Hawker centre
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
1
249
398
Trip End
Ongoing
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Georgetown,
Malaysia
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
He comes to bed at 3 and started wriggling. I convince him to a sleeping pill at quarter to 4. I wish I took one too. An enormous noise is coming from outside. A giant drill? What is that in the middle of the night??? I ask Tony, who says: "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmf". Lucky man is asleep. Since he is wrapped around me, I do not get up to take a look outside. After half an hour the drilling stops and is replaced by the noise of loud trucks and screaming men. That is it. I have to go and look. They are replacing the asphalt on the street right in front of our hotel! Huge trucks are driving back and forth, with at least 10 men screaming instructions. There will be NO sleeping until this is done. And it is not done yet. If I forget I want to sleep for a while, it is quite interesting. Those people are fast and efficient. A little motorbike decides to ignore the works and drives right into the ¡ hot and wet asphalt: ouch! I giggle and feel guilty: Hubby is asleep. What am I thinking: it is the Apocalypse outside; if that does not wake him up, nothing will. A car is in the way of their works. A guy shows up and parks his car on the pavement, so the street is free. BUT: he is asleep and/or drunk and drives into 2 cars and a fence. At 06h30 the works are finished and I go to bed.
So, we feel both VERY rise and shine at 08h30. AND: my face is swollen. The first time in 2 months.
We do pack, have breakkie, ask reception to make our bill and order a taxi for 11. Needless to say, when I try to pay at 10 to 11, our bill is not ready. Once it IS ready (at 11h), of course, the mini bar bill is not correct. It is only 2 Euro difference but I just do not like to pay for what I did not get! Calling, checking the room, new bill printed. STILL no right but by now the taxi is waiting for 10 minutes already.
The taxi ride is also a bit weird. She takes little roads (to avoid the toll ways?), drives in circles around the airport and charges more than we expected. We thought we paid 12 Euro to go to the hotel, she charges 18. We have not seen any taxi with a meter here.
We are going to Penang Island, which is located within the state of Penang. The island is the fourth largest in the country with an area of 295 km2. It is also the most populated island in the country with an estimated population of 678,000. The island is connected with mainland Peninsular Malaysia by the Penang Bridge. It is formerly known as Prince of Wales Island when first founded by the British, named on 12 August 1786 to commemorate the birthday of the Prince of Wales, later, King George IV. The capital Georgetown, was named after King George III of Great Britain. And that is where we are staying.
We know, we can only take 30 kg of luggage but guess what: we only have 25 kg. Coming here Dr T, had 12 kg, I 13 kg, I made it the other way around, now. The poor man's hand luggage does weigh 9 kg!!! Two laptops and all electronics. My hand luggage has the drinks and the crisps.
With less than 1,5 hour to go before the flight, to my surprise Dr T signs us into the premier lounge, where the booze is not for free! For a domestic flight, we do not have to board long before, right? Wrong! When Dr T checks, half an hour before departure, he sees boarding and by the time we arrive at the gate, it is about to close. You know the look on the faces of the people on a plane when 2 passengers are arriving when everybody else is ready to leave. 'We announced it 5 times', the steward says. Oops. We leave 10 minutes before time or: as soon as we sit down.
We also land before ETA. Get our luggage almost straight away. Customs. Out! AND; a little manny with a car and a sign: 'Mr. Tony Haig' waiting for us, who brings us to our hotel, where we immediately get the key, info of the island, the city, a map and departing hours and places of the busses. One of the smoothest transfers I ever did.
Now, my dear, our 8 Euro/person/night hotel? Wireless (I am speaking to you in my room now), A/C, a fridge, double bed, private bathroom, clean and basic breakfast! And it is all true. So we are happy puppies.
We leave the room at 17h and go and explore. We want to find the bus station to do side seeing tomorrow. We know it is 'under the shopping mall at the big tower'. We walk to the big tower and enter a shopping mall. I have never seen this in my life: a ghost shopping mall! One store on maybe 50 is still open. All the rest looked as if it was deserted in a hurry. Spooky!
We are thirsty and hungry and find a (again deserted) terrace. But, we do get a beer and a snack.
Afterwards, we do 'sort of' find a bus station. Well, we will see tomorrow.
Some shopping has to be done: we have to fill our fridge. Poor Hubby walks back with all the heavy bags. To my surprise his attention is drawn to a very dodgy restaurant, which is in fact a hawker center, but we do not realize. If you have been in Singapore or Malaysia, you know what a hawker food place is: A hawker centre or food centre is the name given to complexes in Malaysia and Singapore housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food. It is a court yard with stalls and you buy from any stall you want and eat it in the middle at tables belonging to all the stalls. But it is also dodgy. Certainly in the eyes of my Hubby. And yes, the food is sometimes unrecognizable, spicy, weird and (in Malaysia) not refrigerated for an uncertain amount of time. Singapore has such a high standard of hygiene, that it is safe. Malaysia has NOT.
I am PROUD of my Hubby. I thought it would take me weeeeeeeeeks to convince him to try food like that, if ever. But, he even suggests it himself. I do think all this travelling made him a man of the world. No kidding: really, really proud!
We pay 80 Euro cents for both our meals, yes cents and yes both. Our beer does cost 1,5 Euro. Dr T DOES make some faces but eats it anyway.
In our room afterwards, we internet a bit. I even write my first Belgian story.
My light goes out at 1 because tomorrow, tomorrow ...
