After a very easy journey from Krabi across the Malaysian border (guarding the ticket with our lives this time!), we crossed the small channel to Penang Island and arrived in Georgetown at around 4ish and set about finding a hostel. This was harder than we'd thought it would be as several were already full and several of the "hotels" seemed more interested in guests who were there for shorter stays - think a half hour or less! Flis found this out to her dismay at one place when she took a key from reception to view a room, rounded a corner to the stairs and was confronted by 10 or so ladies (or more accurately ladyboys) of the night applying their makeup! Needless to say she performed a very speedy about turn and headed for the door.
We wised up a bit after this, and ended up staying in a place caled the 75 Travellers Lodge, run by the exceptionally enthusiastic and very helpful Mr Low. The room wasn't much, double bed, fan, shared bathroom etc, but was clean and at 20 Ringets at night (3 quid) an absolute bargain.
That evening we set out to take a look for the hawker food for which Penang is famed. Malaysia is an interesting mix of ethnic Malays, Indians and Chinese, and as a result the food is very varied, and usually fantastic. A short walk from our guesthouse was the Red Garden Food Paradise, which included stalls selling food from all over asia, including one selling the ubiquitous Fish Head soup, a delicacy apparently! We opted for chicken satay, another speciality, then headed back out to a street stall selling Tandoori sets. This included 2 naan breads, a chichen leg and breast cooked in the tandoor, and varous dips and sources, all for a pound. The only off-putting part of this was the 6 or so huge rats hanging around the washing up area!
The next day we headed out on a walking tour of Georgetown. The town itself was founded in 1786 by the British Captain Francis Light, and quickly became an important and affluent trading outpost, from which the British could control the Straights of Melaka and the shipping route from India to China. The town still contains many of the original buildings from this period, giving it a distinctly British feel. Even the street names such as King Street, Queen Street, Downing Street, Bishop Street and Union Street are a reminder of home. Unfortunately we timed our walk rather badly, setting out during Muslim prayer time on a Friday, during which a lot of the attractions we wished to visit were closed, so we decided to cut our losses and head to Penang Hill via the Komtar shopping centre for a bit of air conditionning.
Penang Hill is the highest poing on the island, and is accessible via a Victorian funicular railway. At the top there is a great view over Georgetown as well as an aviary housing exotic tropical birds, a canopy walkway and a couple of Buddhist and Muslim temples. After seeing all these and a bit of a stroll about, we headed back down the hill and made our way to the Kek Lok Si temple, one of the largest and finest Buddhist temples in S.E. Asia ... which was closed :-( After this it was back to the town for a bit of a rest before we headed back to the Red Garden, this time to try the dimsum which was excellent, if a litle pricey - a pound each, you must be joking!
The next day we were determined to actually see some of Georgetowns sights, and so managed to get ourselves out of bed at a reasonable hour (am rather than pm!). Our first stop was the mansion of Cheong Fatt Tze, one of the wealthiest (if not the wealthiest) Chinese businessmen of the Victorian era. The house has recently been restored, and the outside is painted its original vivid purple. The house is a fascinating mix of styles, using the best materials and techniques available in the world at the time, and all arranged according to the principals of Feng Shui. Parts of the house such as the tiles and cast iron columns in the central courtyard were custom made in Britain and shipped all the way to Malaysia. Our tour was enlived by our rather camp, British educated Chinese tour guide and his tails of his eccentric grandmother.
From the mansion we walked across town to Fort Cornwallis, the only major fortification on the island, built by the British after their arrival. Fort Cornwallis isn't much to look at. Only the outer walls, studded with a few cannons, remain. Inside, you can still see the magazine, a small church and some barracks, but little else. Most of our time here was spent moving from one air conditionned exhibit to another to avoid the extreme midday heat. Our walk continued past various other historic buildings then through Little India and back to our hostel for some well earned rest and again to escape from the heat.
In the evening we decided to go for a proper curry, and after checking the menus at various places we wandered into the restaurant of choice - the cheapest! This turned out to be even cheaper than we expected. When we arrived we were told by the friendly owner that it was his daughters birthday, and as a result he had the whole family in and wouldn't be able to offer us any food from the menu. However he would, for 10 Ringets, be able to offer us food from the buffet set up for the family. Not wanting to appear rude, we accepted his invitation and tucked in hungrily. The food was very good, and the owner even cooked some fresh naans just for the two of us; his wife even brought us complimentary drinks. After we'd finished, and watched the family say their goodbyes, we took out our money to pay but the owner refused to accept, saying it was all on the house!
After our good fortune we headed to another hostel to meet some folks we'd chatted to on previous days, and spent the rest of the evening having a few drinks, chewing the fat, and playing pool.
On our third day in Penang, we took a bus to the Queensbay Mall, the largest mall on the island. We felt we'd earned a bit of airconditionned retail therapy after 2 days in the extreme heat. Malaysia is far more developed than any of the countries we'd visited so far, the mall even had a TopShop and TopMan! In the end, we only bought a pair of hair straighteners to replace the ones that passed away in Ko Lanta, but we did also go to the cinema to watch "The Golden Compass", since we'd both just been reading the book its based on, Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights". A word of advice to anyone who loves the book, don't bother with the film!
Our last day in Penang was more sightseeing, the hightlight of which was supposed to be the Toy Museum, apparently containg the worlds largest collection. This did include such greats as the original Transformers and Mask toys, but had no Lego, and no Playmobil - what kind of Toy Museum has no Lego!! The interactive exhibits were a bit of a let down as well, in that we couldn't find any!
We went from the museum to the Gurney Place Mall for lunch then walked back to the guethouse. Our last supper was more of the excellent Tandoori from the same stall as the first night, then it was bedtime as we had an early start for our bus to the Cameron Highlands...
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