Penang? Peno

Hey trusty readers, I apologize for the hiatus. I meant to blog before I left for Penang, but it was raining so of course the Internet was down. My plan was to go to Penang on Wednesday morning and come back this morning, but I hated it so much I came back last night. I didn't even get to take the train I was so excited about. But I had had high hopes, my bus ride there went great and I made it to my hotel/brothel just fine, but then I actually started walking around Georgetown. I felt like I was vacationing in the slums. Penang is supposedly a big backpacker destination, but I'm not sure why. I think the appeal is the British influence and all the pre-WWII housing, but they've let it fall into such disrepair. I didn't find it charming at all. I saw a lot of historic places when I traveled in Europe; maybe I'm jaded already. But I guess the lesson is I should stop comparing Asia to Europe and just take it for what it is.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my hotel had a little something else going on on the side - the "health center" didn't open until like 5 p.m. It sounded nice enough, The Waldorf Hotel, but I was up all night worrying about bed bugs and mass murders. It was scary. Upper Penang Road is where the nightlife is and it was close by, but seeing as it was Wednesday night it wasn't exactly hopping. Definitely the coolest thing I saw was the Wat Chayamangkalaram with this huge reclining Buddha. I love visiting temples. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion was pretty cool (the University of South Carolina architecture students were staying there!), but that's because my guide was great. I really wish I had found her earlier - she also leads architectural walking tours around Georgetown and maybe then I would have realized what's so great about the place. Photos will be up soon - as soon as it stops raining long enough to finish an upload - and it'll be a lot easier to understand what I'm talking about then. Stay tuned!