Despite the LSAT time suck, I still made time to eat (of course) and have some (food-oriented) fun in the last couple weeks before my trip to Bangkok and Penang, Malaysia.
I went out with two friends, Wendy and Hannah, for a really fantastic lunch at a new Lao restaurant that opened in town. We ordered a pork dish, a chicken and vegetable curry, a flat noodle dish, and fried spring rolls. Seppp lai!!
Mai Yer also invited a group of us over to a friend’s house for a Bollywood/Indian food night. The house was incredible — think modern Hollywood home complete with a gate, guard, and sturdy yellow lab. This house (and the dog for that matter) were most likely teleported straight from Beverly Hills, because otherwise I have no idea how they got to the middle of Vientiane.
I aggressively tried to befriend the dog.
Other than these two social experiences, I cooked some really good meals at home (both pastas of course):
I also made some pretty bad meals, specifically this two-ingredient, empty-refrigerator delicacy. We’ll call it “spicy tuna” to make it seem more edible and less disgusting than it actually was.
I made a lot of coffee, given that (over 10 months in) I finally broke down and brought a French press. And I tried to drink a pot (like a literal soup pot) of berry infused tea every night. Tryna get anti-oxidized.
Friday, June 24th, was the last day before mid-term break at school, and the next morning I shipped out on a flight to Bangkok for my test. On Saturday afternoon, I went on a mission for bread and peanut butter to get me through the following 24 hours, an energy-sapping activity given the scope of the random suburban market I walked into. Why are all of the stores in Thailand Walmart super-centers?!
After the test, a nice American dude and his girlfriend gave me a ride back into the city.
My first move back in the city center was (obviously) a celebratory burrito:
On the subway ride to my hostel, I met my first Trump supporters — there in the flesh and blood on the Bangkok metro! At first we just made conversation and they seemed like a warm older couple. But then they said they were from Florida, near the Florida Keys. Soon enough we hit politics and it was all over. When I suggested that Trump was a bigoted, racist, narcissistic, sexist, xenophobic, islamophobic nutjob, they seemed to think that was okay because he would protect the country. To them I say go back to Florida!
It started pouring rain after I got to my hostel, so I hung out for a while until it slowed down, then met my TA and her friend to go to China Town.
In China Town we had shark fin soup (a signature China Town attraction) and fish stew.
I felt a bit weird eating the shark fin soup for obvious reasons and also aren’t they supposed to be endangered or something? I didn’t find out if they’re endangered, but some Kiwis (people from New Zealand) told me that fishermen from East Asia often come down to the waters near New Zealand illegally to kill sharks. Not great.
We stopped at another restaurant too so that my TA and her friend could get some pork and noodles.
Then we got back on the subway and rode for quite a ways to a night market and hub for bars and music venues. We walked through the night market first, but not much held my attention until we found the overalls. I bought some, but unfortunately probably won’t wear them until I get back to the States. I don’t think they’d go over particularly well in Lao. We also passed by an interesting antiques shop.
My TA’s friend bought some grilled bananas with a delicious sweet sauce poured over.
At the end of the night, we stopped at a dessert cafe for some “toast.” In Asia, “toast” seems to mean a rich, thick, sweet toasted bread topped with anything and everything.
And then back to the hotel and bed.
The following morning I woke up, had breakfast with the kiwis from the shark fin conversation, and then took the metro to visit Dasa, possibly the biggest independent used book store in Bangkok. On the walk from the metro to the book store:
I bought three books, and hung out at the shop reading with some tea for the greater part of the morning. Heaven.
Around noon, I took the sky train to its final stop on the other side of the city, about as close to the budget airport as it will take you. The sky train lets you out into a park, so I set up shop next to the water, made a picnic of my LSAT bread and peanut butter, and unknowingly (I was pleasantly surprised later) got feasted on by mosquitoes. From there I got a taxi to the airport.
I arrived in Penang, Malaysia, at about 6:30pm on Monday, and took the bus from the airport at the bottom of the island to George Town, close to the top.
George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known for its preserved colonial architecture and cultural diversity. It was “founded” (aka occupied) by the British East India Company trader Francis Light in 1786. Together, Penang, Dinding, Singapore, and Malacca constituted the Straits Settlements, essentially the colonized British territories in that area. Light entered some kind of negotiation process with the Sultan of Kedah, who originally refused to cede the island but ultimately gave in.
After Light gained control of the island and subsequently failed to follow through on the treaty requirement that he protect the Sultan from invasion, the Sultan attempted to retake Penang. It didn’t work.
Ultimately, Penang became very prosperous by exporting tin and rubber throughout the 19th century, and many Indian, Malaysian, and Chinese people moved to the island, creating the diversity that there is today on the island.
I turned in really early on that first night in Penang, but I was able to see a bit of the city on my walk from the bus stop to my hostel. The intermingling of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian shop signs and restaurants was immediately apparent.
I got an early start the following morning. First I walked down to the waterfront to see the Town Hall and the Church of the Assumption (who assumed what?), which was founded in 1786 after Light claimed the island for England.
I continued walking on the esplanade to visit Fort Cornwallis, the star-shaped, cannon-studded fort built by Francis Light as an administration hub and to protect his newly acquired domain. I checked out the tiny church in the fort first, which was apparently the first Protestant church in Southeast Asia. Then I walked the perimeter of the fort and saw the lighthouse, gun powder magazine, and Sri Rambai cannon, which apparently has been the object of some serious folktale speculation.
My next stop was the 3D Interactive Museum, a huge building full of interactive murals. Many of the murals and dioramas had a blurb about the particular cultural tradition or practice exhibited. There was also a video screen that — when you held your museum ticket in front of it — built the Kapitan Keling Mosque on top of it. Definitely one of the coolest museums I’ve been to.
After, I continued along the esplanade to the “clan jetties,” 100-year-old Chinese water villages grouped by clan. I walked through the Chew Jetty first, which is perhaps the most touristy and commercialized of the bunch. I checked out a couple quieter ones after.
By the time I finished it was about lunchtime, so I headed to a Chinese dim sum restaurant. It was really old school, complete with older ladies pushing around carts laden with small plates. I tried a bean curd dish and a pork bun — both were delicious.
After lunch, my next stop was Kapitan Keling Mosque (the same one that was “built” on my ticket), which was built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders. Before being able to enter the mosque, I was asked to put on a long purple hooded robe (I felt very Hermione). Then a couple guys explained the history of the mosque and patiently answered my (many, many) questions about the mosque, Islam, and religious conventions. When they asked about my religion and found out that I was Jewish, they were really interested and said they had never met a Jewish person before, although a Jewish woman had signed a guestbook a while ago (they showed me). They took me and another tourist to one of their study rooms, and we talked there for a while about the Quran and Bible. They claimed that the Prophet Muhammad is predicted in the Torah, and showed me the exact verses in which he’s purportedly referenced by name, but I didn’t know enough to do much with this.
After leaving the mosque, I wove through more streets and visited the camera museum, which exhibited hundreds of cameras from the 19th century until today and included information about their mechanics and makers.
Then I passed the Chocolate and Coffee Museum, and I couldn’t not go. After walking through an informational hallway with murals and graphics explaining how they’re made, I naturally tried all of the coffee and chocolate samples available. Highlights were the white coffee and durian chocolate.
It was around time for dinner by the time I left, so I walked to a popular Malay restaurant. This restaurant, like many of the Malay and Indian restaurants that I’ve seen, was open air and had a lot of seemingly independent cooking stalls making different foods. One of these stalls was for roti canai, a light flatbread with Indian roots that is commonly eaten with lentil or meat curry. I had mine with a spicy chicken soup. Yummmm.
I headed to a small cafe after for churros — yes, churros. Then back to my hostel for bed.
The next morning, I took a bus to Penang Hill on the outskirts of the city. Upon seeing the “hill,” it was clear that Penang Hill is, in fact, a mountain. Funicular trains run up and down the mountain, at apparently the steepest grade in the world.
At the top of the mountain, I was able to look out over Georgetown at the viewing deck, check out a mosque and a Hindu temple, and also explore some paths near the summit.
Then I tried “laksa Penang” — noodles in a fishy sweet and sour broth — at a food stall at the summit. Not my favorite but I’m glad I tried it.
I took the funicular train down the mountain — this time I got a front row seat, so gravity had me almost falling on the glass window at the front of the train.
I took the bus back into the city and had lunch at an Indian restaurant. I tried the murtabak, a pastry-ish roti (or roti-ish pastry) with a minced meat filling. It tasted a lot like the Turkish meat pies that my dad’s family makes.
Then I went to a cat cafe — these are really popular in some countries in Asia, and it’s exactly what you would expect. I thought that maybe since there would be lots of cats there, I’d have a better chance of finding a friendly, nice cat. Wrong. I’ll stick with dogs.
Next, I walked to the oldest Protestant cemetery in town, where Francis Light and all of his cronies (the early administrators) are buried. It’s pretty amazing that the cemetery has been preserved despite the bombing of the island by both the U.S. and Japan during WWII.
Then dinner — I went back to the same restaurant that I went to for lunch. This time I went with nasi kandar, a favorite on the island. I got a mix of rice, stewed and spiced chicken, and cabbage.
I walked around town into the evening, exploring areas of the city that have a lot of street art.
The following morning, I took a bus to the national park and hiked the trail along the coast. The trail was beautiful, built into the dense jungle but almost always in view of the water.
Then I reached monkey beach, a beautiful sandy beach in a cove.
I hung out there for little while and then continued hiking up a “hill” (what’s up with all of the hills that are actually mountains!) for a good 45 minutes until I reached a lighthouse.
By this point it had been a few hours since breakfast, and hungry, hot, sweaty and physically exhausted is not a fun place to be. So I hurried down the mountain and then inhaled a (big) can of Pringles on monkey beach before hiking back to the parking lot for a ride back to George Town.
By the time I got back to town, it was about 6:30pm and I was ready for dinner. I stopped at a curry mee stall on the walk back from the bus stop. Noodles in a coconut curry broth — amazing!
That was the end of my day — I turned in early, but talked for a long time with a new German girl, Anna, at my hostel before going to bed.
Anna and I took the bus to the botanical gardens the next morning — unfortunately, though, the enclosed gardens (herb garden, orchard, fern garden, etc.) were only open to the public on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. We were there on a Friday — ugh. But we were able to walk around on the paths in the area and follow a hiking trail on the outskirts of the gardens.
I grabbed one last roti canai before leaving the gardens and took the bus back to George Town to pick up my bags from the hostel.
Then I took the bus to a mall close to the airport to see Finding Dory before my flight. Oh my god, what a cry fest.
Then one more curry mee at the airport…
… and back to Bangkok! I took a taxi back into the city with a mom and daughter from Seattle. The mom lives in Yangon for many years and her daughter (a few years older than me) has lived all over the world.
On my final day of adventure, I found the only NY-style bagel shop in Bangkok for a bagel with lox and cream cheese (heaven!). Then I went to a cafe near the train station — a huge warehouse space with books everywhere (although no one was reading?).
Then to the train station to catch my sleeper train to the Thai-Lao border!
