Fine dinning at the kids table

To those foodies out there I'll let you in on a little secret, Penang is one of the worlds top dining destinations and for good reason. Hawker food, aka street food is cheap, delicious and everywhere. The dishes are a mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian recipes which have stood the test of time. Every night as the sun sets you would see shops close and hawkers setting up their carts along the major corridors. Child size tables and chairs lined the sidewalks with spices and napkins. Within half an hour every table would be packed and people would be waiting to place their orders.

A five minute walk down the street had our heads spinning, so many wonderful looking dishes it was almost impossible to choose one. That's when you go with your gut and try something for an appetizer, then move on to dinner and finish with a dessert all for around $5 dollars a person. Some of the popular dishes were assam laksa, hokkien mee, and wonton mee.

Would you like to convert?

In Penang we jumped at our chance to finally explore a few of the mosques scattered across the city. We started at the Floating Mosque of Tanjung Bungah. Resting on stilts high above the ocean this mosque had a lovely pastel blue hue which complimented perfectly with the ocean below. The security guard helped dress Cassie in the appropriate attire before entering. He was friendly and wanted to take our pictures from a slew of directions highlighting the mosques beautiful views.

Later in the day we explored the Kapitan Keling Mosque in Georgetown, the historic downtown of Penang. Since Cassie was pooped she sat outside while I ventured in to take a few photos. I was quickly befriended by a practioner who preceded to convert me to muslim. Since he denied me a portrait, I denied him my conversion. He was very friendly, and showed me key rituals, explained why certain things were done, and in what order. I left with around 5 pamphlets explaining muslim, and confirming that muslim does not mean terrorism.

Textures and patterns abound

After stressing about how to get into Thailand from the Perhentian Islands we decided to travel across Malaysia one more time before heading north. Heading up from Penang would prove to be an easier route to our first couple destinations in Thailand so we crossed the Malaysia for our 4th time.

Once we arrived we took off to outside the city to see the Tropical Spice Garden and Penang Butterfly farm. Both proved to be a delight, and taught us a bit more about the world around us. It makes you sad knowing how much of the tropical rainforest is being torn down when you see how many of these plants have medicinal qualities, and how many have never even been tested yet.

 Afterwards we continued to the Penang Butterfly farm where we saw thousands of butterflies in all their different stages of life. It was fun walking around with thousands of butterflies fluttering all around you. They also had a great little exhibit highlighting beetles, cockroaches and other creepy crawlers like the glow-in the dark scropions.