We're forced to make the trek to the mall again today since we didn't get our errands done last time. So back we go, this time we have this fabulous synergistic thing where my navigation and George's quick-thinking at the wheel gets us to the mall without incident. I'm still not crazy about his driving here though. I know the roads are scary, but I wasn't afraid for my life when Joo Lee was driving us around.
What a crappy day. After absolutely ages of trying to find something else to spend our money on at the store with the playpen, we give up and buy another playpen. After that we head over the cell phone peeps to sign up for service. George has a guy there that he'll only deal with, because we can clearly understand him and he's very articulate in English. This takes much longer than expected and we end up closing out the mall uh-gain! I'm sick of this. On the plus side, I had some semi-authentic ramen noodles! For those of you who didn't know me growing up, ramen noodles were it for me as a kid and a teen. I LOVED them. Who knew that one day I'd be getting the real deal? Verdict? The soup was just as salty but didn't come in flavors. The noodles had a similar texture, only somehow fresher, but they weren't curly! The toppings were great. I had bean sprouts, green onions, and some kind of fried pork ribs which were really good. George had plain pork (as well as the sprouts and onions). I've noticed here that the fried things in general seem to have a lighter, crispier texture which I love. The fried spring rolls, for example, are becoming a favorite for me, but this pork was outstanding. And yes, we were at a fast-food chain, so I'm sure it's even better if I get it somewhere more authentic. For some reason there are a lot more bones and grizzly bits of meat in dishes here, and my pork has big bones in it. But I don't mind in this case -- they are ribs after all.
Day 9 - Sunday
I have declared today a mall-free day. And we're to do only fun, sight-seeing things so we can start enjoying our trip darn it! So I consult my new Penang travel book, and several of our maps (we keep picking up new ones in hopes of something more thorough to help us navigate this maze we're in.) We decide on the Snake Temple, because it's close and we like reptiles, and Kek Lok Si Temple because it is supposed to be the most exciting thing to see on this island. On the way there, we saw this guy.
File that under "Only in Penang!"When we pull up to the Snake Temple it's time for me to eat, and the only thing there is hawkers. So it's time to finally break down and get into some authentic Penang eats. It's really tasty, but a little spicy. I'm not sure what I'm having. I thought I was getting Hokkien Char, and I think I got something similar, but a soup version. George got Char Koay Teow, a kind of fried noodles. So maybe we have to learn to eat out here with the flies.
The Snake Temple is a HUGE waste of time. I still took a bunch of pictures though!
It's kind of a boring little temple, and they've thrown a couple of snakes near the alter (and I do mean couple).
There is an alter with food offerings for the snakes.At one time it used to be teeming with snakes, that time has passed.
And there is this annoying (yet somehow endearing) pushy guy walking us through and almost ordering us to make a donation. He then ushers us into another room where another guy is waiting to sell us a photo op with some pet snakes. We do it. Why not? Let's be silly tourists! They put a burmese python on us first. It wraps easily around both of us, but still strikes me as ultra small for a burmese python. They (and anacondas) are the absolute monsters of the snake world. I guess it's young. For the second photo, they go to put some pit vipers on George's head. George jumps away because he's been told that the majority of the snakes in the temple are venomous, these dudes included, but the guy laughs and says the photo vipers have been defanged. Okaaaaayyyyy, if you say so. So one goes on his head, and one on mine. And we have our silly photos.
Meanwhile, a guy with a pretty hefty video camera is capturing our antics. George asks him why when we're done. Are they trying to sell us videos now? The guy says he's with CNN doing a bit on Malaysia and can we sign releases to use the footage. He's supposed to email us if he does use it. We'll keep you posted. Maybe then you all can watch George jump away from the snake guy too. It was pretty comical.Regin has his turn with the snakes too.
In the back, there is a little garden.
We walk through, and then head next door to a "snake farm" which is less interesting than some reptile shops we've been to.
But they have a king cobra which is pretty sweet. (The CNN guy also thinks so.)
They also have lots of chained up monkeys.
One of them climbs me as I am taking photos. (Don't worry, after that and snake handling, I wipe sanitizer all over.) The monkeys are sad and pining. They are so strange to look at. They really are so like humans. But these guys are itty bitty.
I'm not sure what this snake is, but it's huge, and it is currently digesting a big monitor lizard (not sure what size this one was, but monitors get up to 7 feet long!)
Then we leave the Snake Temple and head for the Kek Lok Si Temple....The rest of Sunday's adventures in the next post!
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