I am still in Penang. I was originally planning on going to the Cameron Highlands after the conference was done, but right now is the holiday season in Malaysia and many of the travel options were booked. Besides, it is raining profusely there right now, and I get plenty of that in Oregon.

What does the "holiday season" mean here? Well, aside from the school holiday for Malaysians, this is also the time of year for some major time off for mid-east countries. People from Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia come here in droves since they get 7 weeks off.

And this only adds to the melting pot feel of the place. Malaysia is one of the most diverse places that I can imagine. There are large populations of Chinese and Indian, in addition to smatterins of Thai, Bangaladeshies and many more. Much of this relates back to policies that were in place during the British occupation. What does all this mean to me? Good food, amongst other things. The food here is amazing. Whatever you want you can pretty much find, and usually from a street vendor. But I think that the Malay cuisine is the most interesting. Today I had some fish head curry. There is more in it than fish heads of course and wow, what a delicious meal.

The conference I was attending has now ended and I got a chance to do some exploring. But more on that later, after I get some pictures together.