Penang, Day One: Checking in

This is day one of Arie's trip to Penang.

Friday, January 5th. We decided to spend three days in Penang (the, ahem, "pearl of the orient"), one of the states that make up Malaysia, with the hope of having a relaxing beach vacation. We flew in from Bangkok, and it already got weird--as we were approaching, there was a hurried announcement in Thai followed by one in poor English. We couldn't quite understand it, and I said I thought the flight attendant said, "We recommend you cover your nose and mouth." As we all laughed at my presumably comical mishearing, the attendants sprayed some sort of horrible toxic chemical all over the plane, and we all covered our noses and mouths. Turns out they have to spray for mosquitoes so Penang doesn't get malarial or something.

Penang is an island (the state also includes some of the mainland). The main city, George Town, was founded in 1786 by Sir Francis Light, a British East India Company captain, in an attempt to compete with the various Dutch trading posts in the region. Legend has it he fired silver dollars into the jungle from his ship's cannons to motivate his men to clear the jungle. A generous land grant policy led to massive immigration, largely from Indian and Chinese workers. Today, Penang is the only Malaysian state with a plurality of ethnic Chinese residents. It has had an interesting history; being a British colony, it was a major site for the opium trade in the 19th century, and with opium came organized crime (in the form of Chinese secret societies), brothels, and gambling. In 1867, possibly sparked by a rambutan-throwing incident, various Chinese gangs fought a gang war throughout George Town, killing hundreds of people. Britain pacified the city, hit the societies with massive fines, and then used the money to build the city's first police forth.

Our taxi to the hotel was interesting because our driver was kind enough to let us listen to Malaysian radio. I didn't understand any of the music because either it was in Malay or because it was Gwen Stefani yodeling, but I recognized most of the melodies--these included "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "I Will Follow Him".

Our hotel, the Tajung Bungah Beach Hotel, was not only excellently named, but was right on the beach. It was surrounded by high-rise construction--it turns out George Town had strict rent control which was repealed in 2000, and so the city is now in the midst of a construction boom. Our hotel wasn't in George Town, exactly, it was maybe 4 miles out of town. One of the drawbacks was there was nowhere within walking distance. Tanjung Bungah ("Cape of Flowers") is beautiful, but isolated. It doesn't have the greatest beach, either--there was a big sign warning us about jellyfish, and the sand was a bit rocky.

We were pretty tired from the travel, so we ate at the hotel's dinner buffet, which was excellent--an overview of various types of Penang's food (because of the confluence of Indian and Chinese cultures with Indonesian and Malay spices, Penang is considered to have some of the best food in the region). One of its most famous dishes is "curry kapitan", allegedly named when a British captain asked a Malay cabin boy what was for dinner.

That's it for day one. Day two involves Indian food and a kayaking bit, so that's exciting.