blackblog.

After an extraordinary weekend in Penang – or, to be more precise, in Georgetown on Penang Island it is time to summarize what we did there (we, because David is still travelling with me).

First of all: The cultural mix: On one side of the street a Mosque… You turn around and see a Hindu temple with its colorful statues… And just round the corner is a full-featured Chinese temple… Then you enter a restaurant and see people from southern and northern India dining together with people of Chinese and Malay heritage – Seems like, that a peaceful live of people of different religion and origin is possible in Malaysia! David and I discussed, why this is working out in Malaysia: Our theory is, that it is, because they are living together since colonial times: And when the colonial force was present, they were just forced to accept… And from generation to generation it became “normal”. We try to find out, wether this theory is correct or not.

Besides all this exotic “mix”, there are quite many temples to see: We went to the Snake temple, which is actually not interesting – But the snake farm nearby IS! Especially the 7.5m long one is worth mentioning. The Kek Lok Si temple is a definitive must-go for Penang Visitors: Its impressive size and the mixture of different architectural styles makes it special – Even if you have seen n-hundred temples already.
We also went to the Botanical Gardens – just for relaxing, because they were not as good as the ones in Singapore.

As mentioned before: Penang is a big melting pot of people of different origin: So the food you can get, is remarkable: Exquisite Indian food and many local delights, such as Laksa Asam or Nasi Kandar.