penang. pt2

It takes me a few days now before I start getting a feel for a place. The pictures I have been taking only interest me after I have been somewhere for a bit of time, cutting beyond the visual markers that you focus on while still finding your bearings to get something deeper. I look at pictures I've taken when I've just arrived somewhere and the the sex pistol's "pretty vacant" comes to mind, they seem to lack depth and soul.

On my third day in Malaysia, I traveled by the 204 public bus to Penang Hill. It costs 2 ringets for the journey, takes about 20 minutes each way on a bus that is modern, clean and air conditioned. Notes are stuffed into a locked fare box next the driver who will issue you the appropriate ticket when boarding. No change is ever available, much like the buses back in Bristol, except that 2 ringetts equates to about 40 pence which I don't think would even see you to a single stop on first bus's finest.

When you arrive at the base of Penang Hill you have a choice of how to ascend to the summit. You can either walk in blazing sun and 30 degree heat, or take a cool modern funicular railway carriage at the cost of 30 ringets. I walked.

To join the queue to get my ticket for the railway, it was a bloody steep hill and I'm not getting any younger. I wouldn't mind getting a little older though. This is now the self preservation society tour 2013 and anyone is free to join me.

At the top the heat was less intense with cool air being carried on a light welcome breeze. I perched myself at a table at the tea rooms which overlooked the bay below and ordered a Devonshire cream tea just 14,000 kilometers from the county itself, then supped in the blend and took in the wonderful view back towards Georgetown and surrounding areas. The photographs I took here did not do the view justice in any way shape or form, but I did get a nice picture of a scone that was smeared in jam and cream, and one of a man who was dangerously close to being devoured by a giant inflatable dinosaur. I guess some days you just make the most of what is presented to you. Today it just happened to be plastic and pastry.

Georgetown itself is a relatively small area packed with the sights, smells and sounds of the rich cultural diversity harboured within. The houses with small ornate fronts can be deceptively large within with the sense of space being enhanced further by the high ceilings inside. One of these houses that lies dormant and in poor condition with roots and branches scaling it's outer shell. I was told that the property extended back nearly 300 feet but its old "crazy" owner refuses to sell it for less than the over generous value that he's placed upon it. The converted cost to buy and restore would be roughly 800,000 pounds, around 4 times the cost of a smaller up together property in the same world heritage area, I asked my local informant if this price included the tree that was spouting out through the roof, exchanged smiles and carried on walkin'.

In the evening of the first day I got talking to Brad from Laandon and the following morning we both headed off to see the camera museum that was located just a few streets away. The vast number of exhibits displayed within included early 3D cameras and displays, box cameras, the short lived and maligned disc film Kodak camera, a rather opulent Russian Leica dressed in snakeskin finery, spy cameras and my favourite, a machine gun that was converted to use film instead of bullets in order to train the Japanese. The company behind the machine gun camera would eventually become Konica.

There is only 1 digital camera contained in the collection, a brightly coloured plastic Lego compact is rotated proudly on its own stand, a stark contrast to the usual muted colours in which cameras are usually adorned. A worthwhile inclusion just for being so, fun and appealing.

Following on from my recent decision to lose at pool in all the countries I visit from now on, we stopped in a bar equipped with necessary table for me to achieve this end, losing 2 nil whilst chatting to the owner of the bar over a few bottles of tiger. The owner "Mike" an ex-aviation engineer had taken over the bar from his brother who had since moved due to work commitments to Jakarta. He had been running it for 2 months and seemed to be enjoying his new direction, with his only gripe being the amount of paperwork that he is required to complete for the running of the bar. My only complaint was the price of beer, which was around the same as the prices paid in the U.K, a steep increase on what I had been paying in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. It wasn't enough to stop me though and the rest of the day was spent supping a few, eating and gently ribbing a bunch of English students whilst watching the Irish cruelly lose against the All Blacks at rugby after leading 17-0 earlier in the game.

The next couple of days I spent missing some great photo opportunities, drinking coffee and buying more clothes to replace my existing rags. The people I have encountered in and around Georgetown have been amazing, from the man in the queue at the post office who pointed me towards the correct window for stamps when he saw me looking a little lost with postcards in my hand, the lady in the coffee shop who conversed with me about travel plans and culture, the street worker who smiled and stopped to ask if I was enjoying Malaysia and wished me well for future travel, and all the staff at the Kimberley House hotel where I have spent my time switching rooms from dorms to singles, to doubles as I extend my stay there at relatively short notice. Its all been quite good fun.

As I said, it takes me a while to get a feel for a place sometimes. When I first arrived in Georgetown I wasn't convinced. But the more you delve into its scruffy characteristic streets, the more you undoubtedly discover to like about the place.

Barman mike said that its a place that takes a while, but that grows on you the longer you are there and I think he may be right.

I know I will have to return back one day though as I think there may still be more to see and do here. I have also been told that there are places that do really good breakfasts too. It remains to be seen.

Next stop Kuala Lumpur, I wonder if it will be warm there too.