George Town, Penang

Besides the food stalls, the temples, the ethnic influences in fashion and food, the streets of George Town are also well known for street art.  There are primarily two different types, the first being those painted by a Lithuanian artist who was commissioned to paint local scenes for the 2012 George Town Festival.  There are other paintings around but his are, by far, the best; very clever and witty often incorporating real objects into the picture.

 

 

The other type are wrought iron structures that were commissioned by the tourist board to provide fun pictorial anecdotes about the history of the street it is located on, and a rather fun way to learn a little bit about Penang's heritage.

Other scenes around George Town:

 

 

 

An interesting shop front but I couldn't figure out what they sold

Chew Jetty

A typical food court (one stall offers "claypot frog porridge"  hmmm?)

Street food hawker

This was me by the end of the day

Out and About in Penang

Penang is an island absolutely teeming with history.  The capital, George Town, has been declared a World Heritage city due to its history, its architecture and its culture.  One just has to wander the streets for a day or two to appreciate its diversity telling its tales of yesteryear.  Between its occupation by the British, the Japanese and the influences of the Chinese in the last century and then the Arabs of years gone by, Penang is quite unique.  It has been dubbed the Pearl of the Orient, a nomenclature it well deserves when one visits this intriguing island of incredibly multifarious cultures.

This culture has created some of the most amazing cuisines, something for which the island is famous: Penang laksa, Penang fried noodles, Penang biryani, rojak, curries, the list goes on and on.  Most of these dishes are sold at road-side stalls which are known as "hawker food". Penang offers a diverse and exotic mix of Malay, Indian, Chinese and western cuisine, which reflects the multicultural mix of the city and the Penangites crowd these ubiquitous hawker stalls at any time of the day.  The ease, the variety and the cheap price make them extremely popular.  We have tried several and haven't had a bad meal yet.  I can't cook aboard for the cost of a meal on the streets.

In Colonial Penang, the development of the spice economy drove the movement of Chinese settlers to the island.  Today, the Chinese make up just under 50% of the population and their influence is felt everywhere in the form of businesses, restaurants, temples, schools and culture.

We experienced some of this yesterday.  We needed to visit the Thai Embassy to apply for a visa which, once done, we decided to take the funicular up Penang Hill to see the view of the island from the highest point.  We were so impressed with the gardens and upkeep of this site, absolutely beautifully laid out and maintained.  We thoroughly enjoyed the trip with its magnificent panoramic views.

While up there, we could see a most impressive looking temple not too far away so we decided to visit this as well.  It was the Kek Lok Si Temple, a Chinese Buddhist temple of humongous proportions built on the side of the hill.  

To get there, we walked a few kilometres in the midday sun  (I was NOT a happy camper), then climbed a steep alley through shops selling the usual Chinese 'stuff' to reach the entrance but, once there, we were exposed to an amazing experience, sight after sight of magnificent structures dedicated to Buddha.  

We had just missed the Chinese New Year festival held there where the entire temple is bathed in lights but we were suitably fascinated regardless.

 








I have to admit that the heat of the midday sun got the better of me so, by late afternoon, we returned to Calypso to indulge in a thoroughly enjoyable gin and tonic, a gift from a fellow cruiser in Pangkor.  Thank you so much Pete, we had a great day but this absolutely made it!

PHOTO ALBUM:

Going up in the funicular

Old track rollers

Looking out over George Town

Inside the temple complex

Prayer tiles

The 30-metre bronze statue of Kuan Yin

The End of Chinese New Year

Hundreds of lanterns made by the local children

With Penang's enormous Chinese population, the Chinese New Year is a major event.  We arrived at the close of a two week long celebration and joined Labarque and Out of the Blue II in town for the Chap Goh Meh Celebrations marking the end.

With Labarque & Out of the Blue II

Beforehand, Patrick from Labarque took us to his favourite eating establishment, an unbelievably good and inexpensive Indian vegetarian restaurant in Little India.  We sampled an amazing array of extremely tasty dishes along with their tosai (dosa), a rice batter bread/pancake along with its cousin, a hollow football-sized variety of which I've forgotten the name.

Tosai

The football?

The festivities in the evening included a lot of noise, some fireworks (always fireworks), gaudy lights and ornaments and an orange throwing contest.  The orange or tangerine are particularly significant Chinese New Year symbols.  The bright orange color of the fruits symbolizes 'gold', hence it has an auspicious meaning to bring in good luck and wealth. This was followed by more noise and more fireworks but the last bus back to our anchorage didn't allow us to stay for the final fireworks show so home we went.

PHOTO ALBUM:

A shop in Little India

With Lyn (Out of the Blue II)

Paul trying out a hoverboard

Back out there

Our first evening at anchor in a while

Only a day and a half hop up to the Jerejak anchorage in Penang but ever so nice to be on the move again.

You know you've been too long in one place when you find not one, but two, bird's nests in progress aboard your boat.  One was inside the workings of the radar arch which had only been closed up for less than a week so we can't work out how the little guys got in there to start building without us seeing it beforehand.  The other; we only discovered this one when Paul was battling to haul up the main.  The hollow of the boom was chock-a-block filled with the makings of another.  Shame, we sailed away with someone's home but fortunately no babies yet.  Wasps had also set up home in one of the jammers clogging it up with mud.  It was definitely time to move on!

High tide in Penang wasn't until three in the afternoon so we only got under way at two.  We chose to overnight at a little island just 15nm away leaving us with about 65nm for the following day.  There are so many fishing boats with nets around these parts that it's best to traverse the area in daylight if possible.  

With only about half a mile to go that first day, we suddenly started shaking badly.  Paul went down to check the engine mountings, all OK.  We thought we may have lost a blade on our prop but he felt it would be much worse if that was the case.  We slowly crawled into the anchorage and dropped anchor so he could dive overboard to check things out.  Lo and behold, a massive thick plastic bag was wrapped right around the prop.  Problem easily solved thank goodness.

We left before dawn and managed just a little bit of sailing but were fortunate to have a knot of current with us most of the way.  As we arrived at our destination just as the sun was setting, we found two boats we know well and joy of joys, they were busy having their sundowners as we set anchor.  A lovely start to being back in cruising mode.

Approaching the new Penang Bridge

It carries on as far as the eye can see

Passing underneath - it looks closer than it actually is!

We are floating!

(Photos courtesy of Sandy on Zorana)

So here we are, gently rolling in calm waters again.  We finally got splashed with no problems at all (just love this Sealift contraption) and are sorting out a few final issues before saying farewell to Pangkor Marina. 

Anyone who knows us well and have followed our blog over the years, will know that we avoid marinas at all costs unless we have no choice and here, we had no choice as we simply had to haul out prior to our next ocean crossing.  We'd far rather be sitting at anchor, nose to the breeze and feeling the pleasant rock of the movement of the seas.

However, that said, we couldn't have chosen a more congenial spot and can highly recommend Pangkor for any boat following in our wake.  The manager James, and all his staff, are simply amazing; friendly, helpful and just ever so pleasant.

But, here we must stay a bit longer.  We have again been lumbered with bank problems!  What did we do in our former life to be subjected to this?!  

Whilst still in Jepara, we spent four and a half months desperately trying to sort out our credit cards from South Africa only to have them finally couriered with a mere six months validity!  We also have a savings account in Panama and this has proven to be equally troublesome if not worse.  

Going back to the Jepara fiasco, we tried at the same time to get new debit cards from Panama. "Sorry sir, we don't have the plastic to print the cards, we'll let you know when we do."  Yeah right.  Our cards are now expiring at the end of this month and guess what, they still don't have the right materials to print us new cards.  99% of our emails are totally ignored and we can't pay our account using said card despite them telling us that the card is fine; use it.  How many ways can I say it doesn't work! and still nothing is forthcoming.  I can withdraw limited funds from an ATM but cannot pay anything on-line.

We're a bit between a rock and a hard place and are forced to stay put until we can get new ones sent across, each day incurring more costs.  My frustration levels have peaked big time and there's absolutely nothing we can do but phone, email, scream, rant, rave and throw all our toys out of the cot!  Today's banking systems were definitely not set up with cruisers in mind, especially those who don't take annual holidays back to their home port.  "Yes sir, just pop into your local branch and they'll sort you out!"  Sure thing!

Update: after another dozen or so phone calls (I promise I remained polite), we've decided to leave on Saturday and we may, just possibly, perhaps, sort of (if we're lucky), been able to get the cards forwarded on to Penang.  Cross fingers and hold thumbs (but not your breath).  But the important thing is, we're off!

A Quick Visa Run

Street food

When we were in Johor Bahru a couple of years ago, in order to renew our visas, it was a simple matter of taking a 10 minute bus trip to the Singapore Causeway, checking into Singapore, then immediately turning around to check back into Malaysia before taking a bus back to the marina - all achieved in less than an hour and voilá, we had another three months!

The beautiful Ipoh colonial railway station

Well, it's not such a quick fix from this side of the peninsula.  We had a choice of taking an overnight bus back to Singapore or a 4-hour train journey up to the Thai border.  We chose the latter and it proved to be a great decision.  Firstly, the trains here are excellent; clean, fast and efficient.  We took the trip with Janice and Mick off Zoa, drove up to Ipoh to catch the train, hopped on it just before lunch and relaxed as we watched the countryside pass by at about 140km.  

We reached the border town of Padang Besar where we checked out of Malaysia then into the tiny Thai town of Sadao to look for a cheap hotel for the night.  Good choice.  Most cruisers get on another train to head up to the big city of Had Yai but we loved the somewhat grubby charm of his little town where the main street was lined with food carts of all descriptions and very friendly people.  I doubt they receive many tourists in this part of the world.

Such kind helpers

We had one of those fortunate meetings as we dithered around at the immigration exit wondering how to find our way into town.  A young Malay brother and sister who were on a buying trip, took us under their wing and into their taxi then helped us locate a suitable hotel, took us to exchange money and even found us after we'd said thanks and farewell in order to give us some samplings of the local street food.  They couldn't do enough for us.  They even helped to organise the taxi driver to collect us the next day to reverse the immigration process.  Too wonderful.

Much negative press comes from the Thai/Malaysia border provinces due to Muslim separatist violence which dates back to the conquering of these regions by the Kingdom of Siam in the late 1700s but has intensified significantly this century.  This, however, relates primarily to the south eastern provinces and not the mixed Thai/Malay province of Songkhla, our destination.

In the troubled areas of the three most southern provinces, both the Thai-speaking Buddhist minority and the local Muslims who have a more moderate approach supporting the Thai government have borne the brunt of this violence causing thousands of deaths and injuries but the very mixed Thai/Malay/Chinese population of Sadao, appeared to live in total harmony.

 



We wandered the streets taking in the questionable 'sights' and the many food stalls, then had a fabulous meal at a Chinese establishment which cost next to nothing for the four of us.  Typical of a lot of Thailand, there were the massage parlours, karaoke bars and a fair share of lady boys or kathoeys as they are known in Thailand.

On the route there, we passed mile upon mile of oil palm plantations, those damnable trees that have replaced so much of Malaysia's beautiful jungles and forests, as well as rubber tree and teak plantations. An interesting feature in so much of this part of the world are the limestone hills that protrude out of the flatter than flat landscape seemingly dropped at random from above.  These eroded steep singular hills are quite a feature all the way up the western coast of Malaysia and well up into Thailand, creating some spectacular scenery.

Waiting for the car to cool

When we arrived back in Ipoh, it was almost 8 o'clock in the evening so we were introduced to a really great Hindu Indian eatery by our friend Mohan who had come to collect us, superb and really tasty food.  One little hiccough on the return journey, the car overheated but again, the friendliness of the locals who came to help is overwhelming.  Once the radiator had cooled, the guys topped it up and we were on our way again without further incident.

It was only two days there and back but we thoroughly enjoyed it and were glad of the diversion from boat work.  It felt like a holiday!

PHOTO ALBUM: 

A multi-coloured bougainvillaea tree

Chinese New Year is coming up

Stopping for breakfast

Jok, a typical Thai breakfast (rice congee)

Salubrious neighbourhood?