Weds 10th February, Georgetown/Penang

Coming down the hill was a tough ol' walk, 10+km of steep steep roads (same steep as coming up, surprisingly enough) and the heat rising as we descended. The night hadn't been as cool as I expected, although it was okay to sleep in, and it hadn't been exactly 'peaceful' with all those forest-noisy creatures orchestrating their symphony throughout. But it was quite special to be up there, all alone. I wonder if it will catch on as tourist accommodation. We met only one couple, Germans, traipsing up the hill and clearly intending to go there and back all the way, 6-8 hours depending I guess on what level they were going to decide to turn around.
Coronation Pool, Malaysia's first municipal swimming pool, is right at the bottom of the hill outside the gates to the Bukit Larut/ Maxwell Hill estate, so we jumped in for a cool-off before taking our taxi for the next bit of travel. Public transport in Malaysia is said to be okay for simple journeys, but if you are wanting a particular destination at a particular time, and have heavy cases (we only carried rucsacs up and down the hill!), the e-hail system is comfortable and quick, and cheap, in UK terms (and supports the local economy!). It's really nice for us, old and creaky as we are, to not have to be sweltering for hours waiting for trains and busses, or sitting in trains or busses, you know.
Georgetown/ Penang really is a special city. The old town here at the north-eastern point is still lined up and down many many streets with colonial terraces of buildings, really charming. And this despite or perhaps in a foreign sort of way because so much is scrappy and dilapidated, space maximised for businesses and homes together, improved and unimproved, cultures mixing with cultures, religions with religions, smells and sounds like currents in the sea. Or is that currants? Oh, we had such a delicious naan with a sit down indian meal full of dried fruits. Including currants. A Kashmiri Naan, I think it was called. Some of the town is designated UNESCO heritage site.

See pics: We stayed in a mega-apartment block with infinity pool. Naaaaice. The graffiti is fab, and has apparently become a 'thing', since a particular work was commissioned in the town; people get so creative and quirky! And the contrast of that with the mass-production cutsie kitsch-vending machines. There is a shop where you can dress up and enter room 'sets', like on children's tv, in my eye, like a laundrette, or a tv room, or a kitchen. You get to pay real money to get a photo taken of you making sweet or silly or any sort of faces in each place. But why???? The jewellers' quarter is lined with shops full of Dubai gold (real gold?), with salespeople sitting behind glass awaiting custom with oh such patience. What a sight.
Lot of 'what a sight's going on in Georgetown. Yet 2 days was enough.

Mum and her brother John were both born in Butterworth/ Penang. In the hospital there perhaps?Read more