inconsistent news from southeast asia

New country!

So we caught a boat to Langkawi Island and it was a hell of a time. But I can whine about our troubles some other time. The people are generally nice, (I swear they're even nicer here than in Thailand!) but there always seems to be a teksi driver trying to rip you off somewhere. We escaped eventually.

Not to downplay the unique cultures of the other countries we've visited, but Malaysia is more obviously a distinct country at first glance, thanks in part to the fact that it's a largely muslim country. It's also hugely diverse, with large Indian and Chinese populations. It makes for some really awesome food. Especially Indian food.

But I digress. We arrived in Langkawi on the 3rd of February. It's an expensive, touristy place because it was declared a duty-free zone for some reason. This did allow me to purchase the only beer I'll be drinking in Malaysia, though. It was 2 RM (3.2 RM (ringgit) = 1 CAD) for a can of beer there. Everywhere else, it's 8.90 for that can of beer. Ouch. The obvious answer is that the muslim dominated government taxes the hell out of my precious beer. We'll live, I guess.

The next morning, we caught another (expensive!) boat to Penang (or Georgetown, if you prefer). It's a really amazing city, obviously very old, and there's no shortage of really cheap guesthouses. However, we do seem to be staying in some sort of transvestite brothel today. Neat!

The signs on all the stores indicate that they've been around for years and years and there's lots of great old colonial architecture, too (Unlike Thailand, which has never been colonized, Malaysia has been colonized by almost everyone.)

So, we've been hanging out in Penang. We checked out their big modern mall, but it has big modern, western prices to match. Today we went to the museum and learned about Malaysia's diverse cultural heritage, mostly. It hasn't actually been as peachy as they'd like you to believe. They don't mention the race riots in 1969. Nonetheless, it was good. Good and educational like.

Everyone here is really nice and the Indian food is fantastic.

Tomorrow we leave for Kuala Lumpur!

Sorry if these entries are a bit all over the place (and they are), but at least I get it done this way.

'Night, everyone.