The Slitherants: Penang - Sat 6/03

Penang…Now here is a place that surprised me immensely. I had assumed that Penang would be a quiet sort of a place. It is a relatively small island (70km’s around) off Malaysia’s West coast which I thought would be kind of similar in character to Melaka, which is back on the mainland but further south. We had heard that Penang is unusual by Malaysian standards because it is the only place where the ethnic Malays are the minority. It is the Chinese that are the majority here and Penang is the only place in Malaysia where this reversal of the majority and the minority occurs. Once we were on the ferry to Penang from the port of Butterworth on the mainland we could see just how different from my expectations this place was going to be. The main city of Georgetown far from resembling the quaint fishing village I had envisioned was actually a modern city with towering apartment and office buildings lining the island’s foreshore as far as the eye could see in both directions. It was reminiscent of the Gold coast and Surfer’s paradise in some ways as the buildings had the same brash appearance and gave the impression of Georgetown being a very prosperous city.

Once arrived we checked into the super popular ‘Travellers lodge’ where we got a room for 23 ringgit (about $8 AUD) a night and then went and took refuge from the oppressive heat in a huge nearby shopping mall for the remainder of the afternoon.

Penang is a mixture of old Chinese style shops and businesses crammed into narrow lane ways which is similar to Melaka. In amongst these historical buildings are enormous high rises filled with apartments, hotels and offices.

On our second day we decided to rent a motorbike and this was easily one of the most fun things we have done on our trip so far. We picked her up, a snazzy new 125cc automatic and after sussing out a few places of interest to visit it was off into the maniacal traffic we went. Zooming around on the little bike was heaps of fun and we soon found our way to Penang National Park. This is on the north west of the island and had some nice beaches (although nothing close to the pristine beaches of Malaysia’s east coast) and we went for a walk to a quiet beach and chilled out reading books in the shade for an hour or so. The heat in Penang is something else and the middle of the day is somewhere that must be spent in the shade or you will really suffer. Once we had recharged our batteries we were off to the ‘Canopy Walk’ which was a series of swing bridges set amongst the tree-tops in an isolated section of the national park forest. This was pretty cool, although I think I enjoyed it more than Kate and even though we were about 15 metres off the ground there were still some enormous trees stretching towards the sky far above us. We then walked back to the park’s entrance and zoomed off with a vague idea where we were going but not really sure what to expect.

We had found in the brochure a temple that looked interesting to visit back around in the hills above Georgetown but we weren’t entirely sure how to get there and, to be honest I was thinking ‘great, another Buddhist temple’. Wrong again! The place we found was far and away the best temple I have ever been to and I must say I have been to a few! It was set in the hills high above Georgetown and is a very famous Chinese Buddhist temple. It consists of many buildings but the two main attractions are the amazing pagoda which is about 50m high (imagine the leaning tower of Pisa without the lean) and the main attraction, an enormous statue (maybe 30m high?) of a female who is obviously significant to Buddhists covered over by a huge structure decorated with all manner of carved pillars, lanterns and mind blowing illustrations. Words hardly do it justice but this place was insane. The views over Georgetown were amazing and the whole of the city skyline was laid out below us. The walk up the spiral staircase of the Pagoda was spectacular with statues of the Buddha inside on every level as you went up. Hopefully the pictures will show just how cool this place was as it is just too difficult to describe using words alone.

On our way home we found an awesome food stall market outside a group of shops on a main road. There were heaps and heaps of little stalls selling all kinds of delicacies and we were both in foodie heaven. This is also where the first of our less than savoury encounters with some of the locals occurred whilst in Penang. Now on the whole Penang was an awesome place but we also met some odd-balls. As we munched away happily on our food at the stalls market some old Chinese bloke started screaming at us (in Chinese of course) and at first we didn’t realise he was targeting his rantings at us. No-one around us batted an eyelid as this bloke screamed and screamed from a few metres away at us. He then wandered off a bit and we thought he’d said his bit, but he turned around and kept shouting from a little further away. This pattern kept repeating until he was half way down the street and he was still going! By this time we were trying hard not to laugh but it had been a bit unsettling at first. Luckily all he did was yell but it certainly shook us up a little especially as we had no idea why he had chosen us to go off at.

Unfortunately he wasn’t the last bloke we met with a few screws loose and even worse most of them resisded at the place we were staying! For some reason the ’Traveller’s lodge’, although very cheap, resembled a rest home as the majority of tenants were a bit ’aged’ shall we say?? Unlike the nice old folks you usually encounter in a rest home this lot were a bit different and from our limited interactions they just seemed a bit odd. Most seemed to be the type that reside in Asia almost permanently, like an old Aussie bloke we met who talked so much his tongue got just about got sunburnt, and they seemed to have just lost that grasp of reality a bit. The majority seemed harmless but it was always unfortunate when one got talking to you and then that was it, there was no stopping them. They’d talk about all sorts of odd things, like the Engish bloke who had had a row with a guest house owner round the corner and was now plotting to buy the guest house next door to it with the idea of running the bloke who had offended him out of business. And on and on it went, mad rambling after more mad rambling, it definitely got a bit much in the end and I was glad in some ways to be moving on.

All this brings me to the least savoury moments of our trip and it all starts with a place called ‘shit alley’. Ahh shit alley, what a grimy lurkway you are. It all began when we were on our way back from breakfast on the second day. First let me describe shit alley. It is a walkway running along side of a ditch that all manner of filth is piled up in and flows into. The ditch is next to a walkway which is next to a block of flats. As we ambled along shit alley on that sunny morning we saw a bloke squatting above the ditch. Now I thought to myself ‘that’s odd’ and no sooner had this thought had popped into my head and I, very involuntary had seen his doodle! We both saw it and carried on walking and after we had turned out of said alley we both said ’Yuck!! We just saw that old bloke’s wang!!’ He had obviously just taken a dump earning ‘shit alley’ it’s name in the process. This was only the beginning however as on another walk along shit alley later that night we saw a huge rat on the other side of the ditch so I took great delight in throwing some sticks I found nearby at those disgusting vermin. Top fun! Why you may ask would we walk down shit alley in the first place I hear you ask?? Well, simple. It was a good shortcut and saved us a long walk around the block to get home. Also we weren’t expecting to encounter any trouble as Malaysia has always seemed like a very safe place for travellers. That was until our last night.

Let me set the scene. We had just eaten again at this fantastic Chinese restaurant we had found earlier that is probably the best Chinese food either of us has ever had. They brought food around to you on trolleys and you just picked what you wanted, brilliant. We were walking back to our accommodation when we saw some lightening flashes and felt a few spots of rain. Now we were really eager to get home. What better way than a quick jaunt down shit alley? As soon as we turned into the street that shit alley runs off of things went a bit pear shaped. Some of you may know that Kate isn’t particularly fond of dog’s she doesn’t know and as we turned into this street there was a gang of about six of them roaming around. Kate froze and I said something along the lines of ’don’t worry, they’re just someone’s pets, it’ll be fine’. At that moment two of the dogs started having a massive fight and all the dogs went nuts. Kate went white and nearly ripped my hand off saying stuff it we’ll go the long way round and me thinking damnit now we’re definitely going to get wet! So we turned about face, left the street and abandoned the weaker dog to it’s fate but wait! As luck would have it there was another entrance to shit alley further along the main street that we hadn’t noticed before. I said ’Sweet’! So we turned and went down shit alley ignoring the shadowy figure siting a little down the lane holding what appears to be…a bag?? Oh great. Just a moment too late I realised it was a glue sniffer who was sitting there watching us approach through unfocused eyes. Sensing I may have made a slight mistake (what is it they say about alleyways on dark nights??) we strode past projecting as much confidence as we could and that is when the gluey got up and started following us! I let Kate go in front of me and put myself between her and the gluey. She (that’s right it was a woman!) started walking behind me like a shadow and at any moment I expected to feel a glue encrusted hand against my back or shoulder. She skulked silently behind us for a few metres while Kate practically broke into a run to get out of the alley as fast as she could. I looked over my shoulder into the shadowed face of our pursuer and said something staunchly heroic along the lines of ’…umm are you owwright mate???’ With that the phantom stopped and gave me the death stare and launched into another incomprehensible diatribe consisting no doubt of the finest foul expletives that the Chinese language has to offer! Our second for our stay in Penang. I replied something along the lines of …‘yeah, no worries, we’ll get it off you next week…’ and kept on waking trying to catch up to Kate. We both felt pretty freaked out by this incident and by now, with the collection of odd-bods that we had met, we were both pretty keen to move on. I think we were lucky as the alley situation could have ended a lot worse but it was enough for us by that stage and I guess we learned a valuable lesson. Malaysia has seemed so safe wherever we have travelled but it just takes one encounter in a dark alley to make you a lot more careful.

Anyway we were due to leave in the morning for Langkawi, another island about two hours to the north by ferry. Langkawi is a tax free island so I was looking forward to buying some tax free beer at long last as it has been relatively expensive to drink everywhere else in Malaysia, with the exception of Tioman which is another tax free island. Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan and we were 45 minutes early for our ferry that cost us 120 Ringgit for our tickets…at the wrong ferry terminal!!! We missed the ferry to Langkawi, the only one that day and then had to muck around getting to the mainland and then catching a bus, taxi and then another ferry over to Langkawi. A costly mistake! My limited patience for even the slightest mishap was sorely tested here as it dawned on me just how much we had lost and how much longer it was going to take to get there!! I blame shit alley!!! Well anyway we arrived in Langkawi hours after most of the other travellers so we got just about the last cheapish room on the island, about 40 ringgit ($13 AUD). After all the highlights of Penang (the scenery, the food) and the lowlights (the nutters!!) we were glad to be somewhere a lot more chilled out and with cheap beer!! More about that next time. ’Til then.

View of Georgetown on Penang Island. We took a short ferry from to Penang Island which was really cheap (AUD$0.70).

The lame canopy walk we went on in Penang National Park. It took like 5 minutes to walk through the tree and cost us $AUD3!!! A total waste of money as you didn't see any birds or monkeys.

A floating fishing villiage we saw while on a stroll in the National Park. I did not even attempt to put my toes into the water as it didn't look swimable!

Tim found a chicken foot in is soup!! He was not very impressed.

The bronze statue of Kuan Yin in Kek Lok Si Temple.

Kuan Yin statue. On the pillars are many intricate carvings which unfortunately we did not get to see up close as their was construction happening to the shelter.

These carvings are at bottom of the structure that holds the statue and I am sure the carving would have been similar on the pillars.

The seven storey main pagoda of the temple or the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas (the white tall building in the background)

The view from the pagoda. You can see there were many impressive buildings. I heard that the temple is the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia.

The monks/nuns or workers were growing pumpkins like they are beans! I assume it must be easier for them to pick the best pumpkin to offer to Buddha. Some obviously had grown quite large so they had been tied to the pumpkin to the wire structure. Mum - I thought you might like this picture.

Ceilings inside many of the buildings were lined with Chinese lanterns.

This is the street stalls we found after our visit to the temple. People on motorbikes would drive up to a stall and order food - this was a new meaning to 'take-away' food for me!

Me eating a pork bun at the street stalls. Pork buns are now my new favorite food! yummy.

Shit alley with all it's lovely rubbish.

A typical street in Penang - it has no foot path so you have to walk on the road so we often walk one in front of the other. If you walked side by side then you would get knocked over by a car or motorbike.