I was reading an interesting Graham Greene book on the train called 'ways of escape', it's a biography and Graham Greene is an honest and thought provoking autobiographer. His insights into his own progress as a writer are intriguing. He talks about placing too much emphasis on detail and not enough on imagery and about treating the audience like they are idiots. It is a really interestng book for any Graham Greene fans.
Anyway, we got off the ferry and tried to get a taxi but the taxi drivers were a bit obnoxious and refused to use the meter so we decided to walk into town in search of our hotel.
Penang is an island in North Western Malaysia. It attracts quite a few tourists for its beaches, it's temples and it's wild life. The main town is called Georgetown and it's a bit of a sprawling industrial place with a few heritage buildings at the centre. It's sad to see the heritage listed buildings of old in such bad states of disrepair while a modern and some what ugly city builds up around them.
We stayed in a cheap, cheerful little hotel called the Continental right smack bang in the middle of Georgetown. Most people head straight out of town to the resorts on the northern coast, but we picked this hotel as it was much cheaper! It's south of Georgetown, at the outskirts.
We wandered into georgetown yesterday evening and got completely lost on the way. We ended up in a slightly rough industrial suburb of the town where everyone, absolutely everyone, was staring at us. We drudged along through the filthy, car lined streets, forced onto the narrow roads by the lack of footpaths, chased by beeping cars and motorcyclists. After about ten minutes of this we were tired, hot and covered in dirt. After twenty minutes we were well and truelly lost and cursing the travel blogs which had led us to the place at all. We decided then and there that we didn't like Penang one bit!
Just then, retreating back to the hotel and the lifeless shopping mall which straddled it, we found the way into the real heart of the city and made our way there. After a few minutes the streets because less threatening and more amiable to tourists and pedestrians. Soon we found ourselves in the tourist heart of the town which was, although rough around the edges, a welcome sight. We headed into a restuarant for some food, I had some delcious mushroom masala and we sampled a drink called 100 plus which tastes a lot like an Irish soft drink called lilt. After our food, we strolled around the city exploring some buildings and looking for a bar. There were none. But we did find a coffee shop where Paddy got to drink coconut milk straight from a coconut and then we stopped by an amusements and played a basketball game which was a lot of fun. The chap who owned the amusements came over to watch us play and cheer us on.
Georgetown, although a rough sight at first, grows on you.
We have found Malaysia to be more commercial than we first imagined. We've been to Thailand before and we thought we'd seen it all, but Malaysia and Singapore embrace the west and shopping in a way I've never seen before. Huge shopping malls are strewn against little, run down houses and it feels like the old way of life is dying at the hands of a new, unworthy competitor. At times it feels soulless and it makes me wonder about my own society and, if I were to look under the hood, would I find that Ireland had also succumb to a sense of marketing and globalization which stripped it of its true identity. Without all this, what would the tourist experience of another country be like? Would it be more daunting? Would the absence of global brands and interests make it a more unique experience?
I feel like we could slip into KFC at anytime and that intrinsically adds a layer of artificiality to our journey.
We traveled to a place called the Snake temple today. It's south of Georgetown, about 30 minutes on the public bus. There are buses everywhere on this island!
Probably the only one of its kind in the world. The temple honours a resident named Chor Soo Kong, who had healing powers. He was a Buddhist monk, who moved to Penang.
Some devotees from as far away as Singapore and Taiwan come to pray in the temple on Chor Soo Kong's birthday (the sixth day of the first lunar month). The temple was built in about 1850 and is dedicated to Char Soo Kong. The statue of the deified healer was brought to Penang by a monk from China. The legend is that this pious monk gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle; when the temple was completed, the snakes moved in.
 | The Snake Temple is located at Sungai Kluang near Bayan Lepas airport in the Penang Island. |
We got the bus out there but we missed our stop so we had to go on to the airport (3 stops on) and get a bus back.
After that we headed back to the city centre and off north west to batu Ferranghi beach.
We thought that this area would be horrible and touristy and full of resorts. There were a lot of resorts and hotels but the area itself is lovely. It is like the little islands you find in Thailand. We walked along a wave torn beach and finally settled down for a few tiger beers in a lovely little outdoor beach bar which has tables on the sand. After that we headed for an absolutely lovely dinner at Ferranghi Garden which is well worth a visit for dinner or drinks.
Merrily we headed back on the bus to Georgetown for an early night and a bit of sleep before our 22 hour train journey to Bangkok!
All in all I like Penang. The northern part of the island is beachy and pleasant and it's so relaxing and unpretentious there if you can find a snug little beach bar and avoid the resorts!!
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