Penang, George Town & Thaipusam
I met up with two girls from my hotel waiting at the bus station also taking the bus to Butterworth (- Hello Jen and Sarah if you are reading this).
From Butterworth we took a ferry over to George Town. I was half asleep from the bus when I was trying to get through the ferry barrier - I put my change in and stupidly span the barrier to see if it was working - the barrier span all the way around taking my money leaving me still on the wrong side!
We all stayed in Travellers Lodge 75 in a central spot in the middle of the city. The hostel was OK but the staff running the place were really helpful and friendly.
We went exploring but were all generally dissapointed - there were Indian and Chinese areas and a Colonial area (my favourite!) around Fort Cornwalis - a fort built by Captain Sir Francis Light after taking possession of the island from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786.
I'd wanted to do a day tour around the island but the next day was the Thaipusam festival and there was going to be a lot of traffic.
Next day we decided to find the festival route. We walked for a while before we saw our first worshippers. Once we picked up the route it was quite an amazing sight. Devotees walk the route (around 8km we were told) from Little India to the Waterfall Temple. They walk barefoot and seemed to fall into 4 different categories:
The first had altars on their heads which were like one man floats. They looked heavy but these guys would dance around in circles.
The second group had various items hooked into their skin - these ranged from milk containers to limes and even coconuts - ouch!
The third group probably the most impressive consisted of a team of two people almost like a horse and rider. The human horse would have a series of ropes hooked into the skin of their back and would try and walk forward whilst the rider would pull back on the ropes stretching the skin.
The last group would be carrying offering such as milk containers on their heads. Some women were in this group.
Men from each of the groups would also have tongue, lip and other facial piercings often with iron rods pushed right through their cheeks.
It was a hot day and we were all thirsty so I can't imagine what it must have been like for these guys - the pavement was red hot to walk on.
We followed the main route close to the Botanical Gardens. There were sponsored rest areas along both sides of the street with various representations of different gods infront along with huge sound systems blasting out music . There was even an elephant show and some snake charmers.
We took a break before joining the procession up the steps to the Waterfall Temple. We decided not to go inside though as it didn't seem appropriate. You could see on a TV screen (a view of inside) that when they got to the front of the queue the contents of the milk jugs would be tipped over a statue of one of the gods.
We then took a long walk back to the city centre. After some food (- we were all really hungry) we decided to check out the Komtar Tower to get a view over the city. This was so rubbish it was actually funny - most of the tower windows were dirty and it was really difficult to see out in some spots - a pre-requisite for a viewing tower! With our ticket we got a voucher for 1 Ringit 50 off food and drink - a coke normally cost just under 2 Ringits here they raised the price to 3. We also got a 'free' postcard but the quality of some of the cards was terrible.
We went out for a bite and a few beers to end the day with none of us sad to be leaving George Town. To be fair it would have been nice to see more of the island but as we were heading to the holiday island of Langkawi next we didn't mind that much. It had been a real eye opener being able to attend the festival - I like the fact that the people didn't pay any attention to the tourists and you could watch without feeling like you were intruding. It was definately not something I'll forget in a hurry.
From Butterworth we took a ferry over to George Town. I was half asleep from the bus when I was trying to get through the ferry barrier - I put my change in and stupidly span the barrier to see if it was working - the barrier span all the way around taking my money leaving me still on the wrong side!
We all stayed in Travellers Lodge 75 in a central spot in the middle of the city. The hostel was OK but the staff running the place were really helpful and friendly.
We went exploring but were all generally dissapointed - there were Indian and Chinese areas and a Colonial area (my favourite!) around Fort Cornwalis - a fort built by Captain Sir Francis Light after taking possession of the island from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786.
I'd wanted to do a day tour around the island but the next day was the Thaipusam festival and there was going to be a lot of traffic.
Next day we decided to find the festival route. We walked for a while before we saw our first worshippers. Once we picked up the route it was quite an amazing sight. Devotees walk the route (around 8km we were told) from Little India to the Waterfall Temple. They walk barefoot and seemed to fall into 4 different categories:
The first had altars on their heads which were like one man floats. They looked heavy but these guys would dance around in circles.
The second group had various items hooked into their skin - these ranged from milk containers to limes and even coconuts - ouch!
The third group probably the most impressive consisted of a team of two people almost like a horse and rider. The human horse would have a series of ropes hooked into the skin of their back and would try and walk forward whilst the rider would pull back on the ropes stretching the skin.
The last group would be carrying offering such as milk containers on their heads. Some women were in this group.
Men from each of the groups would also have tongue, lip and other facial piercings often with iron rods pushed right through their cheeks.
It was a hot day and we were all thirsty so I can't imagine what it must have been like for these guys - the pavement was red hot to walk on.
We followed the main route close to the Botanical Gardens. There were sponsored rest areas along both sides of the street with various representations of different gods infront along with huge sound systems blasting out music . There was even an elephant show and some snake charmers.
We took a break before joining the procession up the steps to the Waterfall Temple. We decided not to go inside though as it didn't seem appropriate. You could see on a TV screen (a view of inside) that when they got to the front of the queue the contents of the milk jugs would be tipped over a statue of one of the gods.
We then took a long walk back to the city centre. After some food (- we were all really hungry) we decided to check out the Komtar Tower to get a view over the city. This was so rubbish it was actually funny - most of the tower windows were dirty and it was really difficult to see out in some spots - a pre-requisite for a viewing tower! With our ticket we got a voucher for 1 Ringit 50 off food and drink - a coke normally cost just under 2 Ringits here they raised the price to 3. We also got a 'free' postcard but the quality of some of the cards was terrible.
We went out for a bite and a few beers to end the day with none of us sad to be leaving George Town. To be fair it would have been nice to see more of the island but as we were heading to the holiday island of Langkawi next we didn't mind that much. It had been a real eye opener being able to attend the festival - I like the fact that the people didn't pay any attention to the tourists and you could watch without feeling like you were intruding. It was definately not something I'll forget in a hurry.
posted by Phil at 4:54 AM
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