We had planned to get an earlier start today than we yesterday, and head out to the main beach area of Penang called Batu Ferrengi, and then Mrs. Columbus had some visions of going to the night market there at the end of the day, but that is not to be 🙁
It turns out that there is a problem with one of the computers at the office that needs serious attention so I need to re-arrange my plans. I am going to have to spend the next few hours working with some of the guys back home to try and get things working again. Mrs. Columbus takes the change mostly in stride and rather than wait for me for an indefinite amount of time heads off on her own for a couple of hours to do a little exploring.
Several hours later we are still not happy with the solution we have to the systems problem, but we have a bandage in place and a plan to finish up a permanent solution the next day. Thanks to Dave and Owen for their efforts – you guys rock! By the time we have the band-aid in place it is mid afternoon here, so the plan to go to the beach is not going to work.
Plan B is to walk down to the part of the historic district called Little India and see if we can find some tasty Indian food for an early dinner. Penang was a crossroads trading post for many Asian and SE Asian countries in the 1800s and 1900s and became a melting pot of different cultures and foods – true to it’s name Little India is an area about 3-4 blocks on each side that is a concentration of shops, restaurants and street vendors all sending Indian foods or goods. (And yes, that really is a guy cutting keys from a street cart!!)
After a delicious dinner we decide to walk down to the waterfront where there is a nice seawall to walk along and look at some of the historic buildings in this part of the city. It is starting to get into the evening now, and Mrs. Columbus decides to pass on her shopping adventure and go back to the hotel with me to get packed up. We are moving on to Langkawi tomorrow, and the taxi is coming at 7:30am to take us to the ferry, so an early night is an easy sell.
