Penang, Tuesday Dec 4

This was an extremely busy day....

Breakfast on the seaside was nice view-wise (ocean) and weather-wise (breeze), and the food was just OK. Around 9 we started walking, and returned 12 hours later - Edna has quite a few blisters and the last stretch she was wobbling.

We talked at length to many people. The main point will probably repeat itself below - the mixture of cultures and religions here is amazing, and nevertheless all people seem to tolerate and welcome all others. The government is Muslim, but there are plenty of Hindu, Buddhists, Christians,... who came here from India, Pakistan, China, Nepal,...Many women wear headscarfs, a few wear the full "eye slit" covers, while many are in western closes. No one seems to mind how others look, even in religious sites. Another striking feature is how orderly things are, especially traffic, which is strange mainly since many things remind one of India, where chaos controls the streets.

First place we hit was the supreme court. We went in and sat in a trial, on the invitation of some legal person. It was nothing interesting - some architectural issue, but it was strange how the languages flipped from English to Malay and back. We escaped after 15 min, to start our dazzling culture mix tour. We started in a church, where we talked to Christina, who seem to be their main administrator. As we are talking, 5 university students, all women in headscarves walked in, and got a full explanation from Christina. I started talking to them, found out they are law students, at Masters level. Understanding from the Muslim girl yesterday that I should not take their pictures, I didn't even ask, when they asked if they can take a picture with us. Jew and Muslim on the Christian Cross background was very symbolic.

Then we went to a beautiful Mosque, about 200 years old, when this religion invaded Malaysia. A student who is now on vacation volunteered to guide us (all free, and people here seem to be surprised when tipped). We talked for about 45 minutes about everything, but mainly how children experience school in this multicultural society. He is a Muslim Indian (3rd generation here). As a kid he went to a Chinese school, in which there were a few Muslims and Hindus. Most material is common, but religion classes each one gets separately in the same school. Food was Chinese, but Halal, catering to the others. We talked about local politics as well, but I'll skip it. School kids were sitting around the studying the Koran - extracurricular for Muslims.

Next we went into a Buddhist temple. In contrast to the serenity of the other two, here as usual was hustle and bustle, lots of coming and going with incense and gifts like fruit to gods. We continued to a dozen more Chinese and and indian temples of various sorts, which are scattered in the very distinct but also close sections of "Little India" and Chinatown, and various shopping streets with various merchandise in which we didn't find many shoppers but everyone seemed relaxed.

 We talked to a joss-stick maker (that's the incense they burn in the buddhist temple) and bought a bunch so we could take his photo - he was quite adorable.

The day was extremely hot, and just at the peak when we most needed it (and after starting to believe that the many places called "cafe" have nothing but soft drinks, we found a really nice cafe with good espresso and also had a nice salad. It was called The Edelweiss and the waiter was Nepali.

(Change in scribes here...)


I had heard good things about Penang Hill and the funicular which goes up it so we walked in the direction I misunderstood from the map. Luckily we stopped in a traditional Chinese pharmacy and the charming young man at the counter explained we have to take a bus to the hill which is about 20KM out of George Town. He gave us directions but was so horrified to hear how far we had already walked that he asked us to wait a minute, disappeared in the back room and came back with an umbrella to protect us both from the sun and possible rain! We asked if we could pay but he said that is a promotional umbrella he got from one of  his distributors and he insists on giving it to us! So sweet and typical of the Malai friendliness!

The bus stop was very organized and the 204 came 2 minutes after we arrived there - exactly on time! Definitely not like India! Lots of temples and markets on the way and then we arrived at the funicular station. It's quite a steep hill with a 700 meter ascent, and definitely worth the ride. Beautiful views (and not too overcast) and the hill itself is covered with lush vegetation, birds and monkeys.

When we came back down the 204 was already waiting for us and we got back to the central bus station from where we started walking back to the hotel (well - Avi walked and I limped). On the way we found another of those food court places and ate more hawkers food which was mostly nice. And as we had bought some pickled mango on the way there we could eat that to get rid of the not so nice fish taste...

And at the end we had a miracle - we were not sure exactly which road to take at a fork (we thought we were still 10 minutes away from the hotel), so we picked the left one and 100m later we saw the hotel's familiar facade! It was very nice to take a shower and collapse!

Today's Photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/115788154995936631095/albums/5818344217277896673?authkey=COfCv4jenZ_yUA