Another Escape From Urban Purgatory

Georgetown
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This is yet another weekend escape from suffocating Singapore. Looks like I need to leave the country once a month. And this is a trip to another part of the Straits Settlement.

The trip was marred by the heavy downpour which lasted almost an entire day! But by about 2 in the afternoon, we were so fed up we decided to leave the hotel to have lunch and do a bit of sightseeing. Even the rain is not going to stop us from going about the place.

Georgetown is really becoming another urban jungle, although the old shophouses still exist everywhere. It is as if the entire city is one big Chinatown, the sort of Chinatown you only find in Malaysia and Singapore. However, as the city is big, it lacks the quaintness one finds in Melaka. I suppose Penang is somewhere between Melaka and Singapore when it comes to charm.

Fort Cornwallis
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The food is OK. People swear by Penang hawker food, but I do not how it is any better than the hawker food in KL or even Singapore for that matter. But the Penang char koay teow is good, definitely better than any I have ever tasted in Singapore. Although if the char koay teow in Penang is not as good as the ones found here then the city definitely needs to do some soul searching.

I was not too fond of the laksa though. I supposed I expected more and I am definitely more accustomed to the lemak variety. I read on a website once where a Penangite commented that the non-Penang variety of laksa, such as that found in Singapore, was merely curry noodles. I find that an interesting observation since I could very well call the Penang laksa canned sardine noodles. But I am aware of the world outside of my own and the differences that abound. In a word, I am educated.

Georgetown
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The sights were OK. I am most impressed however with the Khoo Kongsi and the Cheah Kongsi.

The Khoo Kongsi temple looked simply spectacular and the interior was even better. The Cheah Kongsi temple, thought not as spectacular, was interesting simple because I share the same surname as the Cheah clan although we our respective ancestors came from different parts of China.

I do not think I enjoyed Penang more than I did Melaka, but it is still better than staying at home.