Day 93: Penang
Trip Start
Sep 21, 2006
1
88
228
Trip End
Jun 01, 2007
George Town,
Malaysia
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The north road westward is busy, with the beaches mostly obscured by developments. When they do appear, beyond Batu Ferringi, they're slim affairs but pretty with white sand and large boulders.
The road is mercifully in shade from the rising hills and overhanging trees. I stop for a beachside Coke opposite the Tropical Spice Garden before investigating the pier in a nearby fishing village where they're winding in the nets.
Heading south, the traffic is lighter but the sun intense. I pass a durian plantation then pause at a roadside shack to get my first taste of the infamous fruit, banned from hotels for its acrid smell. The scent of the open durian is not as overwhelming as I expected. The taste and texture of the fruit is more surprising
01 Durian
. Within the thick, spiky case are large seeds coated in a sticky orange cream. In Malaysia you eat durian with mangosteen as a yang to go with the yin. I have nothing to switch to and long for something to take the taste away. I find it difficult to wade through even my small fruit. The flesh is rather sickly. The flavour lingers in my mouth for another hour.I steadily climb up to a vantage point over the west coast and am hooted at by territorial rhesus monkeys. The climb turns to hairpin bends descending through pleasant villages into Balik Pulau. Then, the road turns nasty, a 10% gradient over the hills eastward. It's now midday and I'm sweating so much that butterflies land on me to sip the salt.
Kedai Kopi is a place to avoid, unless you're dead. The wide, open sewers beside the road reek of decaying fish and the view of the hills is blotted by stained and ugly tower blocks. Opposite is the United Hokkien Cemetery, where slash and burn of the grounds seems to be the order of the day. It's a desolate place to be interred.
My last stop is Malaysia's largest Buddhist temple, Kek Lok Si, a series of shrines, steps, pagodas, statuary and shops begun in 1890.
In the first vast hall I enter, the walls are lined with thousands of golden Buddhas in alcoves, sparkling from the light of many oil jars
02 Aggressive rhesus monkey
. There are also stalls within the temple where, amongst the usual religious tat, you can pick up lucky pigs and Barbie toy mobiles.Thai, Chinese and Burmese Buddhas all vie for space in the complex; That's thin, fat and podgy Buddha. I thought it odd to see so many Hindus here till I spot a figure of Brahma too.
To reach a 120-foot tall statue of Guan Yin, Goddess of Mercy, you have to pass through a gift shop and take the incline lift, with another shop at the top. It's a Buddhist shopping mecca. The bronze statue of Guan Yin is surrounded by work in progress on an even taller concrete pagoda, imported in sections from China.
From here you get a clear view across to George Town. It seems a nondescript wall of towers with only the Komtar and Umno buildings having character. Beyond, in the heat haze, is Peninsula Malaysia.
Back in George Town, in one of the odd coincidences that affect such popular routes, I wander into a random restaurant to find the only other patrons are Lisa and Emma, a couple I met in India two months ago. It's a good excuse for pre-Xmas drinks till I've limited time left to sleep before my dawn taxi to the bus station.
