eight something

O is for Ondrej, who flew to penang for a couple of days of uber-relaxation after finishing a string of nights, before joining gerard in cambodia.

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O is for Old, which is what the museum that i stayed in was. a pretty wooden building in the centre of colonial penang, i thought it would be perfect for my needs, but i was thwarted in my aim of uber-relaxing by proximity to a nearby nightclub, which pumped out hardcore techno so loud you could hear its tin roof shaking. the walls and floorboards of my museum also shook, as did my skull which i placed upon those floorboards, and the brain within it, all at 180 beats per minute. O is for Oh my god i didn't sleep until 4:30 in the fucken morning.

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O is for Oppulence, in the form of a manicured english garden atop nearby penang hill, where the english overlords gathered to be stuffy and bothered. It also goes by the name 'strawberry hill', presumably because it was the strawberries that grow there in abundance that were used to make the home-made jam that i took with my tea and scones (while i lounged beside the lake reading my book all day). bourgeois.

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O is for English, or at least that incomprehensible dialect (allegedly) spoken by the penang chinese. i was grateful for the mandarin practice.

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O is for the Other Half, who stay at the famous eastern and oriental hotel, once the greatest in south east asia (before the same armenian brothers went on to build the raffles hotel in singapore). the only thing separating the grand hotel from the ocean is a gorgeous swimming pool, wedged between white-washed facade and white-crested wave. but the other half all seemed to be asleep when i snuck through the back entrance one morning (head still banging at 180bpm i may add) and swam laps while the sun rose over the sea and liveried slaves smiled sympathetically.

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i was going to make the whole holiday into one entry, but i don't want to despoil the cambodian experience with a boring rant about the penang days. unfortunately, 0 is not just a letter, but a numeral, and stands for 0/10 for peninsula malaysia as a tourist destination.