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Penang, Malaysia
Entry 29 of 52 | show all | print this entry |
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Penang, Malaysia Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Excursion: Georgetown by Trishaw, 3 hours, $54 each
Note from Cynthia: I don't know why we stopped three times in Malaysia--we stopped at KK, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang. Once would have been more than enough, there just wasn't any significant difference among these Malaysian stops. Now that I've essentially said there's nothing interesting in this blog entry, so I'm turning it over to John, who's written a masterpiece as his first blog entry, so it's worth reading just for his story, nevermind that the location was less than stellar...
Penang, also confusingly called Georgetown (the state capital) by some, Penang is tucked into the western shore of Malaysia, just north of Kuala Lumpur. Known as The Pearl of the Orient for its natural beauty, Pulau (island) Penang (Pinang) respects tradition but is neither stodgy nor sleepy. It has gracious colonial architecture, vibrant Chinese communities, Indian temples and mosques, beach resorts, and enticing food. Its population is primarily Hokkien Chinese, though there is a sizable Indian community as well as many Malays. Busy Georgetown is easy to like, and you can do a thorough tour of the city by foot and trishaw in half a day. (Fodor's) We chose the Georgetown by Trishaw tour.
The Sweetenham pier is not a deep-water port
so the SS Voyager anchored in the bay and we were transported to shore by ship's tenders.
Upon arrival a queue of trishaws stood waiting and we chose one each instead of sharing since trishaws were designed for the oriental physique.
These 'kings of the road' can be plain
or fancy
and I chose one that had an umbrella; little recognizing that the umbrella was meant for the driver. Our guide noted that these poor, uneducated men cannot find other jobs and that she has to act more like a sheep hearder than a guide with them. Two of them had dogs which ran alongside their owners the entire trip,
once coming upon a really ugly mongrel which they dispatched quickly.
One puts one's life in their hands as they roll through city streets, weaving in and out of, and directly in front of on-coming traffic; only a cycle bell for protection. They do, however, have take-out liquid in baggie-like continers attached to their trishaws.
Along the heritage trail, we passed the majestic Fort Cornwallis and the Town Hall at the Esplanade, the State Assembly building along Light Street and the Clock Tower
at King Edward Circus, donated to the city by a Pinang millionaire to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's rule; the tower is 60 feet tall, a foot for every year of her reign up to 1897.
Our first stop in an area known as Little India was at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple,
the city's oldest and principal Hindu temple, topped by a gopuram covered with statues of Hindu dieties,
and the ceiling inside features the symbols for the planets and signs of the zodiac.
The most prized possession of the faithful is a statue of Lord Subramaniam, which is covered with gold, silver, diamonds and emeralds. This poor, humble Indian sat this way for the entire time we were there.
On our way to the second stop we passed but did not visit St. George's Church,
which is reputed to be Southeast Asia's oldest Anglican church, surrounded by a large lawn that is shaded by flowering trees and a domed kiosk. Built in 1818 by convicts, this symbol of the British role in Penang's early history is now attended mostly by Indians.
At the entrance to the Penang Museum there are remnants of the British rule under the founder of the city - Sir Francis Light:
an old cog-railcar once used on the Pinang Hill funicular, a vintage, fully bullet-proof Rolls Royce
whose owner survived numerous ambushes, only to be gunned down by Communists outside the car years later.
In keeping with my avoidance of most museums, the closest I came to this one (and in keeping with Cynthia's tradition) was the men's toilet and its traditional sanitary system
. This one was outside the gift shop, which is run by the Pinang Heritage Trust, the shop actually being in an old railcar once used on the funicular.
Our next stop was in the Chinese section of the city
highlighted by the Khoo Kongsi Clan House,
a showcase of Chinese architecture and art;
constructed by 19th-century master craftsman, who left virtually no surface unadorned.
No nails were used in the construction.
Relief sculptures depict Chinese legends and mythological creatures, including dragons, which are heavily gilt. Along one wall is a huge mural, drawn totally by hand and must have taken years to complete.
The centerpiece of the house is the ornate altar
where worshipers light incense joss sticks (in odd numbers never even numbers)
The courtyard of the house is ringed on three sides with structures that were owned by the temple and rented to poor Chinese in the community prior to 1990, when rent control was lifted, and rents increased by a factor of 10. These are now abandoned because the poor could not afford the increased rent, and they are all deteriorating. The government is planning to renovate them soon. On the 4th side are what are commonly known as hovels.
At the entrance to the courtyard are more empty flats and shops, also abandoned after the government eliminated rent control.
On our way to our final stop, we got a glimpse inside a Pinang barber shop, fully staffed but no customers.
Our last stop was for Indian 'high-tea' in one of the city's heritage buildings at Jaipur Court.
Notice the non-oriental name which features German beer. This is meant to be an artistic composition from outside the steel grating over the window, toward a happy customer; and her attending waitress.
Cynthia has trained some of our travelling companions in the art of bathroom check-out so in this restaurant our friend, Ben, discovered instructions in the men's room in graphic form: nine cartoons showing all the ways not to use the western-style toilet, e.g., sqatting frontwards, sqatting backwards, standing on the toilet seat, each with a frowny face :( to indicate that these are not right. One cartoon showed the proper way to use the toilet by a smily face :). No words, just pictures. I wish I had gone in there with my camera.
Cynthia's note: the owner of the tea house is Indian, so the canapes were Indian--chicken wings and two vegetarian deep fried rolls, like egg rolls. We sat next to a couple we've been seeing on many tours, Karen and Larry, from Chicago. He worked for Boeing and was transferred from Seattle to Chicago, and retired 2 years ago. They have a condo on the river. John, our next door neighbor on the ship, also sat with us.
The weather wasn't too bad, especially when riding in the trishaws, because then we had a little breeze.
Our tour guide was a real "take charge", bullying us around and asking if we understood where we were to be next. She didn't trust the trishaw drivers at all, and repeatedly told us not to talk to them. One couple got sick during the visit to the temple, and had to wait for our guide to finish her explanation in the temple before she'd instruct the trishaw driver to return the guests to the pier, where they could get tendered back to the ship.
I was really sick all day (just fibromyalgia) so this was a good tour for me, since I napped during the trishaw ride. This blog is my first sight of some of the sights from the trishaw!
The guide made an announcement in the tea house that we wouldn't see her again after we got back on the trishaws, so we knew that meant we should tip her as we left the tea house. She also told us, emphatically, that the trishaw drivers had been paid, and we could tip them a couple of dollars if we wanted to, but it wasn't necessary. (John dutifully gave his driver US$2 whereupon the driver's look made John wish he hadn't.)She really had a bee in her bonnet about those poor drivers, who in fact did look mostly like the scum of the earth, but still...
Anyway, it was an uneventful trishaw ride back to the pier, where we caught the tender back to the ship. Signing off here, returning this blog back to the author....
Usually the tenders wait for a full load, about 100 people, and typically we wind up in the very back which means it takes about 20 minutes to get off. On this one, we were first in line to get on which means you get the best 'getting off' seat. Cynthia proudly was in that seat. Turns out that there weren't many people to tender back and forth at this time of the day, so we departed for the ship with about 10 people but, by God, Cynthia was first off.
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