bar | Chaos roaming the world

We were torn – no two ways about it. The Picos de Europa caught our attention, big time. On the other hand, with ¾ of our trip done, we just could not muster the energy for a full day hiking day. Plus, ever since one of my friends came back from a weekend romp to Bilbao raving about it, it was placed pretty high on my list. We are city people, after all.

And so we waved good bye to the impressive peaks and valleys of the Picos and headed back for the coastal highway. I snuck in a brief detour via a particularly recommended beach in Eastern Asturia – but when we got there, pretty much everyone except myself was already sound asleep. Bilbao it is, then.

I don’t even know where – there were many beautiful estuaries up here

After a minor challenge finding a parking garage (google does not differentiate between the public and resident only garages) we were smack down in the old town ready to explore. Briefly, at least – as we were quite knackered and the camping situation for tonight was not fully resolved.

Lunch then: Here came the great hour of a local food culture institution. One that quickly won me over, second to only maybe Warung Makan in Indonesia. Pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) are two bite extravaganzas similar to tapas, but smaller and more elaborate. They are pretty much a standard in any bar or café in town. So we did as the locals, picked two bars we liked and had two or three pintxos in each. The Café Bar Bilbao (while sporting an excellent carnivore selection) had no vegetarian option on offer, but were quick to whip up deep fried vege for Nina. Not as good, but A for effort. The location was great, though, giving us flashbacks to Barcelona almost a month ago.

The second spot was chosen for the vegetarian option. Nina enjoyed her chance to join in the fun. The place, Irrintzi was more our vibe as well – a bit artsy, a bit alternative. After two bars, we were actually full enough for lunch time. Just great – a drink, some food, 14€ for two and off to the next bar. I can totally see doing 3-4 in a night and avoiding both a bit of the hangover and a late night food frenzy stop at the golden arches. I want this at home!

this time, with veggie options (burglar still afoot).

We wandered through the old town a bit more, enjoying the architecture as well was the vibe. But it was time. The next campsite was half an hour out of town, which sort of made the decision for us on how to tackle tomorrow. That was a bit too far for public transport, so we would camp for the night, come back into town to park here and move on towards the Rioja valley once we had our fill.

[Flo forgot the most important food selection of the day. I managed to talk him into going to Opila, a patisserie pretty much next to our parking garage and i.n.d.u.l.g.e.d. while Flo planned the route for the next couple of days.]

The camp was one of those we would always rather avoid – expensive, tiny parcels without shade and not quite in a nice location. It was the closes one, though, and given that it was almost empty and the facilities were freshly renovated, it was kind of ok. We did get a chance to see the sunset – at the cost of almost freezing our toes off (in 10° C).

We got some good views …
… even on our way out
could be ad shots, if not the manufacture of both the car and the rooftent recommend against the combination …
I don’t even know where – there were many beautiful estuaries up here
as I said, we were in the zone … no idea, still pretty
farewell, this was our last glimpse of the high mountains
pretty … but the lure of the city had us ensared
we really liked these windowed balconies
first round, meat monster pintxos (see the burglar?)
nice enough to wip something up
off to the next bar
this square reminded us a lot of Barcelona, hawkers and all
this time, with veggie options (burglar still afoot).
we both quite like turn of the century to ’20 architecture
the burglar has made it to the vault …
… he had help!
I think he got away with it!
sunset always takes longer than expected
time to finish with some blogging
geometrically, the sun had already disappeared by that point …
lit ships anchoring at dusk

Finally made it to the waterfront!

Georg Town is actually known for its pretty, colonial era district (also listed as Unesco World heritage) and a lively scene of street art. Since we were occupied with the bike yesterday and then only moved in a radius of 50m from our hostel, today was the day for sightseeing.

We started the day with planning what’s to come after Georg Town. This is our last stop in Malaysia; the border to Thailand is not really far away anymore. However, all the interwebs told us that we will only get a visa for 15 days if we cross over at the land border. 15 days is too short for all of Thailand. So we made up elaborate plans to drive up north to Bangkok, change tyres and then swerve to the right into Cambodia…or try to get a 30 day visa here in Malaysia.

Spontaneously, we jumped on the bike, drove to the Thai embassy in Georg Town…and left again. The first employee we met was able to tell us that tourists cannot get a multiple entry visa here. Really, multiple entries is the only one that makes sense for us so we left again. The visa fees were horrendous as well.

Town Hall

Back in the hostel, we picked up Josy and Peter who had shown interest in doing the 2.5km long “walking tour” through the inner city which the Lonely Planet suggested. Glad to be out of our motorcycle gear again, we started. Man, it was hot. And almost lunch time as well. Not feeling up for a museum, we passed the Penang Museum before crossing the park in front of the City hall and Town hall. Only the 20 ringgit entrance fee deterred us (and the backpackers) from having a look inside Pinang Peranakan Mansion which is one of the best preserved old buildings in town.

From here, a quick walk through Little India brought us to an Indian, vegetarian place that I’d been eyeing up ever since we got into town. The Paneer Butter Masala was delicious while all of my fellows went for the set menu lunch and were rewarded with a tray full of 7 cups with different sauces, soups and even milk rice surrounding a mountain of rice topped with crackers. Flo ordered the deluxe version so had one cup more and chappati extra.

Minions are taking over the world

Happy and full, we continued from Little India with its blaring music to Chinatown. Starting from Lebuh Armenian, “my” section finally began: Georg Town’s street art. Those tiny little roads are filled with artsy tourist shops, scenes made from a thick metal wire and of course, the painted street art works. It’s hard to describe but I hope you get an impression through the photos. I really enjoyed it.

A bit of relaxing later, all four of us made our way through the city again. This time during dusk, towards the waterfront where Flo and I had picked an Italian restaurant. It was this time of the month again…our next try of Italian food in an Asian country. Checking out the prices at the door, Peter and Josy rather continued to the nearest food market while Flo and I decided to be decadent. Looking like tourists in our hiking pants and jandels, we still didn’t stick out too much. The pizzas were good; the best ones we have tried since leaving the western world but still a

My cake looked at me!

tiny notch under a Scopa pizza for example. Being decadent already, Flo enjoyed a glass of wine to his food while I ate a piece of a rich Equatorial Gianduja cake. So good!

Back at the hostel, we ran into Josy and Peter again. Feeling generous and almost like in Wellington after the good food, we invited them to a drink in the “Behind 50” bar on the opposite side of the street from our hostel. It also looked and felt very kiwi so we got into reminiscing our time in Wellington…