Southeast Asia Part IV: Penang

From Kuala Lumpur we flew about 40 minutes Northwest to the island state of Penang.  When we landed in Penang, Clark and Ivan were like: so...what is there to do here?  I didn't have a really good answer because I didn't do thorough research like I should have.  But I think Joanne and I were like: there are temples, and shopping and beaches...

Not having a plan wasn't an issue. We found plenty to do in Penang.  And lucky for us, the Thaipusam festival was occurring there as well!

Would you believe it? The weather in Penang was dreadfully hot and humid, too! Thank goodness we finally hit a beach during this part of the trip. The water wasn't very clear, but at least it was warm!

Trishaws were everywhere, some decorated nicely and some...not so nice. We didn't take a ride on one.  Why would we? Taxis are cheap and they have A/C!

Indian food for lunch.  I came to the conclusion on our trip that Indian food tears my stomach up. Probably because I've never eaten so much of it in my life.  Malaysian food isn't full of fiber (mainly meat and rice), so if I had any constipation troubles (which I did on several occasions) all I had to do was eat some Indian food and chase it down with some prunes.  Yes, I had prunes stashed away in my bag because I tend to get constipated when I travel.  That might be too much personal information, but if you know me, you know I'm very open to talking about anything GI related.

One very popular shake stand.

Love Lane, our accommodation is just up on the right.

We stayed at the Old Penang Guesthouse, which was simple, clean and quiet. Also, it was at this hostel that I really learned to love bidets. Because of the Indian food. Enough said.

A street from the posterior view of the hostel.

Clark and Ivan inspecting a fire hydrant.

Joanne asked us to do "something funny." In my mind, pretending to throw up is funny.

A link because I don't really have the patience to explain the existence of Fort Cornwallis.

Since food and drinks are so cheap in Malaysia/Thailand, we always got special, fruity, pretty drinks with our meals. The purple drink is dragon fruit.

Clark's meal. Note the minimal fiber. Also, don't let green chilis fool you into thinking they are green beans. That happened to me. It was the most excruciating 10 minutes of my life. It didn't happen at this dinner. It happened a day later, when I was desperate to eat any and all fiber I could get my hands on.

Taking a little stroll through Little India.

The next day we decided to take a bus to the Northwestern part of the island to enjoy some sunshine and beach time.  However, it took FOREVER to get through town on the overly crowded bus because of the Thaipusam festival that had begun.  Traffic blockades caused detours and delays, but luckily I didn't get too irritated because I had started chatting it up with an English couple on the bus who had just started their 6 month backpacking journey. Oh, how I'd love to have the money and time to do that!
We finally arrived at Teluk Bahang where we purchased a rose syrup drink, bought some hats, and waited for a boat to take us to Monkey beach, which is located along the Penang National Park. Clark didn't allow me to bring the DSLR along.  At least I had my phone!

Love the hat, Jo! We bought the same hats, hers in pink, mine in blue.

Ahhh, such warm albeit dirty water! You would not have believed how many women we saw completely covered up splashing around and swimming in the water.  Other cultures are just so interesting. We saw so many couples where the man was casually dressed in western clothes and the woman was dressed in the traditional Malaysian bagu kurung and head scarf.

Back at Teluk Bahang I noticed the warning signs for all customers travelling to the beaches. Unfortunately, I don't think our bathing suits were completely appropriate. Whoopsie.   But Joanne and I weren't the only ones in two piece bathing suits. This suggestion isn't well enforced, me thinks.

On our way back to Georgetown, we stopped at a Tropical Spice Garden.

Right across the street from the tropical spice garden were some outdoor food stalls.  This is where we had a mid-afternoon snack and I confused a green chili with a green bean and lit my mouth on fire. Just before I popped it into my mouth, I noticed Joanne eyeing me quizzically, and immediately after I bit into the chili she exclaimed: Rachel, that's a green chili!   I spit it out but the unrelenting burn crept in and BAM! My eyes teared up, my nose started to run, and I almost couldn't swallow.   I didn't have to explain anything to Clark; he obviously knows me better than I know myself. Clark was like: Rachel probably thought the chili was a green bean, and she's trying to eat as much fiber as she can. He doesn't have much sympathy for me anymore when I do stupid things.  Joanne obviously saw that I was in pain and got some rice for me to eat. Apparently rice helps with chili pepper burn...

That was it for me that day. My stomach was so upset by the time we got back to the hostel, I just went straight to bed. Clark, Ivan and Joanne went out for more Indian food. 

The next day was a Sunday, the main day of the Thaipusam festival, and also the day Clark and I decided we'd go to church.  We caught a taxi to the branch building and experienced a Malaysian Sacrament Meeting, which was in English.  It was so philly-esque. Are you moving in or are you just visiting? Just visiting. Oh, that's too bad, we were going to give you callings!  They were probably wanting to sign us up to clean the building that week, too.

When we left church we realized that it was going to be tough trying to catch a taxi back to the hostel since the taxi would have to drive right into and through the Thaipusam procession. The traffic headed in that direction was barely moving along.  So we walked along the route of the procession for a while, and saw more incredible sights than we had seen a couple days before at the Batu Caves.  So many more Hindus were carrying Kavadis and had hooks/piercings on their bodies.  We saw many people with spears through their cheeks and tongues.  At one point, we saw two men whose Kavadis has gotten entangled.  All these men were walking barefoot, and I can only imagine how treacherous that asphalt must have felt on their bare feet. I didn't have my DSLR. I didn't have my phone.  There were so many photo ops that I couldn't capture.  Luckily, Ivan and Joanne had seen similar sights and let us steal their photos:

Different sizes of hooks. In spite of the antibacterial powder that is put on the skin over sites of insertion, I'm sure many of these guys end up with infections.

We finally hailed a taxi, but he ended up driving right through the procession anyway. Any and all efforts to avoid the procession in a vehicle were obviously futile.  At one point There were young men pulling chariots with hooks coming right down the road toward us.  We were in their way, but there was nowhere to pull off to the side.  So the entourage of the young men stopped traffic so they could pull the chariots through to the right side of the taxi. It was wild.

Finally, we arrived back at the hostel, quickly changed, and set out again for the Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple.  We had already coordinated with Ivan and Joanne to meet there. It was decided that we wouldn't go to the Waterfall Hindu temple to see the Thaipusam procession because it would be way too crowded. We caught yet another taxi, and the driver quoted us a price that he ultimately changed during our drive due to the delayed traffic.  

The Kek Lok Si Temple in the distance. This is the largest Buddist Temple in SE Asia.

We ascended up steps to the Temple, where covered souvenir shops lined the path.

Turtle pond where people bought green leafs to feed the turtles.

Continuing our walk to the Temple.

Lanterns, lanterns, everywhere.

The Pagoda of a Million Buddas (building with the gold top).  One million buddas, including tiles on the walls and statues. Very impressive.

At the top of the Pagoda, feeling very faint.  I was in dire need of a 100 Plus (the unofficial electrolyte soda in SE Asia).

A statue of Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy.

To get to the Kuan Yin statue, we had to take a lift up as seen in the bottom of this photo.

I'm not going to lie. That Temple was impressive.  I could have stayed there all day taking pictures.  

Later that evening we went out for some fresh bagged pineapple juice. Hawker stalls were happening! 

I think we all had a fabulous time in Penang, even though none of us knew exactly what there was to do beforehand. I'm glad we were able to experience three different areas of Malaysia with Joanne and Ivan. Of course I'm happy we got to experience Thailand and Singapore together, too!