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| George Town, Penang, Malaysia |
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Tuesday, 16 March Hat Yai I left for George Town, Penang, Malaysia. I flew from Bangkok to Hat Yai, a southern Thai town near the border. Traveling to Malaysia by bus or train takes around 24 hours; flying eliminated about 17 hours of bus ride. I arrived in Hat Yai to learn that my bag had been send to Phuket. When I told the friendly Thai Airlines representative that I was continuing to Penang, he told me that he'd have the bag sent to Kuala Lumpur, where I could pick it up. Ha ha! I politely insisted that the bag instead be sent to Penang, and then delivered by the airline to where I was staying. Which they did, the next day. One thing I always forget about Thailand is that there aren't ATMs everywhere. I arrived at Hat Yai's bus station to learn that the nearest ATM was ten minutes walk away, at a department store. A ten minute walk in the afternoon in southern Thailand can be brutal. Luckily, a fellow gave me a lift on his motorcycle. While at the department store, I bought new clothes for the next day, since I didn't know when I'd see my luggage again. Also while waiting, I tried a new dish: pad phet gai (fried chilis with chicken). the border There are no buses between Thailand and Malaysia; you have to go by private vehicle. I took a minivan. The trip took around four hours. Crossing the border was easy. The Malaysians make sure you know that the penalty for is participating in the drug trade DEATH. George Town, Penang My first view of George Town was just after sunset, from aboard the ferry that crosses from Butterworth. It's beautiful. The minivan dropped us off on Chulia Street, the main street of George Town's Chinatown. It's also the backpacker area. We were delivered directly to a guest house. The people were nice, and the sales pitch was less high-pressure than some places I've been in Thailand. I declined and walked out to the street to get my bearings. A burrito vendor pointed me toward the Komtar Centre (a 66-story mall with a bus station at the bottom), and I set off on foot. It was a ten-minute walk. There I called my friend Lucy, then took a bus out to Gurney Drive, a northwestern suburb of George Town. While negotiating my bags delivery with Thai Airways, I realized there was a one-hour time difference between Thailand and Malaysia. Finally, pretty confidant that my bag would arrive later that day (it did), I set out for a self-guided walking tour of George Town. My first stop was Wat Chayamangkalarm, a Thai Buddhist temple. Across the street was the Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple. I picked up a bus to Komtar, where I exchanged more money and walked down Lebuh Carmavon. This brought me to Masjid Kapitan Keling, an unbelievably beautiful mosque. I spoke with some men working there, who were very happy to tell me about the mosque and Islam. Nearby is Yap Kongsi, a Chinese clan house. I was standing inside when the 1:29 call to prayer sounded from Masjid Kapitan Keling, giving some sense of how multicultural George Town is. A few blocks away is the Khoo Kongsi, the most elaborate and (deservedly) famous clan house in George Town. Acheen St. Mosque I walked around Indiatown for a while, then stopped for a banana leaf lunch at Kaliamans. The rice is spooned out onto a banana leaf, and then curries are ladled over that. They'll offer Western visitors a spoon and fork, but the traditional way to eat is with your right hand, mixing the curries into the rice. After lunch I went to the Nin Yong Temple. I spoke there with a woman who was doing some calligraphy. She encouraged me to learn Chinese, and taught me how to say goodbye (chai tien). I walked east down the Esplanade, looking at the sea and passing the north side of Fort Cornwallis. I stopped by the Tourism Authority for a map. Since I was there, I also took a look at the Queen Victoria Clock Tower.I walked back along the Esplanade and then turned south toward Queen Street. I stopped in at Kuan Yin Teng, also known as the Goddess of Mercy Temple. There's a lot of incense there. I arrived at Lebuh Queen (Queen Street) just in time for tea time (5pm). I looked at the Cheng Hoe Seah art gallery, then bought poo too mayam (a shredded coconut snack). On Lebuh China I ordered teh tarik (pulled tea) at the Krsna Restorant. Teh tarik is Indian tea with sugar and condensed milk, rapidly poured from one cup to another, back and forth. There are photos here, and here, and at the bottom of this page. I drank several cups of teh tarik while in Penang—both hot and iced. Returning to Chulia Street, I walked north along Love Lane and saw the Carpenters' Guild (where I also saw some very large rats). There are some walking tour signs in this area, and I followed the path west to the Hainan Temple, and then the Benggali Mosque. Some men were asleep inside (I arrived just after prayer). At the Christian Cemetery I saw the tombs of Captain Francis Light, who founded the first settlement on the island, and Thomas Leonowens, husband of Anna of Siam. I also got a few mosquito bites—which you should expect when wandering a wooded cemetery at dusk. They were my only mosquito bites while in Malaysia. On the West end of Chulia Street I peeked inside the Madrasa Anjuman Himayathul Islam, but no one was around. A few doors over is Sam's Bookstore, where I bought Streets of George Town, Penang: An Illustrated Guide to Penang's City Streets & Historic Attractions by Khoo Su Nin. Tokong Ng Fook ThongMasjid Kapitan Keling for evening prayer dinner on Lebuh Chulia concert at Tokong Ng Fook Thong walked to Prangin Mall bused back to Gurney condo Su Hok and Lucy gave me a ride to the Botanical Gardens on their way to work. Where there were monkeys. I walked around for a bit, and then met a Chinese man who convinced me to walk with him up the stairs. In the hotel lobby is a large photograph of R. Buckminster Fuller (from 1974 until 1980 a consultant to the Architects Team 3 in Penang, Malaysia, where he designed the $200 million Penang Urban Center). Beside it is a poster that says: Human integrity is the uncompromising courage of self-determining whether or not to take initiatives, support or cooperate with others in accord with "all the truth and nothing but the truth" as it is conceived by the divine mind always available in each individual.Outlined with a heart was: St. Valentine'sThe poster also read (at the bottom): In memoriam: Richard Buckminster Fuller A garden outside the Hotel offered a fantastic view of George Town and the sea. The funicular railway is not working right now, so I couldn't ride to Kek Lo Seh. As I was preparing to walk back down, I ran into the Malysian family again; they were eating lunch, and invited me to join them. I had a bowl of mee jawa (spicy noodles). They taught me some words and grammar rules for Bahasa Malay; I taught them some Thai words, and about the script. Then we rode together in a jeep to the bottom and the entrance of the Botanical Gardens. We had ice cream; I ate mine in a bun that also had jam. (In Thailand it's common for ice cream to be served in bread.) Then the family gave me a ride back to Lucy's condo. I cleaned up and went for a swim, then had tea with Lucy. As well as a carrot dish a chef at her restaurant had come up with. I bused to Komtar and bought a minivan ticket for the next day. Riding back to Gurney Drive, I met a man from Guadalajara who gave me doughnuts and told me about all the countries he'd been to. I decided to believe him. Lucy took me for dinner on Gurney Drive, so I could eat as many of the famous Penang dishes as I could. We shared: I arrived at the Cheong Fatt Tse Mansion just in time for the 11am tour. I arrived in Phuket around 3 am. The bus station tuk tuk and motorcycle drivers were particularly nasty: they wouldn't even tell me how far a walk it was to the nearest ATM, but insisted on driving me (it turned out to be one block away). I walked away from them and went to the ATM. There I met a motorcycle driver who seemed friendly enough, and who offered to drive me south to Hai Narn Villa for 200 baht. That seemed right, so off we went. But after twenty minutes he got a flat tire. We were then outside a small outdoor bar where some westerners and Thai girls were drinking. I waited there while the motorcycle driver rode off to fix his bike. One hour later, the bar was shutting down, and the motorcycle driver hadn't returned. I don't know whether he was embarrassed or couldn't find help or just assumed I wouldn't wait. (I hadn't paid him yet.) I had been drinking with the Thai girls, and they offered me a ride on their own motorcycle to the Villa. Which wasn't too much farther up ahead. I got there around 4:30, and, after exchanging mobile numbers and multiple thank you's, I went to bed. I woke up around 11. William had drawn a map detailing how to get to the beach, Hat Nai Harn. I met him there. There was a strong riptide and it was very salty, so no good swimming, although William said the snorkeling was all right. I just sunbathed. Walking back to the Villa, I bought a new wallet. William and I rode to Phuket Town. Along the way we saw a store advertising "tuma sandwich." In Phuket Town we bought our bus tickets; William had decided to stay one more day. He headed back home, and I found a fruit market where I bought kanom jin Phuket. No one could understand my requests for toh sor, a kind of Chinese pastry (I still can't say it correctly). I also bought a cheap som-oh (pomelo). My bus left Phuket around 6pm. I arrived in Bangkok around 6 am, and got home by 6:30. Along the way I saw the monks making their morning rounds. The house, despite my worst fears, had not been consumed by ants and mosquitoes. I at once went to bed. Today Tang had a rare day off, so, when I work up, we met at Pata Department Store. Tang showed me which local store has the most delicious naam farang (guava juice), and I tried gatarawn, a kind of omelet with mussels and bean sprouts. We also ate some glass noodle salad and fish-stomach soup. I gave Tang a little monkey doll that I'd bought from a blind man in Malaysia. Tang and I agreed that his name was Khun Bon (Mr. Ball). That's because he's roundish, like a monkey ball. He has suction cups on his hands. We left Pata to go to a night market. On the way we caught the end of a traditional Thai music concert on the lawn at the National Gallery. We next went to National Stadium, where I've seen a large market in the past, but there was no market. (And I haven't seen one there since then.) So then we went to World Trade Center to see Big Fish, but it had been moved to another Major Cineplex. So we ended up busing back to Pata, where I showed Tang which of the vendors there has the most delicious sen lek tom yam (a spicy noodle soup). |