We love Georgetown! Our accommodation is super comfortable and it's a relatively easy city to navigate (trust me, that makes a huge difference), but most importantly, the coastal city of Georgetown reminds us so much of Durban.
Georgetown, named after King George III, is the capital of Penang. Surprising even though it's a city on an island - it is the second biggest in Malaysia! Penang was a British colony and we spent most of today, our first day here, exploring the old colonial district and taking in the beautiful architecture left behind by the Brits and inspired by the Malays. Actually, the inner city is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. We started out at the local museum this morning and learned how the British got their finger in this pie through a certain Francis Light who had a good relationship with the Sultan. Basically, the colonials offered the Malays security against the rest of the world and, oh how surprising, got the full advantage of the harbour and it's trading potential. There seemed to be some sort of lease agreement between the two nations. Very interesting.
We walked along the marina embankment, looked at some momuments along the way - including one for Queen Victoria on her Diamond Jubilee - and then booked our ferry tickets to Langkawi. The rest of the day was fairly chilled. We met a really lovely lady at a food court while we ate lunch. It turns out she owned the place and even bought us a drink!
In the evening, we wandered over to the Red Food Night Market and had a fishy tomato soup dish with pieces of fruit and noodles in it. It was okay. The more I ate, the more I thought it was weird and that put me off. I should know better. The Malaysians always mix strange ingredients, and the things you expect to be savoury are always sweet and visa versa.
Until next time,
Luisa
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