Friday, December 21, 2012

Day 271: Getting Organized and An Unexpected Quest

Since the wifi in my hostel in George Town had been terrible, I had fallen behind on planning things and getting information. I was planning on leaving the following day, so I couldn't really put things off any longer. I walked to the huge mall nearby. It's not as fancy as the one I went to earlier in the week, but far more massive and with an interesting personality. I've always found malls fascinating, as in many ways they become little mini cities. This one deserved that title more than most, as over the years it had branched from the main building to adjacent ones, connected with walkways and tunnels. The core building is fairly modern and has lots big brand name shops, but turn down a few side alleys in the mall and it becomes the run down wild west of shuttered shops, abandoned hallways and security guards in the jewellry shops sitting with shotguns across their lap. It is also where all the tourism companies set up shop, so after searching around a bit I bought a ticket to Cameron Highlands.

I wasn't able to book a hostel my normal way, but I sent out a few emails to some places in the area and by the end of the day was able to make a reservation. Not wanting to leave Penang on quite such a dreary note, I decided to go on one final walk through the city. During my walk, I saw a few really nice pieces of street art that were similar in style to a few pieces I'd seen in town earlier. I also found a map with the locations of most of the pieces by the same artist, and the hunt was on!
(Continued in the following Spotlight, since I haven't had a chance to do one in awhile!)

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