Daily Meander: Faulty maps and Chinese things

Due to inadequate maps, from google and the many, incomplete and sometimes inaccurate tourist maps Mike and I have, while we will try to set out in a general direction, we’re probably going to spend a lot of time wandering Georgetown. This isn’t a bad thing, since history is everywhere in Georgetown. For every documented restaurant, shop, or historical building, there are two down the street and three around the corner.

Anyway, here’s a brief recap of the day, after a late start and a late breakfast at Jaya:


Saw this street art, commissioned by the city, and made it a mission to read and document any we came across today. The one above is about Chinese amahs.


Got to this fountain and the Victoria Clocktower, and then failed to find the post office, as indicated on the map provided by our hostel.


Saw this crowd of people. Mike said it was an immigration building.


Saw this crow trap near the post office truck. The crows seemed quite upset, so maybe they had just fallen in. After some investigation, we saw that they was no way opening large enough to fly or walk out of, but there was an opening at the top of the middle dip of the cage from which they could hop in to get the bread. Once in though, they would be too low to hop out and the opening is too small for them to fly out. I would say it’s a way to trap and kill crows, but the tub of water in the corner indicates someone wants the crows to live. Maybe we’ll visit this again later. Also, apparently I am more interested the the plight of crows than people outside an immigration office. But I guess the crows seem more helpless. Also, they made more noise.


Finally found the post office south of Downing Street, not north of it, and mailed off two more thank you notes. 2 MYR to the U.S., but only 1.4 MYR to Taiwan, if anyone wants to know. Also notice the Western Union.


I was pretty hungry by then, and saw and smelled Subway. Is it cheating to eat at Subway when they have their local special? We still decided against it though, because it was too pricy.



In the end, we found Sri Weld Food Court, at the end of Lebuh Bishop on Lebuh Pantai, which I suspect will become a lunch staple. We just got drinks though (notice the comparably cheap beer). I didn’t feel like eating anything too spicy, and most of the shops were cleaning up (it was around 4 pm). Mike and I saw how thoroughly a steamer was cleaned and decided that it was definitely safe to eat the baozhi/pao there. I’ not sure why they were packing up. Maybe a different set of vendors set up for dinner.

We also found Little India, after failing to find it on Wednesday, due to same map. Mike calls it the Disneyland of India, considering there are no limbless beggars. It’s filled with sari and jewelry shops, Indian restaurants and hawker stalls, the sound of music, and the smell of incense. The map puts it north of Lebuh Cina, but it’s mainly on Lebuh Pasar. I didn’t take any pictures, but it is, coincidentally enough, behind the famous Hindu Mahamariamman Temple:


Right across Lebuh Chulia we saw the Teochew Temple, another pseudo-destination. It’s the cleanest Chinese temple Mike and I have ever been to. No ash darkens its ceilings.


We tried to press onward, to some other art galleries I wanted to visit, though it was getting late and starting to sprinkle, but someone started burning plastic, and the smoke was pretty thick downwind. On our way back to the hostel, we saw this sign:


and decided to stop. Considering all I had had that day was a banana roti, milk tea, and some almond milk, I was pretty hungry. Yeap Noodle seems like a fairly famous family-run noodle shop, and reasonably priced. I found my dumpling soup noodles surprisingly flavorful. Mike found his fried noodles surprisingly bland, but the was soy sauce on the table. Juices were only 1.8 MYR, when they are usually 3 at other places, so I think this place may become a staple as well.

I guess I miss soup noodles in general, but Chinese food in particular. I haven’t for awhile, not in Taiwan and not in the U.S., where I ironically ate a lot of Southeast Asian food.