Malaysia Truly Asia

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Pre-tourist Mode Ok, we have booked Penang last year. It only cost each of us Php 380 (Philippine pesos) for a roundtrip ticket bound to Penang (originating from KL), and vice versa. Emyu did the reservation, and our ultimate problem was our round trip ticket to Kuala Lumpur. Emyu made a reservation for me, Honey, Rowanie, Karen and herself. Then early this year, Jemi was able to avail of Cebu Pacific’s seat sale to KL. Jemi was kinda determined to join us – despite the fact that she has been traveling across the globe for free… Came May, Jemi realized she needed to renew her passport, and that she only had like less than a month to do that, then she got sick… so, of the 6 tourists, 5 were still ok… then came June, Karen left for LAX. :) She did not tell us face-to-face but there… so, as the dates drew nearer, slowly, people became pretty unsure if they could join… Rowanie, suddenly, had a case to handle which was in the court of appeals… so these made us wonder if the Malaysia adventure would push through… anyways, finally, the three of us (Emyu and Honey) pursued the trip…. Pre-flight Adventures Came June 15… me and Emyu would be coming from Ortigas, and our flight was at around 830 pm… I was in a panic mode then, since I left the office at around 530pm. Emyu and I decided to take the MRT and ride the airport shuttle – this will help us save time. So we met on the last station. I knew that there was a shuttle but did not know how it really works. :P So, when we finally reached the terminal, a familiar coaster was somehow leaving the terminal and we hailed it. Me and the driver were giving hand signals… He was raising his three fingers (which I thought was, there’s still room for three passengers), and I gave him a hand sign raising my two fingers (trying to tell him that there will be two of us riding…)… well despite the crazy hand signals, I realized that the three fingers he was telling was that the coaster was bound to terminal 3 (our terminal)… :P Hehehe this made me giggle. :P So, came Terminal 3. We were about to go down, when we realized that we needed to pay… So I asked the guy beside me of how, much the fee was, and he said that it was 20 pesos… I had my 20 pesos ready, while emyu was looking for hers. And the lady passenger made pasuyo of her payment. :P so another reason for me to smile. Then we had our dinner and all. It was then time to face the immigration officer. The weird thing about facing this power-tripping immigration officer is that they would just harass you just because… anyways, since I did not have my own copy of ticket, the immigration officer asked me for the copy of my ticket… I had to bug emyu pa of the ticket. :P Pero oks lang, because after showing him that, we were on our way na. :) Kuala Lumpur Airport So, we arrived at around 1130 pm in KL. We were excited to look for a place where we can hang-out… instead, what we encountered were coffee shops and fast food chains, operating on a 24 hour basis, closed due to required pesticide application among the stores… well we ended up in a local-coffee shop… where the coffee tasted good. :) The crew were also nice. :) Penang Bus Line We arrived in Penang at around 7am I guess. We needed to ride a bus going to Georgetown… we did. But the first bus we hailed did not take us because we did not have any coins. We needed 10 sen… and the driver did not have any coins to change us, thus, he refused having us as passengers. We learned our lesson fast. The next train we had, we told the driver that we would not bother getting the change for our 20 sen. We had a smooth ride. :) Then, we reached Komtar – our first destination before reaching our place... Inside the terminal, we saw a number of bus routes… since we seemed to be confused we decided to look for a policeman. The policeman, who also noticed us, called us, and asked us where our destination would be. We told him that we wanted to reach Penang Road, particularly, Muntri since that’s where Ryokan Hotel is. He told us to take a hike, and gave us a simple direction… he told us to cross the street before us, and on the second street we turn left, then turn right on the first block – that would be the Penang Road. Jalan Penang To our delight, we reached the Penang Road. The road (and other) signs sounded like Pinoy… take for example Jalan, its equivalence to the Filipino language is Dalan – a visayan term. Oh yeah, Lelake (is Lalaki)… and CR is Tandas. Muntri We arrived in our hotel safely (Ryokan). The guy in the frontdesk seemed to be strict (which is OK)… then someone from the hotel staff approached us named Nomi. He’s a Pakistani, whom I thought was a gay. He was mahinhin, so I did not take him as a threat at first. He was quite hospitable, he said that he had a number of Filipino friends. :) After arriving in our room, Emyu and I decided to take a brunch… we were a bit hungry. We went outside to look for a place to eat, then we came across this hotel that still serves breakfast. Ken, the guy from that particular hotel, asked us how much we were paying in Ryokan… he even convinced us to look for a place where we can stay… there were places that seemed to be cheaper than the one where we were at… Emyu decided to go back to the hotel to get her camera… while I was alone in the table, a guy approached me. He introduced himself as Josh – a Pinoy-based in Indonesia. He said he was kind of bored since he got to talk to no one. He was in Penang since Monday (we arrived at Thursday), and that he needed someone to talk to. So I welcomed the chitchat. When Emyu came, I introduced Josh to Emyu. We invited him to join us as we explore the place, and he accepted our invitation… we told him that we would just be taking a nap. :) 1st Day High in Penang So, we toured around the Lovelane, China St., and other nearby streets. Our first stop was the Lovelane. We wanted to have a photo with the popular street. We did. :) We just had our own adventure in posing for that popular street… A number of tourists actually posed beside the street… then we noticed a group of three Chinese (or Korean or Japanese) tourists… I asked them if they wanted their photos to be taken, and they said yes… then we noticed this group of locals on the side trying not to bother us – we signalled them that they can pass the lane… instead of them passing, they mistakenly took our signal as posing beside the three Chinese tourists. I can not help but giggle- realizing that there was a lost in translation thing happened along the way. :) Then we reached the Penang State Museum. Josh posed crazily infront of the Museum. I did not capture it. :P Keber. Anyways, when we got in… I was in a playful mood. :) Honey went ahead of us. Then I followed, knowing that Emyu was at the back, I acted as though I was swiping the ticket on the entrance… Emyu saw what I did, and she asked if she was to swipe the ticket, and I said yes… the usherette said no, and I told her not to tell her. :) So, we ended laughing again. Then on our way up, I overheard Josh telling Honey, “Honey, you’re wet...” I giggled… then Josh continued by saying “Or say it in another way, Honey you’re wet na…” this made me approached Emyu, and told her this. We were laughing non-stop inside the museum. :) Emyu was not certain if she heard Josh right, and I just confirmed that she heard the same thing. :) We were laughing because Josh and Honey were introduced for less than an hour, and Josh felt too comfortable already with her. Honey is known to be maldita, and we were not sure how she reacted. :) After the museum, we went to see Little India… and ate somewhere in Komtar. :) Then headed back to our hotels. We just took an hour rest, and had some drinks in a bar – where Josh kinda opened up about his life. He mentioned about an ex whose son is named after him. He said that he was a runaway groom… etc. :) I tasted my salty margarita in Penang… :) 2nd Day in Penang The 2nd day was spent touring in the other side of the City without Josh. We were looking for Victoria’s clock… we found it. We also found Kopitan, a nice local café. The streets were nice. We got to see places accidentally… We got to see their local municipal hall. We tried exploring the by-the-sea night market, but, we were kinda scared since someone seemed to be stalking us. We decided to go back to the mainstreet – Jalan Penang. We ate at the Red Garden – I tried some Indian food (curry?) I guess. Then we saw a young waitress who was I think drunk already because her customers would ask her to drink. Infact, she had this mapupungay na mata. What was weird about this girl was she approached our table, and began talking to me. Emyu, Honey and Josh were teasing me – they told me that I tend to pick people up without me knowing. When we arrived in the hotel… they decided to drink. So we did. I was not really a beer drinker, I did not finish my beer. Josh, kinda opened up the topic, about him. He said that he was in a relationship for 14 years, and that the girl whom he thought he would marry had an affair with other guys. He also revealed that he already had a son. After that he asked me something, and I told him my life is boring. He then began chatting with Honey, then Nomi approached me. He told me to get my camera. I thought all the while that he wanted me to take photos of him, then I realized, he wanted photos of him and me together… so when I started feeling uncomfortable… I approached Emyu and Honey… I told them not to leave me… The three of them began teasing me – they told me that I tend to pick-up lots of people. I told them that I thought Nomi was gay thus I did not have any reservations. Well, they were infact on the verge of blaming me. I told them, I did not do anything bad… After that encounter with Nomi, things changed the way I dealt with him. Well, it was Josh’s last night of hanging out with us… as we were saying our