We reluctantly left the crisp cool air of the Cameron Highlands and headed north to the island of Penang. We had met a nice Taiwanese man at our hotel who was hoping to spend more time with us up north, but he had a terrible smoker’s cough that woke us up from down the hall at all hours of the night and so we casually booked separate hotel from his in Penang. We also slipped onto a later bus than him to get out of dodge so we had a chance at sleeping on the way. We were feeling so clever until our bus rounded the corner and slowed down to pick up the man we’ve come to refer to as “Hacking Hank” who had missed his earlier bus. So much for sleeping on the ride up. It was alright though; there was little sleeping to be had on the bus anyway. The driver took to the roads like a fugitive trying to reach the border before the authorities could warn immigration officials. We were whipping around corners and over bumps that literally had us flying off our seats!
We made it to Georgetown intact and said a quick farewell to Hackin’ Hank before making our way to our guest house. Ours was one of the many guesthouses in Georgetown known for it’s old architecture. In fact, the entire center of Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage site preserving countless French Colonial buildings. (We thought of you Pat and Tom.)
So we haven’t mentioned it on here yet, but we had a bit of a financial snafu on this trip. As we were leaving home, we grabbed one of our ATM cards and left the others at home. Unfortunately, we grabbed the wrong one – the one we don’t know the PIN for. Once we finally got through to the bank back home, we were kindly informed that a PIN reminder could only go out through the mail. Luckily, our lovely neighbors are accepting our mail for us, so it wouldn’t be a problem. After waiting a while with no word, we realized that because it was “confidential financial information” they would not forward the mail. Instead, we had to go online to change our address first. Then wait for the address change confirmation to our old and “new” address to go through, then request the PIN be sent again. We decided to set up PINs on our credit cards while waiting and finally got one of them through our neighbors when we arrived in Georgetown.
To celebrate, we got dressed up in nice clothes we’d purchased back in Kuala Lumpur and went out for a fancy dinner, which is a little ironic since this place was fancy enough to accept credit cards. After dinner, we decided to walk down to the Bodhi Heart Buddhist Sanctuary as someone who stays there had told us of a talk happening that night by a monk from Thailand. The walk would be about an hour, but we felt up to it. About 3/4 of the way through, we were soaked in sweat from the heat and were already making plans to find a taxi to get home. Eventually, we spotted the cemetery that was the final landmark on the map before we arrived. We followed the signs to Bodhi Heart until a fork in the road. One side continued through the cemetery; the other was labeled “Children’s Home. Private Property. Trespassers will be prosecuted.” We flagged down a car going into the private property who said there was no Bodhi Heart Sanctuary here – only private property – and we’d have to go back to the road and get a taxi to take us there.
We decided to continue through the cemetery instead. It was starting to get dark and we were going to be late. The cemetery was huge and overrun with weeds and there were strange noises rustling in the woods. Occasionally, one of the graves would have a candle still burning on it, but there were no signs of anyone else on the road, and it was pretty spooky. If ever a cemetery was haunted, this was the one. Finally, a small village appeared. It was clear that we were an uncommon sight. We were able to track down one young man who spoke some English and told us that we needed to go back the way we came (the only option anyway, since the village was a dead end on the only road.) We made our way back through the cemetery – now scattered with bats swooping low for mosquitos and started to wonder if the graves were of past travelers who’d lost their way. We finally made it back to the fork in the road after spotting a few wild boars at just about the distance you hope to see wild boars running around. At this point, we were exhausted, overheated and dehydrated and decided we’d rather not risk prosecution to explore the private property – especially as we’d be an hour late to the talk. Instead, we stumbled back to the main road and started looking for a taxi. Of course, when you’re looking for one, they’re hard to come by. But eventually, we did find a bus that would take us back near our guesthouse.
After this adventurous introduction to the area, we decided to rent a car the next day. Our German friends from the Cameron Highlands joined us in town and we all made our way together out to the national park. We trekked throughout the park and found our way to a long canopy bridge over the forest. There were beaches and bright blue water and the heat wasn’t too bad once we’d found a small spring to wet our clothes in. We also visited a 25-acre tropical fruit farm with more than 250 types of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. We were disappointed to only be able to see a handful of them on the tour, but really enjoyed the all you can eat fruit buffet at the end!
Most of the “must do’s” in Penang involve street food, street art, and architecture. We were staying in food stall center, so after cooling down in our room for a bit, we didn’t have to go far to try the local fare. Once the sun was going down, the streets started to fill up with wheeled carts where you simply pointed to the ingredients you wanted in your dish and then watched them fry them up and hand them to you in small paper pouches. We picked out a couple of dishes to share before spotting the herds of large street rats who were also aware that this was the place to pick up the best street food. We went elsewhere for dessert.
Our final day in Penang was spent touring around the areas with some of the more interesting architecture and visiting “Made in Penang” – a 3d art museum. The artist has made a variety of paintings in such a way that you could incorporate yourselves into the work. See a couple examples below!
On the way home, we found as many of the street art pieces as we could and also visited a small art installation someone had put up above their shop to tell the story, through the lens of their grandparents, of those who struggled to immigrate to the country. It took you year by year through the process and was accented by old forms, photographs and some personal effects.
We also found a shop that allowed us to try dried nutmeg fruit which tasted like a nutty mix of ginger and apricot. They also sold durian coffee and durian tea and braved a small cup of each in hopes of finding something we could bring home to those of you who are interested in sampling “the king of fruits.” It was not good, but also hid the flavor behind enough sugar that we felt you wouldn’t really get the true intensity of this local treat. Don’t worry. We’ll keep looking!