A Colonized Island

We arrived back in KL around 2 or 3 and found ourselves right next to a Monorail that could take us right into the centre of the city.  We spent about an hour looking for a room that was not too pricey.  We found such at last at the Green Hut Lodge (60RM for a double with shared bathroom, breakfast included).  It was nice place to relax and get our bearings.  We had a decision to make.  We were now more or less at the end of our Malaysian tour, with one or two more stops before heading elsewhere.  The question was, where was elsewhere?  We had heard many varying reports of Thailand, from hideous tourist trap, to eden like paradise.  It was also starting into its rainy season.  We did not know how long we wanted to go for.  Others had told us that Indonesia should be our next destination, it was big, exotic and was not about to have a monsoon.  Though it seemed to be having some difficulties and we would have to do some serious research into what places were in fact safe.  We had heard a lot about Laos, about how it was less developed and less jaded towards all these foreign invaders, as of yet.  Also that it was going to be changing rather soon and turn into a Thai style tourist trap before long (get there while you can still enjoy it was the call).  In the end the decision was pretty easy.  Laos was to be our next big destination.  With that in mind, we needed to do some preparations.

The next day we set out to the mall (where there was a "farmasi" as  its called in Malaysia).  The purpose was to get some Doxicycline for malaria as it is prevalent in Laos.  We previously had mefloquine as a treatment for malaria, which was a weekly tablet, but after reading the potential side-effect, we decided that getting malaria was actually preferable to taking the damn things.  In any event, we were not really in danger in Malaysia, so we actually dumped the pills.  Laos was a  different story.  If you look at the WHO malaria map of Laos, the entire country, minus Vientiane, the capital, is covered in red (meaning its prevalent).  So we went in search of some Doxicycline and ended up finding some in a pharmacy in the mall under the Petronas towers.  It was expensive, but not nearly as the other stuff.  We got enough for a month which is about how long we planned to stay in Laos.  After which we decided to enjoy ourselves a bit.  In the theatre we noticed that The Avengers was play (and was not to be out in most places for another week), so we got ourselves some tickets.  It was most enjoyable, and rarely over the top.  We also spent some time in the bookstore and picked up a Lonely Planet Laos, plus Tiziano Terzani's A Fortune Teller Told Me, which, as it turns out has a fair bit to say about Laos.

When we left the mall, there was a scent of smoke in the air and when we woke up the next morning we found out that there had been a large (the largest in 10 years apparently) demonstration in Independence Square, at which the Malay authorities fired water cannons and tear gas, before it was dispersed.  They were protest some of the electoral changes that seemed to simply help the current (and continuous since the inception of Malaysia) governmental party stay in power.  I get the feeling that they will be on top for a while before being toppled.

Quick political side note on Malaysian politics: the current opposition leader has been fighting a legal battle for years against charges of sodomy (yes homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia; so btw is being an apostate from Islam).  These charges have continued to pop up every time he fights one off a new one pops.  There has never been a shred of proof and they only started when he became the opposition leader.  Yes, Malaysia still has a bit to go before being what one might call a real democracy.

We decided that there was only one more place that we needed to go in Malaysia and that was the world heritage city of Georgetown on the island of Penang.  Before leaving the Green Leaf, Nancy traded the book I had just read (Deception Point by Dan Brown; an enjoyable popcorn book) for The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.  We went to the train station and booked a train ticket to Butterworth (the city across the water from the island and Georgetown) and spent an enjoyable few hours in the train station, reading and drinking coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts for a few hours while we waited for our train to head out.

The train took 6 hours or so and we spent some more time reading and writing.  The only problem was the person in front of us kept getting phone calls and spoke perhaps a bit too loud.  We arrived in Butterworth at about 10 and when we left the station we were immediately assaulted by "Teksi!".  This time some of the drivers came over to us and offered us "deals" to Georgetown.  One persistent guy told us he could take us to a specific guesthouse for only 50RM and that the ferry only ran every 2 hours and didn't cost much less, they also told us that all the accommodations in Butterworth were far away and expensive.  While Nancy was buying all this hook, line and sinker, I told them that we would just walk to the nearest place in Butterworth and walked away, forcing the driver to stop talking.  We wandered away and then made our way to bus terminal, where they told us we had to take the ferry.  The ferry, as it turns out, actually left every 15 minutes and only cost us 2.8 RM all together (a far cry from 50).  We happily boarded it and enjoyed a 15 minute ride across the water, looking at the light of Georgetown approaching.  There is something magical about cities by night, when their light is reflected on the water.  It felt a little magical.  The reality of Penang was something of a let down.

We were wandering down the ferry station looking at the map and wondering how it was we would get to a guesthouse, when we ran into an older man from New Zealand who came to Penang once a year.  He knew of several places owned by one guy in Chinatown that were all really good.  He showed us to the Star Lodge, which was a great deal for 45 RM, and the owner, Jimmy, was incredibly friendly.  We had not eaten and Jimmy told us about a 24 hour place that was not far away (it was 1AM).

Our ever so cosy and cheap room at the Star Lodge

Jimmy's establishment.

Food is one of Penang's selling points and so it proved at this place, and pretty much everywhere we went to eat in Penang.  Penang (well Georgetown is technically the name of the community on Penang, but most people think of them as one and the same) itself was a lively heritage city, much larger than Melaka (or so it seemed), with an unfortunate amount of cars whizzing by in every direction, though this was much calmed at night.  It fell short when compared to Melaka, but not by too much, our main complaint was the traffic.  Like Melaka though, we did not over do it with a search for museums and other forms of entertainment.  We took our time.

How do you like my vase hat?

A Chinese Temple near the guesthouse

I'm stuck!

Hard to get around on these these days, too much traffic though you can't see it here.

We went to the Penang Museum, which had some decent exhibits, but was marred a bit by the large amount of loudly talking, picture taking tour groups of Mainland Chinese.  It was an interesting experience in that respect though, kind of highlighted the different between Taiwanese and Mainlanders.  Having lived in Taiwan for a year, we are fairly certain that a group of Taiwanese tourist would have been quieter and more respectful of the rules (there were several clear signs in english, chinese and Malay saying no pictures; perhaps the fact that they were tour groups gave them different rules, but this seems doubtful).

Another place we visited was the Anglican graveyard in Penang which holds (most know to us) the grave of Thomas (?) Leowens, who was the husband of Anna Leowens of The King and I fame (or Anna and the King fame, the one with Jodi Foster and Chow Yun Fat, which is the version a lot closer to the actual events recorded in Anna Leowens' journals).  We never found his grave but did enjoy the quiet solemnity of the place.

When Paul Theroux visited Penang in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star he stayed at the Eastern & Oriental, so, as we found out later, did Terzani.  In fact, a lot of very famous people stayed there.  We saw pictures of famous authors who had such as Joseph Conrad and Herman Hesse, when we ourselves visited, but did not stay.  The guy at the door (dressed ridiculously in high knee socks, with shorts and crazy british safari hat) told us we could go in an look around.  It was quite something with its high domed ceiling, colonial airs, ocean view veranda and fancy, well everything.  We gawked for about half an hour,and vowed that should we ever become rich, we would stay here.  Its 1000RM a night, which is our weekly budget… It may be a long while before we stay at the E&O.

The E and O

Fashionable doors at the E and O

More E and O doors.

One another day, we ended up going to an Indian cultural event, where we saw many interesting dances and were given free food and drink for attending.  We were shown here by a friendly Chinese Malaysian who talked to us at a temple in Chinatown.  I forget his name, but he had been to Taiwan for some sort of cross culture thing and he and the Chinese Indonesians had shown off to the Taiwanese by speaking Bahasa to each other.  There were Malaysians of every stripe at the Indian festival, which was one of the first of its kind, blending several Indian tradition (of the various ethnic Indian groups of Penang) into one Indian new year. The governor of Penang was there (he was Chinese Malaysian) as well as several high ranking members of the Penang cabinet (most ethnically Malay) and richer business men (and women).  All of whom gave some speeches after the dancing was over.  It was kind of a wonderful sight to see, members of 3 diverse cultures showing respect to one another (I'm fairly sure it was all genuine too).  Though when the speeches got too long for us we made our leave.

Indian Festival; a dancing peacock

A large Chinese temple had been in the works for several years in Penang, with new additions constantly being added to it.  We decided to go see it though we had had our fill of Chinese temples in the past year.  The scope of the temple was immense and there was a giant statue of Guanyin (goddess of mercy) on top of the highest structure, which one could take a small train up to see (we opted not to do this).  The grounds were like a small city to themselves, though I don't think any city would be so tranquil.  On the highest area we went to, in front of an amazing tranquil black Buddha (that looked more Thai style than Chinese) we got an amazing view of Georgetown and the surrounding area.  In the lower level there was a turtle pond with tonnes of turtles, who all swam over to under where we were standing when they saw us.  We spent a good deal of time wandering around the temple and absorbing the atmosphere.  The only thing that marred it was all the shops and stalls that were congregated on the only entrance and exit that we could use.

After this we tried to go to Penang hill which was said to have a neat old train that went up it.  A Chinese lady stopped her motorbike when she saw us waiting at the bus stop and asked where we were going.  She told us how to get to Penang Hill from where we were and then told us that old train had been replaced by a sleek new one just this year.  The new one went up the hill about 4 times faster and was also 4 times the price.  We were disappointed with this and decided that Penang Hill could do without our patronage.  The Chinese lady (whose name I also don't remember) gave us a lot useful advice on where we could go and also made us a cool origami double heart with a 1 RM bill.

The temple.

Anyone want an Angry Bird?  (Bought near the temple)

Yes, those are turtles.

The view from the temple.

A certain viewer.

We spent a few agreeable days in Penang , though we did not spend too much time at actual sites (or sights), besides what I have mentioned.  We ate, we walked, we read. It was enjoyable, but we knew that we had to leave soon, we were growing a little tired of Malaysia and wanted to head on to Laos, to see something new and different.  So after about 4 days we hopped back on the boat and headed on over to Butterworth and the train station.