The League of (Elderly) Gentlemen

Georgetown, Malaysia

When the Lonely Planet said that the 75 Travelers' Lodge in Georgetown is popular with travelers I was expecting the usual crowd of 20-something backpackers swapping stories of how they trekked across Laos or Australia. Well, stories were swapped but those were ones from tens of years ago. Older than your average backpacker. The patrons almost all seem old enough to be relics of English Imperial times, left-overs from the colonial days of Georgetown. All older men from various countries. It feels a bit like walking into a local pub (Stammkneipe) full of old regulars somewhere in Germany talking about the politics from Adenauer's days. And they seem like they've lived here for ages. Quirky types that spend all day indoors writing things or shuffling around seemingly checking if everything is in place. Makes me wonder if they have no other place to go, been kicked out of their house. Or are they here to make sure that the Imperial heritage gets treated with respect? In the Her Majesty's service? In contrast to more common hostels where I usually turn out to be older than the average, this place positively made me feel young.

More Inconvenience

Georgetown, Malaysia

I'm really getting annoyed now. It's Hong Kong all over again. I did a tour of central Georgetown's ATMs a second time without any success. My Lloyds card will expire soon and no bank is giving me any cash for it. It's actually quite urgent because I need to withdraw money for the last month before my card becomes useless. It means that I will have to call the damn hotline again (and be apologised to and called sir again). They think they are so clever. But this here, this thing here is pissing me off. This time, I think I'll just empty the account and transfer everything to Germany, so that I won't need that silly bank anymore. They don't deserve my hard-earned money.