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Published: March 17th 2007
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We made it to Penang just after 5pm on Sunday and we only needed to walk about a quarter of a mile from the pier to our accommodation. The road was closed and there was lots of food stalls and marques there, when we enquired what was being celebrated and we were told it was the last day of Chinese New Year, I hadn’t realised they celebrate for fifteen days. Wouldn’t it be great if we did that, think of all the time of work! Once checked in we went straight back there to see what was happening. In one marquee there was some large buckets of water and people were throwing oranges into them. A lovely Chinese man informed us that in China when they want a husband or wife they throw an orange into the sea and make a wish. Rich, Erica and I didn’t want to be left out so bought an orange each. You are to throw them up and they get caught into a net, thee net has holes in it, which they keep fastened and are undone once the orange has been caught to ensure that it lands in the water. On my go however
the hole in the net wasn’t fastened and mine fell straight into the water, it must be a good sign!
We were absolutely starving so our next stop was to try some of the delicious smelling street food, which didn’t disappoint although the portions were rather small. We then made our way back to the main road to watch the street procession, of cause there were thee traditional Chinese dragons and old ladies singing and dancing.
We had a walk around the areas known locally as China Town and Little India, but to be honest there is no definate border between them. The Chinese town Hallis in Little India and the Mosque is in China Town! We discovered a market in China Town, where all the stalls were ran by Indians. It was more like a car boot, without the car (as Erica put it) as they were selling the most random items, the most memorable being sanitary towels, hair and used out of date passports!
We then decided to find a nice place to have a glass of wine, as I wanted to celebrate (in my own way) the fact that Michael and I have been
together for 12 months. Unfortunately most places were closed for the party but eventually we found a lovely Indian restaurant, were Rich and I also got something else to eat.
On Monday we were all quite tired as our room was so hot none of us could sleep, it was going to be a lazy day. The first mission was to find somewhere to eat, which sounds easier than it actually was, we finally found a British style pub. The next was to find somewhere to do our laundry, we had that much none of us were prepared to do it ourselves, I do miss washing machines and irons! Erica and I then wanted to use the Internet while Rich needed to organise his flights.
It was 6pm when we met Rich back in our room, he still hadn’t managed to sort out his flights and needed to go back the next day. He was due to fly from Singapore to Melbourne on the 8th March but has decided to stay and see the rest of Malaysia with us.
After another unbearable night we were absolutely shattered but after not doing anything the day before
Erica and I were determined to see some of Penang, especially as Georgetown is not very scenic. Rich left before us again to sort out his flight, whilst Erica and I collected ours and his laundry, we had agreed to meet at Ecco Café but it was closed so we went to the one across the road where we could keep an eye out for Rich. We had eaten and paid the bill by the time he arrived and he still hadn’t finalised his flight, so we left him to it and agreed to meet him later in the evening.
We had read about Snake Temple, which was a short bus ride away, so headed out to Komtar bus station. We just missed the bus wee needed and had to wait about 30 minutes for the next, we were just about to give up hope when it turned up. Unfortunately the temple wasn’t what we had expected. In the guidebook it gives you the impression that there are live snakes just minding their own business inside, but there were none. The only snakes to be seen were the ones in the snake farm next door! So having traveled all
this way we decided to pay extra and visit it. They were all in cages or glass tanks that were reassuring for Erica as she is not a big snake lover, however I think that they are pretty cool. There were a couple of 23ft pythons that I got in the cage with, luckily thy had been fed and were sleeping at the time, there was also a king cobra who I was staying clear of in another cage, apparently they can kill you in just 15 minutes. When we asked them if they keep anti-venom here the guys said no it is at the hospital. That worried me, as I was not sure that they would be able to get to the hospital in time if anyone was bitten by a king cobra.
Once we returned to Georgetown we visited the local shopping center where I got a spare battery for my camera, which was the only purchase made! When we got back to our room there was no sign of Rich so we left him a note to meet us later, which he did. After eating we went to the “Fun Bar” which was anything but fun, so we just had one before returning to our room for a couple of games of Uno and cards.
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