New country, new food and dodgy dorm

Trip Start Jan 02, 2008
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Trip End Jun 17, 2008


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Where I stayed
Blue Diamond
(Georgetown hotels)

Flag of Malaysia  , Pinang,
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Great to be in a new country again. And I was ready for a city. The journey to Penang took 12 hours; a boat from Koh Bulon to Pak Bara and then a mini bus to Penang with a change in HatYai. The Malaysian border crossing was quick and easy. I arrived in Penang with no Malaysian money, it was dark, it was raining and I was hungry. Luckily I found somewhere to stay easily...a grotty dorm room. Probably not the best/safest place to stay, since a British girl I met in the dorm, Emma, had her passport, cards and all her important documents stolen from her bag. According to the Police it's a dodgy place to stay, because there are no doors on the dorm and anyone is free to wander in from the street. But it was cheap!

First impressions of Malaysia are good. The people all seem really friendly (apart from whoever stole Emma's passport!). Although I'm suddenly aware I'm in a Muslim country again...Muslim men! In Georgetown there's a great mix of cultures; Indian and Chinese being most prominent. So the food is an interesting combination of the two. Little India was great and I indulged on Indian food and I liked the markets and trying random street food.

I spent most of my time in Penang with a few Brits I met in my dorm. Emma and I caught a bus to Teluk Bahang and wandered around the National Park, before going to Batu Ferringhi, the touristy beach resort in Penang. The beach was surprisingly nice, but there was little else of interest there, apart from the night market that sold fake sunglasses, pirate copies of DVD/CD's and not alot else. The following day I went with Emma, Will, George and Lee to the Botanical Gardens and then attempted to walk to the top of Penang Hill. We failed and only made it a quarter of the way up. The hill was far steeper and alot further than we had imagined. We were sweating because of the heat and humidity before we even started the climb, so after 20 mins we were literally dripping in sweat...disgusting! I actually had to walk up barefoot, because I was sweating so much my feet kept sliding out of my flip-flops. Then we attempted to see the waterfall in the Botanical Gardens, but kept walking around in circles, so gave up on that as well. Not a very successful day of sightseeing!
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