11/18/12 - This is why we work...

We hit another busy stretch on the work front so it was time to spend the weekend in Penang again.  Last time after we were done working on Saturday we had headed up to Georgetown for dinner and drinks.  That was the furthest I had been in terms of heading around the island.  If Penang were a clock, the island is really only developed from noon to 6 o'clock.  From 6 o'clock on the terrain is hillier, more jungle, agricultural, etc.  It also isn't as protected from tsunamis so yes, I'll be sticking to the right side of the clock.  Starting at the bottom of the island, from 6 o'clock to 3 o'clock is where we work and is a mix of residential and industrial sites as well as the airport. 3 o'clock to 1 o'clock is Georgetown with all the historic sites, shops, restaurants, houses etc.  Where we headed this time on Saturday after work was the 1 o'clock to noon area on the clock...... the beach!

Penang isn't exactly known for great beaches.  If you're looking for that in this area of SE Asia you need to take the 20 minute flight to Langkawi or an hour north to Phuket.  The crazy part is it took us 45 minutes to drive up here, so you almost could be at your hotel in Langkawi faster than driving to a hotel here.

Side note - The real reason we had to get out of the free trade zone area is this weekend is the Penang Bridge Marathon.  This of course starts at 2 AM because it is so hot and humid the rest of the day.  It starts right outside our normal hotel, heads north, goes part way over the bridge towards the mainland, and then comes back to end right by our hotel.  So if we would have stayed put we likely would have been up from 2 AM onwards due to the noise.  I actually lucked out in a weird way.  Because of the marathon our hotel wasn't able to give me a room on Saturday evening so for awhile I didn't even have a place to stay this weekend (and wasn't informed of this until I had checked in on Monday of course).  The logical solution seemed to be to get as far away from the race as possible.  This is where the beach hotel entered stage right.

Hopping out of the taxi at the Rasa Sayang made you feel like you really were on a different island.  Lush vegetation, waves crashing in the distance and no more cars honking and scooters weaving in and out of traffic.  To top it all off, the best restaurant on the island, the Feringgi Grill, is at the hotel.  That in and of itself is worth the drive.  They have certain items on the menu that they prepare tableside (and mac and cheese as a side dish option!).  So if you get a caesar salad, tomato soup for an appetizer (which we did) they make it right in front of you.  Once you start down that path you might as well get your steak carved in front of you and then top it off by having some banana crepes flambed next to you as well.  Finally if you want that after dinner drink they just wheel the bar right on over.  Great food and service all around.

All in all, after a solid week of a work it was a good reminder of why we do what we do.  Hard to complain about the long hours and travel when you get the opportunity to spend 36 hours in your own little tropical paradise for part of the weekend.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need some more hammock time before hitting the ground running on again on Monday.