Penang, Malaysia

Before our trip back to the US, Drew and I were lucky enough to have to great Denver friends of ours (well, now they live in Lubbock TX, but that's besides the point) visit us out in Hong Kong. Evan, the husband, had a consulting gig with Intel in Penang, Malaysia, so they stopped by Hong Kong for a few days, and we got to show them around our splendid town. Then, the original plan was for us all to continue on to Penang together. We would only stay there for the weekend, while they would stay on longer so Evan could work. Due to a slight passport snafu, Dani wasn't able to come with us to Penang initially, but she joined Evan a few days later. 

Anyways, the first day in Penang we went to our hotel's sister resort which was outside the center of town and was much more beachy and family orientated. We began the day playing 9 holes of pitch and putt golf, which I must say is my favorite kind of golf! Drew smoked us, of course, but it was good practice for the McGolf outing in a few weeks! 

After our morning of golf, we went swimming in the nice pools and relaxed a bit. After a nap, I woke up to find Drew and Evan full tilt in a game of table tennis.

However, they were soon interrupted by two adorable British sisters who wanted to join in the fun. We couldn't resist playing along.

The following day, we toured around Georgetown, the cute city in which we were staying. Georgetown in renown for having great food, amazing street art, and a cool vibe. The city was built in a colonial style, which they have maintained to a moderate degree, so the city feels old and charming. This was breakfast, a similar dish to something we had in Singapore more than a year earlier called char kway teow. 

Malaysia, remember is a mix of Muslim Malays, Chinese Buddhists or Taoists, and Indian Hindus. So, you can see all kinds of temples around the city. 

The most memorable thing about Penang for me was the street art. There seemed to be a mural on every corner. 

One artist in particular, Ernest Zacharevic, has several murals around the city. They all capture the life of the people while taking advantage of the cool nature facade of the buildings themselves. This "Kids on Bicycle" one below is arguably his most famous one. He always uses a mix of paint and real objects. We made it a scavenger hunt to find all of this works scattered around the city. Some were really hidden away! 

Drew getting kicked in the face by Bruce Lee.

More food! We ate a ton of Indian and Malay on this trip. You know it's a local place when the stools look like they were stolen from a kindergarten classroom. 

This is a great example of a colonial building that has been well maintained. 

This was a famous house called the Blue Mansion because of the beautiful blue plaint used on much of the interior and exterior. It was built by a wealthy Chinese merchant and is a great representation of East meets West. It was built completely inline with feng shui but has Western features such as stained glass, tile floors, and bright chandeliers. 

This was our tour guide who reminded Drew much of his Grandma Pat. Witty, spunky, yet refined. :)

Had to try one more meal of Indian. This was at a very famous cafe, known for different meats cooked in a rich, tomatoey sauce. That evening we misjudged the amount of time needed to get to the airport, and we barely made our flight. Drew actually ran after the check-in lady who was leaving her counter for good, and persuaded her to come back and check us in since we didn't have any checked bags. Whew. Will never make that mistake again...