The Days of a Silly and Ordinary Girl! :D: November 2016

[Travelogue] Short-Escape : Penang, Day 1 :) | Georgetown, Downtown Cafe, Chew-Tan Jetty and Naughty Nuri

By Lasmarya Hadi Purwanto - November 13, 2016

The most common question people asked when I told them I was going to Penang for five days was "For medical check up?" And when I said, "No! Vacation!", they would reply back with "What? Vacation in Penang for 5 days? I think 3 days is enough." or "Is there anything to see in Penang except for the hospitals?"

Me : "Where to go doesn't matter, the people you travel with is what matters."

Well, it may sound so cliché, but for me, it's evidently true.

I mean, think about it, if you're going to a dreadful place, but you're accompanied with the right people, they can always make it fun, make the trip enjoyable. On the other hand, even if you're going to the right place, but with the wrong people, they would just make the whole trip feel awful, you'll stop seeing the beauty of the place, and the trip will just be...pointless.

And, I'm truly thankful, that so far, I've been places, accompanied and surrounded by great people, who turned out to be the best partners in travelling. So Thank GOD! I've been travelling fine and fun. :)

So, back to Penang, who said you cannot have fun in Penang?

First, let me welcome you to our homestay. Found this well-preserved 100-year-old heritage homestay from airbnb, called Spices Heritage Homestay or Georgetown Heritage Family Suite ,which is small but warm, and cozy, a perfect place for the eight of us. Having the whole suite (read: house) for us, it's like we're being in our safe haven. Haha. Ever since the beginning, we had opted for a place that would allow us to be cramped up altogether (well, you know, we had a thing about togetherness, psst, well the truth is, we just wanna spend all night gossiping hihi), which means, we avoided hotels, or guest house, where we would be separated by rooms, and you know what, this house serves us just right. There's barely any barrier or wall that separate one room from another, and the location is just perfect for us, as some of the tourism spots in Penang are within reach by foot.

Here's the view from our bedroom on the second floor.

(and, yas, our suite looks exactly like that too! ain't it looking beautifully antique and unique?)

(The bathrooms are separated from the main building)

(The cozy living room)

(The entrance)

What I like the most about our short trip in Penang is that we got to walk a lot. You heard me right, a lot! One of my fantasy about travelling is having to walk around. Well, one of the main reason, is because I hardly get any chance to walk from one place to another in my hometown, and I just want to experience being a true traveller in other country. XD #eaakk

As I mentioned above, we're staying in Georgetown area, and we got to go places around Georgetown by foot. So we walked, walked and walked to our next destination.

First stop, lunch at Downtown Art Heritage Cafe, an Asian Fushion restaurant serving delicious dishes, located in the corner of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and Lebuh Armenian. Since we're really hungry when we got there, besides the fact that the food were all looking so tempting, the dishes were wiped out within minutes they were served and even the owner gave us, "Wah! So clean ah!" referring to the clean plates left on the table. Haha. Yeah, that's what happens when you meet a group of hungry vacuum cleaners. Wkwkwk

The super delicious Mango Lassi and Passionfruit Lassi. :d

(Fried Noodles, RM 14)

(Nasi Ketuk, RM 23)

(Lemongrass Chicken, RM 16)

(Four Cheese Ravioli, RM 26)

(Sambal Fried Rice, RM 15)

(Aglio Pork Bacon, RM 22)

(Paprika Fries, RM 10)

(And the highlight of the day, Cempedak Cake, RM 15)

(If you're curious what Cempedak is, it's a tropical fruit similar to jackfruit, with its own unique smell, and this one tastes as good as the fruit itself with its moist texture, it's as if we're eating the real fruit, served with vanilla ice cream, what a weird yet a get-along-well fusion, a MUST try!)

Filled our stomaches, it's time to stroll around the famous Georgetown Mural Painting areas. :)

We rent these "bicycle" RM 90 (two) for one and half hour. We split into two teams and cycled around the area. It's really hard to steer the bicycles, it kept heading left and since the road was also passed by cars and motorcycle, we got panic at times, especially when they honked at us for being super slow. We almost gave up, when the first bicycle we got was broken. But when everything was settled, I should say I had fun :)

There are a lot of mural paintings in the area to visit, but there're a lot of tourists too, that sometimes you would have to queue.

Second stop, Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty for sunset hunting. They are located right across the wall art heritage area of Georgetown, and still within reach by foot. Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty are settlements built on the jetty divided by the clan names. They are among the six clan jetties in Georgetown, Penang. Chew Jetty(姓周侨) literally houses the people of Chew or Zhou 周 clan, while Tan Jetty (姓陈桥) houses the people of Tan or Chen 陈 clan. It is said that the early immigrants from China who came to Penang couldn't afford living quarters on dry land, and so they created these houses on the jetty, whose proximity was also an advantage for them, as they didn't have to travel far to the harbor to work.

People still live in both jetty and as it's a rising tourist spot, souvenir shops are blooming in the area.

The first few photos were at Chew Jetty.

Then, to Tan Jetty. Tan Jetty is less crowded than Chew Jetty, and the houses there aren't as many as well. As i could remember, there isn't any souvenir shop in Tan Jetty too, so it is more secluded and serene. We went there at sunset, and there's barely anyone, except one or two other sunset hunters.

(credit to Daniel Jiang)

Loving the blue <3

The last stop of the day, Naughty Nuri, for our dinner. Naughty Nuri in Jalan Burma, Penang is licensed from the famous chain restaurant in Bali, specialized in serving mouth-watering ribs and pork dishes. The meals all taste really satisfying (even the salad tasted so goooood!), service are really great, waiter and waitresses are very friendly and food was served pretty fast.

(Lap Cheong Salad, RM 20.75)

(Pork Ribs, RM 46.23, very tender and tasteful! Another must try!)

(Spam Fries, RM 18.87)

(Pesto Wing, RM 20,75)

(Burger, RM 28.30)

And just right before the dinner ended, the surprise that we prepared for Karina came out! We had been preparing for her graduation surprise behind her back, by asking the customer service of Naughty Nuri to help us buy the cake in the nearby cake shop, and they were extremely helpful in preparing everything for us. I truly admire their great service and hospitality! :)