Goodbye Malaysia

Nearly three weeks in Penang have flown by and while it felt like I blinked and it was gone, I'm pretty sure my waistline would beg to differ...Near the end of my stay I gave up any pretense of seeing the city and focused entirely on food and I am proud to say I ate pretty much everything from my list of places to try. There were a few times I'd walk a half hour or longer and arrive to find out they are closed on that specific day or worse they had just closed or wouldn't open for hours and hours but persistence or stubborn food obsession nearly always won out.

Clockwise: Nasi kandar (takeaway), char koay teow, nasi kandar, oh chien (oyster omelette - greasiest thing ever but damn good!)

By the time I left Penang I'd gotten to celebrate Mid-Autumn festival with mooncakes and lighting lanterns at a Couchsurfing BBQ hosted at the hostel, I'd somehow blinked and realized I really knew my way around and rarely needed a map and best of all I'd made an amazing friend through Asha. I still never saw Danny (the only staff!) More than a 15 minute period total but Asha will now be working at the hostel so when I come back next time it will be great.

Char koay teow, nasi lemak, char koay kak, fish head - didnt try this but only due to price 

After Penang I headed north to Langkawi island where I met my new couchsurf host who I'd be staying with for 3 days. The first day we hit up the beach and then hung out with this great Swiss couple at the guest house. Unfortunately I was a downer for the first while since I had a bit of a fever/bug. We still managed to rent a scooter and see the waterfall, northern beach, and river but sadly it was pretty cloudy and cool most of the time. My last night in Langkawi there was an awkward/uncomfortable moment with my CS host so I followed my intuition  (and my friend Amber yelling get out!!) And checked into a nearby hostel. Its odd that at times while traveling I can feel very lonely but then at moments like right now as I type this in that shitty hostel, I am in love with my antisocialness. I'm starting to think couchsurfing is like durian. People keep saying it great but when I try it it goes badly (except with my awesome filipino host), however I will stubbornly keep trying it. Thats how I've ended up trying durian, durian ice cream, durian coffee, durian chocolate....good god what is wrong with me?!

Lesson learned: Alone time is a necessity.