Goodbye Perhentians, Hello Penang!

Photos of the Perhentian Island babies: the darling monkey baby in the rafters of the restaurant. And the other of a baby Monitor Lizard on our front lawn. The next two show the resort and how it is plunked on the beach with nothing but thick, virgin jungle all around it.

Arrived in Penang after a long Banana van ride with 5 Germans and two Americans--all very pleasant people.
Penanag is gorgeous--The Pearl of the Orient--to be sure. Jungle covered mountains and hills in the middle of the ocean. Georgetown is a wonderful mix of typical old Malaysia (almost Caribbean looking with their one story and two story wooden buildings in shades of pastels) with stunning colonial era buildings mixed in.
Our hotel is Huge with a great gym and fitness classes, a giant pool with a waterfall, many top notch restaurants and sweeping 360 o views of Penang. It will be interesting to be surrounded by many Buddhists here in Penang.
Three women were recently caned in Kuala Lumpur--two for extramarital sex and one for drinking beer!!!
Wow--Glee on TV is just singing Iz's "Over the Rainbow"--reminds me much of KW :)
I am resting in our Penang room while PJ checks out his conference.
Yesterday I was stricken with a nasty bacterial infection in my intestines. I felt pretty rough and spent the afternoon flat out in bed in our Perhentian Chalet. I started a dose of Cypro and feel much improved now. However, the van ride here was touch and go at some points.
It is hard to say goodbye to the Perhentians. Where else on earth is there absolutely nothing to do but become one with the sea? There was no night entertainment, no music playing, no bars, no TVs, no snack food what so ever. Breakfast never before 7, lunch at 12:30-2:30, dinner never before 7:30 pm. In between nothing to eat.
So you spend your days not wasting time on trivial pursuits such as snacking and watching teli, drinking beer etc. Instead you completely become ZEN. Peter spent many hours simply floating off our beach in starfish position in his sunglasses. He did that for hours! The sea is filled with more excitement than one can imagine--so one can snorkel, kayak, dive or starfish.
Every morning we had our "free" breakfast buffet at our resort in the outdoor restaurant (everything is outdoor on the Perhentians except the sleeping chalets). Lunch and supper: Peter and I would stroll down the Island, through many beaches and around the tip to eat at either Mama's or Coral view.
Oh how I miss that simple, simple tropical dream!
I had a weird experience yesterday morning. I was sitting on the beach in my bikini as Peter "starfished" and a Malaysian guy stood right beside me and got his friend to take his picture (he was pretending to point at the jetty but it was obvious he just wanted a shot of him with some woman in a bikini). He finally got up the courage to ask if he could take a picture of himself with me. I said sure, so he sat down right smack beside me on my towel and put his arm around me. His friend from down the beach rushed in and sat on the other side of me--and there you have it, the three of us posing for a photo session-- me  in my bikini and huge floppy hat, sandwiched between two guys with cigarettes in hand. They thanked me afterward and shook my hand lol.
Weird things about Malaysia: the plastic. They package their chips, toothbrushes, laundry detergent--you name it, it comes in typical looking plastic packaging. But try to open a bag of their chips--sure they want you to buy them but no one in Malaysia gives a damn if you can actually eat them or use whatever is inside of the wrap! It is super, indestructable, unopenable plastic.
Sugar--the Malays love it. The pop is syrup and their chips not only are salted but they are sugared too.
Missing my girls hugely! I can never last more than a week without profoundly missing my baby girls XOXOX.