Georgetown Penang

Good Afternoon or morning or evening,

I guess the salutation depends where you are in the world.. any who we left Melaka a few days ago and are now in Georgetown which is a city in the Penang district / province. I must say that hearing all about the food I was excited to come and experience it all. However I must say that I like Thai food much more. There are some great dishes here in Malaysia, particularly the Indian cuisine but I'm not a big Chinese food fan so overall I'm gonna have to say - a little dissatisfied. Nevertheless it's all about sucking in the culture and sucking it in good, sucking it clean as my heterosexual life-mate Koliacivo would say.

We Arrived in Georgetown and paid out the Jane for a taxi from the airport to our guesthouse. They have it figured out pretty good, fleece the "rich" tourists on the taxi ride from the airport because you can't get to your hotel any other way. Well played my "friends".

Georgetown is pretty cool, after checking into our guesthouse we immediately set out to find a pool table. After a few unsuccessful attempts (due to the pool places being closed down) we finally were directed to Soho Public house, an Irish Pub. They had two pool tables! After we played alone for a bit were invited to join the, honest to God, only game in town. It was marvelous.. there were about 8 people including us. For those of you who don'y know pool culture and etiquette, this how it works: there is a chalk board with peoples names on it in an order, if you want to play you simply put your name at the bottom on the list and wait your turn. If someone wins they keep playing as per the list. This is where you can "run the table" and "own" it for some time if you have the skill to do so. These guys were pretty damn good. My first game I lost.. then next time I played I got a little lucky and won then won again and started a little run.. nothing feels better than running a table and everyone's watching. I got into a little grove and won 4 strait. Let me tell you.. i was enjoying every minute it. Just appreciating where I was and how it was going. We had finally found what we were looking for pool wise. We met a guy from California who had lived in Georgetown for the last 8 years - he was 73. Beauty of a guy who we sat and chatted with for the night. He had worked on oil rigs his whole adult life and was now reaping the benefits of the cheaper lifestyle here in Malaysia. I curiously asked him why he choose Malaysia specifically to set up camp.. he put it to me wisely. Me, a lover of the Thai culture and everything about it inquired as to why he wasn't in Thailand.. Thailand is cheaper and better. As i said, his commenced his words of wisdom: Firstly, he said - If I went to live in Thailand I would be dead within a few years hahaha. Ohhhhhhh I understand.. In thailand everything is immensely intensified and more extreme. For example - I have not seen a sex worker here in Malaysia yet.. I mean i may have but I wouldn't have known. In Thailand they are EVERYWHERE. Every city every bar everywhere. In Malaysia to the naked eye they are non-existent. you can get anything you want in Thailand. The old man put it to me - Here I can have a balance and go at my own pace - not over doing it. He said he could have girls here just as he could in Thailand but the temptation was less because the sheer volume was less. His heart could take it a few times a week but not a few times a day LOL.

I then met a guy that was from England - probably around 70. He talked about his times in Thailand and how he was on the island of Koh Pangangh (Or however you spell it, what am I trying to win a spelling Bee here.. negatory) he got pretty intoxicated and then ended up falling down a hill and crashing into a tree which resulted in him shattering his knee. $8500 UK pounds and 3 months in a hospital later he was finally able to leave the hospital. Then he went on about how he broke his hip regarding a similar incident $5000 UK pounds. Good job bud surely you learned your lesson to be the F careful but I guess these things do happen. I've been lucky, thank God. Which brings me to my next point. Later that night I was walking back to the guesthouse.... I was not drunk i had only 4 cream sodas. I was walking out of a restaurant we just went in to get a bottle of water and .. BAM, SMASH, KA BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A car drives up on the curb and no no lol I just twisted my ankle on the curb. Still hurt and I wrapped it up with a tensor bandage. It's a little sore now but I'll take that injury any day over a real injury.

The next night we set forth on an adventure hunt. One really cool and interesting thing about Georgetown is that they have secret - hidden bars. No joke. You have to find a secret door and figure out how to get in. We found 4 but only two 3 were open. One of them you walk into this room off the street and it's a large bathroom where everything inside is gold. There is no signage indicating that it's a bar. You then go inside a non-marked random door. It brings you into a scroungy ally kind of thing. Then you go into a door and everything is pink and gold and very expensive. It was pretty cool. next we got a taxi to bring us to this address on the internet. You have to pick a code out of a selection of 6 then input it into a key pad where there is no door. Finally when you guess the right code you push on a few walls until one opens like a door. Really cool place.


As I write, my energy level is lessening.. I need to do a dirty dozen as well so i think I have to end this post with my thoughts as we ran into a few hurdles today. There were a few aggravating circumstances this morning like laundry being super complicated and no breakfast place open until 10-11 am  - stupid.  BUT! These agitating factors prompted an interesting conversation and an optimistic approach. Embrace it all - Whatever happens being good or bad. It's easy to be happy and relaxed when everything is going your way but when the weather changes and brings a bit of a storm... just embrace the shit out of it and remember where you are and the opportunity of what you get to experience. Look at the person beside you and remember how much you'll miss that shitty circumstance with them when they are back to being 10,000 miles away. Remember it could always be worse and appreciate the little things, honestly kind of even appreciate the annoying things. Life's a ride. Strap in and prepare for the unknown to take you places you've never dreamed of going. Also never shave your private parts with an electric razor cause you might cup yourself and wonder what in the hell you were thinking, I mean what in God's name would possess you to use an electric shaver down there..? Also don't eat like 8 fiber one bars during a long car ride. Also Vandamme is such a beauty. ;)



I don't have my camera SD card to attach pics but I will next time.

Good day, good evening and or goodnight.