After our first week here on Penang we are finally into the R&R part of the trip.
For the first week we have been mostly looking at the malls and stocking up on necessities for our month’s stay. Needless to say that entails spending money and spending money is what we’ve done. It started in under 2 hours after we landed. Because we couldn’t get into our accommodation before 2:30pm we got the taxi from the airport to drop us at Queensbay Mall. That’s where the ‘trouble’ started. $2k later we came out with 2 new mobile phones. Top of the range Huawei dual sim, 128Gb smart phones that do everything. It even lets you make phone calls! True!
QBM is one of the best examples of the fact that not all muslim people are terrorists. It was here in Christmas 2016 that we saw the best Xmas (Christian) display we’ve ever seen and this time in the lead up to Chinese New Year they have built a wonderful Chinese village to celebrate the (Taoist/Buddist) event. Even in our old condo at Times Square there are red lanterns everywhere for the CNY. This is what we love about Penang. The locals here do not give a ‘rats’ about your religion, race or politics. They are all just so friendly.
Anyway, we arrived at our condo (unit for you Aussies) and just love it. It isn’t perfect but it’s cheaper than a hotel and much more flexible being a fully furnished 2 bedroom abode. The views over the Straits are wonderful and we’re nicely located between Gurney (the up-market touristy suburb) and Georgetown (the World Heritage listed Capital of Penang). Another of the fine traits of Penang is due to it’s WH listing the architecture here is fascinating, old world stuff. We just love walking the streets and getting lost. The pictures below are just some random pictures we took today around Little India and Chinatown. Speaking of the architecture you may notice that literally under our building is Hardwicke’s Restaurant. I say Under because if you have a close look you’ll see that to preserve an old visually stunning house the hotel/condo has been constructed over Hardwicke’s.
On another walk to Gurney we were strolling along the beachfront when I noticed something in the water. It turned out to be a huge lizard almost of crocodile proportions. It was well over a meter in length. The picture isn’t that great because it was a rushed shot through the mesh barrier stopping us from falling in the water. The other shots in this group of pictures are random shots of the beachfront where we often eat (Northem Beach Cafe), The Straits Marina and ‘The Shed – Aussie Pub’, various streetscapes (including 3 of the world famous street art instalments) and Masjid Kapitan Keling Mosque.
Enjoy these photos and keep an eye open for more as I post them. Thanks for reading my blog.
By the way – Doesn’t our $1000 phone take marvellous pictures?
Garry and Shane