Today I wanted to see the most interesting sites in Pinang – the pearl of the orient. Georgetown is a very busy city and the system of one way streets seemed very confusing, especially after you include many closed roads into the picture. These roads were closed due to some roadwork or other development.

The first thing I found was the Fort Cronwallis since it lies on the bank of the island. There is nothing much to see there, but the waterside offers a nice view. There I meat a local guy who took me to the other two places I was interested in seing – the Kapitan Keling Mosque and the Khoo Kongsi – a clan-house built for members of the Khoo family  who immigrated here from South China. The house was burned at one stage thanks to – as some believe – its resemblance to the Emperor’s palace. What stands there now is a scaled down version built in 1902.

The guy who was guiding me at this point was first following me without saying anything or previously agreeing on anything so I wasn’t sure if he wasn’t some kind of crook waiting for a second of my inattention to take something off my bike. Even though I at the end decided he was probably just a genuine “happy to help” guy I didn’t want to take much more of his time so we said bye to each other and I was off trying to locate the Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram (I think it was here: N5.43137 E100.31382)– a Buddhist temple of Thai architecture that houses a 33m gold-plated statue of reclining Buddha. This statue is said to be one of the longest in the world. Amazingly enough I did find it in the maze of one-way streets and traffic jam type traffic. It was so hot that I was really considering giving up trying to find it just to get away from standing in the traffic in full black riding gear I was wearing. I’m happy I didn’t as this temple is really one of the prettiest buildings I have ever seen and the statue of Buddha is really immense. Everything is gold-decorated and very well maintained. And of course, as you get in probably all the temples in Malaysia and Thailand, admission is free.

Next on the list was Kek Lok Si temple (N5.40030 E100.27408). What they show you on pictures in brochures is usually just the Pagoda, but the temple itself covers huge area and has many shrines with beautiful gardens around and sculptures inside. There are probably hundreds (if not thousands) statues of Buddha in various sizes as well as other sculptures. I talked to a couple of local tour guides there and even asked if “it was worth going inside”. Their answer sounded more like “yeah, it is OK” than “yeah, definitely worth it”. Well, I tell you that it is definitely worth it, even if you have to spend time securing your bike and things on it first and it is as unbelievably hot as it was today. All is great expect many and many steps that you will have to conquer. There was a couple of Asian girls that I met in the pagoda itself. I was going down and they were going up. I heard one of them saying, after they were finishing another flight of stairs, that this must have been probably the top. I had to laugh as they were in about one third of the total height of the pagoda. I told them, which visibly scared them… :-) I laughed again because I also thought the same at about this level when I was coming up. I have to say, that the pagoda on pictures and even in real life does not seem as tall as it really is. Each storey has quite high ceilings and there is a fair bit of them.

OK, now it was close to half past four and they close everything at five. I still wanted to see the Snake Temple (N5.31414 E100.28563) – a sanctuary for pit-vipers said to be the “servants of the deity". These poisonous snakes, seen coiled around the pillars, beams and potted plants within the temple are believed to be rendered harmless by the smoke of the burning incense. I did find it just in time, after I had to re-fuel as I was running dangerously low, amazing the guys at the service station by the capacity of my tank (they had apparently never seen a motorbike with such a “huge” tank before). The Snake Temple as a tourist attraction didn’t do it for me and I don’t think it was worth stressing about. There was nothing interesting for me in the temple itself and the snakes are quite small and there is much less of them than I imagined. Basically you can count them on the fingers of your two hands. You can take a photo with a few around your neck and your head, but that didn’t interest me at all and I imagine it would do the same to many other people as they are really not big and if you show the photo to someone than that person would have to know snakes a bit to recognize that these are poisonous to make the picture seem interesting (even though these particular ones that you can take a photo with having them around your neck are done away with their poisonous glands, so there is really no danger).

What was interesting though was the fact that the snakes can be seen outside of the temple as well. I had a cooled coconut about 50 meters in front of the temple to refresh myself and replenish my fluid deposits and as I’m drinking it, sitting down on a bench, the owner of the shop goes: “This is jackfruit", this is this, and this is that, and this is pit-viper and this is a small one, pointing out to a little tree leaning over a traffic sign. And really, there it was, sleeping next to the traffic sign. I found that interesting. However, as far as the temple goes, I wouldn’t recommend it as a “must see” attraction.

This was the last thing I wanted to see on the island so I jumped on my bike and at 5:30PM started heading towards Alor Setar, the capital of state of Kedah, where I wanted to stay over night. 

It wouldn’t be a proper riding day in South East Asia if it didn’t pour down. So of course it did. Only for a while it eased to almost complete stop and the sun appeared above the horizon and below the clouds. It was mirroring in the surface of water of the rice fields that the Perlis state is full of. The backdrop to this picture was like from a beautiful story. For that reason I really regret not being able to take a picture of it as it still rained, although much less than a while before that.

I arrived to Alor Setar just before dark, but couldn’t find a cheap place to stay for some time. Actually I found one quite soon but since I don’t like accepting the first offer I wanted to have a look around. Even after asking a few people I had no luck, until a couple (or were they two girls?? – not sure) heard me at a service station and they caught me to help as I was leaving it. Well, I ended up in the very same hotel I found myself to start with.  I can’t remember the name again, but it is “someones” hotel and the name sounds Chinese – something like Chang Hotel or something like that. It is close to the city plaza. (If you are standing on the main street and the plaza is on your right then the hotel is in the first or second street on your left, on the left side. The approximate location is N6.11680 E100.36965 – I took that measurement just behind the corner of the hotel when I was on my way out and I realized I should take it for you people.)