penang

The kids discovered the safest place on the island was in the water. Many beaches in Penang can’t be used for swimming – too many jellyfish. At this place, you could swim because it was in a bay and jellyfish don’t wander in there.

We walked down this old pier after a boat ride. You had to be very careful where you walked because there were holes everywhere. I just loved it. A motorcycle came down it soon after we got off. He must have known where all the holes were located! We also saw lots of roosters, chickens and chicks playing in garbage. They certainly don’t go hungry here.

We took a boat over to Monkey Island where there were monkeys everywhere. They came out to greet the boats upon arrival and looked so cute, but quickly turned very aggressive. I put the kids flip flops on the sand and this monkey turned around and looked at the flip flops, then looked at me like “I want those.” I quick put them in a little grocery bag thing that they must associate with food. She got on her hind legs and started running toward me! Then she went and got some friends involved. No fair! I escaped unharmed and headed to the shore. Jesse was staring down a monkey. The little alpha monkey wasn’t backing down. He kept raising his eyebrows up and down real fast. If he was trying to be tough, it wasn’t working.

This is the apartment we stayed in while in Penang. They had guards at the entrance and our security system consisted of a big ol’ padlock.
Hey Randy! What do you think of the kitchen?! 🙂 I only saw a couple cockroaches in there and, to be fair, they were pretty small ones. We saw some cockroaches in the city, that were about as big as hummingbirds!
One of the guards and I started talking (I think he wanted to practice his English.) He talked lots about punk music. I knew so much of what he was talking about (Sid Vicious and Nancy, Jonny Rotten, etc.) My brother, Jeff, liked punk music when we were in high school so I knew the songs he started singing. I don’t think he really knew what he was saying, though. He was saying the music was very good and happy. I said I thought the music was a bit more scary and offensive. Hmmmm….. Whatever floats your boat!

These photos were taken in Penang. There are many different parts to the city. You have the beach, remnants of colonization (Fort Cornwallis), lots of buses rolling by but never the 101 when you need it, and beautiful views of the jungle. It stormed one afternoon when we were there and it was like the sky opened up. Steam lifted up through the trees and looked surreal. The photo of jesse and the kids was taken while waiting for the 101. That was a doozy of an hour. It was hot and muggy. Everyone was tired. We finally hopped on a free transit bus that got us to a terminal. The bus was so packed, you felt as if you were part of a human sandwich. A hot, stinky one. Whew!

I have been told that I talk incessantly, but it looks like other people must talk a lot, too, because there are friends being made left and right on our journey. We’ve met new people from Hong Kong, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Kuala Lumpur, British Columbia, Chang Mai, Nova Scotia, Halifax, the Netherlands and Singapore.
Lennon met a boy named Rudy (pictured) from Scotland and Jesse was talking to a super nice guy from Saudi Arabia.