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Published: November 11th 2008
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The Georgetown Skyline
Coming in on the ferry After all the sickness, we finally decided to make the move to Malaysia. It took around 14 hours of mini bus rides to get to the island of Penang is northern Malaysia, but we finally arrived at night and found a place to eat and sleep!
Coming over on the ferry to the town of Georgetown, the main city in Penang, was quite fun and we are ready for a new place with new adventures. We had absolutely no idea what to expect from Malaysia, so anything would be new and exciting. As we came into the city, the skyline was bright and really pretty. We also noticed how clean and modern all the roads were, which is super nice. So far- so good!
Our first morning in Georgetown we decided to do a small walking tour of the city from my Lonely Planet guide. It took us through most of the colonial parts of town. Georgetown was established by Sr. Francis Light in the late 1700's as a port of call for the East India Trading Company (yes, like in Pirate's of the Caribbean!) and most of the old town is colonial architecture with a real British feel.
Our
The boys on the ferry after 14 hrs in a bus
Sweet beards- November is beard month so they have to go the whole month w/o shaving first stop on our walking tour was Fort Cornwallis, which was set up along the waterfront to protect the city. It was erected by Francis Light and named after the Governor Charles Cornwallis. Convict labor was imported to the area in the late 1700's and helped to build the fort and other colonial building of the time. It was quite crazy to think all this was happening at the same time America was gaining its independence.
After walking around the fort, we continued down and saw some of the old buildings including the town hall, Supreme Court and a WWI memorial. We finished up by having some coffee and tiramisu and the famous Eastern and Oriental Hotel. It is a very "old money" hotel that welcomed the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Ava Gardner. It reminded me a bit of the Hotel Del Coronado in that way. The service there, even in the bakery, was amazing and it was nice to be surrounded by rich people for once and not smelly backpackers.
That night, we returned to our smelly backpacker roots and found some good ole street food to eat. We found a lady that was making these
delicious looking noodles and won tons on the side of the street so we pulled right up and grabbed some. Our entire meal was 3 ringgit (less than $1). The food was delicious. We have also found a lot of street vendors that make fresh squeezed juice from their little carts. We have been loading up on the fresh orange juice to keep our immune systems better. Somehow there isn't even pulp in it, which is great for me, and it tastes amazing!
The next morning, we decided to get some information on the Muslim aspect of Malaysia. There are many different religions here in town and you can find so many different races. We are walking distance from a Hindu temple, a Catholic church, an Islamic mosque and a Buddhist temple! It's quite amazing the different amount of culture you really have here.
Since we have seen enough Buddhist temples, we decided to walk the city and see many of the Islamic mosques in town. The first one we visited was called "Masjid Kapitan Keling" mosque. We did not think we would be allowed in, as mostly you have to be Muslim and it was afternoon prayer
time, but a guy immediately greeted us and led us inside. We removed our shoes and he gave us proper attire. I had to wear a scarf over my head and a full robe that covered me. The boys also had to wear this robe. I was sweating after only a few seconds in this- I don't know how the women wear it all the time!
We were able to observe afternoon prayer, although I had to do so from a distance since I am a girl, but the boys were able to go onto the prayer carpets. After the prayer was over, we were immediately greeted by two men who wanted to show us around and teach us about Islam. We were hesitant to say where we were from, but they called us their brothers from America, so it was all good! One man was quite nervous as he was about to leave on his pilgrimage to Mecca (one of the five pillars of their faith) so another younger man showed us around the mosque and taught us about the general teachings of Islam. We also talked about how they pray for peace on earth and the world jihad
actually means internal struggle and not another more menacing term that we often associate with the word.
The men talked about Obama being elected and that he hopes our world can come to peace. He talked about Malcolm X and the "Brotherhood of Islam" that he belonged to and said their promotion of violence and black vs. white is an unfortunate subgroup as are those preaching hate in the Middle East. I was surprised at how openly he talked about these subjects, but I guess he wanted to convince us that Islam is a religion of love and not hate. It is unfortunate that all we see in the news is a bad portrayal of those who take this religion to its extreme. (I say this as we keep an eye on the worsening situation in Indonesia after the Bali bombers were executed- not sure we will make it there!) Anyways, it was quite an experience and I couldn't believe we were welcomed by them to enter their place of prayer.
After this, we had plans to take a bus to Penang Hill to see the city, but the cable car is currently broken and we did not
feel like walking the 800 vertical meters to the top- in the 90 degree heat! So... there wasn't much left to do in the city. I had been eyeing the trishaws that take people around and when an old man offered to take us on a 1/2 hr tour of the city I couldn't say no! So I boarded my little trishaw and he drove us around for 30 minutes.
He took us all through "Little India" and we were able to go inside the Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple. We happened to arrive at this temple right at prayer time so there were people ringing bells and praying to the Hindu gods. They were breaking coconuts and once again they welcomed us inside and let us take a look around. The outside and the inside of the temple were very colorful, more so than many of the other temples we had been in. There were tons of statues of people with many arms, I think its Shiva, although I don't know much about the Hindu religion so I can't really say. It was quite a religious day and amazing that so many religions live so closely side by side
in Malaysia.
After having no idea what to expect from this country, Penang was a great introduction and we definitely have a bit of a taste of what the rest of it will be like. It is a huge fusion of different Asian cultures, including Indian and Chinese. We can't wait to see more!
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