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Showing 1-25 of 34 results
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Colonial Malacca
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 6 July 2011
A rather big name from the standpoint of colonial history, little Malacca is actually far smaller than its less known brother Penang. Despite its diminutive size, the little town has a long history and a certain flair derived from its time as the colonial hot potato that bounced from Malay to Portuguese to Dutch to [...]
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Food for Thought
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 18 March 2011
We noticed these options on a menu in a Malay restaurant in Penang. Should I be worried about the fact that Roti Osama costs more than Roti America? Or should I be more worried about the Roti Bom, which means “Bomb Bread” in Malay?
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Penang Pictorial
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 15 March 2011
Twenty years ago, I passed through Penang on my way to Sumatra. My two days here were enjoyable, but now I realize that I saw absolutely nothing during my short stay. Wow, did I underestimate this place. Fortunately, Thomas and I had the opportunity to return and take some time to explore Penang’s amazing cultural [...]
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Restoran Kapitan
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 13 March 2011
As Tony previously mentioned, one of our greatest discoveries in Georgetown was Restoran Kapitan. Whenever we are not busy sampling Chinese specialties with Ken’s family or exploring Malay street fare, we head straight for the best Indian food in town. After having spent fifteen months in India, we can comfortably call ourselves experts on Indian [...]
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Cave Temples of Ipoh
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 11 March 2011
To spice up our stay in Penang, the family got together and drove down to Ipoh to visit the impressive cave temples just outside town. The tollway runs through some beautiful karst scenery and stretches of jungle. David said it was one of the nicer stretches on the highway leading to Kuala Lumpur. The mountainous [...]
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TnT’s Penang Food Recommendations
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 7 March 2011
Thomas Holding a Bundle of Ketupat In 2009, Penang was voted one of the New York Time’s Places to Go primarily due to its amazing cuisine. Superb Chinese, Indian, Malay and Nyonya cuisine make Penang a place to eat, eat, eat. Ken’s family knows the ropes when it comes to food and we have benefited [...]
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Ken’s Flower-Eating Fish
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 5 March 2011
We’ve tracked tigers, done the holy kora around Mt. Kailash, swum with whale sharks, and visited the Taj Mahal. But seriously, people, one of the greatest things we’ve discovered in our travel careers is Ken’s flower-eating pet fish. In 1982, Ken (Fatt) caught the fish, a giant gourami, and put it into a small pool [...]
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Food and Family
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 2 March 2011
Because we travel constantly and life is one continuous string of new experiences, it would be easy for visitors to our site to dismiss our stay here in Penang as yet another stop on the traveler’s trail. It is not. Penang is a vastly more personal experience for us because we are meeting our Malaysian [...]
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Georgetown Freebies
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 28 February 2011
Spectacled langurs in the Penang Botanic Garden Who says nothing is for free anymore? We have come across a few great freebies in and around Georgetown worth mentioning: Visit the Penang Botanic Gardens where you can spot long-tailed macaques and spectacled langurs in the wild Explore Georgetown’s Old Town using the Free shuttle bus Get [...]
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Han Jiang Teochew Temple Doors
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 24 February 2011
I simply can’t pass by the incredible 14-foot doors of the Han Jiang Teochew Temple on Chulia Street without stopping to take another look. Unfortunately, they are now fronted by an annoying metal gate which makes photographing them all but impossible – or so they thought! Click on the image above to enlarge I fell [...]
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Pinang Peranakan Mansion
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 21 February 2011
While not busy with Ken’s family or trying out new restaurants, we are actually doing some sightseeing around town. Georgetown has plenty of dilapidated yet charming British colonial architecture and some beautifully restored mansions which beckon to be explored. A recent visit to the late nineteenth century Pinang Peranakan Mansion introduced us to the architectural [...]
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Chap Goh Meh
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 19 February 2011
The fifteenth night of Chinese New Year, known in Hokkien as Chap Goh Meh, is the final night of celebrations. This day, which marks the first full moon of the new year, coincides with the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day. Here in Penang, unmarried women gather to toss oranges into the sea and unmarried men [...]
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Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 16 February 2011
The tenth day of Chinese New Year saw Penang’s old city transformed into an open-air celebration of everything Chinese. The festivities were organized by the Penang state government to showcase Georgetown’s old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as to highlight the rich cultural heritage of Georgetown’s Chinese community, which includes large numbers [...]
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Wheel of Misfortune
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 15 February 2011
Many Southeast Asian Buddhist temples bear a vague resemblance to casinos – spiritual casinos that is. Often, there are all sorts of gadgets strategically placed next to the altars to help people part with their money - in exchange for some good karma. Normally, the amount of good fortune is directly proportional to the donation. [...]
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Hokkien New Year Celebrations
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 11 February 2011
Most Chinese, including Ken’s family which is Toishan, celebrate the New Year on the first day of the lunar calendar. But Hokkien Chinese choose to celebrate on the ninth day. The large Hokkien community here in Penang makes sure their presence and their traditions are remembered with raucous celebrations including pleasingly cheesy dance shows, a [...]
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Leap of Faith
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 10 February 2011
A walk through the narrow alleys and lanes of Georgetown quickly reveals the incredible diversity of religious institutions that history has woven into the fabric of Penang. It is a sensory exploration of faith. Hindu drums and the Muslim call to prayer reverberate through clouds of Chinese incense and the wafting scent of strands of [...]
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One of these Things
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 9 February 2011
One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn’t belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others By the time I finish my song? Could it be the Mickey Mouse statues at Kek Lok Si? They have Porky Pigs and Donald Ducks as well.
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Kek Lok Si Illuminated
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 7 February 2011
To celebrate the year of the rabbit, Penang’s massive Kek Lok Si, the largest Chinese temple in Malaysia, has been decked out with 12,000 red and yellow Chinese lanterns as well as over 250,000 decorative bulbs. In addition to the temple, the newly constructed super-pagoda built to house Kek Lok Si’s 30 meter (100 ft) [...]
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Chinese New Year’s Eve Celebration
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 5 February 2011
For years, Ken has been talking about the amazing food back home. So when Ken and Freda announced their plans to visit Ken’s family during Chinese New Year, we were immediately on board. What better time of year to visit than during a holiday which is all about eating. When we walked into Ken’s oldest [...]
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Gong Xi Fa Cai
Blog: ContemporaryNomad - 4 February 2011
Gong xi fa cai, everybody. Congratulations, get rich. We are in Penang, Malaysia to celebrate Chinese New Year with my mother, Freda, and her husband, Ken. Close friends and family know that Penang is not just another random destination in our explorations. No, Penang, or more precisely nearby Butterworth, is Ken’s hometown. After more than [...]
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Lady in Langkawi
Blog: A Lady in London - 30 December 2010
After spending Christmas in Singapore, the next stop on my winter sun adventure was Malaysia. It wasn’t just any part of Malaysia, though. It was Langkawi. Located off the west coast of the country near the border with Thailand, Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands. The largest, called Langkawi, is where I spent the [...]
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Malaysian Bacon
Blog: Trail of Ants - 20 October 2010
What’s this? Pork? Bacon? From pig? Oink, oink, grrrunt grunt. Curly tail, a bit fat, snuffle snuffle? Bit of a stumpy waddle? A quick-fire combination of my porcine charades and foolish mutterings drew me from George Town’s back streets, into the aromatic heat of my hesitant new friend’s kitchen. I could wring out a story [...]Malaysian Bacon is a post from Trail of Ants.
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Thank God for Imodium
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 19 October 2010
Penang, Malaysia was good for me. It was comfortable and familiar, as if I’d been there before, and the island welcomed me with open arms. Initial plans called for me to visit Kuala Lumpur and Malacca as well, but there was so much to see and do in Penang, I reverted to the slow travel [...]
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An Architectural Gem on Every Street in George Town
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 12 October 2010
Malaysia’s State of Penang is made up of a turtle-shaped island and a large strip of land on the mainland, joined by one of the longest bridges in the world, however when tourists refer to Penang (or Pulau Pinang in Malay), they almost always mean the island portion of the State. Featuring an exotic melange [...]
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In Batu Ferringhi, Skip the Beach and Go to the Fish Spa
Blog: Hole In The Donut - 7 October 2010
The driver who picked me up from the airport when I arrived in Penang suggested things I might want to see while visiting this part of Malaysia. “Of course, you want to spend time in George Town to see the many UNESCO World Heritage buildings. Kek Lok Si, Goddess of Mercy, and the Snake Temple [...]
