Ladyboys and Creepy Men

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So the minibus dropped me off about three blocks from where I wanted to stay, so I walked to the guesthouse. There were no singles available, so I took a double for the night and asked to change the next day if it was possible. It was super clean, although kind of like staying in cells. So I dropped off my stuff and went to get a late lunch (made even later because I changed time zones again today - I am now 13 hours ahead of EST.) After eating, me and my splitting headache went back to my room and alternated reading and dozing until I decided I should go find dinner. I went to Little India and had Indian for the first time since leaving India in November. The restaurant actually had the vegetarian banana leaf thalis - back to eating rice with my fingers! YAY! I sat across from this insane english woman who kept babbling on about deja vu and past lives; it turned out she was staying in my guest house, so we walked back together and then I somehow made my exit to take a shower. Whew. There is free internet at the guest house but someone is always on it, so after showering I walked down the street (Love Lane... just wait, it makes sense) to an internet cafe. I walked by a bunch of prostitutes on the way, and someone asked me online if they were attractive, so I said I would look more closely on my way back to the guest house. After spending a very long time updating my blog and such I walked back to the guest house... the prostitutes were transvestites. Yup. Man voices. Or as they are affectionately (or not so affectionately) called around here: ladyboys. So that was interesting. I read until I fell asleep.

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Got up the next morning and switched to a single room. That was probably a mistake - it's tiny and kind of feels like an oven. I had breakfast at a guesthouse down the street and then set out for the Penang Museum. It was a fairly good museum, but only the ground floor had air conditioning, so the history section (upstairs) was impossible for me to deal with. From there I was walking to the old English fort, Fort Cornwallis, when a local guy came up and asked if he could walk with me. I said yes (really what can you say? no?) so he introduced himself. About three seconds later he said "I like you, do you like me?" and I responded that I didn't know and that I just met him. Then he grabbed my hand and put his arm around me. I smacked him in the head. He goes "Oh what? You don't like me?" so I told him I was married and he disappeared. Gross. I went to the fort and wandered around for a while but it was REALLY hot so I ended up sitting in the shade and reading my book for a while, avoiding the creeps that apparently roam the streets here. I wandered back to my guesthouse area a roundabout way, had lunch, and then lay in my oven of a room for a while pondering my possibilities. I got up and went to an internet cafe just to get out of the heat and into the air conditioning, where I looked up starbucks - there was one not too far from here, so I wandered off in the heat to hide in another a/c place with comfy chairs for a while. That's really sad. So on my way home I had the new idea that I should look into one of the bigger hotels outside of the city at the beach. I haven't been feeling so hot anyway, and the heat and living in an oven isn't helping. So I found out the Holiday Inn is only about $65/night and it has a pool and is on the beach. I think I'm going to do it for three nights or so before heading inland to the Cameron Highlands. I have also resigned myself to going to the doctor. I have had these weird painful lumps on my leg (spider bites?) for about a week, which I thought were going down... they haven't, and I grew another. So I have to deal with that tomorrow along with the general shittiness feeling... fever, headache etc. Awesome. I had dinner at the same Indian place tonight (I really think it's the eating with my fingers that does it for me) and then showered and wandered past the ladyboys again on my way to the internet cafe to update all of you on my lovely adventures!

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So someone told me there was a health clinic within walking distance, so I went to find it. 45 minutes later I was still walking and I was exhausted, so I stumbled into a Sheraton to ask for directions. The woman said it was anothe 20 minutes on foot, so I hopped in a cab. Well actually it was a chauffered luxury car because that's what they had in the parking lot. So he took me to a private hospital instead of the zoo of a general hospital. It took about 4 people to figure out what kind of doctor I should see, although we just ended up with the general physician. So he has decided that I have a streptococcal infection (strept throat in my leg.... haha!) and has put me on antibiotics. If the infection hasn't cleared up a bunch by Saturday I have to go back for blood work. Yay. So I got my meds, took a cab back to my guesthouse, got my bags and headed for the beach (and A/C)