Famous Tourist Attractions in Penang Island, Malaysia

Penang Island, Malaysia has always had a special place in my heart. As a child, I spend a lot of my time in Penang as my grandparents used to live there. Having strong family roots at the island, I always looked forward to my regular weekend trips to this beautiful island especially to eat lots of delicious food.

My fond memory of this island is picking sea shells by the beach situated just behind a prestigious 5 star hotel with my sister and mother. We also made it a point to visit the local ‘kuih’ stall at Penang Plaza and always bought the specially blended yoghurt drink at the yoghurt vending machine at the plaza.

Although we always made regular trips to Penang, we never did any touristy stuff while we were there as we always went to the local hotspots with my Auntie who used to live there. One fine day, my sister, my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I decided to go there, this time as tourists.

These are the places we visited:-

Penang Hill

We were privileged to sit the old train going up to Penang Hill before it was demolished. The train ride was fabulous, with us being able to get ourselves so close to nature as we travel alongside the tropical forest towards our destination. Once we reached the top of the hill, we enjoyed the refreshing cool air and tranquillity that Penang Hill has to offer. We decided to chill out in style at the hill by savouring some delicious English scones and fruit cake at a classy English restaurant called David Brown’s Restaurant.

The old train to Penang Hill

English scones and fruitcake

Fort Cornwallis

We also decided to indulge in a bit of history by visiting Fort Cornwallis. Fort Cornwallis is an interesting historical landmark in Georgetown, Penang. The fort was built over a century ago and it includes a chapel, prison cells, ammunitions storage area, a harbour light house and several old bronze cannons.

Bronze cannons at Fort Cornwallis

Tambun Biscuit Factory

As we love hunting for good food, we took the opportunity to buy some Tambun biscuits straight from the Him Heang biscuit factory at Burma Road, Penang. Tambun biscuit is a famous traditional Chinese biscuit in Penang. Although there are many places where you can buy Tambun biscuits in Penang, it is worth a drive to get your biscuits from Him Heang as their biscuits are exceptionally good. When you buy it straight from the factory, the Tambun biscuits are even more aromatic, fresh and delicious.

Food

If you have ever wondered why people often tell you that Penang food is good, stop wondering and try them for yourself! I guarantee you that you will find Penang food really, really good! If you like to eat Malaysian food, I would recommend you to try their Penang Nyonya food. If you like Western food, why not try some of the Western food made by the Penangites (Penang locals) and discover their fusion twist to everyday Western food.

During our trip to Penang, we ate ‘Loh Mee’. Loh Mee or Lor Mee is a Chinese egg noodle dish served with thick starchy gravy. The noodles are served with fish cakes, boiled eggs and pork. We went to an old coffee shop at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling called Hai Beng Coffee Shop. The ‘Loh Mee’ there is absolutely delicious!

The traditional shops in Penang

Loh Mee or Lor Mee

Hai Beng Coffee Shop at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling

That pretty much summarises my trip to Penang Island, Malaysia. Hope you enjoy what I have just shared with you.

Cheers,

Caroline Poh

Stir fried Chinese Cockles

After a few years of not eating cockles (also known as clams or pipis), I finally had the opportunity to cook some stir fried Chinese cockles last night. It is very hard for me find fresh cockles for sale in South Australia. Residing in a country town in regional South Australia has made it even harder for me to find these beauties. During my recent trip to Adelaide, I managed to find some fresh cockles for sale at a pretty reasonable price. Immediately, I decided to satisfy my craving and buy some cockles to make some stir fried Chinese cockles.

This stir fried Chinese cockles recipe is modified based on a recipe I found at http://madamkwong.com. I did not measure the ingredients as I made the dish based on my instincts and adjusted the taste while cooking.

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Ingredients: 

Approx 500g cockles/clams/pipis
3 canned pineapple rings (cut into cubes)
1 tbsp fermented soy beans, crushed
3 pips of chopped garlic
1-2 tbsp plum sauce
Dash of sweet/hot chilli sauce
1-3 sliced dynamite chillies/thai chillies
Some water and diluted cornstarch for the sauce
Salt and sugar to taste  

Method:

Heat frying pan with some oil. Add in the sliced chillies and chopped garlic. Fry until garlic is slightly golden in colour. Add the plum sauce and chilli sauce. Then add in the canned pineapple. Put some water in the pan. Season sauce with salt and sugar. Then thicken slightly with diluted cornstarch (a mixture of cornstarch and some water). Lastly, throw in the cockles/clams/pipis. Adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water, diluted cornstarch, chilli sauce, salt or sugar.

Cook until the cockles/clams/pipis shells are opened. This means they are cooked. Do not overcook as cockles/clams/pipis get cooked very quickly.

There you have – Stir Fried Chinese Cockles.

Australian Day Celebration

After living in Australia for a few years, my husband and I finally decided to attend an Australian Day Celebration held on 26 January 2013 at Lake Bonney, Barmera, Riverland, SA.

The event started very early in the morning – about 6.30am. Being a heavy sleeper, it was quite difficult for me to wake up so early in the morning to get ready. Nevertheless, with clear determination, I managed to get to the event on time.

While I got ready for the event, I was doubtful of whether there was going to be a huge turnout of people at the celebration. But my doubts proved me wrong when I reached Lake Bonney, Barmera where the event was held. I was surprised to see so many elderly people, dogs and some children surrounding the event grounds. This showed their great level of patriotism and love for the country.

It was a beautiful and sunny morning that day and everyone, including the dogs and children were enjoying themselves. The morning started with a Celebration Walk followed by free breakfast for all.

The breakfast was scrumptious. The breakfast menu was bacon and egg sandwich, hot pancakes and coffee. I ate a bit of everything.

Volunteers frying the eggs for breakfast

Bacon and egg sandwich

Hot pancakes with honey

After breakfast, there was a speech by the Mayor of Berri Barmera Council, Peter Robert Hunt.

The entire Australian Day Celebration was held overlooking beautiful Lake Bonney, Barmera. The view of the location was picture perfect.

It was a pity I could not stay longer for the Australian Day Celebration session as I had to get back to work that morning.

Caroline Poh

The Best Ice-Cream I Have Ever Tasted! – Marvelous Cream

Although my gourmet adventure during my most recent trip to Singapore was rather shortlived as I was constantly craving for Malaysian food all time, there was one thing that I ate in Singapore that I will always remember– the wonderful ice-cream I ate at Marvelous Cream!

The food in Singapore is basically the same as the food in Malaysia but Singapore food taste a tad different from Malaysian food. I guess with my Malaysian upbringing, my taste buds are more accustomed to the local Malaysian food taste.

I discovered Marvelous Cream ice-cream by accident when I went to a food court at a shopping centre for lunch. The queue to the Marvelous Cream ice-cream stall was so long that I couldn’t help but join the queue. That was it! After just a bite of Marvelous Cream ice-cream, I was totally blown away by its impressive unique flavours. At Marvelous Cream, you actually get to choose the type fillings you want to put in your ice-cream and watch the waiter mix the ice-cream with your chosen fillings on a cold stone in front of you.

Marvelous Cream was established in 2005 in Osaka, Japan and it offers great tasting premium ice-cream to its customers with over 40 toppings to choose from. It is a franchise and it has set its outlets in different parts of the world.

A firm believer that good food should always be promoted, that’s why I am writing all about this ice-cream. I do hope that Marvelous Cream will make its way to Malaysia because I am longing to have another 'bite' when I’m back in Malaysia.

Marvelous Creme anybody? =)

Marvelous Cream ice-cream

Outside Marvelous Cream

My Exotic Experience at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) Village in Pahang, Malaysia

Having experience living in a city (Kuala Lumpur) for around seven years, I began to take for granted the things we have in the city. In the city, we often have everything at our convenience such as easy access to shops and malls, public transport and household equipments that make our lives a lot easier. I never understood what the church pastor told us about going to places where such facilities are hard to be found to come back feeling more grateful of what we have. I have to admit that I was afraid at first to visit the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village in Pahang, but after my first visit there, I discovered that I actually enjoy experiencing the different lifestyle there. 

The lifestyle at the Orang Asli village is very different from the lifestyle in the city. The people there have no washing machine, fancy kitchen gadgets or restaurants. They live a very simple life. 

Most of the Orang Asli people earn their income through farming and rubber tapping. They work hard and wake up very early in the morning to make a living but only receive a meagre salary for that. Though they earn very little money, I found that they were still happy. This is very unlike the city folks who always complain about their salaries and often chase after more money. 

During the church excursion, we managed to bring food, clothes and household equipments for the Orang Asli people. While distributing the donated goods, I could notice their happy faces while receiving things that would otherwise be thrown away by the city people. 

Our church excursion team was blessed to be invited for an Orang Asli wedding banquet while we were there. It was a chance of a lifetime. The wedding feast was held at one of the village bamboo houses. The banquet spread was very exotic and unfamiliar to us. However, being an adventurous person, I did not have any problem eating the food served at the wedding. But what was really mind boggling was stomaching down an Aboriginal delicacy prepared specially for weddings - monkey meat and brain. Though surrounded by fear, everyone from the church excursion team ate some of the monkey meat and brain to show appreciation to the wedding host on what he/she has prepared for us. My favourite of all the food served at the wedding was the turmeric flavoured sticky rice (glutinous rice). 

Overall, my trip to the Orang Asli village was very enriching. I highly encourage others to visit the Orang Asli village if given the chance to do so at least once in their lifetime. 

The police checking point before entering the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

A herd of cows grazing at the grass at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The wedding venue at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The food we ate during the wedding banquet. It was a feast indeed.

The Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village.