Sizzling Malaysia

Yet another morning before sunrise, another bag on the back, another day of feeling like I woke up at 4:30am this morning.

Props to Air Asia for being so cheap, so efficient and for bringing us to Georgetown on the island of Penang. We flew in this morning, grabbed a bus to the city and have been exploring ever since. Georgetown is a city of ancient cultures meshed together in a small yet vibrant space. As you walk through the brick streets and old buildings, you are first greeted by mosques and calls to Muslim prayer before turning down a street filled with Chinese New Year decorations. Yet another turn takes you to a street packed with Hindi clothing stores and another to a street lined with backpacker bars and book stores. We stumbled upon three separate galleries today, each one with an exhibition on world religions with a theme of the Christian phrase "do unto others as you with them to do unto you." Even though the mix of races here has been Malaysia's sore spot for generations, it seems like people are taking an active stance in changing this. We dined on Indian food, sat by the emerald sea, wove our way through Chinese markets and down narrow, ancient alleys. We're about to go eat dinner at a line of Southern Indian street stalls with samosas and curries for less than $1 a dish!