Thinking Allowed: Penang and good-bye KL

The week we spent in Penang made me slightly regretful that we didn't get to explore some of Malaysia's more out of the way spots. City life definitely has many advantages and we were all very glad for the social scene in KL, but to really get to know a country, the smaller cities and towns and natural areas offer a better glimpse. Penang was part of the network of small British power islands. The British created a trade hub on Penang in the late 1700's, much before Hong Kong became a major player. The new trade importance of the island attracted Chinese and Indian merchants and labourers. Penang only became part of Malaysia after world war 2. It was fun to get to explore a place steeped with both history and food culture but also home to primary rainforest (the British interest was trade not logging) and beaches. Over the week we explored the historic core, walked old clan piers, went to a science fair, hiked Penang hill, played at a theme park in the jungle, went to parks, ate, and of course swam and studied.

Tova has a lot to say about one part of our visit so here she goes:

Escape was very very very fun and there were lots of things to do. One of them which I think was the funnest is the trapeze you had to do the small trapeze first which is just you swing out hook your knees on the bar hang by your knees put your hands back and hang by your arms and then let go and do a backflip but nobodys backflips were ever that great except for mamas. Once you had done the small one if they said you were good enough you could do the sow which is the same thing just on a higher one and another person catches your hands. Another really fun thing was a water slide it was called the longest because it was the longest it was over a kilometer long and was very fun! Another thing that was fun was to go under the tipping bucket because it was the biggest in the world so it made a big wave. Another thing that I am happy I did but was only alright was the zipline it is the longest one in the world people say but I thought someone could have made it longer. There were lots more fun things to but it would take to long to tell you them.

And then with a final week in KL for a last exam our time in Malaysia came to an end. The bustling urban life of KL took awhile to get used to and we are all glad for a change towards more nature, but, the city still won our hearts and the girls say they would definitely come back.