Holiday Diary: Georgetown, Penang

[Chine House Cafe in Georgetown]

[More of China House. It had a gorgeous courtyard!]

[Some funky street art which played with shadows.]

[Motorbikes are a plenty in Malaysia and I adore this street art!]

[Little India is probably one of my favourite places to visit.]

If you've been following my instagram and twitter, you'll know that I've recently been to Penang in Malaysia and have been spamming all of your newsfeeds with pictures of primarily food and the occasional tourist picture. 

Penang was one of the first places I lived in when my family moved out to Asia and I'm fortunate enough to say that I lived in this gem for 8 years before moving to Thailand! Having not been back for five years, I was astounded at how much the tiny island has developed, with copious numbers of highrise condominiums lining the beach and my old primary school now a mall!

But of course, despite having lived there, the city part (if it counts as a city), had recently been made a heritage city which meant that loads of the old colonial buildings had been preserved and the whole area in general had been redeveloped whilst still paying homage to tradition!

We started off the day with brunch at China House which is an amazing cafe set in a renovated chinese shophouse. In the colonial period, Chinese shopkeepers were taxed by the british depending on how wide their houses were so they simply made them longer and China House was no exception! The narrow yet incredibly long cafe is made up of 14 rooms, each one with a different theme and some have even been turned into an art gallery! However, the highlight was probably the paper table cloth and the crayons we were handed, and believe you and me, my brother and I created a piece of art to rival Matisse. I tried to take a picture of the food but the light was working against me and I failed, but I had a mushroom bruschetta with parmesan and lettuce which was to die for! The coffee there is definitely worth a try too!

Moving on from China House, which aside from slow service I would give a 10/10 for ambience and food, armed with cameras, we had a wander round the town. Unfortunately, it was absolutely scorching hot so my dad and I only lasted a couple of hours before we dropped into a second cafe called "Pit Stop" for a much needed drink! But being the couple of adventurers we were, we moved on to (woops) another cafe to meet my brother and mum who had been visiting some other attractions.

The Mugshot Cafe was superb. Once again, similar to China House, it was rather artsy and alternative, not unlike the style of cafe's you might find in Shoreditch or the Northern Quarter but it was lovely. Still stuffed from brekkie, I opted for the homemade yoghurt with walnuts and mango whilst the rest of the fam-bam went for bagels. The yoghurt was amazing. Served in empty jam jars, there really was an alternative edge which I am obsessed with. We then also took a couple of photos in front of the abt mugshot-painted wall where we could pose like criminals - check out my instagram for the pictures!

And then came Little India. And eyebrow threading. Mum was desperate to get her eyebrows threaded so being the dutiful daughter I am, I went with her and even allowed her to pay the massive sum of RM5 each (thats £1!). A lovely lady called Indra did both pairs and even complimented me on my eyebrows! Score! I'm pretty sure there are now photos of the two of us in that tiny eyebrow shop floating around cyberspace, give me a heads up if you see them!

Following the not-as-painful-as-i-remembered eyebrow threading experience, we headed to the Peranakan Mansion which was well, a house belonging to an important Nonya family in Penang. It was pretty ace and I loved looking at the traditional dress and tiny shoes from back when the chinese would bind their feet! My hands were bigger than them!

Overall, it was a pretty top notch day and we all emerged sweaty and tired and in need of a long very cold shower and a litre of ice water. But it was great. I had a truly amazing day despite the blisters on my feet and it will definitely be a memory I hold close to me - even more significant as I doubt I'll be going back for quite some time.

Have you been on holiday anywhere recently?