More food adventures to be had in Penang!!
From Around the world... in Batu Ferringhi, Malaysia on Aug 29 '07
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Penang was definitely worth traveling to, contrary to my previous belief that it was too touristy to visit. There's usually a reason for it being touristy and with a friend who grew up here it was a great blend of tourist and local inspired activities. Mostly, it was a treasure hunt for all the local foods that are famous here. We definitely want to come back and stay longer now that we know the area and realize how much there is to do here.
The highlights were really the food, visiting Felicia's relatives, a run-in with a wild horse, and India town. We first went in search of chendol (I've seen like 3 different ways to spell this and have used all three in my review of the place). This is a lovely desert that we ate before lunch with ice, palm sugar, pandan flavored noodles (sweet), and coconut cream. The other desert that is well known is ice kechang (literally peanut ice) which entails shaved ice, rose syrup, palm sugar, coconut cream, peanuts, black and pink jelly things, and red beans.
Horse bites at Fort Cornwallis
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The night before leaving we met up with Felicia's relatives who took us out to eat for a 10 course meal. Everyone was really generous and entertaining and we realized one of her uncles was and is an avid traveler and diver so we had a lot to talk about.
One would think that after seeing and posing with a sign that says "Wild Horses" at one of the tourist spots called Fort Cornwallis we would learn. But, alas, I guess we are no different than the French diver who disrupted the coral. While walking around Fort Cornwallis we saw three wild horses that are apparently there for cutting the grass and are actually allowed to roam free within the fort. Felicia wanted a picture with them so I posed with some distance next to them. Then, Felicia decided to offer one some grass from her hand, still at a distance of 5-7 feet or so. The horse, for reasons known only to itself, decided he did not like this offer and she was too close, so bit her (really truly bit her) on the arm and while she turned away the horse turned around and kicked her on her bum lightly. Then it went back to eating grass. The bite didn't break much skin b/c their teeth are not sharp, but the force caused quite a bruise. We actually went to the pharmacy where I was able to buy over the counter, without a prescription, augmentin, and she got a tetanus shot the next day. The Indian doctor in KL actually said that despite working in Rajasthan, India with lots of camels and horses, he had never seen a horse bite, only camel bites. Felicia is healing fine and a little hurt in her pride but has changed her approach towards approaching all the animals here....
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