Selamat Datang Malaysia!

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Whao! We stepped 30 years into the future!
Ahh yes that's what Chris and I thought as we crossed the bridge over to Penang Island, staring at the glitzy New York-esque skyline. We weren't really sure where we were going to, but after showing our driver an address scribbled on a scrap of paper (our couchsurfing host), he pulled the minibus over on the side of a highway and promptly shooed us away. Bags in toe, we walked toward a group of shops, and since we had no ringits yet (no banks in site and likely shut at 7 pm anyways) we asked in our friendliest voices if we could use someone's phone. Everyone has cell phones, but they never seem to have credit in them, and a friendly girl gave us some coins and directed us to the payphones.

Eventually we got ahold of Ramesh, our CS host, who fetched us from the university guard office. He took us to his apartment in USM (a very large university town outside of Georgetown), which is on the 19th floor of a luxury condo block-- not what we expected! Ramesh shares a spacious flat with his cousin (a funny, older Indian man with a heavy lisp), who we met the first night but then was gone, and at the moment his visiting friend Bernadette, a girl from Sechelles Islands. Besides the spectacular views out over Penang, the condo also has two large pools on the ground floor-- one for kids (the really fun one with water slides, bridges, a flowing current...) and a giant square "adult" pool-- which are both refreshing in the afternoon heat.

Before I describe the events of our time spent in Penang, I want to state that I'm disheartened to find out that this beautiful mixture of Malay (Muslim), Chinese, and Indian culture is not as ideal as it appears...
As a visitor I came to Malaysia and immediately fell in love with the incredible diversity-- walking through Georgetown's streets of worn Chinese shophouses I see red lanterns and noodle stalls and bicycles; then we turn the corner and are hit with the smell of incense, blaring Hindi music, and sari shops; and dotted amongst the streets and bus lines and restaurants are Malay women wearing headscarves, beautiful, shining mosques calling for prayer, roti chenai signs, ornate Hindu and Buddhist temples, manicured colonial buildings, modern shopping malls advertising Pizza Hut and Reebok...

Such a conglomate of cultures! It seems as though the whole city (and country? I do not yet know) is made up of imports-- settlers from all over Asia have brought with them their religions, foods, styles of dress, ideas, languages, looks...


After riding the funicular railway up to the peak of Penang Hill (great views of the city-- wish we had seen it in the sunlight, though I did appreciate glimpsing the illuminated temples and Chinese fireworks splashing up from the streets) we were graciously offered a ride home from some locals who shared our compartment. "They" turned out to be a Chinese-Malaysian woman, her Indian-Malaysian husband, and their Indian-Malaysian friend (who now lives in Australia), all of which were professional atheletes! Together, we went to dinner and discussed various topics of world politics-- a shame we feel so cut off from current events-- during which they described Malaysia as having an racist underbelly, in which Muslims pretty much rule the country. Ramesh had said something along those lines too-- elections are coming up and the same party always wins because they hold more considerably seats than anyone else, so no matter how many votes the other party gets they cannot be beaten. I admit truely I know absolutely nothing about Malaysian politics, but after questioning others about the matter of equality, I'm miffed to have my cultural bubble burst.

But anways, on a lighter note, we really are having a wonderful time here. Chris and I wandered Georgetown, eating at different stalls in Little India- delicious roti, chicken tikka, and best of all the mango lassis!

We did our own "historic tour" of the town hall, etc., wandering down along the waterfront, around Chinatown's shophouses and temples-- taking note of Chinese New Year celebrations-- through the night market and hawker stalls...

At night and in the morning we hung out with Ramesh and Bernadette, and some additional couchsurfers who are teaching English in Thailand-- on a visa renewal run-- usually eating or watching Al Jazeera. They are all such interesting people; I'm so glad we are couchsurfing, wishing we had been doing this more throughout the trip. With a host I can ask all my many questions, which I usually have to save up for waitresses or guesthouse staff or occasional locals who speak English...

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