端午节 Dragon Boat Festival Holiday: A three-day trip to Penang, Malaysia

 端午节  Dragon Boat Festival is an important festival in China taking place on May 30th 2017; with a history of over two thousand years. The festival honours Qu Yuan, and is often celebrated with families, dragon boat racing and eating sticky rice dumplings. Fortunately, it gives us foreign teachers a three-day holiday. I was even more fortunate (due to my having Fridays off and not having to do the make-up day on the Saturday) to have five days off altogether. So what did I do? Of course I booked some travels! Three days in Penang, Malaysia and two days in Singapore.

Let's start with Penang, Malaysia. <3

I love that feeling of landing into a new place. The journey from the airport to your destination/hostel location. For me, travelling SOLO, I am alone but not alone. As I sat in the convenient airport bus to Georgetown, where I would be staying, I wandered out of the window and absorbed my new surroundings. Hearing the first inklings of the language on the bus, seeing the writing on signs and billboards and meeting people around me. It's an exciting feeling in which you are at the beginning of an adventure. You are an explorer, and the author of your story.

It's always at this moment, when I'm maybe on a bus, train or in a taxi, and I'm gazing out of the window. It's always at this moment that I feel so blessed and thank god for the opportunities I have to travel... and also the fact that I am teaching English in China and able to afford to do this! To have the opportunity to travel, and also the confidence to do it "alone", is a special thing. Moving to China was the beginning of this for me. This is where my adventure began to unfold... my Wanderlust East.

Penang can only be described as a cute, quirky, artistic, vibrant, culture-filled and colourful city. I flew to Penang on an over-night flight leaving Shanghai at 1am, and arriving to Penang at 10am (with a transfer in Kuala Lumpur) so I was pretty tired on my first day. So, after conveniently using an airport bus and then maps.me to get to my hostel, Angmoh Hostel, I freshened up and headed out. The hostel was really cool, chilled out and a good location in Georgetown; I'd definitely recommend it. After dropping my stuff, my next desire was FOOD.

I was craving Indian food so decided to follow maps.me to the Little India area of Penang. I was lucky enough to find a local, yummy, small, cheap but great banana leaf restaurant. I was sort of familiar with banana leaf because I came to Kuala Lumpur last year and ate it there. So, I sat down and enjoyed a scrumptious meal, with flavour, chicken, spice, rice and everything else it comes with! You can have banana leaf vegetarian or non vegetarian, it standardly comes with rice and some small vegetable sides, and sauces to add. For meat dishes you can add fish, mutton, chicken and even beef. You should usually eat with your hands, and specifically your right hand. Food always tastes so much better eaten from our hand! I devoured my meal, made some friends, chatted and then continued my day SOLO.

I decided to keep the day relaxed and just grab a taxi to Batu Ferringhi - a beach in Penang. I decided to take a taxi from Georgetown which was about 40 malaysian ringits - it would have been much cheaper by UBER but still wasn't outrageously expensive considering the distance was 12km. I arrived and it was lovely; so peaceful. Living in the city, in Shanghai, is amazing... but hearing the sound of the waves overtake your ears and mind is priceless. Nothing compared to nature. I love being my the sea and ocean, and definitely wanna settle somewhere by the sea for the rest of my life. Though I'm not exactly sure where yet.

Anyway, I wasn't walking along the beach for long before some local ladies asked me if I wanted a massage. I politely said no, and instead of carrying on about their business they said no problem, feel free to sit down here anyway. They gave me a comfy beach chair to lie down on and relax, and even gave me a bottle of water. I sensed their genuine nature; after this they didn't bother me.

About twenty minutes later, I felt genuinely tempted for a massage. The waves were real, my body was tired and a massage didn't sound like a bad idea. So at a cheap price of just 50 Malaysian Ringits (nine pounds, 79 RMB) I had a one hour, full body oil massage. They put a curtain up around the bed so no-one could see, and I lay down on the beach and enjoyed the most amazing, relaxing, therapeutic and calming massage for one hour. I remember drifting into such relaxation it felt like that dreamy stage before you fall asleep prolonged. I distinctly remember the sound of the waves nurturing and calming me, combined with the lady who was massaging me's hands. 

I made friends with one of the friends of the family that worked there, after my massage was finished. He was from Bangladesh and really friendly. He was excited to meet me, due to my Indian heritage, and we were able to chat together in Hindi/English/Punjabi. So, it started to hit 5/6 O'clock and he agreed to show me a nearby Pakistani food restaurant, which was apparently scrumptious. We went there to eat and it was so good! I had an aloo prontah, curry.. the works! The food melted in my mouth as we listened to Hindi music and chatted away. In no time I was tired, so although the famous night market was just opening, I decided to take the bus back to Georgetown. The bus was convenient and got me back within 30 minutes. 

So, the next day I had a casual day exploring, wandering and eating of course. The most beautiful part of Penang is the very literally HIDDEN gems of street art that are tucked away in the narrow streets of the town. Amazingly impressive street art compliments the walls of so many buildings. The art is varied; I saw people, modern art, animals, pictures, symbols, scenic and so much more. Another amazing thing is the black, abstract, written arts that are around the city with funny images and an educational, historical text to go with it! Most of the texts explain the history of the actual road it is located on - it's like a visual guide as you walk and wander around. Really amazing. The weather was so hot and sunny, so I stopped for lot's of fresh juices along my way. 

Around 4pm that Saturday, I decided to take the bus 204 to Penang Hill from Georgetown. The bus took about 25-30 minutes and dropped us right outside. Penang Hill is famous for its amazing views, various peaks and most amazingly is its amazing Penang Hill Railway which takes you up the mountain for just 15 Malaysian Ringits there and back. The views were amazing and at this point I stopped to relax, take in the views and write in my journal. I love traveling, it gives you time to feed your soul, reflect on life, take a break, appreciate nature, the world and all it has to offer and it's people. 

The next day I was a girl on a mission! The night before I had researched and made a rough plan of what I wanted to see the next day. I started off with the Blue Mansion as it was recommended to go there early BUT it doesn't open until 10:45am for all those of you thinking of going! So, I got there and couldn't get in. So, I decided to go and take a wander through Little India and China Town and see the Morning Market which was buzzing with things to buy, eat, local delicacies and more. It was fun and exciting to walk around. I wandered around more, discovering more and more beautiful street art and stopped for a coffee at Penang White Coffee before heading back to the Blue Mansion around 10:45am. 

The Blue Mansion or Cheong fatt Tze Mansion was a beautiful architecture and nice to walk around. (however if you are short on time I'd definitely recommend the Pinang Peranakan Mansion over the Blue Mansion).  I quickly learned lot's with the informative, walking guide tour and especially that extremely rich Chinese families existed in history here. In that moment, I was stood in what was once their residence. In fact, Penang has a Chinese majority population - did I tell you? I was in a home away from home! It was here in Penang that I genuinely felt as if I was in three different countries at once; Malaysia, China and India. Later on, I also visited the Pinang Peranakan Mansion; a mansion of a rich, baba family but now the building is privately owned. Though privately owned, it's culture and uniqueness has been marvelously preserved. It's like stepping back in history walking around the whole mansion. 

During the rest of my day, I visited various temples; Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist. Penang has such a vibrant blend of all these cultures, religions and countries in one place. There are so many cute cafe's and unique boutique shops. Particularly, is a Batic craft design popularly used for fabrics, clothes and jewellery. I bought my self some beautiful home made ear-rings and cute hand-made postcards. I'd had such a wonderful day exploring tucked away art-galleries, street art, the vibrant Armenian Street, Chinese temples, quirky book shops and more. I opted out of seeing these, but there are also SO many quirky musuems in Penang like the Upside Down Museum, Camera Museum, 3D Trick Art Museum, Ghost Museum and more! 

My time in Penang had been beautiful. I felt like I was in three different countries all at once and this provided for a colourful, vibrant and memorable long weekend. My next stop was SINGAPORE! 

Be in touch about that later,

Sabrina Xxx