Before I even got to Malaysia I had a good feeling about it. As I mentioned earlier the customs officials were the most welcoming and friendly of any I have ever seen. That was an indication of how all the Malay people have been so far in this splendid country. By the way I am trying to avoid using the word "lovely" but I do find it creeping into my conversation once in a while as I am around so many people who speak or learned British English.
I am saying in a fine guest house in Penang which I found online. It is a restored colonial home and it really is well described as "lovely." I am sharing a bath but so far I have had it all to myself. I am looking at it as a huge private bath just down the hall.
Yesterday I spent the morning booking two flights on Air Asia. This is a budget airline based in Kuala Lumpur and the fares are too good not to fly. I booked from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on 2 April and from Singapore to Bangkok on April 8. I am not paying too much more than I would have to pay for a standby ticket. The only problem was I had the hardest time getting their website to cooperate.
I was frustrated by the time spent on the computer so I decided to go to the beach. It so happened that I boarded the bus when another westerner boarded and we started talking on the ride out to the beach. Well as the afternoon progressed we both felt as if we had known each other always. Just one of those lucky connections when two people just click. She is Dana from Poland, works 6 months a year for UNESCO on preserving world historic sites and knows all the countries in SE Asia and spends the other six months between Warsaw and her second home in Egypt. A beautiful lady in and out and we both felt that it would be a shame for our friendship to be a one day affair. She wants to come visit me in Valdosta and I am invited to Warsaw when she is there.
I went with a local to an outdoor restaurant last night where we ordered fried oysters (stir fried with veggies, not breaded) and noodles. We could not finish it! So my first full day here was exciting and just about perfect.
Today I decided to eat breakfast early and start sightseeing before the day got too hot. I needed an ATM first and after that I stopped into a lovely (there I go again) Buddhist shrine which looked like it was important and I thought was on the route I wanted to walk. On my way out I asked a Chinese man if he would point me toward my next stop and we began talking. Not long after that I was in his car with his wife and uncle and they took me on a ful day tour of Penang. They were very strong Buddhists so mostly what we did was go from temple to temple, Thai, Buirmese and Chinese. They had made some significant contributions to one of the temples and there I was able to meet the "chairman " of the temple. We had a long enlightening talk about Buddhism in which he stressed the presence of God within each person and that through meditation and study one moves toward becoming a Buddha. I wish I could remember all he said but I did get some literature to read. I invited my new friends to lunch and we went to a vegetarian self service buffet. The bill for 4 of us was under $6.
Well, time to shower and head out for the evening. I hope I continue on my lucky track here in Penang.
I am saying in a fine guest house in Penang which I found online. It is a restored colonial home and it really is well described as "lovely." I am sharing a bath but so far I have had it all to myself. I am looking at it as a huge private bath just down the hall.
Yesterday I spent the morning booking two flights on Air Asia. This is a budget airline based in Kuala Lumpur and the fares are too good not to fly. I booked from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on 2 April and from Singapore to Bangkok on April 8. I am not paying too much more than I would have to pay for a standby ticket. The only problem was I had the hardest time getting their website to cooperate.
I was frustrated by the time spent on the computer so I decided to go to the beach. It so happened that I boarded the bus when another westerner boarded and we started talking on the ride out to the beach. Well as the afternoon progressed we both felt as if we had known each other always. Just one of those lucky connections when two people just click. She is Dana from Poland, works 6 months a year for UNESCO on preserving world historic sites and knows all the countries in SE Asia and spends the other six months between Warsaw and her second home in Egypt. A beautiful lady in and out and we both felt that it would be a shame for our friendship to be a one day affair. She wants to come visit me in Valdosta and I am invited to Warsaw when she is there.
I went with a local to an outdoor restaurant last night where we ordered fried oysters (stir fried with veggies, not breaded) and noodles. We could not finish it! So my first full day here was exciting and just about perfect.
Today I decided to eat breakfast early and start sightseeing before the day got too hot. I needed an ATM first and after that I stopped into a lovely (there I go again) Buddhist shrine which looked like it was important and I thought was on the route I wanted to walk. On my way out I asked a Chinese man if he would point me toward my next stop and we began talking. Not long after that I was in his car with his wife and uncle and they took me on a ful day tour of Penang. They were very strong Buddhists so mostly what we did was go from temple to temple, Thai, Buirmese and Chinese. They had made some significant contributions to one of the temples and there I was able to meet the "chairman " of the temple. We had a long enlightening talk about Buddhism in which he stressed the presence of God within each person and that through meditation and study one moves toward becoming a Buddha. I wish I could remember all he said but I did get some literature to read. I invited my new friends to lunch and we went to a vegetarian self service buffet. The bill for 4 of us was under $6.
Well, time to shower and head out for the evening. I hope I continue on my lucky track here in Penang.
Pics:
1-The family who adopted me for a day of sightseeing in Penang. This was taken just before they dropped me off at my hotel and we are eating dessert which was sweet corn and rice soup. Added to my knowledge base now is that there is dessert besides ice cream. By the way will someone with a dictionary please let me know if I am spelling dessert right? I always get dessert and desert mixed up.
2-Fried oysters Malay style.
3-The open air market where my friend took me me to eat oysters.
4-Dana from Poland and Ed at the beach.
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