Penang - Malaysia

For one night we drove to Hat Yai, a city in the south of Thailand, to take the bus to Penang. The city itself is not very touristy, but we found a very delicious food market and for dessert we had mango sticky rice.

The next day we arrived in Malaysia with a few hours delay. In an attempt to get Ringgit (the local currency), I first blocked my card...

In Penang Island, we stayed in Georgetown. We spent the first night in a slightly different hostel, a SpaceCapsulHostel. Each had their own small sleeping cabin that looked like a time machine. We spent the other nights in another hostel. Georgetown has its own charm, beautiful street art, old buildings, and great food can be found on every street corner. It is said that the best food in Malaysia can be found in Penang. So we tried the Indian and Chinese street food stalls. Only the laksa, a soup with fish paste and various other ingredients, was not to our taste. There were delicious food stalls especially in Little India. In Little India, you feel like you are in India. Bollywood music blares out of the shops and it smells like spices.

We took a day trip to the Penang National Parks and walked to Monkey Beach in brutal heat. However, we encountered more monkeys on the way. We were rewarded with a great view and of course the sea. We rented a scooter for a day and explored the island, passing by Bang Ferringhi, visiting the Kek Lok Si Temple, and going to the botanical garden. Penang didn't feel like an island to us at all, as everything was so well developed. But it could also be because we were no longer in Thailand. Despite Ramadan, we always found something to eat at Chinese and Indian markets. The city is very multicultural - Chinese temples next to mosques and Buddha statues. We particularly liked the Monkey Beach in Penang, but the way there was rather challenging.