A couple of our days were spent in Penang, about five hours north of Charles and Jo’s house. The drive was breathtaking, with mountains, jungles, and even some elephants on the side of the freeway.
When we reached our hotel in Penang, it was clear we were staying in paradise, or pretty dang close. Our room was on the 7th floor, overlooking three swimming pools, gorgeous palm trees, and ocean as far as the eye could see. We couldn’t get to the beach fast enough.
The water was warm and the sand perfect. I could have stayed at the beach for days, sitting in the sand, letting the water rush up over me, wave after wave.
The second day in Penang was reserved for visiting Charles’ kampong (village) where he had lived while he was in the peace corps in the 60’s. He has many friends there and was invited to attend a Malay wedding.
At this point Josie was in misery, on and off, from her mosquito bites, 45 to be exact. Those mosquitos loved my poor girl. She would be fine one minute and the next be overcome with itching fits, crying out in misery. Her eyes were begging me to make it go away and i wanted with all my might to take those bites for her. It seemed there wasn’t enough medicine in all of Malaysia to keep her comfortable. She felt the most relief when we laid cool, wet washcloths on her bites. Because of all this, we decided I would stay behind with Josie, while everyone else traveled to the village.
Josie and I were able to spend some time in the pool, come face to face with a 1 1/2 foot lizard, and play at the beach. We also managed to get sunburned wearing SPF 50…oops. The rest of our time was spent with her sprawled out, draped in wet cloths.
Everyone came back with great stories of the village and the wonderful people there. I was sad to miss it.
