good-bye, Penang! (not edited)
Hsuan should have left to work at 5:45, so I woke up 10min before that, but she was still sleeping. I waited for a while and then I knocked at her door to wake her up. Now, she of course was in a hurry and we said only shortly good-bye, partly also, because we had planned to meet after her work in Alor Setar. Her mum had prepared breakfast for me and her dad was sleeping. Her mum helped me to get the bike from the parking to the apartment, so I could pack directly from their door on my bike and additionally had not to go up three levels in the parking with the fully packed bike, what would have been my original plan, because she showed me the right way to street level.
Now we said good-bye vicarious for the whole family and I left.
Compared to my route on mainland so far, Penang offers some hills, and Mr.G brought me to a higher one. But after that I always was between 5m and 50m over sea-level until I arrived in Alor Setar.
On the ferry, a man started talking to me. He is Malayan and said “the” Chinese dominate business and they do it by bribing. He sees no privilege of the Malayans. So, everyone has his/her own truth and things are complicated as always…
Today, the Gopro didn’t work and I made no video and only a few photos. This means less work but also less memories (or reminders).
But it was not too much especially new and I try to avoid photographing every view I enjoy…
Today, I bought a coconut drink and before that I was double-invited:
A guy on a motorcycle first gave me some typical Malaysian cookies and then, he additionally bought corn with sweet milk at a street shop for me. After a selfie, he left, but when I wanted to buy something to drink and wanted to pay the 3RM, the two elder women said it is free.
We made some jokes with the similar words 3 and free, but in the end, I was not allowed to pay.
When I was near to Alor Setar, received a message from Hsuan that she cannot meet, but she established contact to Maggie (who was also one of those 4 Malaysian students I 2013 had hosted).
We only had one hour to meet and that was mainly dinner and showing some photos and a little talking and then I went back to my Motel. This motel, I had booked by “Agoda” and because of some discount on the anyway cheap price, it was only 35RM, less than 10$. For that money, you get a room and a shared bathroom, and as there are not too many guests, this is good.
On the way, I bought Hydrogen Peroxide, because as sometimes, I again had managed to bite my lip and when it swells, I bite it there once or twice more. And it was a big exception that so far it had not inflamed to an Aphthous stomatitis, but this time, it did and H2O2 is the best remedy in that case.
Then I tried to call my mother as my Malaysian SIM card still had credit and I leave to Thailand tomorrow and for the first time (after Georgia, Armenia and Iran) it worked. It was not a long call, just some exchange of news and one was that she had heard/seen a concert with my friend Martin Gellner as conductor and she had enjoyed it.
Later, I bought canned Kaya, because the other one had a too short expiring date to bring it to China ?
In Alor Setar, there is a tower (telecommunication, observatory and tourism purposis) that I photographed by daylight and by night with and without flash.
Chose what you prefer 🙂
