They say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” How true that is. I have not been back to Penang since Chinese New Year. That is about four and a half months only. I thought I could just leave like that when I decided to uproot and settle down in the Klang Valley. I thought I could let time dilute my fondness for this island where I was born and grew up in. That is not to be. I miss Penang so much today.
I guess Penang will always draw me back, no matter where I go to. Never mind the mad traffic jams, never mind the lack of accessibility, Penang still has that pull on me. The people, the conversations, the food, the sights, the sounds – there is nothing quite like it anywhere else. I may not call it home anymore but it is irrefutably my hometown, my kampung, wo de jia xiang.
