Our First Impression of Penang...

...wasn't stellar.

We were happy to be flying the final leg of our almost 40 hour journey. We continued taking pictures excitedly until we arrived...

After the hyper-modern, beautiful and impressive airport in Hong Kong, we landed in Penang on a single-runway strip flanked with open drains clogged with rubbish. Employees were playing soccer next to a trench recently dug up. Everything appeared gray, and the homes beyond the airport fence were grimy and in in dis-repair.

The terminal had run out of luggage carts since 2 flights had arrived simultaneously, so I was asked to leave the terminal (no security check) to get a cart, and return to the baggage claim area with it (still no security check). The entire time, my concerns were on high alert! But the airport staff were totally chill about it all!

Our host family/staff trainer helped us stuff the school van with our luggage, and drove us through some heavy, anarchic traffic.

Mopeds were zooming the wrong way down the highway on-ramps, cutting and weaving through traffic, and tearing out of side-streets.

"Welcome to Penang!"

We bought dinner at the Hawker Stalls below, and settled into our condo. We were awed by the size of it, and very grateful for the view (even though we could hardly see the island nearby).

That night, we unpacked most of our suit-cases, and settled into our apartment using the welcome kit of borrowed bedding and cookware from the school.

Later, we discovered that Aria had left a bag of DSi games (a new one belonging to Ian, and he had never played) on the plane after being reminded to check her belongings. This incident certainly added to the disappointment at the end of our trip. I suppose this is yet another example of how the stress of moving causes a great deal of frustration, costs much more than you realize and causes you to make mistakes.

~ Shien