More about the food in Penang (written January 4, 2004):

First let me say that this is, without a doubt, the finest eating I’ve ever had on any of my travels. Admittedly, this is not saying a lot, as, when I travel alone, I normally just have fast food, energy bars, trail mix, whatever is convenient and inexpensive, preferring to focus my energy in other areas. This time, however, I am traveling with Jana (my fiancée) in her native land, Malaysia. She tells me that the process of eating and enjoying good food is very important in the Chinese culture. Mealtime is much more of a social occasion than in the U.S. Jana knows Penang, having lived here for quite a few years, so, she, and her family, can show me some of the best places to eat, not to mention that she and her mother are good cooks themselves.

Jana was concerned, in my coming with her to meet her family, that I might be a picky eater (at home, I’m concerned about the types of fats & other ingredients). That concern must go by the boards on a trip like this, however, . . . the food is fresh and is to be enjoyed in its native element. I wouldn’t dream of insulting our hosts by asking for modifications (even assuming I knew the ingredients in the dish (not likely, as I often don’t even know the name of the dish without asking). In short, I’ve been eating and enjoying most of these foods . . . though my hosts may tease me about my not eating some of the more ‘exotic’ items–for example, the contents of a steamed fish’s head, such as the eyeballs . . . these things were eaten, but not by me.

Surprising me, as I think back on it, it seems every single food I’ve had today may have been new to me. For breakfast, I had an assortment of Nyonya ‘cake’, which is not like what we call cake in the West, in that none of the items was made with wheat or yeast. They were all pretty dense and a little sticky, maybe like a cross between a semi-solidified pudding and a firm jello . . . firm enough to hold together when one of the rectangular pieces was picked up, but more flexible or slinky than stiff. They included–beng kang (whitish, seeming almost translucent & maybe with more of a coconut taste than the rest, though I’m told they all contained some coconut), tapioca ‘cake’ (orange in color & sweet), pulut tatai (made with glutinous rice) served with kaya dip (made of coconut milk, eggs & sugar), and kuih talam (top white, bottom green from pandan leaf).

In addition to Nyonya cake, we had biskut tambun (a Penang specialty . . . a sort of smallish, flaky roll with some sort of a yummy, sweet filling). Finally, we had roti canai, a delicious sort of flat bread that is pan fried on a griddle and served with curry for dipping, etc. Lest you think we prepared all this food ourselves, I must tell you we got it all from some of the nearby hawker’s stands (for which Penang is well-known).

Nor was this the end of my dining on hawker’s fare today. Mid-afternoon, Jana & I each had a bowl of penang laksa (rice noodles in a thick fish broth, with mint leaves, pineapple, onions, chilies & other things). For a tasty dessert snack, we had mua chee from another hawker’s stand (off the back of a motorbike). Mua chee is a sort of dough freshly rolled (before our eyes) in a mixture of ground, roasted peanut and sugar. It rather reminded me of the taste of a fresh & light peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Toward evening, we stopped for some fried hor fun (very wide rice-noodles, flash fried in soy sauce and garnished with pork and shrimp, served in a savory brothy sauce) before heading home.

Kek Lok Si Temple: This is a fine & historic temple, dedicated to Buddha, and located prominently on the hillside above the large, open-air market in the town of Air Itam (just outside of Georgetown). Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. To get to its entrance, one begins by walking along a fairly narrow, paved & covered pathway up the lower hillside for several hundred yards, past the permanent stalls of merchants selling various (mostly tourist oriented) goods on either side. At the lower reaches of the temple one passes by a pool where hundreds of turtles, large & small, are kept. The turtle traditionally represents ‘longevity.’ A nearby concession sells leafy greens that may be used to feed the turtles by believers, tourists & other passers by.

The temple was begun in 1890, initially taking 20 years to complete, though there have been, I understand, several subsequent additions. I appreciated the design, as a whole, and the workmanship, especially remembering some of the stone carving in the older section and the rich interiors, housing large brass? representations of Buddha. Also of particular note is the Ban Po Thar (Ten-Thousand Buddhas Pagoda), said to incorporate Chinese, Burmese, and Thai design-elements, respectively, in separate layers.