Adventures in Georgetown, Penang Malaysia

Malaysia was honestly not even on my travel radar until we went to the travel expo earlier this year. The little bit of research I had time for revealed it to be a hodgepodge of cultures. There is a true multi-spiritual harmony, at least in Penang where we were, where Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian communities all work alongside one another,(which can be viewed in Georgetown on Harmony Street of all places) with seemingly utmost respect for one another.

For our time in Penang we opted to rent a car for the time we were here. Adventures in Asian driving were about to commence. So right if way means nothing, crosswalks - what’s that? Lane paint is I think only meant as a guide to show you that you are in fact on a road, and the general direction it may happen to be curving.

So out of the airport we discovered that Georgetown where we were to be spending the bulk of our time, was only 18km away. Sweet I thought, we’ll be there in half an hour. Two hours later, we finally made it to our dodge hotel, located in the heart of downtown Georgetown. We then set out to explore. On this first day we made it to Cheong Fat Tze mansion, which was an example of the wealth of the Hakka people who migrated to Malaysia from China. There happened to be a chocolate museum just down the road which introduced us to the the amazing chocolate and coffee culture of Malaysia, which this ignorant westerner did not know existed.

The mansion was nice, and the museum, but half the adventure was navigating the various ups and downs of Georgetown’s streets. Sidewalks are interesting. If they exist at all, they will appear and disappear at random, and are more often completely congested with parked scooters and motorbikes forcing you to walk in the narrow streets with traffic whizzing in all directions. Fine for a single adult traveller, but when you have three small children in tow this becomes a bit of an adventure. The cars don’t seem to mind though, they are apparently used to this sort of thing. They kind of slow down as passing, and I try and maintain confidence that as long as I keep a steady pace and trajectory, my little ducklings following behind and in front of me will be safe. For the duration this remained true until the second to last day when we miscommunicated who was watching Clara, and she was nearly taken out by a car crossing the road near Armenian street only to be hauled out of the street just in time by a passing Chinese tourist! Later on this same day, Steph and the girls were nearly taken out by a motor bike while crossing back to our hotel. The final close call was more of a direct hit, and nothing to do with traffic. While visiting the 3D art museum Clara, or as she is sometimes known -Miss Grabby Hands, got a little too close to a decorative string of lights by the front desk, and was briefly electrocuted. She had a bit of a black mark, but luckily Steph was nearby and so the actual electrocuting did not last long poor girl!

Aside from treachery on the road (which now having been to Ho Chi Minh, Georgetown is quite pedestrian) Georgetown was nice. It is too bad the Malay Government of twenty thirty years ago gutted many of the old historic building before UNESCO prevented any further damage, there is still plenty to see. In particular the views from Kek Lok Si Temple (which was unfortunately partially closed off due to massive renos. The food was great, and the people super friendly. I must confess though the heat was a bit much, but this may be because our air-conditioned room, was more of an “aired” room. Nothing conditioned about it. It also may be because I was so excited to be going to Vietnam and Cambodia! That’s next time!

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