We’ve spent a glorious laid back week here in Pulau Pinang. That is Pinang Island for non-Malay speakers, also a state in Malaysia, which is not as you may have thought the home of Penang curry. We haven’t yet figured out where that type of curry is from, but right now I suspect it’s an invention of Western Thai restaurants to soothe the North American penchant for peanut flavoured foods. The peanut dipping sauce that comes with satay here in Malaysia, done particularly well on the isle we’ve explored, bears some taste semblance to the curry but that’s as close as we’ve come.
The heat and humidity have been particularly intense here in Pinang, however we’ve learned quickly to take it easy and become as laid back as the locals. Our appetites seem to have adjusted accordingly, being quelled by the heat during the day and picking up night when it is cool and food hawkers populate every avenue and alley, with cooks perhaps more talented than those we witnessed in Taipei’s night markets. Malaysia has grown on us and we are glad we decided to spend more time here than we had originally planned.
Today we head out from the Stardust Guesthouse on Lebuh Chulia (Chulia Street) in George Town, the capital, to catch a train on the mainland in Butterworth, heading north to Thailand, known often as the land of smiles. More detailed anecdotes and reminsces of our time in Malaysia will hopefully make their appearance sometime in the next couple of weeks. For now, please do check out our Taiwan and Malaysia photo sets, as Joshua has included detailed notes on many of the photos, and often they show you much more than we can manage to tell you about what we have seen and experienced.
Now we look to lovely beaches and tepid sea waters where Joshua will learn to dive and I will refresh my divemaster skills and explore what Thailand has to offer below the surface. We will be stationed for about a week on Ko Tao (Turtle Island) in the Gulf of Thailand, on east coast of southern Thailand (for those following along on a map), followed perhaps by some island hopping on the parcels of land due south of us (Ko Phangan, Ko Samui) and a trip to Phuket in the Adaman Sea, on southern Thailand’s western coast. Then we head to Bangkok to catch a train to Thailand’s eastern area, bordering with Cambodia, to start our first volunteer project on an organic farm.
We will be thinking of everyone gripped by winter’s cold and snow as we stroll on our island beach in Thailand…
