Penang
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2008
1
90
91
Trip End
Ongoing
Penang,
Malaysia
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Penang is home to more than 1 million inhabitants. Malays make up 32% of the population, the chinese 59% and the indians 7%. So you can only imagine the great food on offer, and that's what many visitors come here for. You can pick up amazing food on the side of the road for under 2euro. They sell rice fried rice in banana leaves, apparently the banana leaves have digestive qualities even though, you don't eat them. That was simply an appetiser for Michael!
We were based in Georgetown, which is the main city on the North East of the island. It was awarded World Heritage status last year, so they're fairly happy about that! We did a good bit of touring around the town throughout the week.
There are Jetties which are named after Chinese clans who settled here hundreds of years ago. Descendants still remain. The jetties are like little communities - both sides flanked by shops, houses and places of worship.
We visited the House of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. He organised the Chinese revolution from that very house in Penang. Our tour guide produced a movie about him a few years ago and sat us down to watch 15 minute snippets from it. She was a really great tour guide, so great Grechy bought the DVD - someone in Ireland is going to get a very nice present! She recommended a place to go to for fish ball soup..so we thanked her and raced to the next eatery..any excuse!
We visited the old fort in Penang. Light (the guy who arrived and said, i'll have this Island thank you very much) was the one who got locals to build it. It's restored now and we had great fun. It ain't got any touch screen monitors to inform you of it's past but it has got costumes that you can dress up in! Great fun!
We also went up Penang Hill which overlooks the city. It used to be a holiday destination in the past. We took the wrong bus to get there but ended up in a nearby town where a little Indian kid told us where to get off...that was after he and his three friends asked us for our autographs. They were tearing pages and firing pens into our hands with such a frenzy, it was hilarious! Very cute. Walked to the bottom of the hill, despite protests from the locals that the walk was a long one. Then, it's a big trip up on Swiss trains which were imported during the 70s. It was a bit cooler up there and quite forested. We ate (surprise, surprise!) when we got to the top.
We rented a car one of our final days in Penang. Took a trip around the island. We were told the beaches weren't 'swimable' but they're not all that bad..if you go off the beaten track. Visited Penang National Park where we did a one and a half hour trek - Ailbhe inappropriately dressed in white and wearing flip flops. We got to our destination Monkey beach and awaited a water taxi back to the car. One young entrepreneur spotted us and offered to bring us back on his jet ski..we didn't hesitate to say yes. No life jackets - just threw us on and took off! It was great! We ate after that..eh again!
Going for Indian tonight!
Comments
Paddy's Day 2009
Ye'll have to find an Irish Pub for Paddy's Day wherever ye'll be. Have a good time in Malaysia, people there are sound. Get across to Sepilok in Borneo if you can, Uncle Tan's Wildlife thing is great. I'm off to a stag in Newcastle tomorrow with Mike, Crowley, Ted, Tommy Cleary and 15 or 20 more. Can't wait. Anyway, enjoy yerselves. Happy Paddy's Day