Diverse or what?

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Greetings from Malaysia

This time we managed to cross the border via train which was a painless experience, goes somthing like this - Train rolls into the Thai/Malay border station, you get off, all formalities as normal then the train rolls back you get back on and off you go.

So first stop is the Island of Penang home to a very diverse mix of people and so a very interesting place. The main mix of cultures being Malay, Chinese & Indian. Throw into this their different religious beliefs Islam, Buddhist, Taoism, Hindu to name the most popular, and not to mention all the different food types (you can imagine we were pretty much spoiled for choice) and you get a dazzling aray of life to watch!

Nic - Our long day of traveling from Thailand was (for once) totally hitch free, so much so that everything ran in perfect sync! From the moment that we jumped on a sangthaew (pickup truck with benches on the back!) at 8am, through a bus journey, another sangthaew ride, a train, a border crossing, a ferry and a 1km walk to finding a guesthouse at just after 9pm, we were never sitting still, waiting or stressing for more than 5 minutes....even down to changing the perfect amount of currency to tie us over till the next day - everything linked perfectly, and that's a minor miracle in our world at the moment!

We stayed in the main town on the Island, called Georgetown, and I have to say I really warmed to it. It's a bizarre mix of people (as Dan's already mentioned) and also archetecture. You have massive sparkling goverment buildings by the docks and then as you venture further into the heart of town you come across "Little India" with all it's smells and saris and bangra music blaring out (which gave us massive pangs of reminicense that confirmed that we will return to the real thing one day!). Further in towards the centre "Chinatown" takes a hold, with the most beautiful old shop-houses, chinese signs and of course restaurants! Past all sorts of different places of worship.....And then, when you least expect it, you come across a McDonalds!!

Dan - Yes McDonalds!! So as I walked past I remembered the message my younger sister sent us, she said
"Let me get this straight... so far you've eaten such delicacies as 'Baby Eggs' and Crickets? Then when you have the opportunity to scoff down a Big Mac and fries you pass? The worlds gone mad!! ".........I guess she is kind of right and after a split second of uncertainty, "ok.......Double Cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake please!!"........ "sir would you like fries with that??"........."Hell yeah....make it large!!"

I've also managed (as it's been long enough) to eat AND enjoy a curry in Little India (in case you don't remember I got sick of curry 3 times perday about 3 and 1/2 months into India!) and after the break it was sooooooooo nice to stuff my gob with the good stuff!.

Nic - So a town for a breather, and a nice place to stroll around - although it does seem even hotter here! - and a good starter to get into a new swing of things. We stayed for a couple of days and then planned to escape the heat and head for the highlands, the "Cameron Highlands" infact, so more from there.
xxx

PS.....Really gutted about the pics, we seem to have a bug on our memory stick and it's buggered them all up 😞

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Photos

Mary mother of Jesus
You have to dress appropriately inside the mosque

Comments

[Sarah]

So you are my real brother after all....
... I was starting to doubt that we were related after you passed up the opportunity to visit the Big 'M'! But it's good to know that I wasn't found under a gooseberry bush as you so kindly used to tell me!! Hope you enjoyed the meal and have a nice day y'all!! Love, Sarah

[scotty]

malasiya
mcds haha gwan dan get it down ya!! looks like you were being caught in the act Dan -like the embrace of the western world is a bad thing after living so natural the pics look great Nic love the warriors and buildings looks like when you were in Japan. It would be nice to have a sit down and a laugh with you both -miss you guys keep being careful Danbo I know you are a certified world wide traveller now but please take your time you guys remind of the shows I watch on travel channel