Penang
Thursday, October 9th, 2008Long, long, long ride form Koh Phi Phi to Penang, Malaysia. In reality, it was only about 10 hours, but because it was all in mini-buses a la Laos rather than the VIP busses that the rest of SE Asia has got me accustomed to mean that I was beggining to feel a little stir crazy by the time we got to Georgetown, the packpacker region of Penang.
We got here at like 21:00 local time so there’s very little that I can share with you right now. We’re staying in a place called Star Guesthouse which is clean, nice and the one-toothed man who run’s the place (he reminds me a bit of a male Nanny Ogg for all you Discworld fans out there,) is friendly and we get a full hour’s internet access for free. At $11 ish, that’s not too bad for a country notoriously more pricey than it’s neighbours.
Tonights dinner was pretty sweet, we went for an Indian, of which there are a gazillion, and for 8 quid we munched our way through a pretty big set of food. Interestingly, rather than plates, we were given large leaves to eat out of, cool, and a good enforcer of table manners being that if you put your elbows up on the table, you end up covered in curry.
Feeling much more positive here than have been previously, it’s all looking a little more like a real city and less like a collection of huts and pollution held together by street hawkers. (That’s Bangkok to you and me.)
mikeloken