Penang

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I landed at Penang airport early in the evening after a virtually empty flight from Koh Samui. Arriving in Malaysia meant a new currency and language to get used to. The currency issue is easy, as 1 Malaysian Ringgit is worth almost exactly 10 Thai Baht, so I just needed to apply a simple scaling factor to my value-for-money algorithm. The language part is easier also. Firstly, Malaysian uses the Roman alphabet so I can actually read it; secondly, it is not tonal (in Thai, the same word said differently either means something different or is nonsense!); thirdly, there are similarities with English (e.g. hello = helo, restaurant = restoran); but mainly, pretty much everyone speaks good English anyway.

At the airport bus stop I met three other guys who were also heading to Penang's main city, Georgetown and so we decided to share a taxi rather than wait. One was an English scuba diving instructor called Edward, who it turned out is good friends with Angela, who I met on the plane from Heathrow to Bangkok, but was unable to meet up with in Koh Phangan. The other two were Oliver and Stefan, friends from Germany.

I was dropped at the New Rope Walk Hotel, where I was greeted by an unfriendly and unhelpful receptionist, who asked seemingly irrelevant questions and kept me waiting before grudginly handing me my room key. I went for a walk with the aim of finding an internet cafe and laundry service - a search which took me around most Georgetown's old town without success. In the old town, there are many remnants of the British colonial days, including Fort Cornwallis, the Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower and street names such as "Lebuh Downing". I stopped at a food court, which had a number of outlets selling the cuisine of Malaysia's main ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese and Indian. I decided to play it safe and ordered nasi goreng (fried rice), which was the only dish I'd heard of. Next, I walked down Penang Street, where there were a number of pubs, which seemed mostly empty. I called in at the most lively looking place, "Soho Free House", where I discovered the likely reason for the quietness - the drinks were expensive (it was about 18 Ringgits (almost £4) for a half litre of beer)! I had a small beer then went back to the hotel. Georgetown was hot and overnight I regretted scrimping on a room without air conditioning.

The next day, I found numerous laundry services and internet cafes on a street I'd missed near the hotel. After dealing with the housekeeping, I caught the 101 bus along the north coast to Teluk Bahang, where the entrance to the Penang National Park is located. This was well worth the visit and provided a good workout, as I covered around 10 km on challenging forest terrain, stopping at "monkey beach" and a British built lighthouse, which had good views. On returning, I decided it was time to escape the city and the heat, and booked transport to the Cameron Highlands for the next day. After that, I tried some Chinese cuisine: Char Koay Teow (fried noodles), which was tasty, and a sweet soup with nuts, which was very strange.

Unimpressed with the Georgetown nightlife and the price of beer, I went to watch the Schwarzenegger film "The Last Stand" at the Prangin Mall cinema. This was more like the British cinematic experience than the one I had in Bangkok, except it cost only 7 Ringgits (less than £1.50)! On leaving, I noticed Oliver and Stefan were also in the cinema. They were also going to the Cameron Highlands the day after me, and so we made plans to meet up there.

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Photos

Penang from the air
Looking east. Georgetown is at the top left and Penang National Park is at the bottom left.

Penang Laksa
A tasty fishy broth

Comments

[Sarah]

You must go to Swensens it is the best icecream parlour ever! and they give you a cute little free glass of water should the sweetness get too much.

[Kate Birch]

TFI Friday!
Hi Graeme Sounds like Malaysia is a bit of a contrast to Thailand what with all the partying and all! Hope you manage to find some excitement.. Love Kate and Keithxx