As many of you know we were meant to go to Thailand but due to the recent trouble we decided against it. Thailand's not going anywhere and so we decided we'd see it some time in the future. A convenient excuse for another exotic holiday!!! So we had a week to kill before heading over to Vietnam. We decided to spend this in Penang, another island off the west coast of Malaysia.
Unlike Langkawi, which caters for rich Malaysians and western tourists and is therefore a bit like a mediterranean resort, Penang is not at all. In fact it's quite the opposite.
We stayed in Georgetown, the main city on the island. The city has open drains which are used as rubbish bins and are full of rats. The streets are full of bikes going in every direction and when every bit of road is used up they go down the pavement. Saying that there's not actually that much pavement around and the safest place to walk oddly enough is in the road. Most restaurants are little shacks down alleyways which would probably be shut down if a UK health and saftey officer ever turned up. The public transport system is insane with a myriad of companies all seemingly operating buses, many of which must are older than the hills they now drive around. Oh and it rained most of the time we've been here.
Despite (or maybe because of) all the above, we love it here. It's brilliant.
I'd be amazed if there was another place in the world where so many people of differing cultures and religions live next door to each other in perfect harmony. There are mosques and buddist temples on the same street, with a christian church in the middle. If you found yourself on a bus in Penang it would be impossible to guess what country you were in as the diversity of people here is incredible. There's hardly any tourists and those that are here are all on the same road (the one Lonely Planet recommends, not so lonely after all) and don't seem to venture far from it. Fortunately we've found a nice place a bit further away and it's great.
The first night we wandered past a Chinese restaurant and were offered the western priced menu, but a local Chinese-Malay guy eating there told the owner to put it away and he ordered for us from a locals menu on the wall. It was a bit unnerving but he seemed friendly and so we went for it. Food was brill and we had a good chat, despite the fact we couldn't speak his language, nor him ours.
Another night we went to a food stall down an alleyway, where the food is put on your plate by hand and you eat in the alleyway. The long queues of locals made us think it should be good, and so we gave it a go. The food was so good, and although the surroundings were a little unusual we loved it.
One lunchtime we ate in a place where the plate was a banana leaf and another we ordered a whole plate of food, not knowing what any of it was and having no way of knowing until we tried it. We returned to both on later occasions as they were so good.
There's quite a bit to see here and we went on a self guided tour of all the temples, moques, clan houses and old colonial forts, primarily to walk off all the food we'd been eating!!!! We saw a fort who's cannon you were meant to put flowers in if you wanted babies. I had to rugby tackle Leanne as she walked towards the flower bed!! We went round the museum and leaned about the history of the place and saw a lot all for 20p.
But the most incredible place we saw was down by the sea. There are whole communities of people living on jetties that shoot straight out to sea. They live above the water on stilted houses that are so basic but at the same time well maintained. Each house has an altar at the front and most were burning insense or similar offerings. The houses were surprisingly long and it looked as if quite a few people lived in each one. We were allowed to walk down one of the jetties and could see all these houses up close. It was amazing to see.
Penang has been so different from everywhere else we've been but in such a good way. We are heading to Vietnam tomorrow which promises to be different again. it's sad to be leaving Penang though, as it's really got under our skin. Probably in more ways than one!!!!