Penang, Malaysia

 Notes from the journal:

8/4

  • Started to feel really sick on the bus to Penang and had a weird spell where my chest hurt and I felt like I was going to pass out so I sat at the bus station for awhile and waited for Sophia. I felt better by the time she arrived and we took a city bus into Georgetown
  • Dropped our stuff at our hostel and walked thru Penang Art Street to Chew Jetty food stalls, which were overpriced 
  • Tried to find food on the way back but were unsuccessful so we eventually stopped at a mediocre Chinese place bc we were hangry, then went to an Indian restaurant (Hameediyah) to split a chicken murtabah
  • Went back to the hostel and I put on my hijab so we could visit the mosque during visiting hours but it was closed so we just looked from outside
  • Found some food stalls where Sophia shared a bite of durian with some tourists and we went to a fancy dessert restaurant to split a mango dish
  • Went back to the Indian restaurant for a nighttime snacky snack
  • Went back to the hostel and chatted in the common area for awhile. Some guy from the US interrupted our conversation to brag about how he had filmed local children playing soccer (without their consent) and how great it would be for his social media so we shut that conversation down real fast
  • I started to feel like I had a fever but had a bunch of laundry to do 

8/5

  • Had a slow morning and ate the free hostel “breakfast” (toast) before catching the city bus to Penang National Park, where we hiked on the forest canopy trail to arrive at Pantai Kerachut (non-swimming beach) to enjoy the view
  • Went to Teluk Kampi (swimming beach) to swim, which we had all to ourselves but the water was kind of dirty
  • Hiked back to the bus and dealt with a creepy man looking over our shoulders and then moving in front of us to stare at us the whole ride. Made crazy faces at him to try to make him uncomfortable and deter him and made sure we weren’t being followed when we got off the bus.
  • Went back to the same Indian restaurant for dinner and then went to a big supermarket to stock up on food for the islands

8/6

  • I woke up early and walked to the bus terminal in the dark, took a city bus off the island, then walked to a train station and took the train to another station where I got on my train to Kuala Lumpur
  • Took the airport train back to the KL airport and flew on Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Terengganu. Had to deal with an unruly kid who puked everywhere so I changed seats


Read if I referred you to this post:

Penang is definitely more touristy and the national park was cool, but other than that it wasn’t my favorite. It felt more chaotic and less safe so I didn’t really enjoy my time there. I would recommend the national park and the Hameediyah restaurant.










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