Back at 75 Travelers Lodge

8:30 pm, and feeling in an easy way. Did a good bout of exploring and touring Penang Island today, and looking to fill the gullet.

Hooked up with a 'tour' group by waking up early and just walking down the stairs and giving the guy at the desk 55RM. About 10 minutes later Chan showed up with one of those tiny little cars looking like a mini cooper, was more expecting a bus, but eh, this could be better - more personal. The family of three from Jakarta Indonesia gave up the front seat for me and packed in the back, Mr. Choi, and I assume his wife and daughter. Apparently they didn't know English (except for the daughter which I found out later in the day), and I started feeling jipped on the main buying point for this tour - which of course - is that it would be in English. Thought about calling the whole thing off after Chan and Mr. Choi would be going on and on about stuff - just the inconsequential stuff I wanted to babble about. When your in a place like this you begin to really cherish opportunities to communicate about nothing.
However, maybe sensing the obvious (or maybe a little overreacting), Chan made a solid point to clue me on anything of worthy of interest.
- went up Penang Hill - tourist attraction, rail car going up a mountain on a cable at a serious pitch.
- went to a Chinese Temple
- went to the Botanical Gardens: finally ate Jack Fruit, which was pretty great. Learned the Queen of Fruits in Mangosteeen, and King of Fruits in Durian.
- drank the best coffee since Laos and bought some white coffee for 25 RM
- Ate quite possibly the best chinese food since being in Asia
- drank the best coffee since Laos and bought some white coffee for 25 RM
- went to the ThaiBuddhist Temple
- went to the Burmese Buddhist Temple
( some really good pictures)

Got back from the tour around 2, walked to 75 Travelers, asked about how to get the Fruit Farm, and turned right around and headed up to Chulia street to find a bus. Ended up who knows where, had to catch a connection bus somehow, first bus drops me off 1/2 mile away from where I need to be, but finally met a dude who set me straight but would have to wait a bit. In the mean time he cracked up a Durian and finally got to try that for the first time today too.... awful. Some people said that its smells terrible (which is true), but tastes great ( nope, tastes terrible too).

After waiting a bit, finally saw the bus, waved it, and watched it speed by. Walked the 1/2 mile back to Taman Negara Panang, National Park at Panang, at hike the coastal trail to Monkey Beach for hour plus. Saw some gigantic monitor lizards, and a bunch of monkeys who were trying to stare me down.

Once back out of the trails, commented to the staff about the big black cat statue they had on the hill. After looking at me funny, I repeated the question to the person see decided to look at for help. He confirmed to me that there is indeed black panthers in the park, of which, he has seen twice with is own eyes. Finally being able to put some other rumors to rest I had a pretty definitive source on my hand: Mustafa. Mustafa, park ranger, has also seen Bengal Tigers swimming Tama Negara Pahang ( 130 million year old rain forest jungle - as old if not older than the Amazon). He has also added confirmation in the Cobra story told from Apex on Tioman Island. Cobra can stand 5 ft tall and indeed get to 10 meters in length. The only difference in story is that this would have to be the King Cobra(brownish/yellow), not the black cobra. Could have been a lost in translation error on my part on this point however. As for the Anaconda story that the massage guy, Danny told be about, Mustafa said that there are now Anaconda's in Malaysia. So I guess the Danny's story about the Anaconda that had to be shot because it had a guys head in its mouth, and the one about the the towns people capturing a 15 meter one, would have had to be python instead....

Other animals here:
Elephant trunk snake, only lives in water, apparently its body is to soft and it is unable to ply the land.
Ant Eater.
Rhinoceros, albeit a slightly smaller version, and a smaller type of horn structure.
Mouse Deer - yep exactly like it sounds!
Wild Elephants
? - some monkey thing with huge arms that has to constantly live in the trees, cant stand on solid ground otherwise.
? - some tough looking water buffalo thing.
Leopard cat
Bear Cat - yet again here.
and some more that can't recall here, but equally if not more amazing.

Talked to Mustafa a bit and organized a fishing trip tomorrow at five with him, me and his friend. I managed to get Mustafa on board with this one after learning that the fishing boat guy didn't quite no a lick of English. Somehow being in the middle of the Straits of Malacca in probably a rinky dink boat, unable to communicate with the captain, didn't seem as great of a time. Maybe slightly hosed on the price, 80 Rm, maybe not, but seemingly got things running on my terms by the end of it, so pretty good deal.

Tomorrow I'll try to make it to the Snake Temple, see some cobs ( short for cobras), and other death laded creatures. Then try to make it Fruit Farm for a tour and a smorgasbord, and then completely the clockwise circle around Pedang Island back at Taman Negara for the night fishing.

Other news:
--Southern Thailand is in the shits. Apparently 3500 people have been killed in unrest since 2004. Still piecing the story together here. Something between the Muslim south wanting some sort of autonomy. Two days ago some type of militants stormed into a mosque with service in order and sprayed the congregation with automatic weapons. Killed 12, critically wounded about the same number. Now yesterday, a Muslim a suppose thinking the government was behind this, went and shot up some public works employee's killing a woman and dropping a note that said something to the effect the "you have killed innocent people, now revenge had to come"... Sure I'll have some more to say on this topic. As for me, this happening in Narathiwat, I should have no problem going up the west side and leaving this madness to the east.

--Saw two more Muslim women today in the complete black gowns, one even with the eye slit covered with the black screen thing so you can't see in. Apparently, as Chan my guide says, these people are from Saudia Arabia. I don't think this conclusion comes from the gowns alone, but that maybe the Saudia's are the only Middy east country that wears these and can afford to go on vacation. Chan says that Malaysia being a Muslim country and it being maybe 15 degrees Celsius cooler, the saudi's come to vacation during their summer months. Quite a surreal sight to actual see these women in person. Must be quite hot in there...


Tonight out to find some Malay food, hopefully some Mee Yun, and then toss back some go down easy's...so much easier to sleep in a stuffy, sticky hot room after a couple a cold brewsker.