This was my first day in Penang, Malaysia. Most of the day, I stayed in my room and got my documents in order to apply for my Thai visa. 

I went to a Tuesday Night Market at 5pm, which my hotel's host recommended. There was lots of street food there, such as Taiwanese milk tea and local fried lobster. I met local people there. After eating some street food, I walked around for a bit. The buildings were mainly one floor high. The street was clean and quiet. I walked along the foot of a hill and finally arrived at a water purification plant. I met a woman who was also walking around here and we greeted each other. 

A local friend whom I knew from Couchsurfing messaged me on WhatsApp. He had finished his work for the day and came to pick me up to have dinner together. This was the first time we met with each other. I had posted my travel schedule on Penang in Couchsurfing. 

He picked up me at around 8pm. We went to a Food City, a place where a lot of food stalls gather. All stalls provide English and Chinese names and menus. My friend, a Malaysia Chinese, had studied at an English-language school, so his English far outpaced his Mandarin. He can speak English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malaysian and Mandarin. Due to his Mandarin was poor, we used English to communicate. 

We talked a lot until 1am.  He was an entrepreneur selling robots. He started doing business with Chinese companies from last year so now he wanted to learn how to deal with Chinese people. He had two offices: one in Kuala Lumpur for showing and selling products, and the other in Penang for manufacturing and engineering. At last he drove me back to my hotel.