It had been a beautiful day after all...

Lets start off with the night I finally got to drink after being very, I repeat, VERY sober since I got back from the UK.

having cocktails with Pei 

Went into this pub with Pei and Zoha which proudly announced that there would be a free flow of drinks for ladies that particular night.

Since Zoha didn't want to drink, I had hers as well as mine and after the 5th cocktail, my head started to pound and my boiled lobster red face was gleefully commented on by my two colleagues.

Got home, showered and crashed instantly.

Woke up suddenly at 6.30am but couldn't sleep back so as I was pacing about in my room I happened to catch  a glimpse of the sunrise from outside my window and was completely mindblowned. I couldn't believe how pretty it was and decided to go out for a walk since I was already awake to find a better vantage point from which to shoot the sunrise.

First glimpse of the sunrise from my window

I got this :)

Penang Bridge during sunrise :)

Anyone would say that it seemed a great start to the day, and I must say I thought it too.

But it turned out to be a long, very stressful day at work, where my supervisor dumped an elephant shitload of work on my shoulders. At the end of the working day, I was very much looking forward to going out for another round of drinks with some friends.

We went to Antarabangsa Enterprise, a drinking place unlike any other I've ever been before. I think Marco Ferrarese described it fairly well in his article, "A Brewery of Cultures" in Penang Monthly.

"Housed within an ancient crumbly pre-colonial shophouse behind the Goddess of Mercy temple on Lebuh Stewart, it’s not your regular watering hole – patrons sit on plastic chairs by the side of the road, where the only source of light is provided by dim streetlights." 

pic courtesy of Penang Monthly

You can read more of Marco's article at this link.

The clientele was a motley crew of Malaysians and a surprisingly diverse crowd of foreigners. In fact, the place was so full that we had to wait nearly an hour before we could get a table to ourselves. Moments later, we were joined by three Dutch travellers whom we then proceed to talk, drink cheap beer, and eat French fries with.

Upon learning that these three young people came from s'Hertogenbosch, a little town I visited with Jan-Willem when I was traveling in the Netherlands, I couldn't help longing for the cool, wide open spaces of the Netherlands and the company of the friends I had over there.

I remember Geocaching for the first time with Jan-Willem in s'Hertogenbosch :)

I remember the beauty of the cathedral of St Jan in s'Hertogenbosch :)

Finally we decided to leave at 3am, bidding farewells to our new friends.

As I slowly drifted into that "happy place" in my mind which can only be accessed after the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, just before my mind shut down completely and I fell into sweet, unhampered, dreamless slumber, an image of the sunrise this morning appeared before my lidded eyes. I smiled to myself as I drifted, it had been a beautiful day after all...

My Instagram pic of the sunrise :)
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