Penang, Malaysia – Feb 14th to March 8th

We arrived in Penang, Malaysia fairly late on Valentine’s Day (10 hours on planes and in airports – do I know how to show a girl a special Valentine’s Day or what…).  Our Airbnb apartment was at Strait’s Quay roughly 2.5 miles from downtown Georgetown.  We had another nice place with one bedroom, two full baths, a full kitchen with a small dinette and a balcony that looked out over the huge pool, gym and tennis courts.  The first two floors of our building were all shops, restaurants and a grocery store.  Behind the building was a marina full of very expensive boats  (Dessa particularly liked a Princess 72 Motor Yacht which at roughly $2M is a little out of our price range).

Penang is actually the smallest state in Malaysia with a population of 1.75 million.  Half of it is on the island, with the other half across the Malacca Straits on the Malaysian mainland.  The two halves are joined by ferries and 2 very long bridges.  The ‘old’ bridge, opened in 1985, is 8.5 miles long while the newer one, which opened in 2014, is almost 15 miles long (and wait for it…  the old bridge was the longest in Southeast Asia until the new bridge opened and it became the 2^nd longest).  Penang’s modern history began with the creation of George Town in 1786 by the British but human remains have been found on the island that date back 5000 to 6000 years ago.

The Japanese occupied Penang Island during WW II after successfully weakening the defenses with multiple bombing raids.  While touring the main Catholic church the deacon told a story of a bombing raid in which the Japanese had actually bombed the church itself as well as the market community nearby.  Apparently, the Japanese bombers arrived after the farmers had all set up their market stalls.  They had disconnected their oxen and as a result their carts were resting on their ends with the cart shafts pointing into the air.  The Japanese mistook them for anti-aircraft guns and started a bombing run.

Today, Penang is known as “The Silicon Valley of Asia”, the “Island of Pearls” and the “Garden of the East” and parts of Georgetown, the capital of Penang, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.  This is an area that is considered one of the best places in the world to retire thanks to a low cost of living, excellent and cheap healthcare, an eclectic community from around the world that communicates largely in English and diverse lifestyle, entertainment and recreational options (great place to visit but we wouldn’t want to live here).  The coastline is crowded with high-rise condos with more under construction everywhere you look.  They even had some land reclamation programs underway to make room for no doubt more high rises.

Due to the expat and retiree communities, we expected this location to be more “Americanized” than our previous stops on this trip, but it really wasn’t.  It was great that English was readily spoken but just like our other Asian stays, this city is full of extremes: expensive condo communities and fancy shopping malls located beside very poor areas with people living in derelict buildings, some not much better than huts, and eating and shopping in grungy street stalls.  Government oversight is hit and miss: Car seats and seat belts are optional as are helmets for scooters or motorcycles and yet electric outlets are not allowed in bathrooms for safety reasons.  Street lights, signs and lane markers are only mild suggestions based on driving behavior; with sidewalks being mostly broken or non-existent, walking was a relatively dangerous experience.

The two-week Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration kicked off on Friday the 16^th so we looked online and asked around about related happenings with very mixed results. As an example, there was a Tourist Information desk in our building and we asked about fireworks for the kick off.  We were told that there weren’t any and that the first couple of days of New Years is primarily celebrated amongst family and friends much like Thanksgiving and Christmas day for us.  Around midnight on Friday, I was awoken by the loud explosions of some extensive Fireworks nearby, but then on Saturday and Sunday a lot of the stores in the malls, those owned by the Chinese, were closed (that 50% success rate on information was pretty representative of the rest of our search for New Year’s and other activities).

Eventually we found a few events and while a couple of them were a bust, we did finally find a couple of good ones.  During the Hokkien celebration, they had Lion and Dragon dancing, tons of vendors and food stalls, and a unique Penang activity called Chingay which involves one guy tossing a gigantic flag pole (that weighs up to 60 lbs) to another guy who catches it on his forehead.  There are temples every few blocks in this part of the world, and during this particular event the Lion Dancers trooped from temple to temple blessing and getting blessed at each one.  The crowd surged around the dancers everywhere they went, and I was never able to see over the crowd, but I did get to watch the dancing on the cell phones that everyone was holding up to film the action.  A similar celebration took place on the last day of CNY, also known as Chinese Valentines day, at our complex in Straits Quay.  This was a smaller event so this time I could actually see the dancers live but the organizers dragged the 30 to 45 minutes of entertainment out over 4 hours, (keeping my streak of wonderful 2018 Valentine’s activities alive) so I was mostly bored.  In addition to the Lion and Dragon dancing, and Chingay, Chinese Valentine’s in Penang is celebrated by throwing oranges into the ocean.  Single women write their names onto the oranges and the Gods are supposed to then deliver their orange to a suitable single man (the original Match.com).

The malls (and most other major buildings) are all decorated and tons of small giftable items are on sale with the temples doing a booming business in offerings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple complex in Malaysia. It is perched on a series of hilltops, overlooking the sea, and consists of many buildings surrounding a sunken garden courtyard.  Built over a 40-year period between 1890 and 1930, there are several large prayer halls, a seven story Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddha’s, and at the highest point stands a 120ft tall bronze statue of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, guarded by 100 replicas of the same statue.  During Chinese New Year, the entire complex is decorated with thousands of lanterns and millions of colored lights.  Devotees come to worship and make offerings in many forms. It seems the belief is that, during CNY, the good fortune you will have in the coming year is equal to the offerings you make.  Readily available for purchase at the temples you find incense, candles, golden coins, fruit, flowers, gift baskets, prayer sheets, even personalized roof tiles.  There are attendants that come along behind the worshipers and basically trash their offerings to make room for the next set.  They even collected the melted wax from the candle jars pouring it into large molds to be remade into new candles for resale later.

One of the highlights for Bill was at a chocolate kiosk near the apartment, because the vendor gave him a bag containing 10 Lindt dark chili chocolate bars for free (if you’ve never tried Chili Chocolate I highly recommend it!).  The vendor had them on sale for CNY, and Bill had bought a few over the first week, but when he went back later for more she was out.  When she saw how disappointed he was, she said that she still had some at the warehouse that she couldn’t sell because they were expired, but if he wanted them she could bring them to the stall the next day.  Bill of course agreed.  He didn’t expect 10 bars nor did he expect to see that they expiration date was only 2 days earlier.

Per our normal routine, I booked us a bike tour of George Town.  We had an option to bike or ride in a trishaw, a 3-wheeled bicycle with a carriage style seat in the front.  We chose the bicycle of course, but the couple that joined us had three kids that rode in the trishaws.  They were pedaled by very old Chinese guys, one of them was 88, and while they were super slow it was impressive that they were even doing this.  Our first stop was the Chew Clan Jetty, one of six Chinese settlements each built on their own pier.

As part of the UNESCO site these jetties are supposed to remain with Chew Clan families only, and their traditional architecture and materials.  In fact, if one of the individual buildings collapses they can only be re-built if it is done with original materials and using original techniques.  That of course didn’t stop most of the houses on the Jetty from building out shops at the front of their homes along the pier, so they can sell typical souvenir crap and drinks.  Our visit occurred at low tide, which allowed us to see that many of the pilings for the houses were made using plastic 5 gallon buckets filled with concrete (but using the traditional technique).

Penang really is very diverse, we visited the Armenian area and rode down the Street of Harmony where there are temples, mosques, and churches all within 2 small blocks.  We also hunted down some of their famed street art, including many by Ernest Zacharevic which involve 3 dimensional objects incorporated into the wall paintings.  We were treated to Indian roti for breakfast and Chinese char kuey teow, flat noodles, for lunch.  Kuan Yin Teng a Taoist Temple on the street of Harmony was very crowded, with billowing smoke from all the burning incense.  Some of the incense sticks were as big as my leg, with large dragon decorations.  We saw every kind of offering, blessings from monks, and the purchase and release of birds.

As we took photos in front of the temple, suddenly all of the people that had been standing around rushed to form a line where it turns out they received a free lunch.  A few minutes later, the same thing happened but this time they all got water.  On the third rush, they each got an angpow envelope (a typical CNY gift envelop) which contained 5 ringgits, a little over $1US  (what I really liked was the show of respect and thanks for this gift. most of the people put the money in the their pocket and then simply dropped the empty envelope on the ground.  That attitude explains why we found trash all over the place in Penang).

Penang Hill is the highest peak on the island, with supposedly the best views of the city, so we chose a day with blue skies and set out to climb it.  The first half hour was all stairs, then we climbed through the jungle for more than an hour till it seemed we were at the top, but it turned out we were at the top of a smaller hill.  As we exited the jungle, the path emptied out to a road that was so steep only motorcycles and 4wd vehicles were allowed to take it.  This road was the rest of the path to the top of Penang Hill.  We started hiking the road at a marker that said 2.4 km, at the first turn we asked a construction worker how far it was to the top, and said 2.5 km, about 1.5 miles.  I didn’t believe him, since it seemed like we were already close to the top, but he was right, we trekked the next 1.5 miles at a brutal 15-30-degree incline.  Bill said it was harder than Kilimanjaro or the Grand Canyon (the important thing to note is that our exhausting 3-hour hike saved us about $7 which is the one way cost of the incline railway to the top. Another stupid tourist moment?).  Our views were not that great due to sea haze, but we took some pics, and had an excellent lunch at David Brown’s, an English Tea Terrace restaurant on the peak, where I celebrated our accomplishment with 2 delicious Apple ciders.  We took the funicular down (lesson learned) and it was pretty cool.  It went really fast at an incline that felt like a roller coaster, and at one point the rail split so the up-train could pass the down-train.  When I saw it, I assumed we would stop on the side slip while the other train passed. Instead, both trains continued to move at full speed, we both veered to one side and zipped past.  It felt like the split section was barely long enough to clear the train in time.  Crazy!

Arulmigu Balathandayuthapani Kovil, aka the Waterfall Temple, is the site of the Thaipusam celebration in Penang.  This temple has 512 steps leading to it, and I read that they can have up to 700,000 people visit during the festival.  I can’t even imagine a crowd that size squeezing into this area, or the devotees carrying their burdens up the additional 240 steps compared to the Batu caves in Kuala Lumpur.  Fortunately, it was almost vacant on the day we visited (as you may have noticed we both prefer our scenery pictures without people in them), but there were lots of monkeys around to entertain us, and the temple at the top was interesting.  It is topped with a seven-story rajagopuram, or kingly temple tower, that was adorned with the standard carvings, but this one was a creamy yellow rather than the typical multi-colored towers we’ve seen at other temples.  The inside of the temple was almost mosque like with lots of columns.  The views of Georgetown were really good along the climb and especially at the top (arguably better than from Penang Hill).  The Botanic Gardens were next door, so we popped in for a few quick pics but it was super-hot and humid by this time, so you won’t get too many flower photos this time.

We spent a few days wandering around in Georgetown on our own, visiting the sites of the Heritage Trail and other Ernest Zacharevic street art installations.  We’ve mentioned before that I have been in need of a TexMex fix which was partially satisfied by some imitation Mexican food in Kuala Lumpur.  I searched Penang and found one Mexican food restaurant on the whole island, Holy Guacamole in downtown Georgetown, so Bill took me there for lunch.  It was pretty good and reasonably authentic!  I am really feeling the lack of my favorite foods now.  When we were done locating street art, we wanted to be on the other side of town, so we hired a trishaw.  As soon as I got in, I could tell it was not made for people Bill’s size.  Sure enough, he just about squashed me when he sat down.  Then the poor old guy who had to be at least 70, and was roughly my size, had to pedal us down the busy streets.  Since he did not want to stop for any reason, he entered intersections honking his really loud horn, directly behind my head.  This was accompanied by lots of yelling and cursing whenever he had to slow down or lost momentum.  We of course were in front of him, and at risk of being struck by oncoming traffic at each crossroad.  Purely by luck, we survived.  Our destination was Pinang Peranakan Mansion, a typical Baba (rich cultured Chinese) home.  The architecture and décor, a blend of British and Chinese influences, was well preserved and full of antiques.  The house had a private temple, a museum just for their jewels, and another for their clothing.  The jewels were fit for royalty, and I enjoyed the ceramic collection.

Grab (a local Uber competitor) was super cheap so we used it extensively, including a much longer trip to one of the farther flung attractions.  The Snake Temple was constructed in memory of a Buddhist monk that was a healer who sometimes gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle. After this temple was completed in 1850, the snakes reportedly appeared on their own.  They were believed to the disciples of the priest, so the temple became home to the venomous Wagler’s pit vipers and green tree snakes.  They de-venom, but don’t de-fang, the snakes that are on display inside the temple, and used for photo ops.

I would bet all the snakes in the trees in the courtyard still were venomous.  Bill talked me into holding a boa constrictor that was at least six feet long, and was very heavy and strong (we sent a picture of Dessa holding the snake to our 4 yr old grandson who said that she needed to be more careful because snakes are stinky).  Of course, the picture took much longer than I would have liked, while the boa kept turning and straining toward my face.  I may be smiling in the picture, but I am also saying “hurry the F… up! and take the damn picture”.  The guy from the Temple also draped a pit viper over my head, which I really loved.   Unfortunately for the viper, he slid off my hair and hit the floor.  I’m surprised he didn’t bite me for that.

The Penang Nation Park, is the smallest in Malaysia, and was touted as “pristine” and a “national treasure”.  We hiked the trail through the forest and along the coast line to Turtle Beach and Monkey Beach.  The trail was in very poor condition, with huge trees fallen across the path, and wooden bridges with broken slats.  We did not see any wildlife (or much of anything else worthwhile), or turtles at Turtle Beach, where they have a research station, and there was only one monkey at Monkey Beach.  However, the sand was white and as soft as powder and at least we got a bit of a workout.  We hired a boat to take us back to the park entrance, where we were unloaded onto the ricketiest pier I have ever seen.

On our last day, I went to the mall for a grooming appointment, while Bill went to Wat Chayamangkalaram, the Reclining Buddha temple. We were getting pretty tired of temples, and I imagine you are all getting tired of the repetitive pictures, so I was happy for him to go without me.  As it turned out, it was one of the best maintained and decorated of all the temples we’ve visited.  After taking several photos, he went across the street to yet another temple that was equally nice.  Figures…I would miss the best ones, since I am the one that really doesn’t like ugly.  We enjoyed Penang, and our apartment was just right for our needs.  Three weeks was probably a bit longer than we needed but we enjoyed the leisure time at the pool and the gym.

You can find all of our Penang photos Here  and our short video montage Here

Next up, Bali, and no doubt…more temples.

 

Post Author: Dessa (with editorial comments by Bill in Italics)