Exploring Georgetown: Asia Cafe & Hainan Temple

It was 3 hours past twelve when we left Cyberjaya. The light rain along the way to Georgetown was kind of sleep-inviting. Renting a car instead of purchasing airline tickets or commuting via bus was a great decision to explore Penang on weekends. They took turns driving throughout the entire road trip and since I don’t drive, I became the navigator of the group. Thank God GPS was invented! It was the best reliable guide ever. The road trip in Malaysia with the radio on was fun. The roads were generally wide which makes it more relaxing. I was glad the road wasn’t congested. It felt so good to be on the road again with only few vehicles around. I usually don’t sleep on road trips but that time I fell asleep for like half an hour. When I woke up, I glanced one of the great scenes on the road. The huge lime stones on the road reflected at dawn remind me of El Nido and Coron, Palawan

With few stopovers, we arrived in Georgetown around eight in the morning. We headed to Red Garden and apparently it was closed. Little did we know that it only opens from 5:30 PM – 2:00 AM. While we were looking for a place to eat, we spotted a Chinese temple. We checked out the temple and I asked the lady what was the name of the temple and she said the holy place is called Hainan Temple. It was the usual Chinese temple and the stone carvings display on the walls looks old. Prolly the Temple has aged and it wasn’t part of our itinerary but being there was nice. There were few Chinese people visiting the shrine to pray and meditate. We didn’t stay there for too long. We continue to embark on our breakfast-search-journey.

Georgetown is a Unesco World Heritage Site. We had a little tour around the town and seeing those buildings and townhouses with different styles was notable. One of the main advantages of renting a car is that one can go around and stop to one’s desired location without having to hop from one bus to another. Although it wasn’t challenging for me because I usually take the bus when I travel, finding and losing the art of routes and walk most of the time to familiarize the place. I found Penang’s trip very comforting.

The food hunt was over, just near the roundabout, we had our breakfast at Asia Café Penang Hill, a hawker center where variety of foods can be found. Some of the stalls were closed and we only have few food stands to select. Tom Yam was closed. The Chinese lady told me that some of the stalls are open in the afternoon until midnight or something. No Penang Laksa to be found as well so I had fried noodles instead, pork dim sum and prawn dumplings and coke. Yes coke mode for breakfast to quench my thirst. During breakfast we were discussing where to stay overnight. Yeah you heard it right; we went to Penang without hotel/hostel reservations. We didn’t want to think about it much and we decided to explore Georgetown first and if we come across a place to stay along the way would be great.

Breakfast was great and I really didn’t finish the fried noodles not that it didn’t taste good but because my stomach was full. Truly Penang has more to offer than this, we explored the town and the multicultural heritage of Georgetown was amazing. We failed to watch the dragon boat festival at Teluk Bahang that same day. Really, Two days wasn’t enough to tour Penang but we had a great time!

This is part of my Penang Series.

How did we get to Asia Café Penang Hill?

By Car:

We followed the GPS, From Jalan Dunloup, Turn left and reach Jalan Perak. Go straight and follow the Signs to Jalan Air Itam. Once you reach the roundabout, you can see Asia Café Penang Hill, you can park in front of the food court.

Food Price: Food range from 3 RM and up.

Tips: Some of the stalls are open late in the afternoon so if you want to experience variety of foods there, better visit the Hawker Center around 5:00 PM onwards.