One of the best things about Penang is the diversity and melting-pot feel. It's not very segregated between Chinese, Malay, and Tamil and you are likely to find a Hindu temple, Chinese medicine shop, and mosque all in the same neighborhood, maybe even on the same street. There are also lots of old, cool colonial buildings there. It's a place with a strong feel of history and culture.
After checking into our hostel, Lynsey, Kristina and I set off to conquer nearby Penang Hill. (Nicole had unfortunately hurt her knee the day before and couldn't manage the hike.) We started at the Penang Botanical Gardens. After walking around a few times, we finally found the entrance to the hiking path leading straight up the hill. "Hill", by the way, was a bit of a misnomer. More like a sheer slope.
Half way up the "hill" we found a rest area where some older chaps were resting. These men, all in the 50s and 60s it seemed, climb the hill regularly for exercise, or fun, or who knows why. Anyway, I felt a bit ashamed being so out of breath in front of them. But they let us refill our water bottles there. On the second part of the journey up Penang Hill we were lucky enough to meet a man who had a house overlooking the city and ocean surrounding the island. He invited us to see the view from the garden of his house and it was truly impressive (and also a good place to catch our breath once again.) The final stretch up the hill really did me in - it was steeper than anything I've ever climbed before - but with tiny baby steps at the very end I made it. At the top of the hill there are lots of people and some things to see and do. Everyone sane just takes the cable car up. I saw two interesting things: a Hindu temple and a centipede about a foot long, crawling along the curb.
That night we went out to experience what Penang is perhaps most renowned for: its street food. We headed out to Gurney Drive (aka: Glutton Drive) to eat all sorts of wonderful food, with an actual street-food map in hand, produced by the city. (On a side-note, I keep talking about Penang like it is a city, but it's actually just the name of the island; Georgetown is its main city.) First of all, the mere sight and smell of the place was an experience in and of itself. Numbered stalls standing shoulder to shoulder crowded along a several block stretch offering noodles, soup, cuttlefish, meatballs, fried food, and much more. We made it a multiple course meal with a strategy of "divide and conquer." Each person was responsible for buying one food item and bringing it back to the table for all to share. I only made it through three courses, just couldn't make it to the fourth. Alas, I am not a food warrior. Still, I felt like I wouldn't need to eat again for a week.Our time in Penang was short and we left the next afternoon after a quick walk about town (which included, for me, seeing Fort Cornwallis, the old English garrison, and a famous feng shui house, the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion.) Next stop was another island: Langkawi. The goal for Langkawi was to enjoy beach and sun and surf for three days.
Our first hotel turned out to be a bust. Essentially they, or someone, had lied in their description online. There was no beach next to the place, only construction. And it looked like a worn out, smoke-stained old place with very little happening around it. We took a taxi over to a more popular beach and were able to find two basic rooms only a short walk from the main road with restaurants, next to the beach. A much better choice. And who should we run into there, but Arjen! I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising: the backpacker trail in Malaysia (like Thailand) is pretty well established and it's not unusual to run into people you've met before. My friends also said they saw the Russian guy we kept running into in Cameron Highlands in Penang.
Langkawi was blissfully relaxing and lazy. There were a lot of tourists and backpackers but it didn't have a very strong artificial, touristy feel, like the more commercialized parts of Bali. It was more laid-back. We really did spend three days lying in the sun on the sand, periodically running into the water for a while. Somehow - miraculously - I was the only one who didn't get any sort of sunburn. I was pretty religious about applying sunscreen though. Funny, it only took me about 15 years or so to learn that lesson. One highlight was renting kayaks for the afternoon and exploring some nearby islands. Lynsey and Kristina manned a kayak together, and I was unfortunately stuck on my own. It worked out though - even though I didn't have their strength I was more coordinated just by myself and while they went askew and then overcompensated and then over-overcompensated, I made it back to shore in good time. It was a small victory for one as lacking in upper body strength as myself. The islands were beautiful and we got to take a swim on one. Another highlight was taking a cable car ride to the top of one of the tallest (the tallest?) mountains / hills on the island and getting a panoramic, bird's-eye-view of Langkawi island. On a clear day, they say you can see right to Thailand. I think I might have seen Thailand, but it was kind of cloudy.We used every day available to us for that break and were in Malaysia all nine days. I liked each part of it, the hiking, the eating, and the beach bumming. When I meet other travellers doing their pan-Asia journeys, I always recommend Cameron Highlands if they ask me for a suggestion or favourite thing I've done. Now, it's a new year and time for new adventures. I already have a few things to catch up on in this blog, such as Mom and Dad's 2+ week visit just a little while ago. I haven't even edited the photos from that trip yet! But, I promise, more to come. Keep posted!
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