Over the weekend, we went to Penang to hang out, relax, and catch OperaPuteriSaadong.

It reminded me a lot of the Caribbean, only it took me a while to figure out what exactly set it apart since SG has roughly the same weather, flora, fauna, etc.

It turns out that it was the sun-bleached dirt along all the roads. That sandy look was all it took. The feeling was only further enhanced by walking around town in the sun, and coming across a dead dog baking in the sun.

As we were driving around, my girlfriend noted that a lot of the architecture seemed from the 1970's. Perhaps Wikipedia understates the economic effects of Malaysia's federal government revoking of Penang's free port status in 1969.

On Sunday morning, I tried to find some good reads to go with my local kopi. The Barisan National paper (The Star) was everywhere, the PAS paper (Harakah) could be found in non-chain stores, and the DAP paper (The Rocket) could not be found.

Finally, Penang has a lot of traffic and no expressways, so getting around by car can take some time, e.g. 60 minutes to travel from the airport to Tanjung Bungah (~25 Km).