Penang Malaysia

15.2.16
Today we decided to get away from hours and hours on buses and take the ferry over to Butterworth.
Although Penang is smaller than the Isle of Wight the traffic is mad and each bus journey is always at least an hour.
The ferry terminal is close by and frequent.
We enjoyed the scenery and seeing our jetties from the sea.

We had planned to go to the Bird Gardens, found the right bus and according to the internet its a 7 mile journey.
Luckily John put Google maps on which shows the route for walking, cars and the bus.
Car 15 minutes. Bus 1 hour 40 minutes…..
John worked out that if we got off at a certain point and walked, the walk would be 9 minutes, so after 10 minutes on the bus we got off and he was correct.
The Bird Park looked a bit dead, no one around and 38 RM each to go in.
We asked for more info, read the uninspiring leaflet and they said it takes 45 minutes to go round, so we decided to give it a miss.

Next door was a Hindu Temple, decided to have a look just as they closed the gate.
Next door to that was another temple, Chinese, then another Hindu and next to that a beautiful building which was Hare Chrisna.

A man in a white robe invited us to wash our feet and look around the Hare Chrisna Temple

We made a donation and were given a book about questions and answers and left during prayers.
It was lovely though to see behind the huge curtain to see the alter and watch people with their incense and offerings.

We went across the road and saw people queuing in a very popular Indian buffet restaurant. John was soon happily tucking into a biriani.

His app showed Tesco 17 minutes walk away, so we had to do it! We followed the map which took us through a large housing estate where we got very strange looks.
It was a Tesco within a huge area which included a Sports Direct, John got shorts and I got a pair of bright pink pumps.
Tesco was massive, it was fascinating looking at all the unusual items with Tesco branding, and we drooled over some long lost items.

We were very restrained, bought curry pastes and dried coconut milk and cream sachets and of course some Cadburys chocolate.

When we came out it was spitting with rain and we couldn’t find a bus stop, we asked and ended up in a car park so when we finally spotted a bus I did my best pleading ‘we’re lost’ wave and thankfully he let us on.

There were signs everywhere no eating on the bus, but we managed to sneakily eat our Cadbury’s before it melted completely.
The bus did the hugest set of loops, we’re sure we passed everywhere 3 tines and took an hour and a half.
We were frozen from the air con but at least we were dry.
Got onto a ferry quite quickly and were glad the bus took so long or we would have missed the sunset. It was very beautiful.

Back to our jetty, quick shower and change and out for the Hong Kien Chinese people’s New Years celebrations.
It was a total health and safety nightmare!! Think I spent too many years doing risk assessments and found it hard to totally relax with fire crackers, fireworks, motor bikes and wooden jetties in one small area!
But it was brilliant, with the acrobats, singers, colours, the smells, tables full of offerings that people have brought ( apparently they take them home again afterwards)  and people enjoying themselves.

There was so much choice of street food stalls.
We opted for whole fried squid, it was in breadcrumbs with a lovely seasoning and cooked to perfection and served in a large paper bag.
Iced drinks afterwards, slightly odd…chose cappacino and then had to choose a topping, not being a fan of red beans or glass jelly I opted for the crème caramel. it didn’t really work but was an experience. Johns crème caramel and passion fruit was an interesting combo too.

Shortly before midnight we walked along to the left of where we’ve been staying as hadn’t been that way.
There were another couple of small jetties with people who had put offering tables and huge incense sticks outside their homes, small children were playing with sparklers and lighting fireworks in the street.

A man appeared and asked John to go to his party, which was on a nearby wooden platform. he offered him whisky or beer free and I felt something was a but dodgy.
As nice as the people are business is their top priority, nothing’s given away.
He asked what I would like and I declined, just wanted to leave.
So he handed me a carton of chrysanthemum juice ( not recommended! ) and proceeded to introduce us to a group of his friends – a couple of young lads and a few young women.

Still felt dodgy so I told John I was leaving, he says I overreacted and there was kids there too.
Maybe so, but I didn’t want to stay and  find out.

From our accommodation we could see a very brightly lit Chinese building which we had contemplated having a meal at.
Luckily we hadn’t set our hearts on it as it turned out to be a very highly decorated Temple.
Very impressive if not a bit gaudy.

We headed back towards home and at midnight even more fireworks went off, literally 360 degrees around us. The colours and noise eased off after about 30 minutes.

It was incredible! So loud!
When we got back to our jetty, usually the quietest as its just residential homes, it was buzzing!
Small children were lighting massive fire crackers that were suspended at the end of the jetty.

Most of our neighbours were outside lighting incense and most had colourful tables.

We went to bed knowing sleep was unlikely but feeling so lucky to have witnessed the amazing celebrations.