The Famous Five head to Malaysia

  After a leisurely breakfast in the quiet of Palm Court at the E&O we piled into the van and headed west towards the Tropical Spice Garden, 45 minutes out of town. It was interesting to see the coastline and the more modern side of Penang: huge apartment buildings and shopping centres. Dense rainforest with some very ancient plants T hese were a new plant for me: truly stunning contrast between the deep red and the white of the flower Beautiful colour Supposed to cure COVID?  I don't think so! We arrived and absorbed the lush green of the secondary rainforest and slowly wandered the damp trails following the guide, Joseph. Lots of palms, spices, poison plants, a plant that was supposed to cure COVID(?), beautiful tropical flowers, interesting herbs and ferns. Some of his claims seemed to conflict with our understanding of the medicinal qualities of some of the plants but it was an interesting tour. It ended at the Cooking School where we were greeted with great enthusiasm...

  Up early to be ready to head for a  Dim sum breakfast at 7am ....and it was worth losing some sleep to get there early. Towers of steaming aromatic yum cha baskets greeted us as at the Yon Pin restaurant as we walked amongst the locals enjoying breakfast.  So many choices and all very fresh and made on the premises. Delicious! As I contemplated the array, one of the local men informed me that this was the best dumpling restaurant in Penang and he had tried them all!  Anne and Jenny pondering their choices! Peering into the kitchen on the way to the loo I was fascinated by the process for making soft noodles wrapped around prawns. Huge metal trays of thin layers of watery noodle mixture topped by prawns were steamed and scraped into rolls, and topped by a tasty sauce. You can see them on the metal plates in this photo: I had to take a quick photo as they didn't last long! Just to top off a fabulous breakfast the appearance of trays of hot egg custard tarts was too t...

   Today's mission was to attempt the Georgetown Heritage Trail under the guidance of our guide George - who was very aptly named. We were interested to find out the reasons Georgetown earned UNESCO World Heritage status, so it was a busy day filled with a diverse range of places and experiences. We started with a wander into the central part of town enjoying: - Lots of christian churches - Catholic and Baptist and others - and a mosque or two. - Impressive white colonial buildings in the English-colonial style and now functioning as Town Hall, Law Courts etc. - Fort Cornwallis: established by the English. We walked the perimeter rather than being allowed in! - Coffee and special toast from a tiny street stall for morning tea. We sat perched on tiny plastic stools enjoying thick white bread toasted and covered in butter or kaser (?) which seemed like a sort of honey and nut paste. Very delicious whatever it was! - Some street art: but more about that later! This specific piece...