Penang

One of my son's friends recently said on his Facebook status update, “must take some time out and see more of the places around where I live”. Isn't it true? We live somewhere, complain about having nothing interesting to do, and end up seeing little of what is around us. Because the Inventor and I have moved around quite a lot, we have always been aware of it, and despite the awareness, the good intentions and plans, still mumble and grumble of missed opportunities, and unseen beauties.

Crossing the bridge to Penang Island

Last weekend, we travelled to Penang to cross off a “must-see” from our list. Fortunately or unfortunately, this one has not been crossed off, as it must be relegated to the other list, the list reserved for places and experiences that offer too much to be digested in one sitting. Penang, or Pulau Pinang as I should more correctly refer to the island, is a modern, interesting, attractive place, and we hope to go back again. It is steeped in history, and many of the buildings from its colonial past remain. It is also pitched towards tourists, and one does not feel out of place there, sightseeing, shopping or just looking. Some English is spoken by most people, and strangest of all for us was the masses of white-skinned people, both residents and tourists. We are accustomed to being the only white-skinned “orang putih” around, and experience something of a celebrity status because of our ethnicity and skin colour. At Tesco people have become more accustomed to our presence, aided by the fact than another family of “orang putih” also moved here just before us. This family also were nice enough to have seven children, every one of whom has striking blue eyes and a shock of white-blonde hair. Hence, I feel that the novelty of white people around Kampar has worn off to a large extent, though I still pass people who seem surprised or interested to see a white person, and many seem a little awed to meet us. Our friends Desmond and Swee Yee tell us that foreigners are respected in Malaysia above locals, unlike Australia where foreigners can be treated with suspicion or disregard.

In Penang there were many, many white-skinned people. We heard English being spoken regularly, and I enjoyed hearing the familiar Aussie accent as I wandered past groups of people. Up until our trip to Singapore, we had been counting the white-skinned people we had seen in a day, and the highest daily total so far achieved had been eleven, on one of our trips to KL. The record was blitzed at KL international airport, and in Singapore it was pointless to count. So too, Penang.

Two views from our balcony, to sea, and inland.

We had planned to go to Penang the previous weekend, and so had Desmond and Swee Yee. Strangely, both lots of plans had fallen through, and at church on the Sunday, we decided to go together the next weekend. They had acquired vouchers for three nights' accommodation at a time share hotel in Penang, and invited us to join them, using one of the vouchers to pay for our first night there. We had discovered that our passport renewal applications could be submitted with the honorary consul in Penang, so decided to stay for a second night so we would have time to see some things as well as renew our passports, which we want to get done now despite their not being due to expire until July, so that the two-year visa we have applied for can be stamped into our new passports. The Inventor has also read that the Australian government plan to dramatically increase the cost of passports to raise revenue.

We enjoyed a delightful two days in Penang with Desmond, Swee Yee and their four-year-old son Daniel. Desmond and Swee Yee appointed themselves travel guides, and in the process of showing us around the island, discovered some places they had never seen themselves. The drive along the coastal road to the village of Teluk Bahang was a scenic delight, and so much like the Cairns- Port Douglas road, it made me both nostalgic and a little melancholic. Even the vegetation is similar, and I find it strange that parts of Malaysia are so similar, yet so very different, to our previous home. A highlight of our trip for me was a visit to a batik factory, where we were shown the batik being stamped by hand. I knew, of course, how it was done, but it was great to finally see the real thing! We also stopped and had a walk through a lovely private botanical gardens. The herb garden was interesting but it was the trail up and down the hill through the rainforest that I loved, again reminding me of the tracks and trails around Cairns and the fun walks I had there with friends and on my own. We even managed to see the night markets despite the rain- unlike in Kampar, the stall-holders are well equipped and had no intention of missing a night's trade because of a little bit of rain, however thunderous. Strangely, the one tourist venue that I had wanted to see seemed to have closed down, which would explain my failure to contact them on each of the numerous phone numbers I had found on google. The cultural centre had seemed very popular and won awards for its displays of dance, music, games and other cultural displays, so I wonder why it is now closed.

What little boys do!

Having Desmond order the food for us at nearly every meal made it easy for us, as communicating can be a stressful and difficult task, and when a Chinese speaker does all the interpreting for you, there are also less surprises when the food arrives! Another highlight was the steamboat dinner. Our steamboat was lit and the soup poured in, then it was up to us to choose from the hundreds of meats, seafoods and vegies and take them back to the table to cook in the soup or barbeque on the hotplate that surrounded the steamboat. Dozens of other pre-cooked foods were available, too, and we all ate far more than we probably should have.

The hotel Desmond and Swee Yee had taken us to is right on the beach, and from the hotel lobby one walks out to the pool area then onto the beach. While Desmond fished from the beach, we played with Daniel in the sand and in the little waves that splash onto the beach, and wandered along the surprisingly uncrowded beach. More adventurous tourists zoomed around on hired jetskis, rode on inflatable bananas and soared over our heads under parachute canopies, but we enjoyed taking it easy and having a bit of down-time. The inventor was a little disappointed to discover that the two hobie cats that lay stacked at the top of the beach were indeed as non-functional as they appeared, so we remained on solid ground.

So cute- sometimes! He speaks two languages already.

As we navigated our way back across the Penang bridge back to the mainland after lunch on Tuesday, I was sad to be having to leave. Penang really appealed to me, with its azure ocean views and verdant mountainous interior, modern shopping centres, Chinese food places, clean and tidy presentation and Western feel. This is one place to which I am sure we will return.

I had wanted to see the historic O and E Hotel, and we miraculously drove straight past it on our way out of town.