I was too tired my first day to do much in Penang yesterday. Other than getting dinner at the Red Garden Food Paradise, I took it as a day of rest and recuperation.
So what I had wanted to do upon arrival was pushed to today and that was to explore Georgetown, named a Unesco World Hertiage Site and once a British colony. I had a dilmema between choosing Penang or KL initially when planning because I knew doing both might make me miss out on enough time. However, I'm glad I was able to fit in a bit of both aswhat really made me want to come to Penang and stay in Georgetown was the beauty of the artchitecture and once colonial buildings. Also, the island aspect of it all called for more natural sightseeing and the best eats in all of Malaysia, can I dare say Asia too? One thing I notice off the bat is that Penang is more chill, people are much friendlier, I'm meeting more expats (Australians are popular here), and there is mainly a population of Chinese and Indians, not so much Malays.

Due to Georgetown's popularity, it is a very easy location to navigate. Almost every street and intersection has arrows with directions on them. Also, it's such an entertaining and hip place to get lost in as there are an abundance of street art, historic cartoons that provide a tid bit of history, and lots of local culture! It sort of reminded me of Taiwan as I was wandering, I guess it must be because they're both islands.

I started at Lebuh (meaning street) Armenian where I was recommended by travellers I've met. I took lots of street art photos, went to the Batik Painting Museum, where local and international artists donate or put their batik paintings (using dye on fabrics to make artwork) on display here.

Then I headed to the Clan Jetties, at the waterfront where "clans" of homes are situated over the water by the support of wooden planks and boards. It was very refreshing to see a body of water and I was really tempted to go for a ride on a boat. Then I wandered some more to scout street art-they are all over the place and so fun to take photos with as they are made to look like an illusion when you are posing infront of / with them.
Clan Jetties
Street Art Fun
For lunch I headed to Little India and stumbled about Samosas and Onion Baji (my first time having it and liked!) on the street. Then in the afternoon I walked over to the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion aka The Blue Mansion once owned by a Hakka Tycoon in the 1900s. There are guided tours at 10am, 2pm and 3:30pm and an entrance fee of 16 Ringgit (~$5) but it was quite worth it if you like being eduated on significant people of the past and seeing grand homes. This mansion has 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, and a grand abundance of history imbedded into it. This man even assisted Sun Yat Sen (a more heard of Asian name) in becoming successful if I heard right. Today, it is own by an artchitect whom restored the building and some of the rooms can even be booked for a night's stay (starting at 420 Ringgit (~$140), which isn't too bad for a mansion).
On the way back to my hostel, I happen to stumble upon a Camera Museum, so my curiosity led me to get a ticket and explore what it was all about. Apparently it has only been opened for ten months and is the first of its kind in SEA thus ringing in quite the publicity in its unique concept. It was started by a group of film camera enthusiasts and through sourcing high and low, East and West, they made this museum to showcase over 300 film cameras since the very first thing called a "camera". I even got a demonstration on how to develop film! There is also a souvieneir shop with witty designs, a cafe, and a current exhibit of photos displaying beauty known as "The Beautiful Truth" by Shuhada Hasim. I think I'm becoming a hipster.

Tonight I went to Gurney Drive, for more hawker street food as told by my Lonely Planet book. As it's located a distance from Georgetown, taking the taxi (15 Ringgit ~$5) is best and my taxi driver told me this place was way better than where I went yesterday. When ordering, I noticed that at Gurney you order and get your food almost instantly as they prepare it right away, where at Red Garden, they ask for your table number (noted on your table once you pick one), and the stall will bring you your food once it's ready). I had #11 Asam Laksa as highly recommended and it was so good! It was more tangy than regular Laksa and the soup was so tasty and flavourful. I also had Rojak, as many people keep telling me to eat even though I had no clue what it was. When I received it, I still couldn't tell what it was. Turns out it was a mixture of cucumbers, pineapples, mango, this little red fruit I don't know of and squid drenched in Hoisin like sauce and topped with nuts and fried dough fritters.It was so weird! (sorry if you like it), but I really wanted to get rid of it after the first mouthful. I hate wasting though, so I sucked it up and finished the dish. It didn't get better, but at least I was intaking fibre. So I just googled and Rojak literally means 'mixture', and oh it was definitely a mixture alright.