From Tokyo Part 5 to Malaysia, Day 1

Tokyo, Day 4 (So doesn't count as a day)
So day 1 was traveling from the airport to the hotel and going to sleep and day 4 was packing at about 3am to be ready for the 6:50 bus to the airport. So you can see why I say that we only really had two days there, and they are over now. Sayonara Tokyo!

FLIGHT TO SINGAPORE
Another long flight. 7 hours. This time it's difficult to watch movies at all since Regin is particularly fussy almost the whole flight. I did some walking back and forth to calm him, but the only remedy at times was nursing in the bathroom. Ok, ok, I am a little modest. Even so, I had nursed off and on throughout the flight to Tokyo in my seat. But that was more private. Then, we had the window-aisle seats, this time we had middle seats and I was sitting right next to a stranger (a man), and if I nursed in my seat, not only would I have to bare my boob to this guy, but Regin's legs would be hanging out in his lap due to insufficient nursing space. So... bathroom, yucky as it is, is where the nursing went down. But I still managed to make it through Atonement eventually. Huh! Not the movie I thought it would be.

SINGAPORE AIRPORT
Oh my gosh we have like 40 minutes to get off the plane, run across the airport, get through any kind of customs, and board our flight to Penang. And that's till our flight takes off. We're told now that they actually close that gate 20 minutes before departure. AHHHHHH!!!! First of all, we can't get off the plane quickly because we're not exactly near the front, second, there is this whole stroller fiasco and we have to wait for someone to go down to cargo, and casually carry it up to me. I then have to unwrap it since they have kindly gift-wrapped it in a ton of plastic, then we have to catch a train to the other terminal (meanwhile I'm annoyed with George who left me and Regin in his dust as he sped off the plane without us. Grrr.) Thank goodness customs was pretty much non-existent and security was quick. We just barely made it to our plane with no time for potty or food break.

FLIGHT TO PENANG
Hilarious. The flight is so short that the crew barely has time to serve a snack & drinks, and the plane only just reaches cruising altitude before beginning its decent. I never even have the chance to use the bathroom on the plane since there isn't ever really a time when we're good to move about the plane.

PENANG AIRPORT
I can't believe we're actually here. Oh my gosh I am so tired. I want to sleep a thousand days and nights, but I still can't just yet. So I will take care of one other urgent need: the bathroom. Oh what a crushing disappointment after Tokyo! Tokyo's potties were pristine pretty much anywhere you went. And they were high tech. Almost all of them had bidets in them, and some of them, and these are public toilets we're talking about, have a button you can push to make a flushing sound so you can be a bit more modest while using the pot! Compare that to Penang. Ugh. The airport potties smelled like a porta-potty on a hot day, and they didn't look much better. Good luck with things like toilet paper here, and also, good luck finding a toilet you can sit on. Most of them are squatty-potties, a.k.a. a hole in the floor. I know I'm a Miss Priss for this, but I just can't go there, or I haven't been desperate enough yet. I did it as a kid in Italy, and it shouldn't be a big deal, but every time I find myself in a squatty stall, the urge to go magically disappears.

After the potty I re-enter the airport world, and... it's kind of sad. It's hot and muggy, and the place is kind of run down and worn out, and is in sharp contrast with the pristine modernity of Japan. Maybe it was a mistake to go to Japan before coming here.

A couple months ago we met a Miami family currently living in Penang, and the mom, Carmen, was kind enough to meet us at the airport with her driver (yes, she has a driver, a maid, and a cook) to escort us to our hotel. How nice! She tells me I am going to love living here, it's her favorite place to live, and there are only two downsides: the toilets, and the traffic. Traffic here is NUTS (in giant, capital letters). Here, the lines that mark the limits of the lanes are really just recommendations. People hang out in two lanes and are otherwise in a constant state of lane-changing. Meanwhile, a thousand buzzing mopeds are weaving in and around all of the cars, sometimes crossing onto the other side of the road if they feel like it (seen cars do this too), and all of this is going on on the left side of the road! I'm not even going to get into how these matters are complicated by how difficult the streets are to navigate, that's a whole nother story.

We arrive at the hotel in one piece (well, three, plus ten pieces of luggage, one car seat, and one stroller) and though Carmen is kind enough to offer to take us to eat, we're beyond beat and we want nothing more than sleep.

Cut to:
PENANG -- INTERIOR, HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT
Elisabeth, George, and baby Regin enter their extended-stay hotel apartment and unload all their junk in the dining room. A musty smell hangs in the air. They collapse on the disgustingly ugly furniture and order room service. Elisabeth plops her feet up on the coffee table and looks at her feet. She leans closer.

Cut to:
INTERIOR, HOTEL ROOM -- COFEE TABLE -- CLOSE UP
Tens of tiny ants are crawling all over the coffee table. Looking down at the floor is much of the same.

ELISABETH
(with disgust)
This place is completely infested with ants!

Not only that, but there is a friendly (though shy and quick to hide) lizard living in the curtains. We switched rooms a day or so later for a room with internet. No smell, and seemingly no ants. But they eventually follow us. The bell hop must have brought them in with our luggage, because they are here now and they are absolutely everywhere. Whatever. Sleep Please!

OUR FIRST REAL DAY IN PENANG
Yay! We're here! I'm up early awake, at like 5am. Still slightly jet-lagged. At 6 or 6:30, though it is still pitch black outside, I have my first taste of the new culture I am in. A muslim prayer call comes through speakers around the city. You can hear it 5 times a day if you are paying attention. At 6 in the morning, it's about all there is to pay attention to.


More soon...