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Published: October 21st 2008
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Little India
Streets lined with wonderful Stalls. Penang…
Hello, it’s Chloe again, taking over from Don on the Blog front. So we had left the wonderful Cameron Highlands and had committed ourselves to the scariest 4 hour mini bus journey ever. The driver flinging us round the corners with nothing but a cliffs edge at the side of the road. Overtaking other vehicles without a care as to what round the bend in the on coming traffic. We had decided, the only thing for it was to sleep. With our seatbelt firmly secured we arrived, alive in Penang…phew! As we arrived into Georgetown we passed a TESCO’s. This might not mean much to you but for us, who have been in Australia for a couple of years, this was quite exciting. We were all watching out of the window as we passed, making plans to go and visit during our stay. In Australia they don’t have TESCO’s and Sainsbury’s so seeing this was a wonderful reminder of home and what we have to look forward to when we arrive back in the UK in a couple of months. The bus dropped us off on Love Lane which is supposedly great for cheap accommodation, according to the Lonely
Fort Corwallis
Couldn't help but get excited when seeing the word Cornwall! Planet. The travellers bible was correct once more and we found a lovely spacious family room to fit all of us. It was clean and had air-conditioning…the most important thing when looking for accommodation in this climate. We were once again, based in Chinatown. This seems to be the best section of any city to find cheaper hostel...but to be honest, it really isn’t the cleanest. The smell from the drains can be quite horrendous and the place to eat are real hit or miss.
On our first night in Penang we succumbed to the lure of some western food. After only a week of curry and rice or noodles and veg, we were all craving for a good ol’ burger and chips. We found a proper looking pub and got right stuck in. The price for alcohol over here can be quite absurd. In this little pub it was RM14 for a glass of wine, now this isn’t much more than in Australia, but considering how cheap everything else is we really were expecting something different. At least it means we are all out of our pits before 9am to see the sights and make the most of
Cheese
Cheesey picture of all the crew at Penang fort. our time here in Malaysia.
There are wonderful markets in Little India, not at all like the crazy Chinatown markets of KL, more relaxed with wonderful Indian music being pumped through the air. Food stalls selling pakora, samosa’s and other delectable Indian cuisine. Beautiful clothes, silks, vivid colours and gorgeous patterns. After our jaunt through Little India, Don and I met up with the rest of the lads to learn a bit of Penang history at Georgetown’s Fort Cornwallis. Don was in heaven, with so much information and so much to read and learn. Ecto and I just retreated in to each gallery to stand in front of the air-conditioning and cool down, making good use of the RM3 entry fee. At the end of our little tour there were two men hassling tourist’s to come and hold one of two massive Pythons for a photo opportunity, Ecto jumped at this opportunity as it is something he has always wanted to do. As the man wrapped the 8 foot snake around Ecto’s neck and down his arms in preparation for the RM10 photograph Ecto’s hands were shaking. He isn’t at all scared of snakes but this huge beast around
Massive Canon
Massive canon aimed out to sea. his neck, it’s enough to make anyone nervous. After getting some class photographs we left the fort and set off in the direction of the reclining Buddha. We thought this would be walking distance from the fort… we should have listened when the Rickshaw driver said that he wouldn’t go that far, we assumed it was within walking distance. An hour and a half later all looking rather red and burnt we finally reached the shopping centre close by to the Reclining Buddha.
After a good feed and a spot of clothes shopping for me, teehee… we set off for the Buddhist temple. It was spectacular. The statues, the buildings, the surroundings all so beautiful. The first building we walked in to was huge. There were two large tables full of offerings and donations, large bags of rice and loads of TESCO’s carrier bags filled with goodies. In front of the tables stood a large statue of Buddha of about 20foot in height, covered in gold. Stunning. There were hundreds of smaller statues clinging to the walls. Behind where the large Buddha was there were 12 or so 10 ft statues each with donation boxes, Don, Wilsy and I
Making the stew
More from the fort. Good craic! placed a coin donation in each box and moved on to the next building. Outside there was a pond full of fish, turtles and funny statues. There was a figure of a short man wearing a girls swimming costume and make-up, as we looked behind the figure, between his legs there were his balls tucked back, it was the funniest/strangest thing. There was no plaque with info about this odd figure, no reason for him to be there, looking so out of place amongst all these beautiful animals and Buddhist god statues, random! But it made us chuckle. We finally found what we were visiting the temple for. The 33ft gold covered Buddha, 3rd largest in the world. The other two are in Nepal and the largest in Bangkok….we’ll be seeing that one with my brother Rory and Mum Jean when we meet them in the busy Thailand city in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately the building was closed to visitors when we arrived, but a very helpful man showed us around the outside of the building to a window with an excellent view of this breathtaking statue. It really was worth the visit. It was the highlight of our
Ecto with the Python
Ecto looking a bit nervous holding a python at Fort Cornwallis. visit to Penang. This temple was just so beautiful and serene, I can’t wait to visit more throughout Thailand and the rest of South East Asia.
We had a really nice dinner that night in a pub close to where we were staying in Chinatown. It was simple yet delicious in a reasonably price bar, where the beer wasn’t too expensive (by Malaysia’s standards anyway). We spent our last day chilling in this same bar, getting ourselves organised and planning our next move. Don and I cancelled our Australian Visa’s, there’s no going back now! We hung around and waited for our bus to Kuala Besut to get to our next stop, the beautiful beaches of the Perhentian Islands! Hurrah! Time to chill on a beach for a few days!
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