If you want to be a rock and roll star...

We arrived in Penang. It was late and we weren't planning on going out. At the cafe where we ate dinner in Georgetown, we met two guys. one was fairly creepy and took pictures of us while we ate. He bought me a soda, because I said I wasn't drinking. We couldn't understand a word he was saying because of his thick Indian accent and the music from the cafe was loud. After an hour, he left thankfully.

The other guy we met, Jose, is half Portuguese and half Malay and grew up in Australia. Jose is, to use the word he used to describe himself, a vagabond. He's a sailor who works on private boats as a chef. He also helps to run the cafe. He gave us some good recommendations for the Cameron Highlands.

Down the street was another restaurant called the Blue Diamond where a live band was playing. We decided to join him for a bit. There we met two other travelers, whose names escape me, one from Norway and the other from Denmark... musicians. Ironically, they had met doing volunteer work twelve years ago in Lake View Terrace/Tujunga.

We convinced the musician to play a song or two with the band. He did. Then they were talking about playing one of his songs from his band back home, Glory Box.. The next thing I know, the Norwegian points at me and says, "You are playing bass." I politely declined, saying that I don't know how. Apparently, that wasn'y good enough. So we played the sone for the entire restaurant, about 20 people. It was a lot of fun and a didn't screw it up!

We spent until 2:30 am talking about music festivals and traveling. What a night!