After another four days at sea, we
greeted our arrival in Penang Malaysia (sometimes referred to as “the Pearl of
Asia”) with exuberance and anticipation.
We were ready to abandon ship, at least for a few hours, and by 9AM we
were on our way ashore. Our “custodian”,
“keeper” “secretary” and “tour guide”, Diane, had done her homework. A van with driver was supposed to be awaiting
us at the terminal to give us a tour of the city, Alas, as sometimes happens,
the engaged driver failed to appear but another one stepped up to the plate and
we were off.
We were told the population of
Penang was 3 million. (This number that does not correspond to the number given
in Wikipedia. I assume that the variance involves a discrepancy in area
included in the respective counts—but what do I know?) It makes no never mind because it took no
genius to immediately conclude that Penang is a bustling and thriving activity
of entrepreneurship. The traffic was aggressive (though not as bad as India)
and heavy.
Our first stop and photo op was a
Buddhist
Temple where Diane and Ken engaged in their picture taking moment. Our next stop
was a Batik enterprise that offered colorful Batik clothes that were difficult to
resist but alas, the price provided a good exercise for containment of what
might, otherwise have resulted in impulse buying. Poverty is a wonderful thing for bringing
reason to all things involving money.
From the Batik shop we were
marshalled into a coffee and tea shop featuring Malaysian produced coffee, tea
and by products of the same. Of course, this was our coffee break of sorts
inasmuch as free samples of the products were provided in the hope that our
taste buds would overrule our otherwise sense of frugality. Apparently our guide now considered us ready
to step up into the big time and our next stop was a pewter operation where I
was mightily tempted but successfully resisted.
I did find a chain that I liked and managed to negotiate a price that seemed
like a good deal. By now our guide had apparently
concluded that we really were not “shoppers and the sightseeing began.
Our next stop was “Penang Hill”
which is accessed by the Penang Hill Railway, a one section funicular railway
which climbs the hill from Air Itam near George Town on the island of
Penang. Our driver left us off and one
quick overview of the waiting crowd created a light bulb! If it was that bad to go up, what must it be
like to coming down and we were on a schedule. We quickly concluded that this
was an adventure we should forego and ran to catch our driver before he parked
the car. I am sure the views from atop the hill were fabulous but you, the
reader must learn of them from another source. We hate to miss anything but
sometimes there is a time for prudence and Penang Hill was ours. Mind you,
there were times when we could have exercised more prudence as you may conclude
from our next experience.
Our driver took us to the Kek Lok
Si Temple, a Buddhist Temple also
located in Air Itam (I think Air Itam must be a phrase that refers to hills or
mountains in the Malaysian vocabulary). Constructed in 1893, it is one of the best
known temples on the island. Our driver drove us to the top of the hill where
you enter into the temple and from there you take a funicular railway which
takes you back down the hill where the driver would await us. Bill and I decided to forego the pleasure of
another temple and went with the driver to await the arrival of our respective
spouses. Unfortunately, the directions left something to be desired. At the end of the funicular, they were
supposed to walk down the steps and through some shops and stalls to where the
driver had parked. His directions were
not clear and Ken and Diane expected him to be waiting where the funicular
ended which was the half way point. For a time the two were lost, missing and
unaccounted for which caused them and their waiting spouses concern. Finally after an hour of exchanged phone
calls, a good rainstorm and patience the driver found them and I quickly
discerned that their adventure had not made them two happy campers. Both are good sports and by the time we were
back down the hill they had dried off from the rain and come to terms with
their good humor. Bill and I were quiet
during this readjustment period inasmuch as we had been in an air conditioned,
dry car enjoying our own adventure, a trip to the utility office for the driver
to pay his gas bill or something. Isn’t that what being a tourist is all about?
After our misadventures of the
day, our driver drove us through old town, past the High Court and stopped for us
to take pictures of the 13 mile long Bridge from the old part of town on
the waterfront.
Penang is pristine with
absolutely no graffiti, no trash and even the oldest parts of the city are well
maintained and welcoming. It was an
interesting, enlightened and fun day in spite of a few moments of drama. That’s life.
I am going to publish this and
post pictures later. We are nearing
Singapore and I have things to do, places to see and cultures to investigate.
