Welcome, Malaysia! Good day Georgtown, Penang

Welcome to Malaysia! Don't forget to smile!

No, Malaysia, I won't. I'm doing just fine :-)

After a night and 1000 kilometers by train, we arrive - and I'm happy, excited. Malaysia has always been a country where we feel safe and well taken care of. Now, after the initial caution about what changes we might encounter, we realize how much this country has developed, how clean the streets are, and how efficiently public transport operates. From the border, we continue straight to Penang, an island in the northwest of Malaysia.

Georgetown. Art, street art, an ethnic mix of the population. Chinese, Indians, Malays. All Malays. Georgetown, UNESCO World Heritage - the third distinguished city we are visiting on this trip: Hoi An in Vietnam, Luang Prabang in Laos, and now Georgetown. We've already looked up which cities in which countries are distinguished - worthwhile destinations :-) for future travels!

The images of Georgetown and Batu Ferringhi (beach) speak for themselves - it's fantastic!

There are changes, however; we would be superficial if we didn't see and mention them - tour groups, predominantly young Chinese, flood the hip streets, mostly focused solely on the pronounced selfie culture. Me here, me there, my cake, my tic, my toc, ... Go around the corner, and it gets noticeably emptier.

We talk with a restaurant owner, Urs, a Swiss who has been living there with his Malaysian wife for a long time. The pandemic has turned everything upside down for him and many others and changed a lot here as well. He complains, like our hotelier, that there is no staff to be found, let alone good staff. We see that the shops are equipped like 'fast shops' - quick, expensive, hip. Loud and inviting for selfies. Urs describes it as follows: they come in, take pictures, and leave. They want cake, rummage around for the photo, leave it standing, and walk away. The new species of tourists.

The dynamics are changing. Many others have had to close due to the economic impact of the pandemic; vacancies are also visible here. The Malaysian government is becoming more bureaucratic, the hurdles are rising, Urs is going to stop next year. However, Urs is already well over 60 - a good time.

The city is changing; it pulses to a new rhythm. How it will turn out - the next generation will decide - we still find it magnificent, beautiful, unique.

Look and enjoy!