Penang Shophouse

Penang Shophouse, originally uploaded by jonolist.

At home now, but i wish i was back in there, my other home and i would tell everyone "I'm back in Melaka (or Penang)".

Just like my birth home i have a love/hate relationship with them. There are things that you hate and there are things that make you just wanna go back and do it over again.

I don't understand why you must pay 20sen to most toilets in bus terminals when their cleanliness is so #@453ing good they put rubbish dumps to shame. I don't understand why taxis especially in KL have a meter (and a "bermeter" sign on top) and yet still charge fixed rates that are all out to rip you off. "yes i know there's a traffic jam up ahead, its there everyday everyhour and i know every taxi driver will try to charge me the same price (and rip me off along the way)" It doesn't mean that we have a 2.24 exchange rate (sometimes 2.26) that everything you sell to us can be divided by two and be deemed as cheap, so stop selling me overpriced biscuits.

but then you see the sights and colour like these along the way that pull you back in and makes me remember why its worth leaving home for. That and the people you meet, like the Indian caretaker at the guesthouse in Penang who discussed soccer back in the old days while watching AFC: Indonesia vs Saudi Arabia (Indo should have won!) . Decent cab drivers who offer you suggestions on dodgy looking guesthouses with names like "Banana" or weird goldfinding expeditions in Penang's Botanical Gardens (which i'll never figure out). Or the odd expressions they give when they find out that behind this botak sun burnt slightly mat looking boy is actually a Singaporean, my i-never-knew-i-had-an-accent english and half-baked chinese giving my fake "i'm from KL look" away.

Would i go back there again? Like after my many trips there , i'll respond a resounding yes. Even if it means being harassed by dodgy bus ticket sellers in Puduraya or visiting another "the biggest temple/masjid in Malaysia" let down waste of cab fare structure because back there is a home that is always full of pleasant surprises and lovely people........i can go on about this love hate but i so need to stop this entry before it ends up being a "Malaysia Truly Asia" tourism ad