You must exercise extreme patience when traveling by bus in Southeast Asia. Often, the bus will break down and you will need to change buses or the bus will be perfectly fine and, for no apparent reason, you will still need to change buses. The bus ride from Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands to Georgetown was supposed to be a six hour express trip. For the first two hours, we were on a comfortable clean bus and then we were unexpectedly transferred to the filthiest bus in all of Malaysia to complete our journey. Eight hours later, we reached our destination of Georgetown, located on the island of Penang, approximately the size of Singapore. Penang is the oldest British settlement in Malaysia, predating both Singapore and Melaka. Georgetown is larger than Melaka and sees many more tourists yet it still retains much of its old world charm. For example, Georgetown's Chinatown is one of the most authentic Chinatown's we have visited. As in all of the historic towns that we have visited in Malaysia, we explored Georgetown's colonial district, Chinatown and Little India. Further outside of Georgetown's city center lies Wat Chaymangkalaram, a Thai Buddhist Temple containing one of the largest reclining Buddha statues in the world at 32 meters in length. Directly cross the street is the equally impressive Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple, the oldest Buddhist Temple in Penang. To finish up our time in Penang, we also visited the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, Kek Lok Si Temple. Located at the base of Penang Hill, this sprawling temple complex contains several large prayer halls with exquisite stone and tile work, a 30 meter high pagoda tower and large Thai Buddha image donated by King Bhumibol of Thailand. Towering over this immense structure is a statue of Kuan Yin, The Goddess of Mercy, easily seen throughout the city.
For lunch and dinner, we have a limitless choice of foods to choose from. Here are a few of our favorites:
A vegetarian set meal at a South Indian restaurant served on a banana leaf (daun pisang) - This meal consists of a large amount of rice and a variety of vegetables and curries which is eaten using your right hand (the left hand is used for other hygenic purposes). South Indian food is never eaten with utensils, although exceptions are made for foreigners. After the meal (it is all you can eat), you fold the banana leaf in half towards you to indicate that you have had enough and that the meal was satisfactory or fold the banana leaf away from you if the meal was not satisfactory.
Laksa - A spicy coconut based noodle soup. It is a classic Baba-Nyonya dish which combines Chinese ingredients with Malay spices.
Steamboat - The Chinese equivalent of Swiss fondue. You get plates of meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables and noodles and cook them yourself in a boiling stockpot over a burner on your table. This dish requires at least two very hungry people to finish the meal and two other people to carry you home.
Nasi Goreng (Malay fried rice) - This meal is the staple of any traveler's diet in Southeast Asia.
There are a wonderful variety of exotic fruits in Malaysia:
Durian - One of the most exotic friuts in the world and the one that most travelers avoid due to its nasty reputation. We have encountered the strong stench of durians throughout our travels in Southeast Asia, but it was not until recently that we worked up the courage to taste one. We were in a restaurant in Georgetown the other day when a generous customer offered us a piece of durian. It was not as bad as the smell would indicate and, in fact, Brian liked it very much.
