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Pinang, I knew I brought Imodium for a reason
Entry 6 of 23 | show all | print this entry |
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Whether you want to spell it Penang or Pinang, spending some time here is at your own risk. Especially if you consider taking a bus to the island.
Here is how the story goes:
Our excitement leaving Kuala Lumpur is at its highest since there we had foumd a comfortable place to stay owned by two gay guys who were nice, friendly, clean and helpful. Additionally until then our stomachs were ok, Dominique's foot was getting better and that one session at Burger King i had on one of the nights there really settled my stomach and got rid of the homesickness from all that fried rice i had been eating so far. Trust me that was a lot.
So with big smiles on our faces we wake up early in the morning and head to the bus station (a 15 min walk) in the scorching sun. This was it, finally we were going to travel by land and no more by plane, a true backpacker's dream. Once on the bus we realize that these seats were amazing. Literally it looked like business class on a plane. I have never seen only 3 seats per row on a coach bus. seats went down almost fully horizontal and basically i could fit 2 of me on that seat. Obviously all 3 of us pass out as we had slept 3 hours the night before (Watching these damn Euro games has really taken a toll on us since they start at 2:45AM). I woke up an hour later still pretty close to Kuala Lumpur. Why? Well, apparently our bus had an engine problem so every 5 or 10 mins you'd hear a weird noise and the driver would pull aside and turn off the engine for 5 seconds or so. This went on fore the whole trip! Great! No more sleeping for me when every 10 minutes it sounds like the bus is rolling down the side of a mountain and in reality you are on the emergency lane of a highway where cars think the seed limit is optional. So I stayed up for the 5 or 6 hours and read some more Into The Wild (which btw is a great book). The rest of the time I took funny pictures of Dom and Shady sleeping.
So we make it to our hotel after going what apparently is the longest bridge in SE Asia which connects the Mainland of Indonesia to the island of Pinang. We put our stuff down and start walking around the little city of Georgetown thinking that the following day we'd see the sights. Well, in a matter of 2 hours walking we saw THE WHOLE town including Chinatown, Little India, some rundown streets, a clock tower, a fort, etc. Really not an exciting town. Additionally, the city smells something like gorgonzola cheese and I'm tno kidding when I say that. The streets have 2 ft by 1 ft open drains on both sides where stagnant water really gets your olfactory senses for a trip to hell.
At this point we walked back to Little India and stopped for some true Indian food. This would be the first and last time I try Indian food this close to the actual Nation of India. I ordered chicken in some sauce, tofu with some green vegetable sauce, rice, other little sauces, naan. All this on a huge Banana leaf. We knew it was going to be good because back in Bali we had been told to find the Indian place that serves food on a banana leaf as it is amazing. The guy in Bali was correct but my stomach wanted to kill him starting 5 minuets after I was done chomping on the delicious food. From this meal we made it home and stayed in for a bit which allowed me 2 bathroom visit. Then Shady stayed in and Dom and I went out for a beer (4 dollars for half a pint...more expensive than New York probably cause it's a muslin country and they discourage drinking). Nightlife was pretty hopping but we were exhausted.
The following day we wanted to make it a relaxing day but it started with me rolling around my bed in pain and going to the bathroom 4 times in 45 minutes. Imodium did not kick in fast enough. Cramps like I have never felt before...I thought I was giving birth to a child in Malaysia (that would have been weird huh?)
Although this we got up and off we went to ironically enough the most strenuous day fo our trip so far. Shady did her own thing all day while Dom and I went to Pinang Hill and some temples which you'll read about next.
We took a public bus which was filled with tourists (first hint that we r on the right path) and half an hour later we make it to the bottom of this green hill and BAM, we buy a ticket for a funicular railway which leaves 1 hour later. Apparently a lot of people want to see this...or as we found out later, they go up every half hour and they fit something like 40 people each. So we wait forever directly under a fan as I make mroe trips to the bathroom. On a side note, public bathrooms in Asia are usually gross and having stomach problems is not good when you have to use these bathrooms. Trying not to touch ANYTHING is really a workout!!!
So up this mountain we go and once up there, I realized there is nothing but cool views of the island, and the temple of 1000 Buddhas is actually at the base of the mountain! So we walk around for 10 minutes because we felt bad about waiting all that time without seeing anything and then another 1 hour wait to get down the mountain....FUN! At least up here we were entertained by wild monkeys stealing people's food.
Throughout all of this journey you might want to keep in mind that I started the day with the equivalent of around 5 dollars and I did not want to change more money since the following day we were going to a different country with different currency. Public transportation there, and back I figured was dollars give or take so i had 2 dollars to last me the day. My lunch included a big bottle of water and a bag of gross chips (I borrowed money from Domnique for dinner which was $1.50 for some amazing rice with calamari).
Anyway, back to the 5:30PM, we get back from Pinang Hill and we are all excited to see this Buddhist temple. We ask a local and he tells us that it's late so it is closed but there is another temple close by called Batu Temple (they love those damn bats -batu- here) so Dom and I walk up a hill to this temple...which had the biggest statue of the God of Mercy in the region. So pretty cool after all and this local guy who speaks great english and looks like the teacher from the Karate Kid starts chatting with me explaining the temple, the statues in it and brings me to the back which apparently is where the original temple is. This is a cave with a bunch of offerings on the floor and when u look up there is bats everywhere, about 3 to 4 feet from your head. The name all of a sudden makes sense. When Dom and I had our fare share of the temple and ran out of questions, i showed him on a map the other temple we had wanted to go with 1000 Buddhas and our make-shift tour guide replies, literally, "oh, very close by. No 5:45, closes soon (which apparently means 6PM), come I give you ride". At this point we sprint to his car and he drives us as close to it as he can, we say thank you and sprint out of the car to these steps which go on forever. Finally we make it and IT WAS OPEN! We had about 5 minutes in the temple and a good 10 minutes afterwards outside to admire the most beaufiful temple I have ever seen. This thing was exactly what You would picture a Buddhist temple at its finest to look like. In it there is the world's largest statue of the God of Prosperity and 1000 statues of Buddhas all around you on the walls. The name of the temple was Kull Kek Lok.
Finally at about 7:30PM we made it home and took a nice short 25 minute nap. Then showers and out to paint the town red. Shady Dom and I had dinner in some market with that amazing rice with squids and then a pitcher of beer for 8 bucks...not so cheap when u can buy an outfit for the same price! The bar was full of creepers. So we left and got some sleep before our morning flight on the plane you see in the picture...yeah, the one with propellers. Believe it or not that has been our most expensive flight so far!
That's all for the small smelly town of Pinang, Thailand next.
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