About my last days in Asia

The last part of my journey through Asia

Penang

Again. The sticky and humid air surrounds me and gives me the feeling of being back “home” in Taiwan. But yet different, because now I am in Penang, where I never would have been without a friend of mine, Micha. He went there for one year and told me some nice stories about the people, food and especially the church he worked in. He made me so curious that I booked the flight from Tokyo. 

You may ask yourself why I decided to fly such a complicated route. Geographically it makes no sense, but this route is simply the cheapest one. So I landed in Penang and took a bus to Georgetown, the world heritage part of Penang. One difference I recognized immediately was that this country is a Muslim country. The women were wearing headscarves and it was the first time I saw mosques in Asia.

On my first day I explored Georgetown and all the beautiful old buildings. The hostel I stayed in was close to a district called “Little India” where they have awesome music and all kinds of the amazing Indian food. 
Because Tokyo was very cold I had to stay one day in the hostel with a fever. One of my worst situations, because the air conditioning didn’t work. But I had to get some food and that was the critical part. The weather was hot and humid, but that wasn't really a big issue. The traffic was more. Here in Germany we drive on the right side of the road. In Malaysia it is the other way round. So at a point around the afternoon I had to get out and grab something to eat... with fever, never a very good idea but I had the choice between a room without air conditioning and starving or leaving my place to get some food. Easy decision for me. On my way to my lunch I almost got killed two times. The fever made me dizzy and I wasn't paying attention to the left sided traffic. I always watched the wrong direction first and that almost cost my life twice. The first time I was almost ran over by a motocycle and the second time it didn't pay attention to a car. 
I was glad it only took one day to recover. Another day would have killed me. Literally. 


The next day I felt better and I decided to rent a scooter and visit the church Micha worked in. Yes, even though I was still not in the best mood I rent a scooter. Actually that was the first time I drove in left sided traffic. A weird situation at first but I got used to it very fast. 

Paul

Daniel

At the church I met Paul and Daniel, two other Germans. They introduced me to their daily program, what they do and I was able to join them for a couple events. Especially the sports ministry's event at one afternoon to a climbing wall was amazing. But even more was to hang out with the youth people from the church, because they showed me the local food and other nice places.

The local food is a lot different from any other food I tasted yet. You mostly will find soups with vegetables, seafood and rice, which doesn’t seem to be much different from Taiwan. But still it is. The soups in Penang were a lot hotter and the vegetables as well as the seafood is prepared different from the one in Taiwan. Or maybe they just use different vedgetables? I don't know. 

My recommendation is to try it by yourself if you have the chance. Curry Mee or Laksa are two of the most popular meals there and both are delicious!




Another recommendation I got, was the jungle.
The jungle in Penang is different from the one in Taiwan. It was more like a giant cooking pot. The trees and plants are so close, that no fresh air would ever blew through them. Then the sun was shining into the jungle and heating everything up. The moisture won't get out because of the giant plants, so it was unbelievable sticky and hot in there. It felt like you get slowly boiled. 
And you won't expect but I went there twice. The first time I spent two hours walking around and just hearing the different and beautiful noises of the jungle. Although it was incredible hot it was a bit like entering a magic and unknown world. 


The second time Paul and Rubern (another guy I met in Penang church) joined me to go jetskiing. We went one and a half hours to Monkey-beach (one way!!) to experience this. But every step we took was totally worth it for 15 minutes jetskiing. That was the first time we rode a jetski and it was exhausting but you are full of adrenaline, so you won't feel it until you get back to the shore. My legs burnt the next day.  

When I was got off Penang I was already tired of traveling. Going around Asia and see new things every day can be inspiring and exciting but at some point you have to process all the new stuff and I felt that it was too much and that I need some space to calm down. But at least I had one last city to discover.   

Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong late in the evening. And was killed by the huge buildings and the vibrant, overcrowded city. It took some time to find my accommodation. The location was good but the bed and bathroom were medium quality but okay. After all my experiences I didn't have a lot of demands and was only staying for three nights. 

Although I already felt tired of traveling, I had a good time in Hong Kong. I met two friends of mine, who I met in Taipei. They showed me around and we went for hiking. 

Hong Kong is a bit like Tokyo. Super large but you will find more history and old things like ships or markets in Hong Kong. Tokyo is the more modern and fancier city. Furthermore you will see a lot of rubbish in the streets and everything seems to be chaotic and inaccurate (if you can describe a city like this).

Even if both cities are large their population is totally different. The Japanese behavior has a lot of differences to the Chinese. The service is different. In Tokyo everyone is really polite and even on the street you can feel the modern way of living. In Hong Kong the people look different at you, but not in a bad way. I think this has to do something with history and the political situation. I went there only a few weeks after the huge demonstration led by students. 

But this was my experience. And as always, yours will be different. I like both cities but I would rather travel to Taipei if I have the money. 

THE END?

It was very interesting to see the different cultures within such a short time. I never expected something like this. But what can you expect in a situation like this? I had expectations when it came to myself. I expected that I am flexible and open minded enough to have a great time although rushing through four different countries within less than a month. And I discovered a lot about myself in that time.






And then I was suddenly back in Germany. Back with my family after five months full of new exiting things. A weird feeling. Everything is different but yet still the same. I am very thankful for that time and would like to end my last article about my time in Asia with a separate blog entry.

But for now:
Thank you!