We headed to Penang Island from KL. Penang is just over an hour flight from KL. It’s a large island that sits just to the west of mainland Malaysia with George Town as its most popular (and largest city). Even after eating really well in KL, I was excited about heading to Penang since we had heard that’s where all the locals go to eat really good food. It didn’t disappoint.
We ended up staying in a small beach town called Batu Ferringhi.
Our condo was pretty perfect with an amazing view of sunsets on the beach, a really nice pool, an equally fun playground on premises, and some giant monitor lizards in the front.
Our first day, we rushed to the beach to check out our new goggles and snorkels we picked up in anticipation of our scuba certifications coming up.
The water was so murky that you couldn’t see more than about 2-3 inches in front of your face. We quickly gave up (later learning that Penang is not for snorkeling). As we crawled out of the water, Caden started screaming about stinging on his arm. Jellyfish. Lots of them. That kept us out of the ocean for the next seven days.
The biggest bonus of Penang was that we happened to be there at the same time as another family with kids about the same age as C & K. Because the children were all having fun playing, we stayed pretty close to the apartment and just let them play with the new girls.
We ended up going to dinner with the family one night. They made our crazy world adventures seem common place. The mom was from Russia, the dad was Irish, and they were expats living in China! It was fun having other adults to hang out with and the kids were equally happy spending time with the girls.
Our main reason for being in that particular place (aside from checking it out and eating) was to volunteer at a sanctuary there. I had signed the family up for a week of volunteering at a cat sanctuary near our small beach town. We took the bus there on a Monday morning and stayed less than 30 minutes. The “sanctuary” ended up being a house on the beach that had “rescued” about 200 cats. Very few if any of them were spayed or neutered, and most of them were sick with respiratory infections and/or skin problems. The owner wasn’t there, so we finally called her to see what we were supposed to be doing. During that conversation, I found out that few, if any, were vaccinated for rabies. That pretty much shut our efforts down immediately. The owner has very good intentions, but continuing to take in animals that she can’t care for was perpetuating the problems with the cats reproducing/staying healthy/etc. Not to mention, it was just not a safe environment. I was disappointed. Scott was not.
One of the days we went over the Penang National Forest.
We hiked for about an hour and half through some beautiful jungles. It was a little more difficult that we intitially thought it would be.
Some parts required holding onto a rope to help maintain balance and to assist pulling yourself up the steep inclines. Most of the trails weren’t so much trails as washouts with strategically placed signs to keep trekkers headed in the right direction. We finally made it to the other side though.
Turtle Beach
A small turtle conservation center was there (hence the name Turtle Beach). We had arranged for a water taxi to pick us up and take us around to Monkey Beach. The only monkeys we saw were captive ones though which was very sad to see. The other wildlife we observed while there included tons of dead jellyfish on the beach. At least six of the ones our driver showed us were deadly, while one was so safe that he picked it up bare handed. The stop really solidified that we didn’t need to be swimming in the murky water where you couldn’t see the jellyfish. Our boat back getting caught in a downpour made the day even more fun.
One of our fun days out involved checking out George Town. It’s famous for its interactive street art and food, and we kept busy.
Interactive Art Museum
There have been several 3D interactive art museums pop up around the city, and we all had a ball playing in them. Some of the paintings are done so well that one almost needs to know that it is street art, or it might appear to be real life.
We had the opportunity to visit an old Straits Chinese (Baba) home that had been used by one of the wealthy Chinese traders during the British and Chinese colonization. The tour we took was enlightening although also depressing. The “women” were married off at the age of 14 to allow more time to have lots of children. And of course so much was made of pregnancies that were believed to be boy children. (They evidently could tell based on some chickens in a basket. See that basket under the bed? Ha!)
Baba House Marital Bed
All of the old paintings and pictures have the man and woman of the house looking serious, bordering on angry. This was evidently because no one trusted anyone during those days, not staff members, not spouses, not friends. How depressing of a life that would be. The home overall though was an incredible blend of the Chinese and the British cultures as the two colonized Malaysia.
A quick trip to Little India made sure we all had full bellies of delicious food, and then we went and toured a mosque. The mosque. Wow. I don’t even know what to say besides that it was an incredible experience for all of us.
Masjid Kaliyah Kline
(Kapitan Kline Mosque)
We were warmly greeted at the front and offered robes to pull on over our clothes in order to be modest enough to enter the mosque. The young woman who escorted us through was kind and thorough in her descriptions. We saw where the Muslims bath prior to praying, the prayer space, and beautiful copies of the Koran. She was able to answer all of Caden’s questions (which is a ton!) about the beliefs, the calls to prayer, and various odds and ends about the Koran and head coverings.
Our lovely guide with the Koran.
We all left with a better understanding of the religion and its believers.
In addition to some more time at the pool and scuba e-learning, we spent half of day at the butterfly park Entopia.
Entopia!
Going with little to no expectations, we were all impressed with the quality of the place and the pure amount of critters and educational offerings the place had. In addition to a huge collection of beetles, ants, worms, butterflies, scorpions, and even snakes, they also had a monitor lizard we could get right up close and personal with. Gross and amazing at the same time.
The monitor lizard’s foot
I think it goes without saying that we ate too much delicious food. My favorite place (Andrew’s Kampung) also had the kids’ favorite dessert.
Fried ice cream
Between the Malaysian curry and the fried ice cream, we ate well and often. I keep saying the most recent spot was my favorite of the trip, but I really loved this stop too. Ten days was awesome, and had we not been leaving to go get scuba certified, I would have been depressed about leaving. Loved loved loved this place. That it was home to one of my favorite mentors in my old professional world made it all the more special for me.
Video highlights (which are mostly the interactive art pics):