Trip to Penang, Malaysia  -  Spring Break 2008

David and I were lucky enough to get to travel to Penang, Malaysia for our spring break.  Why Penang, you may ask?  Well, really two reasons.  1.  Get out of Thailand for Songkran.  (It's really crazy.)  2.  It was a cheap destination that we'd never been to before.  Well, other than both of us getting sick with sinus problems, it really was a great trip.  The hotel lobby we stayed in was completely filled with smoke (Apparently the ban on indoor smoking hasn't reached Malaysia yet...) so David and I both ended up having sinus trouble and getting colds.  Not fun, really.  But otherwise, we had fun.

Our first "excursion" was on the local bus to see the world record Toy Museum.  It was filled with action figures and more action figures.  Some of them were really cool.  The Star Wars collection was quite large, including a talking Boba Fett hanging from the ceiling that proceeded to scare David.  Therefore, our trip to the Toy Museum was quite short-lived.

The next day, we made it to the aquarium.  Admission, 5 Ringit for Lowell and 2 Ringit for David.  Taxi ride, round trip:  70 Ringit.  Wow.  The aquarium was actually quite nice for its size.  It was no Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It was no Seattle Aquarium.  It was no Vancouver Aquarium.  But it was far better than the Morro Bay Aquarium.  Trust me on that one.  We had a grand time checking out the fish.

The next day, we managed to catch a "Disney on Ice" production at the Penang International Sports Arena.  We had fun, but David started feeling sick this day, so after the show we headed straight back to the hotel and David just about slept the rest of the day.  Of course, I felt fine at this point and was bored out of my mind.  Thankfully, I took a few books with me and caught up on some reading.

And what do you know, the next day, David starts feeling better, and now I was sick with sinus trouble.  I blame David, as he got his cold first.  But truth be told, we were both doomed in the land of the smoky lobby.

So most of the next week was filled with lying around the pool and watching TV in our hotel room.  Neither one of us felt like doing much exciting.  Well, with one exception.  We made a trip to the Penang Butterfly Farm.  This was well worth the trip.  It was a really beautiful facility filled with lots of butterflies, and a few surprises.  (See the pictures to get an idea of what I'm talking about.)

So this isn't going to be one of my classic "try to be funny" trip write-ups.  Sorry.  But Penang is an interesting place.  It has a really diverse population, with Thai, Chinese, Indian and Malay all living quite peacefully together.  Hmm...now there's a thought:  People from multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds all peacefully coexisting.  In Penang, Malaysia.  Who'd of guessed that?

And some pictures from our stay in Penang.  Click on the image to enlarge.