Penang

Dear All,

Sitting proudly at the bottom of the attractiveness scale sits the ginger male. However, there are a few things in this world that do indeed love the ginger male.

Firstly there are Grannies who look upon a ginger bonnet and proclaim “Ooo, I wish I had hair like yours” and “What a lovely hair colour”. The main reason for this love of ginger hair can probably be assigned to cataracts which are well known to distort the colours we see. Thus ginger becomes the ultimate blue rinse!

Secondly we have mosquitoes. Which on our travels have regularly feasted on the fair skinned vessel of the ginger male.

Finally, and most importantly we come to the bed bug… During a cold and dark night in Penang lay two medical students trying to sleep despite the all night rave going on next door. Whilst beneath the sheets secreted snugly in an ageing mattress (unbeknown to said medical students who were very pleased with their traditional Malaysian styled room) lay a battalion of bed bugs! The sentry spotted him first. Word travelled fast from private up to commander, teeth were sharpened and horns were blown as the cry went out from the massed throng; “We got ourselves a ginger.” They had read of such mythical creatures, some had even seen pictures on the internet, many had dreamed and some had prayed for the coming of a ginger banquet. Whilst the students slept the bed bugs launched their night attack and feasted greedily to the nightclub beat of Malaysian Techno.

Casualties of war: Simon bed bug bites = 200
Emma bed bug bites = A big fat 0!!!

Same bed, same length of time in said bed, same sheets, same mattress on the same night – is there any justice in this world for the ginger male???

The next morning a very itchy and angry Simon demanded free accommodation at said Malaysian hotel which was granted by the very apologetic Chinese owner not wanting to lose his glowing write-up in the Lonely Planet. Financial times were hard with Simon only charging 5p per bed bug bite, the things students do to save 10 pounds.

And now onto Penang itself…

World Music Festival: One of the main reasons for leaving the island paradise of the Perhentian islands was the prospect of an evening of world music. Thus we dressed in our best/cleanest clothes and having learned our lightening lesson from Tamen Negara packed our umbrellas, having seen a few streaks of lightening on the horizon, and headed with much enthusiasm to the botanical gardens on the outskirts of Georgetown (the capital of Penang). We boarded the free bus to the festival at which point it started to rain. “We have our brollies, clever us, we’ll be fine”. However, we were proven to be wrong and regretted not packing our emergency ponchies as the rain started to get heavier and heavier. After 5 minutes of standing outside the festival gates we were soaked to the skin as the rain bounced off the floor with such force that it soaked us from the feet upwards. Luckily we hadn’t bought our tickets and so we were able to flee from the washed out scene. Unfortunately the free buses were only one way and so despite our pleas of “we’ve come to the world music festival by mistake” we had to get an expensive taxi back to bed bug central. After a quick dry we headed for some nice food and a great cup of coffee which warmed away some of our disappointment.

Apart from our world music festival disappointment and the constant itchy reminder of bed bugs we did enjoy our time in Georgetown. It had a very colonial feel to it and was a good place to mooch around. The Eastern oriental hotel, built by the same brothers who built Raffles in Singapore, was a beautiful air conditioned haven which made us want for large pay checks to fund bed bug free luxury travel. The Penang museum was also excellent, with some great exhibits showing traditional Penang life – no bed bug exhibits though - and for anyone visiting we would highly recommend it. On a culinary note having had our best Thai meal in India we now had our best Indian meal in Malaysia at a lovely restaurant called Rice and Spice. On an historical note Emma’s granddad had once lived in Penang, very near to our hostel, and worked in the local hospital. We liken his time to something similar to the last King of Scotland although we are fairly sure that he wasn’t working for any dictators nor was he involved in any bloody coups.

Eastern and Oriental Hotel:

Trishaws in Penang:


We left Penang on the highspeed ferry to Langkawi with hopes of good beaches, great weather and a chance to try out our newly aquired snorkel gear. One final cultural note: whilst on the ferry to Langkawi Emma had the window seat whilst Simon sat next to her in the second of 4 seats. After much dithering of two Islamic ladies, dressed in full traditional black clothing, the husband asked if Emma and I could swap seats so that they wouldn’t have to sit next to Simon. Was the lady unable to sit next to a man due to her cultural/religious beliefs or should she be added as number 4 to things who love ginger males? She may have found being too close to be too much.

Missing you all,

Em and Si xxx