Welcome to Malaysia!

After our eleven day sojourn across the Indonesian archipelago, it was time to say good-bye and move on to the next step of our journey: Malaysia. The morning following our mind-blowing orangutan experience saw us making the arduous taxi ride from downtown Medan to the International Airport and experiencing our last taste of Indonesian road chaos. Although our flight was international, it consisted of a short 40 minute hop over the Malacca strait before landing in Penang, Malaysia.

Penang Island lies just off of the main Malaysian Peninsula and covers 293 square kilometers. Although it possesses many natural features, our destination was the commercial/cultural hub of George Town, Penang's capital. George Town is a large city with a historical downtown area that has been labeled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was first established in 1786 as a major trading port by the British East India Company. George Town continued to exist as a British colony until Malaysian independence in 1957 (with a slight period of Japanese rule during World War II). As such, British influence is still clearly present in some of historical George Town's architecture and the fairly common use of the English language. But its geographical proximity to regions such as India, Thailand, and China as well as its existence as a busy international port have shaped George Town into a highly multicultural city with many Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Western residents.

But enough about boring things: this is a travel blog, not a social studies class. We arrived in Penang in the early afternoon and got a taxi ride to our hotel in George Town. Our driver was very enthusiastic about George Town as he showed us where all the good restaurants were on the map and emphatically repeated that George Town was 232 years old. Finally, after making a slight dig at the Nepalese guard who operated the gate hotel gate, he dropped us off at the hotel and we were on our own in the city.

Our first activity was to meet up with Huei-Ling, a friend of Professor Barrett from his time studying at the University of Oklahoma, as well as her friend Shane Ng for dinner. It was a fun dinner as we were able to get their perspectives some of the aspects of Malaysian culture. One thing that stuck out to me was that, similar to Indonesia, people tend to return to Malaysia even if they studied or worked in another country. This was exemplified by Huei-Ling: after growing up in Penang, she traveled to the United States to attend the University of Oklahoma. But she said she was 100% sure she wanted to return to Penang after she finished her studies. Additionally, it is very common in Malaysian culture (and Asian culture in general) to live with family even after college education. This reinforces the higher focus on family in Eastern culture vs. Western culture.

After dinner, we explored some of the cultural sites of George Town. Luckily, that night (July 7) happened to be the George Town Heritage Street Festival. The streets were lined with exhibits that highlighted the many regional cultures present within George Town. We observed traditional art forms such as sashiko (a Japanese stitching style use to patch clothes) and Han Taiwanese woodblock prints. We savored delicacies such as Hakka Lei Cha, a tea-based soup with a strange but satisfying taste, and Idiyappam, an delicious Indian Muslim dish consisting of rice flour formed into noodles and topped with sugar and grated coconut. There was even a large dance area with vibrant Indian music. Overall, it was a lucky experience for us as we got to experience the many cultures of George Town in an enjoyable way.

We finished our night with another famous multi-cultural experience: watching the World Cup. We found a string of street-side bars that were packed to the brim with highly excitable British fans. Although the England/Sweden match was certainly exciting and memorable, it was just as entertaining to watch the English fans progress from tense concentration during the game to absolute jubilation with England's victory.

1. The dance scene at the George Town Heritage Festival. 2. Huei-Ling, Prof B, and the mids. 3. World Cup Central

The following morning, Professor Barrett accompanied Huei-Ling to church while the mids explored George Town during the daytime by both bike and foot travel. We rented bikes and cruised around the narrow, historical streets in search of street art, markets, and good food. Many instances of street art can be found in the nooks and crannies of the George Town streets, often incorporating physical objects into their design. Some are beautiful and enjoyable, some are humorous, and some are even a little unsettling. All of them are striking though, and they put a modern stroke of culture into George Town's historical scenery.

After turning in the bikes and returning to foot-travel, we perused through some interesting markets selling all types of merchandise. Although sometimes we headed into small shops just to experience the AC and escape the draining sun and humidity. After wandering around, we found ourselves along the coastline at the start of the Chew Jetty. The Chew Jetty is a long, populated jetty extending into the ocean with a distinct mix of Chinese, Vietnamese, and other SE Asia mainland cultures. The walk down the jetty was interesting as we observed the unique style of living on the water and the numerous people selling food (including durian ice cream) and trinkets.

1. Kids on bicycle. 2. Everybody loves pizza! 3. Market seller with street art in background. 4. Strange guy with snake at the market. 5. The mids at Chew Jetty.

Returning towards the main area of George Town, we grabbed dinner at an awesome Indian restaurant that produced the "best food in the world". And finally, to round the night out we watched the replay of the Russia/Croatia game in a large outdoor food court area. In the background, the food court also had a live, real/karaoke singing performance that was one of the strangest things I've ever seen.

Our time in George Town was a not only a fun, relaxing time, but also a very unique cultural experience. The incredible diversity and outward show of cultural expression was very different than anything else we've seen so far. It was a great start to our time here in Malaysia, and I'm sure that Kuala Lumpur will now bring its own wonderful experiences.