Penang - Iguanas, durian & shims!
We left for Penang at 5:00 in the morning. All this traveling has been tiring but I wanted to stay awake and see everything. I only closed my eyes for a minute, but woke a few hours later in front of our hotel feeling quite rested but like I’d missed something. 
Still, our room was on the twenty-third floor and the view of the sea and coastline was beautiful. (Photos included…)
We drove down to the beach and splashed around and had a great time. There are huge Iguanas just lying around there on the beach or taking a swim. I knew they were harmless but have never been so up close and personal with lizards that size!
I have to tell you about a tropical fruit here called durian. Everybody here loves this fruit, calling it the “king of fruits”, and saying “it smells like hell and tastes like heaven!” Boy did it smell like hell, and the taste…? Well, we pulled over at one of the durian stalls, it’s table piled with heaps of the prickly fruit. My uncle picked out three, and we all sit down to eat. Thank God we were in the open, because the smell…! Of course I had to try it, but OMG, it tasted so bad I wanted to spit it out as soon as it was in my mouth. Meanwhile my dad and everyone else were digging in actually enjoying it. They say it grows on you. Whatever.
Back at the hotel we went to the swimming pool on the tenth floor and stayed there until past closing time. Then it was back to our room to use the bathroom jacuzzi, which seemed smaller after my sister, my cousin and I all piled in. We had a bubble fight and made a complete mess of the bathroom, it felt good to just be a brat for a lil’ while.
In the evening it was out to a local club with my Uncle, Aunt, Dad, and older Cousin Annie ( who lives in Penang). The music they played was very retro… ah ah ah ah stayin’ alive. 
One surprise was seeing everywhere what the locals call shims (she him’s). Some of them look exactly like girls, I would never know the difference. Apparently they’re a generally accepted part of society here, and hang out with people at the bar. In India they are around and part of the culture as well, but they don’t fit in socially.
(Deepa is on a brief hiatus from active missionary work. She is traveling to visit family in SE Asia and Canada before returning to India. Enjoy her travelog!)