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Published: April 5th 2006
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I've seen the Light
Me and cardboard cutout of Francis Light. Left Thailand on 3rd April and crossed the border into Malaysia, was such an easy border crossing- Yeah you look handsome enough in you get typed mentality! Was really curious as to what Malaysia was going to be like, the country's 85% Muslim so i was wondering how this would affect the pepole's attitudes and way of life.
Our first stop in Malaysia was Penang Island, particularly the port town of Georgetown (named after King George III). We Crossed into Georgetown from mainland Malaysia by a short Ferry trip (There is actually a 13km bridge that joins Penang to the mainland, one of the biggest bridges of its type in the world apparently) First thoughts on Georgetown were: this place could be in Thailand! Malaysia wants to be a fully industrialised nation by the year 2020, but Georgetown looked really modern anyways: with several high rise buildings and five star hotels that wouldn't look out of place in New York. It seemed to be really nice and had a thriving nightlife, perhaps it's catered towards tourists somewhat: there aren't shed loads of westerners or anything but there seems to be loads of Japanese tourists (They aren't that hard to spot,
they're usually the ones absolutely murdering some classic song on the karaoke! It's quite a sight)
Georgetown was the first main British colony in Southeast Asia, predating Singapore, the main reminence of colonial times seems to be their grasp of the English language- We haven't had any problems communicating. Our hostel is on a sidestreet just off Chinatown, there is also a Little India nearby- As we would find out when visiting the museum the next day, Georgetown has quite a varied ethnic makeup.
4th April
Today we checked out Penang Museum, it was really well set out. Down stairs introduced us to how varied Malaysia's ethnic make up is: Malays, Indians, Chinese, Burmese, Eurasian Europeans to name only a few. The pictures of the colonial Europeans were quite funny, all men with crazy moustaches and decked out in attire that wouldn't look out of place in Master William's wardrobe back in Scott Towers! Upstairs took you through a timeline form the 1780s to the present day, beginning with how Captain Francis Light claimed Georgetown for the British crown and ending with various aerial photos of the Town showing how much it's expanded.
After our crash
Above us only sky
Georgetown from Penang Hill course in Malaysian history and culture we headed to see the Mansion of Cheong Fatt Tze. Cheong Fatt Tze was a Chinese man who came to Malaysia penniless in the 1800s, but when he died in 1916 he was a multi-millionairre and renowned the world over as one of china's first capitalists- It's fair to say he done all right for himself! The mansion itself was apparently his favourite house (He had mansions everywhere), possiby because his favourite wife (Number 7- and 50 years his junior!) was from Georgetown. Our tour guide through the mansion was a really chirpy woman, she loved to inject a bit of humour into the proceedings which made it all the better. The mansion had 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows- The guide was at pains to point out the Feng Shu of the place (How everything was designed for the specific reason of bringing good "chi" and good luck to the house)
After a good days work on the sightseeing front we headed to the Shopping Mall, it was quite similar to the one we'd just visited in Hat Yai- I must report that we were again seduced into Maccy
Geordie Dave's Kitchen!
Will in the "haunted" house on Penang Hill D's by the Golden M sign and the Ronald McDonald statues- He's just so welcoming!
That night we checked out a few bars, the beer here varies in price, but you can find a beer for around a quid if your lucky, otherwise your almost verging on English prices (2 quid a bottle!!) Managed to avoid the hastle of the prostitutes, all Ladyboys apparently, and ended up in quite a cool club. Got bought some beers off some English people who'd been over in Malaysia to watch the Rugby 7s, so that was a bonus! So it was another late night/early morning, but a good time was had by all.
5th April
Today we caught a bus to Penang Hill which is, as the name suggests, a big hill that overlooks Georgetown and much of Penang. When we arrived at the foot of the hill we decided to decline the opportunity for a three hour trek up various footpaths and got on a train which took half an hour to take us near the summit (the track is the oldest hilltrack set up by the British colonials in Asia)
When reaching the summit (well not quite
Hindu Temple, Penang Hill
It looks like it's made of candy from a distance, like the house in Hansel and Gretel the summit, but where the train stops) we soaked up some really nice views of Georgetown itself, spotting the various high rise buildings peppered around the place. When getting off the train you can walk around/trek through the forestry. We decided to take a footpath to the left and after much walking we hadn't seen anything of interest, just a few nice looking bungalows (Whewre was this temple that we'd been told about??) At one point we wandered up a hilly path and came across a disused bnungalow (I think it used to be a guesthouse until being shut down 7 or so years ago). It was so creepy, like somewhere where a Horror film would be set- All of the furniture was upturned, the floorboards were falling apart and the local wildlife had set up stall there (Basically it looked like Dave's Cave about a day after he'd come back to Uni!)
After the creepy bungalow we walked on in vain, some of the bungalows we walked past looked really nice- they had a quintessentially (good word eh!) english feel about them- nice green lawns and hedges. Apparently the richer of the early colonisers prefered to stay on
Big Cannon
Apparently this Cannon, weighing 2.75 tons (about 1.5 Dan Holtbys) with a range of 1000 feet, was probably brought to the Hill as an ornament or to warn the presence of pirates. Penang hill than Georgetown itself to escape the heat. Also spotted a huge spider in its web and a really rare black squirrel. Eventually we bit the bullet and turned back the way we came, eventually arriving at the place where we turned left at the start of our walk. God knows how we'd missed the temple and Mosque that we'd heard about cos it was blatantly obvious where they were when someone pointed them out to us (Basically they were up some steps smack bang in the middle of the place, we are so feckless!) We checked out the Hindu Temple, which was really smartly decorated and then saw the Mosque from the outside, before heading back to the train.
Another action packed day. Tommorow we're going to the Cameron Highlands, Jonny and Bully have been there but we're going to miss them (basically They're abouit 2 days ahead of us! Probs see them in Kuala Lumpar)
Mike
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Jimmy B
non-member comment
Looking good
Like the beard smudger, just need the longer highlighted hair and you'll be in the place i am. Getting loads of different celebrity names fired at you.(Most recently osbourne has compared me to a young johnny depp.) Sounds like your having a great time and really enjoying reading your journals keep them coming. John