Muslim for a Day in Penang

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We arrived right where we wanted to be...the door step of our guesthouse on the corner of Love. It was a late arrival so the first night in Malaysia, after about a 12 hour bus ride, was going to be a light one. Just get some food and relax...oh, and let the stomach that has been causing some serious issues rest after a rough day of "holding it" for hours on a mini bus...not fun. It wasn't the best ride for me. Bumpy and seemingly out of control at times. That didn't make my belly too happy.

After the first full night sleep i have gotten in a few weeks...we got up to do some sight seeing around town. We visited some old English colonial buildings and Fort Cornwallis, where Francis Light and his crew landed in 1786. We ventured into a really nice hotel where Jeff and Krista enjoyed an afternoon snack and my stomach and I enjoyed other facets of the hotel, mainly areas decorated with porcelain. Our walking tour only took a few hours and wasn't much of an eventful day so we made it back to our room and took care of some travel business and got some future plans sorted out.

The Following day was much the same as the first, sleep in, get some breakfast, then head off for a walking tour of another part of the city. We made our way into a Muslim mosque where we were able to witness one of the 5 daily prayers. pretty cool. We were then greeted by two gentleman that took around to give us some info about the Muslim world. It was very interesting and very informative. it actually felt good to be learning something again. It seems like in Thailand there wasn't much of any cultural experiences, and two day in to Malaysia we are already welcomed to a mosque. Not bad. We walked around and chatted with the men for about a half an hour. They told us about prayer and about the relations and difference to Christianity as well as a general overview of there religion. It was all new to me and i was impressed with there worldly knowledge. It is funny because their has been many instances on this trip where a non American seems to know more than a typical American about America. And it is very interesting because they watch us and study about us but how much do we as Americans really see or study about them? For example, everybody will come up to us and ask about Obama and the election. When was the last time you walked up to a stranger that is non American and asked them about there government officials? Just food for thought.

The rest of that days walking tour was nothing to write home about so i wont. We did however take a trishaw around town. A trishaw is a half bike half cart combo where and man peddles you around in the middle of traffic without a worry. It was a very slow means of transportation but effective none the less. Pretty cool.

We leave for Kuala Lumper tomorrow and that should be a pretty cool city. See you there!

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Photos

Trishaw Driver, Me, and The Beard
Beard month conquers Malaysia!

Christopher Ali
We had to wear the robes while in the mosque... When in Rome.

Francis Light himself
...looks a lot like George Washington