SCARY GEORGETOWN

01/11/07 - 03/11/07 Love Lane Inn 30RM

Before we left Cathay Guesthouse we piked up a flyer for Love Lane Inn and as the name amused us we ended up staying there. The journey between Hat Yai and Georgetown was really easy as it was all in the same minivan and the border crossing was really straightforward. The driving... as always, was very scary... at one point we were 4 cars wide on a 2-lane motorway travelling at ridiculous speed and I think I actually adopted that position they tell you to do in plane crashes (it was the first one that came into my head!) but the driver really reminded me of Mark Batte so the rest of the time I felt pretty safe (as he'd never risk crashing any fancy car he bought!). I also noticed that most Malaysians use the hard shoulder to undertake other vehicles... or to park in... a losing combination!

The first person we met at Love Lane Inn was Amy on reception who was very excited that we had picked up their flyer at Cathay... and obsessed with us drinking her free coffee! She was really sweet and hilarious... overusing y name as soon as she learnt it. and she was really good about the fact we didn't have any malaysian cash yet and let us check in before we went in search of an ATM. She also gave us a map of the area adding all her extra comments and recommendations on there to help us with our stay.

We went out on the first evening to an Indian place Amy had recommended which served really good food and then went for a walk down Lebuh king (King Street), which is in little India. In the restaurant some guy had got chatting to us about something showing on the tv screen and initially seemed nice until he kept trying to meet up with us the following day... first he wanted to meet at the beach and when we declined he wanted to come and take us on a tour of the isand in his car... a bit strange for someone we'd only just met so we made a polite but hasty exit. Then as we walked around the town and through the preparations for Deepavali (the festival of lights) the locals seemed really unfriendly and we realised that not only were we the only westerners around, but we were the only women too, so for the second time that evening we made a hasty exit and had an early night. We tried to stop by the 7-11 to get a few beers, but as a lot of Malays don't drink for religious reasons alcohol here is extortionate... so we've decided to have a detox!

The next day we realised that Geogetown is just as unfriendly to two western women throughout the day. The Olive Hotel, just around the corner from Love Lane is the only other welcoming and friendly place we came across... and they also have a bakery out back... mmm!

We went to see the city hall, fort cornwallis, the clocktower, none of which were that exciting, along with the various mosques and chinese and Indian temples in the area. Georgetown has so many different cultures that apparently "live in harmony", but if I'm honest it just felt like a ticking timebomb waiting to explode and I have never felt so unsafe in broad daylight as I did on this island. I guess that the experience for male travellers, or possibly even couples might be totally different and perhaps we just stayed in the wrong part of town, but after reading comments in the guesthouse books left by other women travellers it certainly isn't just us who have felt this way.

On our second night we stuck to the main street for food and then returned to our lovely guesthouse nice and early. We'd booked our tickets to move on through Amy and Jimmy the owner had arranged to drive us to the bus in the morning. He's really nice too and loves his pet fish and dragons, which he strokes lovingly. There was also another nice chinese man who sat with us for coffee and even gave us apples to keep the doctor away!!

**Since we've been to Georgetown our friends Patrick and Gilles have also been (and stayed at Love Lane Inn) and they loved it, so I guess maybe there is another, more friendly side to the island that we missed... but I don't think I would hurry back!