Graffiti treasure hunt - George Town, Penang (160 - 162 by Chris)

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Tuesday 23rd February 2016

Awoken again by the dogs howling it wasn't long before we were up and leaving our wooden bungalow for the bus station. We boarded the bus and after a smooth 5 hours on the bus we arrived at the island of Penang which is located in the north west of Malaysia. We are staying in an area called George Town, which is actually the capital of this state and is also a UNESCO world heritage site, similar to Melaka where we'd visited a week ago.

When we arrived at the bus station we flagged down a taxi and he took us to the hostel we were booked into, called Magpie Residence. Upon checking into our 8 bed dorm room we were very pleased to see that the whole place looked clean and tidy and should hopefully offer us a comfortable stay as the past few places haven't been great.

We headed out in the mid afternoon to find some food. We went to a small restaurant called Mews Cafe which looked beautiful from the outside and when we sat down and saw the menu realised that it was a little on the pricey side, but we were hungry and were willing to let this one slide. I ordered a traditional Malay dish, Nasi Gooreng which is a spicy fried rice and Gemma ordered a dish called Mee Jawa, which is a spicy noodle soup with lots of chicken and prawns - she won on the food choice contest. After eating we popped into a cafe called The Mug Shot Cafe and treated ourselves to a coffee and piece of cake whilst utilising the WIFI to plan our next destination. We've got quite used to arriving somewhere new and on the same day planning our next destination. Doing this allows us to relax for the next couple of day and enjoy where we are without worrying where to go next and how to get there.

We headed back to the hostel to continue some personal admin, posting blogs, saving pictures etc. We got chatting to 2 English girls from our dorm who were heading to Indonesia in a weeks time as were we and discussed places worth visiting. The also talked us into visiting Langkawi which is a Malaysian island so we might very well do that in a few days time. They suggested to us a place to eat where they'd been the previous night, a food court called The Red Garden Cafe. When we arrived so saw that is was similar to the food court we'd eaten at in Singapore, which is basically lots of little stalls selling different types of food set up in a huge square with tables positioned in the middle. We settled on some roasted duck with rice and got a couple of Skol beers. We then sat to eat and was surprised when a cabaret act came on stage. There was an old Chinese man in a Hawaiian shirt and a cowboy hat (I don't think he was trying to look ridiculous on purpose) who played the keyboards and a Chinese lady who was singing. To be fair so was very good and covered some Madonna (Material Girl) but the highlight was when she sang 'Zombie' by the Cranberries and did the Irish accent. We felt like we were at a Butlins watching the cabaret act and Gemma commented on turning into her parents.

When we finished being entertained we headed back to the hostel and walked past a shop that had a sign outside claiming that this was the building where famous shoe designer Jimmy choo started his apprenticeship. When we got back we started chatting to a Japanese guy called Yuta, who was in our dorm and a Buddhist monk and was travelling Asia. He wasn't dressed as a monk, but explained to us that he lives in a monastery just outside of Osaka in Japan but intends to leave the monkshood soon and set up a B&B. It was nice chatting to him for over an hour before realising it was almost 1am and we needed to sleep.

Wednesday 24th February 2016

The hostel we are in has capsule like bunks with a curtain that basically blocks out the any light and as a result we woke this morning at 10am not knowing if it was early or late. We dressed and headed out to the Mug Shot cafe again for breakfast. We made good use of the time and managed to book 3 flights and book some accommodation for the next couple of weeks so can sort of relax a little now that a huge block of time is taken car of.

Before leaving the cafe we popped into an adjoining sunglasses shop which sold some funky sunglasses made from wood, with the idea that when worn in water if they fall off they float. Gemma went into work mode and started asking the manager of the small shop various questions about supply and if they'd be interested in selling their product on ASOS. After swapping contact details we left and began some sightseeing.

George Town was made a UNESCO heritage area at the same time as Melaka, and is full of old colonial buildings and as a result has a similar sort of feel. The hostel we are staying provided us with a map, and other than the old looking buildings to look at there aren't many things to do in this area, except what we intended to do today. The map they provided is a sort of treasure hunt if you like, or street art scattered around this old area. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around in the burning sun ticking off the street art as we went. We also paid a visit to the harbour where we went down one of the jetty's that lead to the waterfront. There are roughly 7 jetty's which all date back over a hundred years and each jetty is named after the Chinese family that built it. We went onto 'Chew' jetty which even today is owned by the same family. Other than this being a docking point for small boats, there wasn't much else to see.

After grabbing a late lunch we popped back to the hostel and after planning what we were going to do the next day and after a rest we popped out for dinner and settled on the Mews Cafe where we'd eaten lunch the previous day. Its not the cheapest by Malay standards, but the food is bloody good. Whilst walking back to the hostel a guy on a motorbike suddenly stopped next to us. It was our monk room mate who always seems very smiley to see us. He waved at us and then disappeared on his bike. As far as monks go, he seems to be borderline relaxed as far as monk behavior goes. We popped into a shop to buy some water and as we were walking out we bumped into our monk friend again! He told us how he'd hired a motorbike and with the other Japanese guy in our room had visited the beach.

When we returned to the room and got chatting to the other Japanese guy (didn't catch his name) he explained that he and the monk were heading out to some 'bars' that night and "had to watch out for the lady-boys". It seems that our monk friend is really making the most of his 'time-off'. We the decided to retire to bed ahead of the next day.

Thursday 25th February 2016

We left the hostel with the intention of heading straight for the highest point on Penang, an area called Penang Hill which is a viewing point more that 700m high. When asking for directions from the guy on reception he suggested that we stop off at a Chinese temple as it was on the way and worth a visit. We left the hostel and walked to the bus station and for only 33p each took a bus for 30 minutes to the Chinese temple 'Kek Lok Si temple' which is a Buddhist temple and the largest of its kind in Malaysia. Its also an important pilgrimage point from people from Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines and is over 100 years old. When we arrived we walked past a small pond with dozens of turtles of many different sizes all sunbathing and sitting on top of each other - quite strange. When we entered the temple we were pleasantly surprised by how amazing it looked. We have been to our fair share of temples and its fair to say we've began to look at them as we would churches at home - you don't really notice them. This though looked brilliant. It was set on the side of a hill and as a result it was on many different levels which allowed you to see pretty much the whole complex at the same time. The temple was decorated in hundreds of Chinese lanterns which made Gemma very happy and was also very colourful. Another thing we liked was that it didn't seem very busy at all and were were able to walk around taking in the sights of the city from the high vantage points we had and hear the monks chanting from inside the temple.

We spent over 2 hours in the temple and was glad the guy on reception had recommended it. When we left though we decided to head to the Hill which had been our original plan. We walked for 15 minutes and arrived at the foot of the hill where a small ticket office was located. We purchased 2 return tickets for £5 each and after a small wait boarded the carriage that would take us 756m up the hill. The train carriage only transported about 70 people every 15 minutes and when we entered we managed to get seats at the back which would give us uninterrupted views as the train climbed up. As the train pulled out of the station at something like 150 degree angle and fly up at about 20mph we began to regret choosing these seats as all we could see behind us was solid ground disappearing very quickly. After 3 minutes though and equalising our popped ears, we had arrived at the top.

We walked from the station and in front of us was a viewing platform which offered amazing views over the city and as far as main land Malaysia over the straits of Melaka (the sea!). We paid 1 Ringit, roughly 20p to use the binoculars which were set up on the top and managed to spy the area we are staying a few miles away. We spent a good hour wandering around the area but declined the offers to visit the owl museum and the parrot show and tried to locate the west side of the top as that where the sun set. Unfortunately we could find a suitable spot to watch the sunset so decided to head back down the hill. As we queued for the train down we saw a cocky tourist who tried to get too close to a monkey almost lose his nose. After a quick ride down the hill we were back at the bottom and we hopped onto the bus which took us back into George Town. We stumbled upon a nice Thai restaurant where we ordered too much food handle and then headed back to the hostel again to back and sleep. As we arrived we met our Japanese Monk in reception who told us he was heading to Langkawi the next day, as were we, and who knows, we might bump in to him again. The rest of the evening was spent packing ready for leaving early the next day.

Although we only had 2.5 days in Penang, and most of that was spent in George Town, we had a really great time. The whole area seems to be a relaxing, friendly and safe place to be. I cant imagine that anyone visits and has a crazy time, such is the relaxing atmosphere, but I can confidently say that they would certainly have an enjoyable time here. The area has been very well preserved by UNESCO and unlike its UNESCO partner in Melaka, George Town has not allowed the protected areas to turn into tourist attractions, but instead have made the buildings into some really cool cafes and restaurants. The street art treasure hunt is something very unique too and is a great way to see the area for free. We'll be sad to leave, but are glad we've had the chance to visit.

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