The Story of Penang

Chinese New Year is this Tuesday, February 5, so happy Year of the Pig, everybody! 新年快樂! This also means that I have three weeks off of school for our end of semester break. After a brief stop in Taipei for Fulbright Taiwan’s Midyear Conference, my boyfriend, Carl, joined me in Taiwan for the first time. We spent a day in Hualien so that he could see my school, visit Taroko National Park (Hualien’s most famous natural wonder), and eat hot pot with me and my coteacher. I was so happy to be able to show him all the places I’ve been talking about for the past six months.

                But our vacation really began when we flew to Penang, Malaysia. Penang is an island off the west coast of the Malaysian peninsula. Its largest city, George Town, is known for its remnants of British colonialism as well as its diverse population of Indian, Chinese, and Malay cultural groups. Carl and I both studied abroad in Penang in Spring 2016, so this trip was a kind of nostalgia tour of all the places we frequented the last time we were on the island.

                For example, our hostel was less than a five-minute walk from the bar where we used to hangout on Saturday nights. Use the term ‘bar’ loosely, because it’s really an open storefront where one buys the only cheap, tax-free drinks in the city and then enjoys them with other patrons while sitting on plastic stools in the alley. One of our fondest memories from that place was the owner’s old blind shih tzu that would often wonder in front of the cars and motorbikes that whipped through alley, only to be saved at the last minute by being grabbed by some tipsy patron. Three years later, that dog had been replaced by another, equally old shih tzu that hobbled in and out of the storefront. The bar had increased in popularity, with more plastic stools in the alley, but was still its cheap grimy self.

                Much of Penang was as we remembered it, and whereas before, we were often bogged down with classes and homework, we were able to see a lot of the city in just three days. On the first day, we visited the Clan Jetties and Kek Lok Si. The Clan Jetties are docks with houses on either side propped up on stilts, built into the harbor by extended families of Chinese immigrants decades ago. Kek Lok Si is a massive Buddhist temple known for its stunning white pagoda and giant Goddess of Mercy statue. We walked through the prayer halls, cloudy with burning incense. Red and yellow lanterns hung overhead in preparation for Chinese New Year. At the base of the temple, we paused for a moment to watch the colony of turtles float through the ponds there.

                The next day, we took a tram up to the top of Penang Hill, a hill which overlooks the island. The air was hazy and full of bleached light, but I could still make out the many red-roofed, white-washed buildings common to George Town. Jungle-covered hills rose out of the sprawling urban development. The ocean boarded the city, with Penang Bridge stretching across the water to the mainland. The base of the hill began in the Penang Botanical Gardens, where we went on our last full day in Penang. There, we enjoyed the native plants of Penang, while avoiding the native macaque monkeys that bully tourists for food.

                But, of course, what I really came back to Penang for was the food. Penang calls itself the cuisine capitol of Asia, which is a bold claim, but it might just be true. We made a point of going twice to our favorite vegetarian Indian restaurant, Woodlands, for veggie biryani, paneer butter masala, and naan. At the hawker stands, we ordered Hokkien char, a mixture of different noodles with a gravy-like sauce and chicken and shrimp. We ate cendol, an iced desert with coconut milk and green rice flour jellies, to stave off the midday heat. On our last night in Penang, we stopped at China House café for the best tiramisu I’ve ever had.

                Food is best shared with others, however, and we were lucky enough to meet up with our friends from when we studied abroad. Like us, they have all either graduated or are near graduation, and are moving on to exciting jobs and master’s programs, but they still made time to catch up with us over chicken tandoori. Every study abroad program talks about facilitating cultural exchange and building lasting relationships, and one wonders how genuine those claims are. But three years after studying in Penang, I loved being back on the island, enjoying all the same places I used to. I’m happy to see my friends again and share the food that I loved. Penang is a beautiful, diverse, historic city and I’m so lucky I got to return to it on my vacation.