A Journey to Well Known Places

After we left Singapore we discovered that there were many sights and attractions in that small country. Not that we really cared. No slight to Singapore intended, but really it was great to lay around in a real apartment during the day and talk to native English speakers in the evening. My friend David Bills and his wonderful wife PY graciously made their home our home for five relaxing days. To those of you that do not know David he is Angella Bills twin and Bradly B’s big brother. If you don’t know Bradley I recommend you go to a Chant show in Austin and introduce yourself. You won’t be sorry. Anyway. We hightailed to Singapore (instead of leisurely meandering down peninsular Malaysia and eventually reaching the city state) for a Thankgiving feast. And a feast it was. What a spread. We had Texas style brisket, ribs, pico de gallo, guacamole, salad, potatoes, cranberry apple cobbler, pumpkin pie and much much more. We ate like it was going out of style. I ate myself uncomfortable and somehow managed to stay in that uncomfortably full state for the entire stay of our visit. It was hard not to. They had CABLE and a very comfortable guest bed. It was like being at home…only a nicer version of my home. While David and PY worked long hours and trained for a half marathon we slept in, layed on their couch and ate. Not once did they threaten to skewer us. We also befriended some of David and PY’s friends, Amit and Monisha, and might even see them (all) again in India. We went to little India one day and even went to a museum, but we did so between meals. I was sad to leave that little slice of paradise, but we have alot of ground to cover. After a traditional breakfast of short ribs and pig small intestine we bused it back to KL to see the places we missed in our forced March to Singapore.

We arrived in George town at night and walked around for what seemed like a long time before we finally settled on a guest house. It was an old Chinese wharehouse that had been converted to turn of the century boarding rooms. The place was neat, but the mattress was thin and it was overpriced, so the next day we moved on to someplace with less character……and a better deal. We stayed in China town and little India was just down the road. China town was pretty old and well preserved while little India was like a carnival. It was Deepavali so there was music and dancing in the streets. Georgetown was our first introduction to Malaysian eating and we were thoroughly impressed. We ate dim sum for breakfast and banana leaf rice and curry sets for dinner. Delicious. All of it. Oh so good. There is limited sightseeing in Georgetown. I went to the old British fort and an Islamic museum. Both were OK. We also went to Penang hil and that was cool. It was about an hour bus ride outside of town and another 45 minute trolley ride to the top….sort of like a smaller Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. The views were good and we went on a canopy walk high in the tall trees. I, being afraid of heights, broke a sweat and didn’t enjoy it until I was safely on solid ground again. That same afternoon we headed off to the train station and took the ‘polar express’ to Kuala Lampur. They blasted the AC until it was uncomfortably cold. Poor Erica got so cold that she put on three layers of clothes and still shivered. In KL was hopped on yet another, more reasonably climate controlled, and headed to Singapore for Thanksgiving.

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