THERE BE WATER DRAGONS!!

Water Dragons and Crocodiles!

So…this morning our room steward saw something next to the boat. He reports it was a crocodile with a head the size of a laundry basket. We want to see one! The crew was careful and watchful during the man-overboard drill while putting the lifeboats in the water. It turns out the crocs like to hang out near the ship.

This was our introduction to Penang (Pearl of the Orient), Malaysia.

We chose to head out on our own and feel the island. There is almost always a free shuttle bus run by Cunard to get you to a drop off point. Once there its fun to adventure out. We sure feel like explorers, lol.

The local markets, just as in the U.S., are pretty similar from spot to spot. But these markets are remarkable for their individualistic nature and the personality of the owners shows through. Prices end up pretty much the same after dickering but the game is different in each place. I hate dickering, but if I don’t play I feel pretty flat. Just have to laugh at myself.

We wandered around til lunch, from a street vendor and really yummy, but then someone turned up the heat. We gave up and headed back to the cool ship.

Crossing the bridge from the port terminal to the ship we stopped at a bench for a sec. Standing and looking down into the water I saw something swimming…a crocodile? Not at all.

What we saw was a Water Dragon. For the first time I really understood why the dragon has such a presence in Southeast Asia. This thing looked like an honest to goodness dragon, wriggling and writhing through the water. It was about 6 ft long or so. It could have been the model for a parade dragon in Chinatown anywhere.

Dragons exist!!