Penang and Taiping, Malaysia

The foodie road trip continued from Melaka up the Malay Peninsula towards the state of Perak where we were meeting up with more of Mei's relatives for one of the main cultural festivals - Ching Ming.

By this stage we had fallen in love with the abundance of tasty cheap local food. Sure, the food may be served on plastic plates full of chipped edges; or eaten whilst being squashed against strangers and their extended families when tables for 4 get transformed to accommodate for 7 more - an experience to remember.

We were lucky that the chosen form of transport on this road trip was a very comfortable 8-seater people-mover with a great air-conditioning system to beat the heat. We were carrying quite a bit of luggage, squashed in with two kilos of tropical fruit, a number of salted chickens and dumplings for the upcoming feast.

 Malaysia's roads are well maintained and although we unfortunately witnessed a front-on collision between a motorbike and a car (no fatalities which was good), we did see some racing luxury cars race passed at 150kmph - who needs the Malaysian GP track when you can have the central highway!

Blue Mansion, Penang
Our first stop was at the 19th Century 'Blue Mansion' (Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion) -a local attraction where we took a tour of the residence and saw how the architecture had mixed traditional Chinese decorations with influence from the British Empire. The mansion had been recently restored and is now available to be hired for weddings.

Facade of the Blue Mansion

Posing with the flowers

Ornate buildings, restored to its original splendor

Smelling the sweet floral fragrances

Taiping

Taiping is a former tin-mining township where a lot of Mei's relatives live. Usually it is a relatively small and quiet town, however as it was Ching Ming (the annual festival to honour relatives that have passed away and to clean the graves), the town was brimming with peak-hour traffic even at 10pm with cars double or triple parked in the middle of side streets.

Taiping is known from its lake that provides some amazing scenery with mist covering the Highlands in the distance and reflections of sunrise coming up over the lake.

The lake is the remains of an old tin mine

Hanging out by the lake

Beautiful scenery

Whilst in Taiping we visited Mei's family clan house founded by townspeople that share the same surname. We participated in a ceremony to honor Mei's grandmother, uncles and cousins who had passed away. The Ching Ming festival also includes visits to family member's graves to pay respects by folding and burning paper money as an offering. Olie mastered the art of folding the money quite quickly however Mei was a lost cause despite many cousins going through the steps bit by bit.

Penang
Penang is an island accessible by a single roadbridge. However if this solitary piece of public infrastructure is jammed up with traffic, travel times soon increase exponentially. On this occasion, the traffic was mild and we made it to the city centre in good time.

Food in Penang is also well known and tasty. We ate at the local hawker food hall for dinner, sampling oyster omelettes, assam laksa and rojak (a salad of vegetables and fruit covered in a sticky sauce and seeds).

Parasailing in Penang
The weather was perfect for a trip to the beach where we had a go at parasailing using a double harness for only 50 Malaysian Ringgit. In hindsight, cheap prices usually indicate cheap safety standards and we were relieved when we crash landed safely on the beach - narrowly missing a couple with children playing in the sand.

The harness held together with minimal safety locks

A big run-up

Up up and away

Kek Lok Si Temple

The next morning started with a big breafast of local food and then a trip to a 400-year old well and a famous  temple where we used the climb up the pagoda to burn off some calories. However, they were soon replaced by a huge seafood dinner at a local fishing village with Mei's cousin's family. 

In front of the pagoda

View from the top of the pagoda

More flowers to smell

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