Rediscovering Penang Part 3: Cheong Fat Tze, Little India & Kopi Peng

As intense as the cerulean sky behind it the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion left such an impression on me from the moment I saw it. It was the house and office of a man pivotal to Penang's position as an Asian trading hub in the turn of the 19th century. Exquisitely restored, Le Maison Bleu was my favourite spot on this trip to Georgetown.

Rediscovering Penang Part 2: Ten Thousand Buddhas, Lots of Chinese Cookies and One Killer Assam Laksa

When visiting Georgetown in Penang, a must-do is going up Penang Hill on the furnicular railway. You'll see the city in all its glory (provided it's not a misty day like when we went) connected to the mainland by that famous bridge, currently the fourth longest in South East Asia. If titles are what one is after, Penang sweeps the floor clean with the Kek Lok Si Temple - the largest Buddhist temple in the region.

If you take the route that the guidebooks advise (Bus 204 from Komtar Bus Station to Air Itam, for the Kek Lok Si and Penang Hill), you cannot miss the gargantuan Kuan Yin statue that dominates the skyline over Air Itam town. And that is just a prelude to the thousands of celestial beings and Buddhas all over this place of worship.

Rediscovering Penang Part 1: Char Kuey Teow, Oyster Pancakes & Lor Bak on Lorong Selamat

My Dad is quintessentially Penang in his life long love for street food. Whisper "Char Kuey Toew" or "Hokkien Mee" and he is at the ready 24-7. Much to my Mum's despair in trying to manage his starch intake. Well, it's in his genetic make-up through-and-through to love these sinful things, and it's exactly where I get my hankering for them from too.

After over 10 years of not visiting Penang, I embarked on a little exploration into my Dad's birthplace with boy on tow. I was excited over the scandalous amounts of fabulous food on every corner, saddened it was run down in places and frankly quite filthy, but surprised and happy that there were more efforts to conserve its colourful history.

Doing food research for this trip was harder than usual. First of all there are endless options for any one single dish, how does one sift through to find the best? Secondly, even reputable forms of travel guides say "Char Kuey Teow on Lorong Selamat" or "Assam Laksa on Jalan Air Itam" without much more detail to what the stall looks like or even what names to look out for. So common sense, lots of guess work and growling tums are always the best guides in the end.

Day One: we decide to stroll around our hotel on Jalan Hutton to orientate ourselves. Receiving UNESCO Heritage status in 2008, Georgetown's core zone buzzed - an old town steeped in a rich history of being a key Asian entrepot. I adored the old Straits shophouses and facades, some preserved magnificently and others far more weathered.