Whoops We Ran Out of Money

The Frugal Tourist

When we found out we wouldn't be receiving as much as expected from our rent deposit we had to work out a new game plan. Considering our financial predicament, any attractions or activities that cost more than a couple Ringit(around $0.33=RM1) were out so we pretty much had to dedicate our daily budget to sleeping and eating. Surprisingly, we're probably having more fun now that we have stricter rules in place than we had before. Never again will we pay half of our day's expenditure for a disappointing Palace visit or take a cab anywhere. Another positive is that we are forced to walk everywhere, so we're keeping in shape while getting plenty of sun. Penang is really the perfect place for this, since the bus can get you around the whole island for around RM5.00 and most things that we want to do(especially the food) are right in the neighborhood where we're staying, Georgetown.

The best idea for free fun here was the Heritage Walking Trail. There's a non-touty tourist office by the pier which has plenty of brochures that came in handy, but especially useful was the Heritage Trail. It outlines two tours of Georgetown covering all the major historical and cultural landmarks, most of which are free and many of which let you walk right in. We've already dedicated three days to the first tour and we're still only about 2/3 of the way done. Some were just Colonial official buildings not really worth entering but of special note were the Cornwallis Light House, the Penang State Museum, and Kapitan Keling Mosque.

The Cornwallis light house sits on the edge of Fort Cornwallis, an important relic of the colonial era, overlooking the whole corner of Georgetown and a great view of the sea(right). There was a sign-in book and a sleeping security guard, so although we were most likely allowed to go up we snuck past and quietly made our way to the top of the light house. The view was fantastic and when we got back down the security guard was up and about the yard, but we were able to go Mission Impossible and sneak behind him as he washed his face on the side of the building. You can make an adventure of anything if you put your mind to it.

View from the Light House

A neat shot of the Court House, part of the Heritage Trail

Our other two favorite Heritage Trail landmarks were more time consuming. The museum took a whole afternoon, and for only RM1 each. There were plenty of very interesting displays, especially the room outlining, chronologically, the arrival of the different immigrant populations here in the city. The next day we reached Kapitan Keling Mosque(right) which had a sign welcoming visitors to the Islamic Information Center and wound up spending hours there. The fella inside told us to help ourselves to the wall full of literature, which we did and then led us in for a tour of the mosque and an outline of Islam and the prayers that were about to take place. We were seated in the back observing the afternoon prayers, plenty of people seeming amused that we were there, and when that ended we witnessed a Muslim wedding. Hell, we're in their wedding photos and video. It amuses us to no end that they'll be looking at that tape ten years from now and see the two of us in the back wearing borrowed modest robes, looking lost and out of place. As for the literature, it all had a certain slant, but what religious literature wouldn't?

Food

It's become apparent that we've pretty much come to Malaysia only to eat Indian food and drink local coffee. Especially the coffee. I've been writing down details on everything we've ingested and really can't wait to post a culinary wrap-up later once we get home since there's just so much information there. Every day is an adventure trying new food items, and part of the reason we're getting so much more out of it here than in Thailand is that there's English writing on everything and everyone speaks it. Chinese, Indian and Malay food all comes together here in Penang and it's a wonderful mix. A highlight of every day has been breakfast, when we've visited PEACE AND JOY Coffee Shop and had whatever bowl of noodles looked interesting from one of the vendors surrounding it. A note on the coffee: it's so fucking good. The local coffee is different from what we have at home mainly because the beans, instead of being roasted dry, are toasted in butter and sugar. They then proceed to sweeten it in the cup with sweetened condensed milk and more sugar. When it arrives at the table it is thick and syrupy and black as night, and when you stir it the milk works its way in from the bottom to give it a swirly chocolatey color. I'm probably devoting too much space to just describing coffee, but it's been a revelation for me as I could never find coffee at home palatable. Another variant, called "white coffee," is similar to the local type but toasted without sugar, and frothed with normal milk rather than condensed. It's thinner and a bit more bitter, and Jenny prefers it.

Next time, monkeys.