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Published: March 3rd 2010
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Back to KL for the third time and we’d had just about enough of this big stinky city. It’s a love/hate thing. We ended up having to waste 3 nights in KL all because of this Indian visa. Definitely something we should have sorted in Australia. Can you believe the second time we went to the Indian consulate to hand in our passports after approval, it was closed for an Indian public holiday, again?!! And this was on Australia Day! We then spent the day in our hotel room listening to the triple J countdown online, which felt really lame and made us miss home so much, but it was worth it. It was the only place we could listen, so don’t blame us for not going out to celebrate!!
After finally obtaining these golden visas after a few lazy days sitting in our hotel, we left KL and caught a bus to Georgetown which is on the island of Penang and is the second biggest city in Malaysia. We arrived at midnight so we found a cheap hotel in the city and got a good night sleep, before catching the bus to Batu Ferrhingi - Penang beach, the next
morning.
It was so good to finally get to the beach and swim!! We had been hanging out for the water, sun and some sand between our toes for days and days and it was like bliss when we finally found a cheap room! We looked at a few overpriced guesthouses which were all along the beach, and the last one at the end of the road was Boomerang. He was an aussie ex-army dude and was still renovating the place, but for 70 MYR and right on the water, it didn’t seem bad at all. We stayed in the water all day and watched the sun go down with a few beers. Dinner was a treat and Max the guesthouse owner had one of the workers cook us a delicious feast of local dishes for dinner. We were having a nice night enjoying a few quiet ones and some shisha, before two guys rocked up looking for a place to stay. Once they were all settled in, they joined us for a few drinks and we all stayed up till late drinking and talking, including Max and 2 Swiss girls from the guesthouse. Both guys, Kevin and Tim
were from Holland so we all had so much to talk about and we loved hearing their stories of their journeys so far, especially Kevin’s scooter accident which gave him some inconvenient stitches in a few places. Late at night, we watched the small waves come in as the tide went up and up, until we all had to scramble to move all the tables and chairs off the beach. The tide was so high that the Swiss girls and Kevin felt they just had to go for a swim beneath the full moon. We told Kevin not to go in but he couldn’t resist!
The morning after the night before was a late start. It was nice having brunch on the beach and we even had some vegemite toast, which Max had. Still can’t believe we forgot to bring our own!! Kevin asked us if we’d like to join them to go into the city that day to see the Thaipusam festival, a hindu celebration, so we decided to go for the experience and to get to know the guys better. We caught the bus from the beach into Little India, Georgetown and walked through the crowded streets
until we came to the heart of it all. What a colourful festival, all the Indian women in their very best sari’s and yellow gold jewellery. Even the little ones were really dressed up and some of them so cute and bright! Some young men were very passionate about this day and were dragging thin chains from hooks stuck into their skin on their backs, with painted faces and piercings everywhere. A real sight to see as some of them really get into it and shout and moan to demand respect. There were also guys that carry these massive 3D murials and balance them whilst dancing somehow. The atmosphere was so incredible, it’s like one big party and none of us were looked at strangely for being there because we weren’t Hindu or Indian for that matter. There is so much loud music being played all down the streets and all the young guys dance in groups then keep moving down to the next clan of dancers. Once Kevin saw this he wanted to join in which the Indian guys LOVED and he definitely got lots of attention! Tim and Brent then joined in and as I was taking photos
I couldn’t stop laughing, it was so funny watching the boys dance to the strange music and the Indian guys’ reactions. I felt a little reserved to join in though, as there were no women dancing anywhere, but it looked like so much fun! Soon enough we found another dance party and there were some children dancing so I thought stuff it, we were all dancing with these gorgeous little girls and they could definitely move! I think I was having a show-down with one of them, she was really getting into it and was so sweet. We were all dancing for so long and it was such a hot day that the sweat was just pouring off all of us, the boys shirts were all wet and we thought we would pass out if we carried on dancing! All down the streets there’s free cordial and this amazing pink Indian drink that tasted like Turkish delight, so we threw some of that down as we overlooked one of the kitchens where they were cooking fresh curry in the hugest pots I have ever seen! We continued until we had all become too tired to carry on, and my camera
battery was quite flat by that point, too many Kodak moments enjoyed.
That night the four of us made plans to leave Max’s overpriced Boomerang guesthouse the next morning. We decided we’d head together to Langkawi Island, Malaysia’s northern most tourist-infested beach location. We left at 6am while it was still dark, we caught the bus into Georgetown and got the ferry just in time to Langkawi Island, where an oasis of tax-free joyness involving once in a lifetime cheap beer opportunities awaited us all...
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kristianne
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Great pics guys!
Glad to see your having fun! looks amazing :) take care in india xxxx