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Published: February 9th 2007
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This is where i get my chance to rant about the nightmare Georgetown was....i'm sure there are a lot of interesting and wonderful things about Georgetown, but they definitely did not appear while i was there! Our evening was good enough...nothing to complain about that. Great Indian food (i tried Indian pizza, it was FANTASTIC), great company. We knew there was something up at the Oasis hotel when Emily spotted a man dressed up as a woman in these very revealing clothes...i admit i didn't see him (her?) but i could hear his high heels clicking across the floor over and over again. We were both pretty tired, and i was looking forward to sleep...but it never came. The drag queens next door to our room kept us up ALL NIGHT. The walls are paper thin, so we could hear absolutely EVERYTHING. It sounded like they were shouting right outside our door. They had absolutely no respect and no concept of other guests in the house. I didn't sleep one bit. At one point i could hear someone throwing up (very dramatically and LOUD)...i was totally repulsed. At about 4am i finally searched out my earplugs, but the noise they made
actually went right through them. I finally gave up on sleep around 8am with a headache, i was crying, it was the worst night i could imagine!
A few times i almost considered going out there and yelling at them to be quiet, but after Jen and Jord's blog....i couldn't do it! (p.s. guys i feel for you!!!!)
I had suggested to Emily even before this all happened that we might consider packing up and heading to Batu Ferringhi (on the east side of Penang Island) the next day anyway because i had kind of seen all i wanted to see of Georgetown (except the Kek Lok Si Temple, which i'll talk about in a sec here) so even if that conversation hadn't happened, i would have been gone anyway!! We packed up and left that horrible place!
But before that, we went to see the Kek Lok Si Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. It's waaaay up on a hilltop, near Penang hill. It was absolutely breathtaking - you take this little tram up to the top where they have a bigger (much bigger) than life-sized statue up there. There are also a
million Chinese lanterns everywhere...it was really beautiful.
Emily's dad especially would have laughed at me because before we left i had to use the bathroom, and none were available except for the squat toilet, so i used that. Plus it was the cleanest and the other toilet was DISGUSTING! It was a little easier this time! Still not my toilet of choice, but nice to know that i can use it if i absolutely need to 😊
So we hopped a bus and left that town! I almost cried again when we arrived in Batu Ferringhi, but this time because it was so beautiful and an absolute relief to be away form Georgetown. Like i said, there were some interesting people and things to see, but i was tired of that city in one day (especially after being in the Cameron Highlands) that i was so glad to see the sand and the sun and the beach. This time we checked out four different hostels before we settled on one (Baba's Guesthouse) which i am definitely satisfied with. And then we celebrated with a beer on the beach (it was awesome, i definitely feel better here!)
The
Batu Ferringhi
Celebrating our escape from Georgetown with a beer on the beach! ironic thing here is that we sort of can't get away from the night noise, either! It's not any one person (or people) this time...it's this mosque that is almost next door to the hostel. Whenever they have a prayer time (ie right before sunrise!) and the other 4 times in the day, they start singing and praying this monotonous song over this loudspeaker...i was totally not impressed when that woke me up before 7am this morning!
We're getting in a lot of beach time here, which is awesome. I'm using 45 sunscreen and my tan is darker already! The beach here is kind of dirty (things falling off the trees) and the water is definitely murky (so i haven't gone swimming here yet either) but the next place we're going is supposed to be "perfect" according to Lonely Planet! I spent a lot of time at this beach cafe in these comfy chairs....stayed there for almost two hours today just to watch the sunset 😊
So tomorrow we're headed to Langkawi. We're not too happy about the price of the ferry ticket and the cost of transportation to the ferry terminal - it really feels like it's
sunset
This is from my seat at the beach cafe...i like sunsets :) a huge conspiracy to rip us off. We found out that at the ferry terminal, it's RM25, and we're paying RM50 each. Since we have someone who put a deposit down on a room for us, we really have no choice but to (again) swallow the cost. It sucks being a tourist sometimes!!!
see you in Langkawi!
love Lindsay 😊
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Alan
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Beaches & Temples`
Hi Lindsay Just wanted to say how much we are enjoying your photos and stories! What an adventure! Too bad you are missing the Deep Freeze we got going here! Keep having fun. Travel Safe and hugs to you and Emmy! Emmy's dad!