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Georgetown and the mainland as seen from Penang hill

A motorway service station

I got an early bus to Penang. This must be a preferred method of travel for better off Malays, as the journey was punctuated by the shrill of mobile phones.

We stopped for lunch at the motorway services (left), which as well as these fruit stalls consisted of a few family run (I guess) food stalls. Much better than Little Chef.

A mosque in Penang

Interesting street decorations

I was determined to make it to the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha-Ngan, so as soon as I'd checked into a guest house in the capital, Georgetown, I went to the ferry terminal to book my train ticket to Surat Thani. This turned out to be a smart move as there was a three day wait for sleepers on the train. As I was leaving a woman came in, asked something of the person behind the counter and shouted "I've got to get out of here". I asked her was it really that bad, but no, she'd just been there too long.

I don't really know why I like Georgetown. It's a rat infested shithole. But it has something about it too. It's dirty, noisy and doesn't have much to look at. But I still had a good time there.

Georgetown at dusk

I had a quick walk around the town centre, found a couple of mosques, and more importantly a shop which sold excellent coffee. And then I noticed these weird street decorations (right). I have no idea what they are for.

The guest house had a roof garden, which I made good use of to see the sunset. It also gave me an opportunity to sample the wailing from the nearby Mosque. Fortunately this wasn't audible from my room the next morning.

The next day was a beach day. What a waste of time. The main beach is lined with luxury hotels, with rows of sun-beds, swimming pools, bars and so on. I guess if you stay at one of these then Batu Ferringhi would be just fine. But for the plebs who just want to lie on the beach it's not so good. And it's not that nice a beach anyway.

A Hindu temple at Ayer Itam

Complete with turtles

For my final day I decided to go up Penang Hill. This is a bus ride from Georgetown, and is ascended by means of a funicular railway. Near the base of the railway in Ayer Itam, is a Hindu temple (left) which for some reason has a pool with turtles in it (right).

It is a pleasant ride up the railway, particularly if you're in a position where you can see the view unfold below. There's not much at the top of the hill, just a few pleasant gardens, but it's the view down to Georgetown and the mainland which is the main attraction.

Links to other Malaysia pages  Kuala Lumpa

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Last modified on 22nd December 2007 3:31 PM EST

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