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Malaysia

Wrapping up life in Penang

  1. First day in Penang, Malaysia
  2. Settling in – To work in Penang
  3. Weekend trip to Singapore
  4. Wrapping up life in Penang
  5. Beach hopping in Phuket, Thailand…
  6. Thailand – Ko phi phi & Krabi
  7. 12m cliffjump in Phi Phi Laguna, Thailand

It’s been a while but Penang has been keeping me busy. Usually I go out every night – either for a bit of food, to smoke a shisha or just for a pint. This means I’m kinda tired in the evenings and just end up watching netflix and falling asleep. The last two weeks of my stay I’ve been working a little later than usual and I’ve been answering emails (working) to get the last work done before finishing the project I was assigned.

In the weekends I usually travel myself somewhere (Langkawi, Singapore) or as in the case of the last weekend I had two friends, Grace and Marilyn, visiting from Singapore. I was also home in Europe one week (including two weekends) so I’ve been kept busy!

Life itself is starting to settle in. There was a period after about a month where you kinda have seen the most obvious places and where everything stops being super exciting but you don’t really have any good friends that you can always call up and have a chat with as they are all going about their own lives as well. But after two months you’ve seen the same faces a couple of times and you start to get an actual friendship going which is nice. Unfortunately now it’s time to leave. I’d imagine that given 6 months in Penang I’d start to feel almost at home.

Settling in to a new place
Settling in to a new place

Sorry about my less than amazing MS Paint skills. Strangely enough I haven’t really had this problem although I’ve been on long term abroad stays before. I guess the vast difference in culture just gets to you – you don’t even know how to order food or what you’re supposed to do at night. My colleagues from work made everything a lot easier though and took me out to do stuff which was very appreciated!

But on a more positive note I’m gonna miss Penang until I’m back around 22. september as I’ve really started to grow fond of the place. I’ve also taken a liking to Moto-bike riding which is like a scooter in Denmark but they go over 100km/t and there are virtually no laws when you are on one – so it’s nothing like at home 🙂 If I were to stay longer I would definitely buy one.

I also had my 30th birthday and was celebrated by all my friends here and even the Hotel staff 🙂

Also, Shaun you British wanker, I’ll be seeing you around

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So I finally finished project Friday the 28. and september 2. I was on the way to Phuket! This flight marks the beginning of a 3 week vacation around south east asia and I have no idea where I’ll end up going but Borneo, Redang, Perhentian, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Bali and even Sydney are good choices.

Till next time Penang!
/Andreas

First day in Penang, Malaysia

  1. First day in Penang, Malaysia
  2. Settling in – To work in Penang
  3. Weekend trip to Singapore
  4. Wrapping up life in Penang
  5. Beach hopping in Phuket, Thailand…
  6. Thailand – Ko phi phi & Krabi
  7. 12m cliffjump in Phi Phi Laguna, Thailand

First day in Penang

… which means that once again I’m on an adventure and the reason behind this trip is work. 2 weeks in Malaysia, 1 week in Denmark, and 2 months in Malaysia. This post will be short as I’m tired (jetlagged).

I left Denmark yesterday morning (local time) and arrived safely today also in the morning. I got picked up in the airport by a chaueffeur that had a tag with my name on it. This is a first for me. It is also the first time for me in south-east asia so everything is very exciting.

I checked in to my 2 story suite and promptly fell asleep. I needed the sleep as I had only slept for about 3-4 hours scattered across various timezones  and planes. I woke up about two hours later, took a shower and ventured out to see the local malaysian life.

Everything was very quiet. Maybe it’s because it was 3pm and everyone was working, or maybe it’s because it’s a muslim country and Ramadan is happening. I don’t know. What I do know is that I got a very delicious course that Emily, the waitress, suggested. Forgive my ignorance but i think what I got was Pho phan (which translates into pho noodles, where pho is a river) which is called that because the dish looks like a river 🙂 I also recieved very fresh double orange juice. All for the total of 8 ringgit, or about $2. Come to think of it, she just asked for $1?

I managed quite well with spoon and chopsticks. Apparently you just put the spoon under the chopsticks so as to both being able to stuff food into your mouth really quickly but also so that any spill from the chopsticks doesn’t fall back into the soup and splatters your clothes. It really helped learning that and my clothes are clean 🙂  I also came to learn the story of how she was a student in structural engineering for 2 years in Malaysia when she was young and was supposed to go to England to finish her degree but because her mother got sick they couldn’t afford it. 6 months later her mother died and she has been working in a restaurant ever since. She is over 70 now although she looks much younger.

I also learned from the security guard at the hotel that food is “puta” or something like that. Nice to know 🙂

Now it’s 6pm and I have to prepare for first day at work in Malaysia tomorrow.

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/Thor