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Published: September 27th 2005
Our second week here in Penang was much less exciting than the first. Phil caught a little cold from work that turned into a sinus infection, and then he passed it on to me. We were both feeling pretty crappy though we did manage to get out and do some things.
That week we had dinner at a new sushi restaurant. Bad idea! Eating is Penang’s biggest pastime. People easily eat 6-7 small meals a day, sometimes very late at night, so any new restaurant is instantly popular and busy. And there was a promotion going on the night we went so there were even more people. It didn’t look that busy and the hostess said the wait would be 10-15 minutes. Ok, I can wait that long for sushi. As we were waiting more and more people came, big groups too, and everyone wanted to stand as close as possible to the door as if that would let them in faster. And everyone would check their status on the list every five minutes. That poor hostess, she looked terrified every time she came out the door. She would shoo waiting people out of the restaurant, it wasn’t very big, but slowly they would creep back in. The scene reminded me of a SpongeBob Square Pants episode where bus loads of anchovies attack the restaurant where he works. Utter chaos. Their behavior was obnoxious, verging on just plain rude, and I had to laugh at the whole thing instead of getting annoyed. 45 minutes later our name was finally called! The hostess said that there was a table available, but three other people were already sitting at it and were we ok sharing. Seriously? Share a table? It wasn’t even at the bar and that’s half the fun watching the food go by on the conveyor. We decided to wait for a space at the bar. 15 minutes later we got our spot at the bar, the food was worth it. We have been back since and the place was almost empty, food was still great! We just picked a bad night.
On Wednesday I went to the first IWA meeting of the season (they follow the school season since a lot of people leave for summer break) so all of the returning women and all of the new members were there, about 120 in all. I just happened to get in line behind a couple new women who happened to be from the US so we instantly started chatting about how long we had been here and how we were adjusting. One lady, Susan, had been here for several months so she already knew some people, including another woman who had recently moved here, Carla. It turns out that Carla and her husband were newly married, no kids, and had come to Penang on the same day we did. We were in the minority being young, married and without children. Most of the women in IWA either have kids or are older and past the children stage. We instantly bonded. She is originally from Florida but moved to Scotland where she met her husband through work and they were sent over here. The meeting was nice, a lot of introductions for the staff and they individually introduced all of the new members, about 20-25 of us. Then there was a fashion show to kick off the planning for the winter ball which has a Roaring 20’s theme. Pretty cool, all of the dresses were made by a local designer and the models were all IWA members. After the meeting Carla and I exchanged contact info so we could get together and do things.
Friday night we decided to go in to Georgetown for dinner, specifically to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel for their buffet dinner. The E & O is a beautiful colonial era hotel on the waterfront of downtown and was recently restored. Getting there was a bit difficult because our map is seven years old, though it is the best map of the island. A coastal highway was recently put in (we have a view of it from our apartment), but we have no idea where it ends within downtown so we were lost for a while. Then we turned down a very narrow street that was choked with cars, both parked and moving, and at a slow speed Phil hit and knocked over a parked motorcycle. Right in front of an off-duty police man. Oops!!!! He has us pull over into the little bit of space there was, looked at the bike, and asked us where we were headed. We told him the E & O, he said there was no damage to the bike and we could go. Whew!!! That was a bit stressful and we now tell each other when we are getting to close to something on the left edge of the car. We finally made it to the E & O and learned that the inside dining space was completely full, I think there were several weddings that weekend, so we sat outside next to the ocean. It was very nice, not too hot, a tropical breeze coming off the water. Then the gnats swarmed as soon as we brought out food. Not pleasant! Fortunately we were able to find a spot inside, next to the bakery counter, outside the main restaurant. The food was great and the wine and beer were unlimited which made the price very reasonable. Alcohol is heavily taxed over here because Malaysia is a Muslim country and alcohol is banned in that religion, essentially it’s a “sin” tax. If you converted prices to US dollars it isn’t that bad, but when you compare the price of a glass of wine to the price of the food it is incredibly expensive. The only food items that are consistent with US prices are alcohol and Starbucks. Haa haa!! Anyway, the dinner was lovely and we got to check out the hotel and the ballroom where the IWA winter ball will be held. Then we walked across the street to a building that houses several different restaurants and bars, seems like it would be a very popular place for dancing and drinks, but we were there at 8:30, way too early. At some point we will have to go back down there and check it out late at night.
Our weekend was very uneventful. I woke up Saturday morning feeling really bad so we stayed home. We hadn’t pre-planned anything for that weekend and the weather ended up being crappy anyway. Sunday wasn’t much different, just stayed in and ordered Pizza Hut for delivery. The guard for our apartment is really funny and he always calls us when we have food delivered. “Mr. Scott, did you order Mr. Pizza Hut?” “Yes, we did.” “Ok, Mr. Pizza Hut is on his way up.” It cracks us up because he says it in a voice that sounds like he should be in a bad kung fu movie. Maybe that’s insensitive of us, maybe that’s how he normally talks, but it’s just too funny! Well, that’s it for the second week. More soon…..
Phil & Selina
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Judith
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Mr. Pizza Hut
I've re-told this story to all of my friends and they all crack up as much as I did when I read this. You've got to record him sometime! And then send it out as a wave file. Enjoyment for all :-)