Back in 2007, my husband, son and I went for a 2 week holiday to Penang and Singapore. We flew out of Adelaide to Penang on a Malaysian Airlines flight, which left at about 3p.m We had been booked to fly out with Singapore Airlines a few hours before; however SIA discovered that they'd overbooked and we were approached by the Singapore Airlines Duty officer/Manager as to whether we'd be willing to leave a little later with Malaysian. The pay-off was that we were given about $4oo.oo each as well as a Duty-free voucher each and use of the Singapore Airlines Club lounge until the SIA flight departed. 

We willingly accepted this deal and joyously ran off to raid the Duty-free shop for items that perhaps we wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Following this, we headed back to the SIA lounge to make short work of free food and champagne before they closed. ( Our son was only 14, so he couldn't have anything alcoholic, but there was plenty of food to tempt him.The one downside was that we were very late flying into Penang,having had to change flights in Kuala Lumpur and then wait for about an hour, but who's going to complain when you've been paid off so handsomely. No being dragged off practically by our hair in this case. ( I'm referring to that unfortunate incident on a United Airlines flight last year). That's a story in itself and we love telling that, but it isn't what I was going to write about.

After a few days of lazily lounging around eating, drinking, swimming and shopping at the colourful and exotic night markets ( so much fun) we decided to do some serious sightseeing. We hired a taxi for a half day, starting early in the morning (about 8 a.m) so as to make the most of the cool of the morning before the tropical heat that overtakes most white Anglo Aussies at about midday. We visited some temples, a Botanic Gardens in which were lots of inquisitive, cheeky monkeys and the old Cornwallis army base, as our son was very interested then in all things military and loved the ancient guns and paraphernalia in the museum. Along the way, we also saw a concrete barrier that had been erected since the 2004 Tsunami, which had inundated many of the hotels along the shoreline, including the Holiday Inn. (Our hotel)

My choice of venue was Little India,where I imagined I was going to find all sorts of treasures; fabrics, jewellery and knick-knacks. The reality was somewhat different. By now the temperature was well and truly climbing and the few shops we entered were staffed by people who followed us around the whole time like shadows. I loathe being trailed around whilst shopping. I can't think straight; not only that, but I was feeling hot, thirsty,hungry and extremely irritable. Our son was also doing his teenage boy bored/grumbling/grunting act and I ended up stalking out of the shop. I'd obviously hit the wrong shops; I'm quite sure they weren't all like that. We'd all just had enough and decided to make our way back to a part of the city where there was a well-known shopping mall, have a much needed lunch and then catch another cab back to the haven of our Holiday Inn.

Following lunch, we decided that we were too tired to shop any more or even just look at anything. The mall also didn't seem very well air-conditioned and we were all just about expiring. I started to think longingly of the hotel pool and a tall glass of something cool and tropical.

We hailed another cab, in which the driver explained that his air-conditioning wasn't working. Oh,great! The melting heat and humidity was starting to get to us all.

'I can play you some music instead',said the driver cheerfully and he proceeded to play a CD of Western(Northern Hemisphere) Christmas songs. Perhaps he thought it was a substitute for the useless air conditioner. It was somewhat incongruous to be driving along the Malaysian roads , bordered with jungle-like growth hearing; Jingle Bell Rock, Rudolph the Red-nosedReindeer. You'd Better  not Cry' ; It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas and I"m Dreaming of a White Christmas. By the time we finally pulled up outside the Holiday Inn, Jingle Bells was playing. Peeling ourselves off the sticky vinyl seats, we paid the driver and laughing ,went gratefully to our nice, cool room. The other funny bit of this story,was that in Malaysia, which is predominantly a Muslim Country, it was Ramadan at the time.  I wonder what It's beginning to Look  a Lot Like Ramadan,  would sound like?

Shortly after, I went downstairs for that tall glass of tropical drink I'd been yearning for and followed up with a swim.

Next comes another reely, trooly ridiculous part of my story. I was about the only one actually in the pool apart from a few kids. All the other people were lying out under the sweltering equatorial sun on their sun-lounges. People would spend hours doing that, roasting themselves. I realise that Northern Europeans are most likely starved of sunshine for much of their year, but to lie out in that sort of weather is totally insane. I'm not sure if they're fully aware of the danger. Maybe there's not as much emphasis on skin cancer and the need to 'Slip,Slop,Slap'in Europe and there's still this crazy idea that a tan is healthy and attractive. Not from where I was standing, or rather swimming. Many of these people were absolutely baked brown ( or beetroot red) which equals only one thing; serious skin damage.

After about 20 mins I felt refreshed and returned to our room, from where I could still see the same foolish people, lying out in the sun.

It was a marvellous holiday, and very memorable, in spite of two unfortunate incidents in Penang, where my husband went para gliding and nearly drowned; and our son rode a quad bike which partly overturned into a ditch in the sea and burnt his leg, which put paid to his being able to swim with the sharks in the  aquarium on Sentosa Island  in Singapore. In both instances, we discovered too late that the para-gliding and quad biking on the right hand side of the beach was reputable and approved by the Holiday Inn. The one on the left,however where we went, were disreputable and dodgy. Back in the hotel room later we read it in black and white. It always pays to read the hotel information.

To not do so was reely, trooly ridiculous on our part.