Food glorious food

My body reacted to being dragged from the beach to the chilly Cameron Highlands with horror and a groggy cold. It was Sapa all over again.

Nevertheless, we basked in the coolness of the small town surrounded by aromatic forest, strawberry and honeybee farms. In between sampling every Indian canteen in the town we hiked in the jungle, sliding down muddy slopes and sheltering from spluttery rain showers. Then dried off with scones, cream, strawberry jam and Chinese tea.

We headed back downhill and across the water to the island of Penang. We based ourselves in the city of Georgetown, which quickly became one of my favourite places of the entire trip.


Georgetown is full of lovely old shuttered Chinese houses, shops shaded by painted wooden blinds and colourful retro signs. Everyone who lives there seems to be old – where are all the young people? – skinny, graceful old Chinese people float around the streets and incense pours out of the spangly temples. There’s an elegant seaside esplanade peppered by grand colonial buildings. And then there’s Little India, which is just too exciting for words.

It could be India, if the roads weren’t so nicely paved and there were a few beggars and cows about. But it smells, sounds and tastes exactly right. Pounding Bollywood music, glittering sari shops, towering temples, intoxicating incense and delicious, scoffable thalis…it doesn’t get much better.

We escaped the city for a day with a motorbike and a terrible map to guide us to the beaches, jungle canopy-walks and hilltop temples around the island.

Penang is so proud of its famous street food that there are leaflets guiding visitors to which hawker stalls sell what. So we planned our days around our meals, getting fat on more roti canai and sampling tasty laksa (a fishy noodle soup), powdery Indian sweets and Sri Lankan curry.