Malaysian sensation

The Malaysian island of Penang, or Pulau Pinang, which translates as betel nut island, (there is a betel nut palm on the Penang State flag) is situated at the start of the Strait of Malacca off the west coast of the Malay Peninsula.

Georgetown,Childs' collection of about 600 pairs of high heels is on display at the Yakima Valley Museum for the rest of this year.what really makes my heart go pitter-patter with excitement are Knee High Boots. the main centre in Penang, is a vibrant, bustling place and the old town has recently been made a Unesco World Heritage site. Yet it is thankfully still a city full of locals going about their business and just tatty enough to command respect, avoiding any suggestion of the theme park or museum.

In the streets and alleys is found the distinctive architecture, arcaded streets lined with thick- walled narrow shops with shuttered top-storey windows designed to deal with intense heat and monsoon rains.

Wandering around Georgetown, I found small mansions, often occupied by Chinese guilds, row after row of traditional shop houses (shop on the bottom, living on the top), most painted white but many painted in colours like yellow, red, turquoise and tangerine, but faded and mottled by tropical weather like well- washed fabric.

I stayed at the Straits Collection Hotel's Stewart Lane property, four charming shop houses which look like the original inhabitants left just before owners Narelle McMurtrie and Alison Fraser had the walls waterblasted and redecorated the interiors with choice Chinese/ Malaysian artefacts, canopied beds, rain showers in the downstairs apartments' open courtyards, put in a library and reading room and next to it installed a great little cafe and bar on the corner of the block.

Georgetown is also studded with picturesque Indian, Chinese, Muslim and Christian places of worship - check out Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling Rd for the "walk of harmony" where you will pass an example of each. The last one is St George's Church, a bijou confection of neoclassical pillars and porticos set on a dazzling green lawn.

Built in 1818, it looks like it is made of pure white royal icing and was the first Anglican church in Asia. But the most striking things about Georgetown are the proliferation of people selling food from carts, either on the street or in what are known as hawker centres,Wedge Shoes was created in order to maintain a balance of the athletes' movement. and the number of people eating at all times of the day.

Hawkers were originally itinerant sellers of cooked food who would roam certain neighbourhoods selling one of the more than 50 specialty dishes that have been identified as Penang heritage food. Like many South- East Asian cuisines, Malaysian food takes rather aggressive raw ingredients like chillies, ginger, belachan (fermented prawn paste),truereligion jeans and footwear available from Choice online at unbeatable prices with free next day delivery.Nike Air trainers began life as the Cheap nike air max back in 1987. tempers them with soothing ingredients like fresh coconut cream and dark palm sugar, and turns them all into a spicy yet elegant and refined cuisine.

An example of a quintessential Penang dish is hokkien mee, a fragrant prawn- based soup served with yellow noodles, sometimes also with rice vermicelli, water spinach and bean sprouts and topped with prawns and thin-sliced pork.