysia!! (One or two dollars versus 10-12 in Singapore). And here is Mary’s friend, Cheryl, who is a school administrator and funding development officer.

Batik (a method (originally used in Java) of producing coloured designs on textiles by dyeing them, having first applied wax to the parts to be left undyed.). Mary had this beautiful one made and her friends are sending to her in Philadelphia unless they make her come back to Penang to get it!