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Published: October 18th 2011
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Breakfast
Roti and juice It is around 9PM, curled up in my hotel room bed, going to call it an early night! I am rather tired. Before I left my boss said that when traveling in a new country you are especially tired because of sensory overload. She said that when you are at home and walking/driving home or around town you often barely know how you got from point A to B because your mind is so used to your surroundings, but when you are in a new place your mind has to process every sign, every smell, every person you pass, etc.—this makes you tired. I think I agree with this because I sure am tired!
Today started off earlier than it needed to, but oh well. I got confused with the ferry time and was ready to go for an 8:30 ferry, but then found out that it wasn’t until 2:30. So now I had a few extra hours in Langkawi. I decided to hit up Underwater World just 15KM away (don’t worry, I still don’t know what a KM is—I think it is a little less than a mile). I had not eaten yet so I decided to find somewhere
near. Most of the restaurants here are open air, so I looked at places with lots of people and with western looking faces. I found Tomatoes—which also happened to be in my guidebook. This breakfast alone was worth having to take the later ferry. My juice of the day was: fresh orange, pineapple, watermelon, apple, carrot, cucumber, lychee juice. Don’t worry, I took a picture. I also had Roti—a cheese kind and a coconut kind. Excellent.
After breakfast, just between you and me, I really didn’t want to pay the $13USD to go to Underwater World, which is basically an aquarium. I saw that I was close to the Rice Museum and then I could drive on my way home to a mausoleum—so I opted for the latter (may have just lost some future travel companions with this choice—but who really wants to walk around an aquarium in Malaysia by themselves?) Both the rice museum and mausoleum were interesting. The Mausoleum had a museum as well and was dedicated to Mashuri, a woman who supposedly bled white blood after she was falsely accused of adultery. She then put a curse on the island. Malaysians like legends. The drive there
and back to the ferry port was quite nice. I have really enjoyed driving through the Malaysian countryside and got some good pictures of typical Malaysian homes.
While waiting for the ferry I decided to get an ice-cream. I had honeydew ice-cream. The first bite had me worried—but it was very, very good. Would get again. The ferry to Penang (where I am now) was about 3 hours and quite relaxing. I had visions of me being stuck on a deck and therefore packed a hat and sunblock, but happily found that there were seats like on a bus (though four seats on each side of the aisle) and the ride was rather smooth. When I got off the ferry, I took about a 15 minute taxi ride (traffic and a wrong turn by the taxi driver made it that long) to my hotel.
My hotel room is again very small but cozy and clean and I feel safe—so a winner for me. I am really glad I took so much time in researching hotels—it has paid off so far.
Penang has a completely different feel than Langkawi. It is much more city like (at least where I am
now) and has very narrow streets. It was on the old trading route between India and China for many years so has a very interesting mix of Malays, Indians and Chinese still living here.
After getting settled, I was walking in search of a restaurant and it started pouring. I opted for an indoor Indian Restaurant. Not bad, but won’t go back. The best part of the meal was my rice pudding at the end.
Well that was today. For what they are worth I have thoughts on things that I have observed in Malaysian, culture, society, tradition, etc. I’ll share those on a travel day soon. Tomorrow I have a day of mostly walking to different historical sites planned for tomorrow. It will be a nice change of pace from my more outdoor type adventures in Langkawi.
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