An unsuccessful Email to Rihanna


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Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
April 30th 2009
Published: May 1st 2009
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Georgetown is at the heart of Penang and is where most of the travellers head. The island of Penang is on the Eastern gulf of Malaysia. It does have a few beaches scattered of the coast but we wanted some city life so after getting off the bus from Alor Setar we jumped on a ferry and headed into town.

It's not a huge place Georgetown, streets are narrow with old terraced colonial buildings. The street with most of the guesthouses on is called 'Love Lane'.. brilliant. The town has a similar feel to that of Hanoi... tourism is a money maker for the locals but its not interrupted with traditional customs.

On our first night in Georgetown we walked to a place called 'little India'. Having been to India twice before we knew what India feels/looks like and for a moment walking around here felt like the real thing! Of course there were many Indian people and curry houses but there is also a couple of temples, incense sticks outside every shop or stall being lit, clothes shops selling colouful saris, and good old bangra music pumping out of speakers. We managed to find a veggie curry house and had the works (minus the beer - its costs an arm and a leg here)

The following day we headed into the shopping district and spent a couple of hours browsing the air con shops. Lee needed another haircut (it grows quickly) and after an unsuccessfully hunt trying to find a cut for lower than 2 pounds we continued looking. After giving up the search and on the way out Michelle spotted a sign advertising students training and a haircut for a quid!. The guy at the counter assured us that the 'student' had been training for a month and suspiciously asked us to pay first! We paid and then waited patiently as the guy took 1 hour to wash Lee's hair. Under the supervision of an extremely hairy Chinese woman our student then began cutting.. only he didn't know how to hold the scissors. 30 minutes later and 3% of the haircut done we decided enough was enough and stopped the torture, headed next door and paid 3.60 for another haircut by a 'professional'.... lesson learn't!!

During our stay in George town we also met a crazy Man Utd fan who had converted his burger cart into a half cooker/half tribute to Man Utd (see pics). Lee was hungry and convinced Michelle to part with our money and hand it over to the dodgy footy fan. While waiting for Lee's egg burger the guys mate came over and had a chat with us. He explained how he really fancied Rhianna and had sent her a letter asking her for a date. Turned out that Rihanna's secretary had wrote an email back to him explaining that she was on tour and would not be able to reply, thanking him for his interest!!

The only other stuff to report is we strolled into a Chinese celebration while we were out and about one day and took a trip up to Penang on the hill - a hill on top on Penang. At 821 meters above sea level you get some pretty impressive views.

Our next stop on our Malaysian adventure is the Cameron highlands. We have been offered tickets direct, but think we will do the journey ourselves by public transport.. maybe it will be more fun!?!

See you soon..

Lee and Michelle


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