Where the heck are we now?: Georgetown, Penang...our last stop in Malaysia.

After a wonderful few days in the Cameron Highlands we took a mini bus to Georgetown which is another UNESCO Heritage city. We were picked up in the rain at 7am and four hours later we were dropped off to our guest house. The drive was rough because our driver was a maniac! He drove on the wrong side of the road, passed on the wrong side and was always leaning on the horn...but we made it!

Along the way we saw a lot of huge reddish colour hills which were being blasted in quarries...

We stayed in a lovely guest house that was about a km walk from the Center of town which meant we walked a lot, my FitBit told me we were walking about 10km a day. The guest house was a former shophouse on a very quiet street...

Unfortunately the days we were there was the beginning of Chinese New Year so we saw lots of these signs...

This meant that most of the city was closed down, all the businesses owned by Chinese as well as a public buildings so we don't get to see any museums and missed out on all the good food that Georgetown is known for. One day we even ate Subway which was similar in taste to what we would get at home.

Penang is one of the states in Malaysia and Georgetown is the capital city wth about 500,000 people living there. It is located on an island so there are two bridges and a ferry connecting it to the mainland.

This bridge is 24 km long...

We decided to take the ferry across for the experience and the view, it was free one way and around 25 cents each on the way back. There were hundreds of people lining up and it was very busy that day being a holiday...

It was so busy on the way back they put us on the car ferry so no seats just standing up by the cars!

The beach by the ferry terminal...

This area is also a very busy port located on the Starits of Mallaca...

And a cruise ship terminal as well...

Also near the ferry terminal are a number of historic Clan jetties which are walkways over the water with small houses and shops where people live and work. They are home to Chinese clans so each jetty is named after a different clan who were among the earlier settlers to this area. Interesting enough because they live on the water and not land they do not pay taxes!

This boat was tied to one of the houses and you can see another jetty in the distance...

This area of Malaysia has a large population of Chinese, Indian and Malay people, but it was established by an Englishman, Sir Francis Light, in 1786. He named it after the Britsh King, George 111. So as we walked around the city there was lots of evidence of Chinese, English and Indian influences....

Decaying Chinese shophouses...

English style buildings...

The colours of little India...

Since it was Chinese New Year we heard the fire works start on the day before at midnight and then continue on in the daytime. There would be pick up trucks riding around with flags and a group of musicians and dancers that would stop at random places. They would set off firecrackers, then start the music and dancing and then get back in their truck off to the next stop. They were loud but colorful...

They were stopped at a hair salon down the street from where we were staying so I had to go find out what was happening.

Here they are loading up the truck...

It is also a time for praying so we saw lots of activity around the temples. Outside most of them were large sticks of intense burning and the people would light theirs and pray to them...

When I entered another temple there was a group of young people burning papers so I asked what they were doing and a young man told me they were burning money so that their dead family members would have some help in the afterlife.

And of course there are always gifts of food on the altar...

We also decided to try the hop on hop off bus for a day and hoped it would be better than our experience in KL and the day started off well, but as it progressed the traffic made it almost impossible to move around the city. Since it is Chinese New Year, many people have two weeks holidays so they travel and a lot of them end up in Georgetown! Given there wasn't a lot open we think they must have been just driving around and causing gridlock all over the city!

This is not a parking lot, but the boulevard that runs along the sea shore, bumper to bumper!

We did manage to see a a lot of the city and the outlying areas as we drove through fancy and not so fancy neighbourhoods...

Just outside the city there is Penang Hill which is now a tourist attraction with a cable car going to the top. We thought we might go up for the view but after seeing the crowds decided against it...

Penang Hill was established as a retreat for the British as they tried to get away from the heat of the city as it was considerably cooler on the hill. They also established botanical gardens and strawberry farms there.

We also saw lots of beautiful temples and mosques...

Georgetown is also known for its great street art...

This mural was huge!

And you never know who you are going to meet on your travels...

"Two children on a bike" is one of the most famous murals and people line up to get their picture taken alongside it...

We also took the bus outside the city to the beach area with locals enjoying the day off...

This area is home to a lot of big hotels and lots of tourists so our drive back to the city was slow but the night air was warm and the lights were bright...

As we walked everyday we always found our way back to this little cafe that fulfilled my wish for a large glass of ice to water down my beer with an "uncle" who would go find me ice if he didn't have any! On our first day here we also met a man who grew up on Pine Ave. which is the same street we lived on for 8 years, small world!