Penang

Following Chinese New Year we decided that Crystal guesthouse wouldn't cut it for the rest of our planned stay in Penang. We got up nice and early had a 20p banana pancake for breakie and headed out on a quest to find more suitable accommodation. More or less all of the many hostels we tried were fully booked, closed for CNY or would not be able to tell us if rooms were available until after check out time. We did not want to end up stranded. Just as we were heading back to give up we tried Stardust Guesthouse. This was basic but much much cleaner, considerably cheaper and we liked the owner he was fun and welcoming. So we made the move.

We spent 3 nights here. Unfortunately due to chinese new year a lot of Penang was shut down for the holiday. However towards the end of our stay we started to notice the city coming back to life.

We had some great dining experiences whilst here including the best tandoori chicken ever at a very cheap 24 hr place called Kapitan restaurant on Lebuh Chulia. De Tai Tong Cafe for dim sum breakfast was a delight and we highly recommend a visit there even if just for the experience of the crazy lady with her metal trolley missioning around. Also amazing samosas on the end of Lebuh Kimberley (I think!).

I loved pottering around little India in the evenings with Bollywood tunes blaring, saree shops and gold jewellery shops with plenty of bangles, earrings and rings. It was like being back in India, briefly.

On the second day PSY (Gangnam Style) was coming to Penang to do a free gig courtesy of a Malaysia political party. We heard about it from our hostel owner and we immediately decided to go. We knew exactly what bus to get where to go etc. Just as we were starting to get ready we had a little look online for more info only to find that we had been told the wrong time it wasn't a 8pm show it was 12 midday and we had missed it! I had a little winge and tantrum like a 5 year old but managed to get over it and move on. The guesthouse owner was very very apologetic about telling us the wrong time.

On our final day we went for a wander down the seafront which was quite uneventful other than a really crazy helicopter pilot. We would stood in a park when it first flew low overhead and landed in the middle of the park where it dropped off a camera man. It then proceeded to do some crazy manoeuvres about 2 metres off the ground. The pilot then did several low passes over the park where he would suddenly turn upwards to avoid hitting the trees. Despite the poor description it was pretty cool/dramatic.

For our final evening we went out for some dinner at Tek Sum restaurant, a tasty chinese/malaysian restaurant, very nice but a bit more pricey than the other places to eat in Penang. We headed back to the hostel for an early night and the owner was rather pissed dancing around and giving everyone free beer. We tried to politely refuse but we were left with no choice but to consume some free alcohol and have an in house party with him, the girl working at Stardust, a group of French lads and a dutch/korean couple. It was hilarious. As always tunes were blaring with Gangnam Style every other song.