p e n a n g

When you are so used to paint a picture of what’s in your mind in words, it gets hard to not get back to square one. Like they said, old habits die hard. My habit isn’t bad, it just needs consistency particularly from my side. With three months holiday, and the possibility of me not taking short semester, I have a lot of time to spare. And those time won’t be wasted on solely sleeping. Some of the time will also be utilized to blog (if people still use the term).

Anyway, during my recent trip to Penang, I noticed that even though Penang is relatively small (in comparison to the entire Peninsular Malaysia), there is still a highly perceptible wealth gap that exists. My family and I stayed in Georgetown and we drove pass Gelugor, Kelawei, Gurney Drive and many others and all of us agreed that Penang reminded us of Singapore. Especially in Jelutong, you can see many apartments, condominiums and shopping malls that are really nice or in the words, sebijik macam kat KL. You know that people who live there are of medium to high socio-economic status.

Maybe I was being ignorant and did not really care to delve into the other part of Penang because when you go to Penang, who cares about anything else, what matters is food, food and MORE FOOD. This post won’t be about the glorious nasi kandar in Penang. I’m afraid I won’t be able to do enough justice to the Penangites. Instead, I will talk about the observation that I did while my dad drove up to Batu Feringghi then to Teluk Bahang and Balik Pulau. (Observation – sounds very scientific eh?)

Batu Feringghi was nice, Shamrock beach was lovely and the place is definitely a relax haven for tourists and locals alike. Teluk Bahang was filled with winding roads and durians along the way. I got a mild car sick but I didn’t want to sleep because I want to see it all. Who knows maybe something cool happens along the way? Hence why I didn’t do. I was kiasu, am still kiasu (but it’s not extreme though). So after a long drive up and down the curve and bends, I notice that there were an awful lot of flats and apartments that are in bad conditions. Like with mold and the building looked really old. Some of the houses also looked like they need repairing, pronto. Some houses were left abandoned. No shopping malls. Heck, it’s even hard for you to find a mini mart there.

This is not the side of Penang that I thought had existed. Well, maybe they did in the past, but not now, since Georgetown is well-developed. But the truth is, it’s not. It’s just another city-suburban disparity that you get in most developed states in Malaysia. It was a surprise for me because Penang occupies a small area hence why I thought that it should be possible for everyone in Penang to at least live comfortably in a nice house. But it’s not.

I think I need more analysis to this but I feel lazy now. Maybe some other time. 

Peace.