Farewell Langkawi, Terima Kasih

As well as the abundant nature, friendly people and animals, the best thing about Langkawi was our host, who went far beyond what we could have expected. He took us to places he likes to go himself and made sure we would like them too. A case in point was this morning's breakfast locale: a self-service vegetarian buffet run by a Buddhist association.

Buddhist tofu and rice

I helped myself to piles of healthy food, including spicy tofu, vegetables in a sour sauce, and Chinese stir-fried noodles. A hearty plate of rice was just what I needed to soak up last night's excesses.

To go with the self-service nature of the place, we did our own washing-up. Payment was by donation, which goes towards helping farm animals that have reached the end of their productive life (e.g. non-laying hens) and would otherwise be slaughtered. Ironically the Buddhist café seemed to be staffed entirely by Muslims.

The ferry trip from Kuah jetty to Georgetown pier on Pulau Penang was fortunately uneventful. I couldn't honestly call it a smooth journey as the 2h45 crossing was quite choppy. Thankfully I don't tend to get sea sick, so I fell into the unrewarding, head-nodding sleep that comes upon me on public transport. I came to only briefly to eat a slice of cheesecake I had picked up at Starbucks. This was more cake than (cream) cheese, but was tasty enough. I would have to wait to get to Penang - the food Mecca of Malaysia - to get lovingly baked cheesecake.

Georgetown is the main populated area on the island of Penang and much of its town centre is a UNESCO heritage zone. It is eminently walkable, but with our large and heavy bags, we took a taxi to our accommodation.

Our home for the next two weeks is more of a guesthouse than the 'homestays' we have so far preferred. However, the proprietor, Steven, greeted us and was very friendly and informative about Penang and the local area. Steven is keen on cycling - hence the guesthouse name - and actively welcomes guests with bicycles. So thoughtful is he, that he sells sanitary towels ergonomically designed for lady cyclists(!)

After a quick freshening up, we took one of the suggested spots for dinner and headed out into the streets of Georgetown. Penang is known as the food capital of Malaysia and cafés, restaurants and street hawkers' stands abound on every street. "You will get fat in Penang," warned everyone we spoke to before arriving. "Throw out your diet," suggested Steven, although once we told him of our vegetarianism, he had to scratch his head a while. Indeed, a handy pamphlet guide containing dozens of varieties of street food revealed not a single savoury dish that could be considered vegetarian. "Once you take out the shrimp paste, chicken and cuttlefish, it's just noodles really," Steven said of one dish. I can't live on dessert alone - much as I might like to - but we haven't had too much trouble thus far in finding tasty and veggie-friendly food.

Banana leaf rice and dal

Steven's proposal for dinner was banana leaf rice at Passions of Kerala. As the name suggests, served directly on the leaf were tomato rice, three kinds of curry, lime pickle, with a side of creamy dal and poppadoms. Having polished off much of the delicious tofu curry, vegetable sabzi, and one of the tastiest lime pickles I have ever tried, the waiter arrived back at the table. "More?", he asked. He replenished the leaf with those curries we had demolished. We paid the princely sum of 6.50RM (about £1.20) for each leaf including seconds.