Our flight from
Borneo brought us into Kuala Lumpur for a night in the Airport Hotel Sama Sama,
as we arrived back too late, to make a connecting flight to Perth. We had stayed in this hotel on a previous
occasion and found it suited us perfectly. Either, we have aged or the hotel
had undertaken refurbishment! When it came to bedtime and switching off the
main lights – we could not do that! Perhaps the jungle had addled our brains as
we searched long and hard for a switch, to no avail. Short of a domestic blow-out, George called the front desk expecting them to just tell us. No! they
would send someone up which made us feel more sheepish. It transpired that next to our bed was a small
lap-top looking thing. It had a plan of the room lights enabling one to do it
remotely. The square on the wall was a touch screen! All too hard for our tired
brains to cope with a most technically up to date, hotel room. Next morning, we had further choices, choices,
choices! A bountiful breakfast almost overwhelmed us
after the sheer simplicity of Jungle breakfasts.
When the
notification for payment of our International flights had arrived from
Dial-A-Flight, Dan who was generously picking up the tab, noticed our man
Bailey had kindly noted that if we returned to Perth on the 24th or
28th of August we would save 600 pounds. As we could not fly on the
first date we had planned to return on 25th. Although Dan would have
saved the money, he persuaded us to fly on the 28th and go to
Penang. We DID! Dan still saved money
and we spent a little more… The fact
that Justine and Daniel had gone to Penang persuaded us. It was a short flight away and it
conveniently left at a good time after breakfast. All we had to do was walk out
of the hotel to our departure gate. Easy!
Map of Penang
We had used
Hotel Booking.com after a long search through different internet companies
finding hotels in our price range that seemed central to Old George Town and
finally come up with Glow Hotel as our best bet as they had airport pick up.
Our hefty luggage prevented us from using the bus service. Glow’s quick
response to our emails eased any anxiety and they always ended with ‘Have a
Glowing Day’! At Penang airport, Ravi was waiting for us with a sign! Born and
brought up in Penang, he was enthusiastic about his country pointing out places
of interest on the ride to our hotel and full of snippets to where best to go and what to
do. Turned out he wasn’t part of the hotel but a company used by Glow to
collect their guests. Reception was quick, friendly and incredibly helpful as
they got us on our way to our room on the 8th floor.
View from our
bedroom
As soon as our
luggage was in the room, we took off in the direction of our window view to
‘pound pavement’, find our bearings and explore. There wasn’t much to the
pavements. Thanks to cars and motor bikes taking up space on broken sidewalks
we found ourselves weaving in and out of all the obstructions to the noise of
motorbikes haring en-mass up the roads. Stalls selling durian fruit were plentiful
and further added to the congestion of sidewalks. Tables were even available for serious fans
of this King of Fruits and, judging by the busy trade going on, durian was in
peak season.
Thankfully traffic lights had timers, giving
drivers and pedestrians an indication of the next crossover exchange. This
alleviated Lea’s nervous disorders when it came to traffic flow. Eventually the humidity and street noise drove
us into the Pragin Shopping Mall where we wandered from floor to floor until we
reached the top of an escalator that brought us into an open reception area
with no more shops. Somewhat bemused, we were about to return the way we’d come
when a woman approached and told us we had reached the ‘House of Music’ – a
History of the Penang music scene. She offered to have someone one come and
explain the basics. We didn’t have the heart to say ‘no thanks’ and leave. Instead, we paid our money, were directed behind a curtain and shortly after a young man
arrived and with the help of posters told us how the fusion music of Penang had
resulted from its multicultural people. Before we knew, we were caught up in a
well laid out and documented history with ear-phones to listen to music examples
gaining a thorough understanding. Personalities came to the fore and the LP
library was extensive with a variety of record players across the eras. We were
rapt! A young girl took over and her enthusiasm was infectious. Turned out she
was a classical guitarist completing a six-month work experience to gain
confidence from public speaking and use her English. She was lovely especially
when she took us into a music studio and began recording an interview with us. We gained much from this unexpected find and
hours were spent in there.
House of Music
We returned to
the streets and immediately felt the onslaught of heat and humidity as we kept
walking with the sights, sounds and smells of busy streets assailing our every
sense. Looked over Times Square with an eye to dinner. This was a very modern
and incredibly spacious shopping centre with a huge promotion for China taking
up pedestrian/corridor floor space, all beautifully done. We could have been in
China! With our legs aching we looked for the tall Government building Ravi had
wisely pointed out to us as a good landmark to finding ‘home’ and like homing
pigeon made for that. However, hunger and thirst was catching up with us, and,
we were certainly not brave enough to eat ‘street food’ despite long looks at
what was on offer. Restaurants all looked closed up at that early hour. Once we
had collapsed on our bed any thought of returning to the street was out of the
question. George popped down to reception and discovered the hotel only served
lunch and cakes in the café. He grabbed a ‘special’ pack of Tigers and we
stayed in the comfort of our room and ate the rest of our pad-kos (road food) -
brazil nuts washed down with cold beer. Not the best ending to our day –
tomorrow will be better!
We’d consciously
hear the call to Prayer by the muezzin for Fajr (early morning), Maghrib
(sunset) and Isha’a (night) and we found ourselves listening to the unusually
deep baritone voice sweeping across the area. Despite the early hour of Saturday’s melodious
call we rolled over and slept until 9. Reception helped us locate Old Town on a
map and called the far cheaper ‘Grab’ car rather than a taxi for us. Grab is a Uber equivalent and again, like Uber, the driver was very helpful and the trip
easy and economical. He dropped us in Armenian Street, the heart of the UNESCO
World Heritage site. First up, we had to EAT!
My Armenian Café
caught our eye, obviously new and different in that the walls were covered in
packing crates which put Lea in mind of one of her favourite Lift the flap
children’s book ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell.
Turned out the inspiration came from the film ‘Madagascar’ and we
admired the animals. We came in for breakfast and ended up enjoying a massive
sugar hit of delicious salted caramel and chocolate cheesecake with our
tea/coffee, instead.
Armenian Street
Rejuvenated, we
happily wandered the streets noticing the variety of shutters in all sizes and
stages of decomposition and weathering on buildings. This weathering added
something to the atmosphere of the area; it did not detract from being heritage
listed.
Intricate tile
work outside colonial era shophouses, narrow walkways and alleys.
Little shops chose to feature a creature. Here, all things owls … another all things cats.
George was
waylaid by an old man with his trishaw while he loitered outside a shop Lea was
in, offering to take him round the
street art, for which Georgetown is famous for.
Neither of us
could turn him down despite our qualms re his age and our joint weight! We were
in for the ride of our life and the best spent money- we didn’t even haggle
such was our respect for this fine old chap.
At the first
mural, having no expectations, we politely sat and quietly admired it until he insisted
we jump out and interact with a ‘Boy on a chair’ and take a better photo, then
indicated others in the area. No sooner back in our trishaw than the clouds
opened and down came the rain. Undaunted our chauffeur, leapt down from behind
us; pulled out a canopy ensuring we remained dry! We had no brolly or wet gear
thus we couldn’t have been luckier to be on the trishaw at that moment in
time. Once, we left the quiet street and
entered the hustle and bustle of many lanes of traffic and weaving motor
cyclists - the horror of putting our lives in the old man’s hands amid wet
roads overwhelmed us both. Just as well, the canopy kept us oblivious of a good
deal as our vulnerability, when cars stopped a hair’s breath from our knees,
set our hearts beating wildly. In hindsight, drivers were most considerate and
aware really.
It is hard to do
justice to the Street Art hidden away in many odd spots or side streets and
unexpected corners and walls. We’d never
have experienced the richness of it all, if we’d gone looking on our own.
Lithuanian
artist Ernest Zacharevic, has the most photographed
and delightfully playful murals in George Town.
He was invited
to Penang over the George Town Festival in 2012 and given the theme ‘Mirrors
George Town’ which to our mind, was wide open and difficult. This young artist
produced exuberant and humorous children scenes, to the streets. Once seen,
never forgotten for their joi de vivre.
Other artists
were invited to add cat themed art to the streets in the hopes
of creating more
awareness to homeless strays. These are just a few!
Years later the
city council commissioned steel rod caricatures of
Penang’s ‘Way of Life’ from a local company ‘Sculpture at Work’.
Way back, in our
heads, Basketball was a game Americans played against their garage doors… Until
our daughter, Justine began playing basketball at school and was picked for
Natal Under 18’s in Pietermaritzburg. We decided we’d better get up there
and watch a big match. The noise of rhythmic clapping and stomping and the high-speed
bouncing of ball from one end of the court to the other caught us by surprise and
we were soon involved in the excitement. Justy was passionate about the game
and soon played for the Natal Under 21’s as well. When she came home for a weekend bringing her
dirty laundry her mother was horrified by the large number of socks amongst the
basketball kit… mostly borrowed as she’d forgotten to send to the school
laundry! Once, Justine's children were all at school she returned to basketball and
began coaching and encouraging schools to play the sport. Even under extreme
chemo, her will and passion to continue nurturing the game and support the
teams she had developed at their matches or practises, continued to virtually the end
of her life. Thus, when we came across
this gem by Ernest Zacharevic, with a young tourist about to interact in a slam
dunk as his friend photographed him, it became a meaningful moment. A fun moment! The photographer turned and showed Lea the active
slow-motion photo taken on his mobile phone camera. She was blown away and asked for a copy. He
turned to his friend – the basketballer for permission. Out of nowhere, grief
hit with force and Lea struggled to explain that her daughter had just died –
to their credit their understanding was immediate and it was e-mailed it to us.
Sadly, my camera didn’t cope with all the action and that particular photo went missing!
‘Sister and
brother playing basketball’
Of course, we
could not pass up the monkey amongst our photos; particularly as Lea captured
Monkey man looking at his reflection. (magnificent monkey eyes)
That old man
interacting with this Street Art took us on a memorable,
magical hour-long excursion
for 50 Malaysian Ringgits (£10) in his
Trishaw
Such was our
exhilaration we were sorry when it was over. It certainly rates as the
highlight of our trip to Penang. Hunger pangs again. We’d heard much about the good food in George
Town and up until now with our minds occupied by art we hadn’t noticed any
place to eat in. Before we could really look around for a suitable café, the
skies opened again and we were forced to take refuge in the closest place, set
behind palm trees and stepping stones. Turned out to be a bakery with seating.
We chose from the glass counter and dried off with tissues as they prepared our
toasted garlic breads … which turned out to be over-done rather than succulent!
Once the rain
had settled to a drizzle we left for the Jetty. Mindful of the water swirling
down roads headed for choked drains,
ducking umbrellas on narrow almost non-existent pavements and slippery spots.
Chew Jetty
Scenes
Chew Jetty is a
settlement of wooden houses on stilts with shop fronts in some cases, overlooking
a narrow passage of rustic wooden planks. This walkway, capable of becoming incredibly congested. We were lucky that light rain kept many away in the
temple shelter as we carefully took our walk down Chew Alley. This jetty is the more famous
of the clan jetties where migrant families of the same name live together in an
area and in turn, become a living heritage that exists to this day.
The rain had
effectively cooled down the humid conditions that we didn’t mind braving the
traffic and walking home towards evening time by our clock not the sunset! Not
far from Glow Hotel, standing out with its huge, bright red signage ‘De Happy’;
we found a massive open barn-like structure with tables ready and stretching
back a long way. Welcoming staff at the entrance way, happy to serve us at that
relatively early hour. There, we tucked
into our best meal yet in Penang. Tasty prawns for Lea and George chose beef in a black
pepper sauce – both served with fried rice and garlicky bok choy washed down
with large Tiger beers. YUM!
Our plan for
Sunday was to have reception order another Grab for us and head for Penang
Hill. There we’d catch the funicular to the top and enjoy a day on the summit
with its flower garden, mini bird park and owl museum and come home by bus.
However, when we were dropped at the Train entrance with military supervising
the turning circle – we were staggered by the queues. Massive queues to buy
tickets for the funicular and another massive queue waiting for the funicular.
We observed for a bit then looked at each other and said ‘not for us’
simultaneously. We walked back to the
turning circle wondering where to go next and how to get away from there. Almost immediately a Penang Hop-on Hop-off
double decker drew in and we dashed over to catch it. Only to sit in the front
seat on top deck for fifteen minutes. With a route map in hand we decided we
would do a round and orientate ourselves. Two routes - the city and at the
interchange, the beach. Thereafter, depending on bus timing we’d either have
High Tea at the famous Great Eastern & Oriental Hotel or a walk in the
Botanical Gardens followed by a gin and tonic refresher at the famous colonial
hotel before taking the last leg back on our ‘24hr HoHo ticket’ to Komtar, as
the closest stop and easy walking distance to Glow Hotel. All sorted so we
thought!
George dug
around in his backpack for the Penang Tourism pamphlet, Riva had given us on
arrival, as the HoHo bus pulled away. Too many tourist places to visit but with
this in hand we'd probably ‘see’ many and that would be good enough for our fleeting two days. Being a Sunday, the streets were heaving with Sunday markets as
we made slow progress to Kek Lok Si, a monumentally large temple with a
commanding view out to the coast from the foot slope of Penang Hill. Built over
a period 1890 to 1930 on 30 acres of land – it is said to be the largest
Buddhist Temple in SE Asia. We could see the 7 storied, handcrafted ‘Pagoda of
Ten Thousand Buddhas’ and the striking Four Heavenly Kings Pavilion from our
bedroom window.
From our seats
on the bus, the magnitude of this ‘Temple of Supreme Bliss’ loomed above
us.
We recognised
many of the George Town landmarks we’d walked the previous day and a bit and,
thanks to more traffic congestion, we were glad when we finally reached Gurney
Drive, the seafront promenade well known for its open-air hawker place and
Gurney Plaza. The tide was well out and the exposed muddy flats reminded us of
the first time we saw Cairns beach front – a very disappointing look; water
makes a big difference! The HoHo Interchange was here and we hopped off to wait
for the Coastal Hoho. Discovered there would be a wait and decided we would
find lunch in the imposing Plaza- British India. Food
of every description seemed to be on offer, lots of Malaysian dishes that we
were overawed by the choices. As we neared the far end of the massive food hall
we spotted a big sign for Cendol. A bell rang in our heads – Yahya had told us
to be sure to try a Cendol! We knew nothing about the dish - it seemed to have
green beans and sweet corn within.
We ordered one, and
a passer-by said, we’d never regret buying
it as Cendol was the ultimate in
flavours!
First up, it
wasn’t savoury but a dulled sweetness and chilled. We discovered ‘cendol is
popular nationwide and this moreish, sweet dessert has attained an almost
revered status’. Somewhat like a knickerbocker Glory culturally changed; it
incorporated finely shaved ice, coconut milk ice-cream, sweet corn and soft
reddish- beans but the green strips were not green beans… They were green jelly
strips handmade out of pandan leaves (screw-pine) with a firm springy chew not
like we know sweet jelly to be. This, was the all-important cendol. All, was
topped with a key ingredient - smoky, caramel like gula melaka (palm sugar) to
sweeten. Cendol is considered to offer
an incredible reprieve from the heat. It
did not prove to be a signature dish for our palates! We tried a few more, tasty ‘things’, no idea
what, before dashing back to the Interchange. The Beach Decker came in minutes
later and we climbed to the top and sat up front again. On the opposite seat,
an Australian from the Gold Coast we’d
notice on the previous Hoho, sight-seeing from the top of a bus, like us.
We thoroughly
enjoyed the Beach route along the narrow road in places, with the canopy of
trees swooshing the bus as we wound our way along the coast. We had a good
sighting of Malaysia’s first ever Floating Mosque. Another big structure with a
seven-storey minaret. Miami Beach followed by Batu Ferringhi which was
obviously the tourist mecca with huge hotels- we even spotted a Hard Rock Cafe.
We felt a measure of relief that we hadn’t come to this area as it just did not
have the authentic Penang feel compared to our side.
Beach Scenes
along the route.
We finally
reached the entrance to Penang National Park and turned around. A good part of
the afternoon had fast disappeared and we still had to get back. Oh no, after
thinking we were homeward the HoHo turned inland for the last two stops of
Taman Rimba - The Forest Recreation Park and Museum and finally Entopia, a lush
tropical sanctuary and vivarium for the ‘little dwellers’ on our planet - butterflies,
dragon flies and fireflies. A twenty-minute
wait followed; the driver disappeared and we sat in the hot sun. George thought
he could see a sculpture of a water buffalo mauling something… at the entrance
door to Entopia. He scurried over to take a closer look…
Eyesight
failing? He found two magnificent sculptures of a Rhinoceros Beetle
and Big
Black Beetle about to lock horns.
George couldn’t
resist a photo of our HoHo as he came back.
Looking at our
watches as we pulled off on the home stretch of this Beach route we realised
these Stops at the popular, most visited landmarks in and around George Town
all required lengthy visiting times often a good day to to see around hence the
twenty-minute intervals and distance covered was not going to allow us to
accomplish what we had planned. On the plus side, we’d seen a lot more of the
George Town region. However, as we reached the Interchange the thought of more
hours didn’t appeal. The Australian leapt off saying she was catching a taxi as
she’d had enough. We endured a re-run up to Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si and round
again. After six hours on the bus we alighted at Chowrasta. It had looked a
busy and interesting area, first time round. From our map, we saw we could
stretch our legs and find our way home. The crowds had disappeared and shops were
closing. Thwarted yet again! We strolled home, taking a huge interconnecting overpass only to find
it was under construction in the direction we needed to go. By the time we
neared our landmark UMNO building our bellies were rumbling and George ever the
homing pigeon for the familiar wanted De Happy beef! The staff recognised us and welcomed us back.
And so, our
Penang sojourn ended, the next day was airport time. A very interesting driver
collected us and on the way out to the airport spoke of the island’s way of
life, its independent island Government and its diversity. He spoke seven
languages - we were impressed. It was back to Kuala Lumpur and through to
Perth. Thankfully only a five-hour flight as our seats were the worst ever
experienced. They backed onto the mid-aisle toilets subjecting us to ceaseless
flushing noise. Constant opening and closing of not only that door but the
toilet door opposite which was more unpleasant as odours wafted across. And, inconsiderate people queuing for toilets leant against the seat in front of Lea, their bulk or movement interfering with
her movie viewing. We were glad to land and have that final leg behind us.
We were back in Australia...
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