An International Thanksgiving

Why did we go to Pinang (Penang), a small island off the Northwest edge of Malaysia?  Because just about 10 years ago, when she was in 8th grade and just learning about thrift shops, Jenny got a tank top that had an image of a hut, a palm tree, and a sun with the words "Welcome to Penang".  She has worn it regularly throughout high school and college.  Now all of a sudden she was wondering where it is, and decided as long as we were here, we should try to get a new one.  Unfortunately, Penang has since changed their template for tourist souvenirs.  Fortunately, we found a ton of other amazing things on this island.

Most importantly, we found amazing food.  No, no, just kidding- the most important thing we found was an old friend.  By a string of complete and total coincidences, we ended up on the SAME BEACH as Ben's friend and neighbo[u]r from Wellington, NZ.  Him and his girlfriend were traveling around Japan and had a stopover in Malaysia, and somehow made their way up to Penang for a few days.  We were all able to hang out for 2 straight days, enjoying some beach, their fancy hotel (with a swiming pool!  and hot water showers!), a couple temples, and a very festive Thanksgiving dinner.  It was awesome.  James and Yuka- it was great to see you, and we can't wait to hang out again when we get to NZ.

Our hostel did not have a kitchen, but it was Thanksgiving and dammit, we were gonna make a meal.  We made the most use of the boiling water tap and so were able to make: turkey (vegetarian duck purchased from a chinese restaurant), stuffing (sort of), mashed potatoes (mushed potato chips), vegetables (canned), and pie (cake covered in kaya/coconut custard).  We even splurged on a bottle of wine.  It was a feast indeed, and worth it just for the reactions from our Chinese hotel owners and the random international guests - we even found another American!

So back to the authentic Penang food.  It really was remarkable.  A short walk to a nearby temple (to see the largest reclining Buddha in the country) took nearly twice as long as it should have because we were forced to stop and buy tasty snacks from street vendors just about every block.  This meant freshly pressed sugar cane juice, small rice pancakes filled with bananas and corn, sticky sweet rice pastries filled with things like peanuts or coconut, fried noodles, and so on.  And then we got to the Buddist temple and found it surrounded by vegetarian Chinese restaurants!  Boy, that was a busy day.  We're gonna need to go somewhere with pretty impressive cuisine to top this place...

...so next we'll be heading into Thailand.  And the food tour continues...