Streets of Georgetown

I flew from KL to Penang on a flight I'd booked over a month before for only £2.50 each way during an AirAsia promotion. The train to the airport cost double that.

While waiting for the bus from Penang airport to Georgetown, I met a nice Italian girl who was going to the same area to meet some Brazilian friends she made in Singapore recently. On our way to get some food in town, one of her friends walked towards us - they'd been on a bus and seen her walk by. The other two joined us and we all went for a late lunch at Line Clear (the amazing nasi kandar place I'd been to multiple times in January). They all enjoyed it, luckily.

I checked in to my new hostel which is probably my favourite dorm so far and run by lovely friendly staff who are very helpful. After a few hours rest we all met up for dinner at an area famous for good street food. Most of us got a very tasty (but small) oyster omelette. En route to a bar we heard some music coming from a courtyard down a side street. At first it looked like some kind of gathering with a stage where a woman was singing pop music quite loudly but then a truck arrived carrying two Chinese dragon costumes and a load of boys with drums. A ceremony then began.

There was a man (on the right in the photo) who was dressed differently to everyone else, seemed to be agitated and kept shaking his head while sat on a thrown. He appeared to be painting on some paper for people while eating sweets. I had no idea what was going on most of the time but it was fascinating to watch. Meanwhile the dragon dance and drummers were in full party mode (drowning out the pop singer in the background).

After the main ceremony seemed to end, we finally went to the bar and had some nice cocktails before finishing the night with some Indian breads. I love Penang!