Street Art is the winner in Penang

When I was lining up things to do in Penang I constantly came across this particular street art. I was really interested in seeing it but I wasn't so sure how pronounced it was. All I knew was that it seemed to pop up in photos of Penang. I knew I must be on the lookout when walking around the streets.

Upon arrival I came to realise that the city has adopted this as their marketing to tourists in many ways. It's such a hit that tourist (like me) walk around hoping to find another of the collection. Apparently there must be about 8 or 9. Or well according to the fridge magnets and shirts on offer there are. 

I found only 4, and one that has been removed at the Chew Jetty. Not sure if that is permanent or due to repairs to the building. But it would be a shame if it is permanently gone. 

The art has even spwaned a fake wall art movement. 

Masterchefing the Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School

Went to another cooking school whilst travelling. My only disappointment was I cooked Indian not Malaysian here in Penang. People of Indian decent do make a good portion of the population so it is still Malaysian. I did though have my heart set on cooking Malaysian street food. Alas the schedule of the Cooking School was not in my favour. Tuesdays class didn't get the required number of bookings. So I had to delay until Wednesday. Alas Low Season on the island.

Not to worry as I eat Tandoori. By the chicken load. Tandoori, Raita,and Naan was the focus of Wednesday's class. In fact it was better than if I ended up doing some soupy fish dish. Only 4 of us in the class. A couple from NZ, and a English lady cooking for 2 (i guess her husband doesn't cook)

The Tropical Spice Garden has a good set up. They're right up away from the main drag of Batu Ferrenghi Beach. They have a small plot along the main road along the coast but are literally the only thing there but for a basic restaurant shack across the road on the beach. Great for being able to set up their own kind of edu-tourism arrangement with this whole tropical forest educational walk through, and then their focus on herbs and spices that they then use in their cooking school. Well done to them. It takes courage to develop this as opposed to the rest of Penang who have the standard basic food stall, or tacky gift shop.

Anyway my cooking school went well. The Roti with the Tandoori wasn't too tough. I went away happy and full. I didn't offer any of my Raita to the big monkeys outside. Didn't want to be attacked for not warning them it had a strong kick at the end. After all I left some of the chilli seeds in.

Meanwhile I suspect this island is quite the place for Robinson Crusoe's making their way from the rest of Malaysia on weekends. They all seem to have a second home here. There are so many new constructions going up over the place I suspect there'll be noone on the mainland soon.

It won't slow the traffic though. Even in gridlock they are driving erratically here. I know I've had enough of the drivers here now because I told off 2 motorcyclists for stalking me on the sidewalk this afternoon. Both decided that waiting in a traffic jam wasn't for them and sidewalk was free but for me. I just heard them come up from behind knowing full well it was probably going to happen, stopped, turned around to see them, and then asked them if they thought they should be there. For the second one I waited until he backed himself out backwards sheepishly. Screw them I thought. There already isn't a sidewalk half the time, and then for the rest they park on it for pedestrians to be forced onto busy roads. I've done my bit. Hopefully police and the rest of pedestrians around here get to realise that their safety could be improved.

The Penang hop on hop off and never see bus

Now in the past I have only done a few hop on hop off type buses. I generally find they are a waste of money. Taking you from B grade attraction to the next.

But I decided to give the Penang one a chance. After all I was staying at the Four Points Hotel. It's more fitting of a 4 star tourist. Yes a step up from my usual 2 star hostel or hotel. I had my reasons. I'm not a sell out. 

Anyway it's a sure sign of padding the itinerary with sponsorship when highlight for stop 18 is only the hotel. And the next 3 stops are the same. Anyway I digress... The hop on hop off buses are ok... If you can find one. 

This morning I got lucky. Walked to the stop waited 5 minutes. Since then though it's been 40mins each time. The brochure says every 20mins as there are 5 buses doing the 1.5hr Beach route. Bus drivers say every 30min. But it doesn't compute unless all 4 other buses are directly behind the bus I get.

It's so bad this afternoon I'm about to mutter the T word... taxi... Notorious here for not using meters. 

Tomorrow I think I'll take the local bus. Less than 4 Ringit it was to get from bottom of island to hotel at top of island. Slow as buggery but I've seen them. Not like this unicorn tourist bus that's costing me 45 for the day.

Went to the scene of Malaysian Independence

Had a day to go around and explore Kuala Lumpur. But I've seen KL several times now. So it was more a day of have coffee, do something new, walk around, hotel pool, dinner, and end with coffee.

A big flagpole marks the spot of where the Malaysian independence was declared. Of course the site was also the location of a well renoun Brittish Club complete with cricket pitch. 

From there it's actually not a huge walk to he Central Markets. It may have taken a few trips to Kuala Lumpur but I'm starting to get the layout more. Joined up City Centre to locations of the Central Markets and Chinatown this time. And the monorail has been joined by the trains as an acceptable way to get around. 

The new automatic ticket machines do need work. Accepting basically only one and maybe 5 Ringgit notes. But they're got time to fix those issues. Biggest thing in the next few years seems to be a new train line under the "golden triangle" at Bikut Bitang. It's a pedestrian nightmare and traffic gridlock as they shutdown lanes all around in order to build a new underground station under the main road. I guess it'll be bye bye for the monorail then in about 2017. No longer will one feel like an elevated sardine winding along.

I had to have a Starbucks that night as I didn't know where my next decent coffee could be. Importantly Starbucks had spelt my name right both times.

Less than 24 hours in Kuala Lumpur

This time around I had very little choice in terms of good flights to and from Lyon. So I got creative. Went with a Malaysian Airlines combination as it got me as close as I could to Lyon, and then allowed a London departure after. The connection home is awesome. 

The connection there is 17hrs no matter where in Europe you were planning. An instant cancel for many... But I thought of it as an unofficial Kuala Lumpur stopover. 

Worth it for the ability to get away from the airport. Booked a cheap hotel for few hours shower, nap, dinner, and then train back. And not an airport hotel stop. I walked around KL. Only failure, KL doesn't open up until 10am. I got into KL centre at 7am. Next time I'd search better for a "day rate" hotel. My hotel only allowed early check in at 12 noon.

The time stamp don't lie

Oh. I forgot to mention. It took me less than 5 minutes to climb the 272 stairs to the top of the batu caves.

That's according to the time stamp on my camera.

Whoa that was a fair climb...