We had a loooong walkway to get from ship to shore today, then up an escalator in the terminal, then back down the escalator before we were out the doors to where guides and taxi drivers were waiting.
It was unfortunate that our musical welcome was at a terrible sun angle for a good photo today.
Unlike with KL, once we were outside the port we were immediately in George Town, the capital of the state of Penang, and not only that, we were in a historic part of the city. Down the street was the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, added to the city in 1897 to commemorate the queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Across the street were the walls for Fort Cornwallis, built in 1786 by the British East India Company. It is still the largest intact fort in Malaysia and as such contributed to this area being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We didn't stay in this part of town for long but headed to Penang Hill to see the views while the air was relatively clear. The best way to the top is to take the tram, which was first constructed in the early 20th century to enable to British to enjoy the cooler air on the hilltop.
You can se that it is quite a ways to the top. There are observation points at several locations as well as homes and a military installation at the top of the hill. The only road up is reserved for residents of the latter two.
The ride up is quite steep, you definitely have to hold on during part of it.
While the views were pretty good they weren't clear enough for stellar pictures. Penang is actually a Malaysian state that is on a small island off the Malay Peninsula. If you look carefully in this photo you can see one of the two bridges that cross over from the island to the peninsula at the left.
Probably don't need to put this photo in but Jane was nice enough to take it for me so I figured I'd add it. You can see my hair is already starting to frizz because even though it's cooler up here on the hill it's still pretty warm and humid.
Looking to the left this time from about the same viewpoint we were able to see Serenade sitting out there waiting for our eventual return. The newer part of the city is there just below the hill. It was tin mining that first brought the British to Malaysia and since this is the point closest to India, the area where they came first.
Jane photobombed our selfie be we love her so we kept this photo rather than taking another.
A pretty yellow hibiscus I couldn't resist.
One more view of the city, with this one you can see the bridge better. Ships don't go that far as the water gets too shallow for them.
We took what our guide Lawrence called a "buggy ride" around the park at the top. Really it was a golf cart ride along the road up there but it was well worth the $2 it cost. One of the things we were supposed to be on the lookout for were Giant Black Squirrels. We were lucky enough to see a couple of them. This one was supposedly only an "average" size one.
Here on the top of Penang Hill is the city's oldest British mailbox. If you ask anyone who lives up there they may tell you that it's just called "The Hill" or "Flag Hill". One of the uses for the military on top was to be on the lookout for attacks so that they could signal the fort below.
We spotted another Giant Black Squirrel on a wire before he jumped into a tree. I was actually surprised that I got these two photos of it.
I thought this Scarlet Sage was lovely. The scientific name is Salvia Splendens, which made me think of Harry Potter spells. The grandkids will get what I mean.
One surprising fact that Lawrence shared was that there are more species of trees here on
the hill than on all of North America combined. That's a lot of species!
Apparently his cousin runs a restaurant up here called The Monkey Cup. It only we'd been able to stop and try her Mango Cheesecake, but the buggies wouldn't wait for us if we got off.
The restaurant is named after these plants called Monkey Cups. When it rains the pods expand and fill with water, then sometimes the monkeys will drink out of them.
Can you spot the snail in this photo? Karl thought it was weird I was taking.a picture of a snail.
When we got back to the tram station we passed by one of the old cars. The tram railway was revamped around 2010 to condense it to just one set of rails with a passing loop. The cars have been upgraded as well, being bigger and having air conditioning.
The old rails were used as part of the new station at the top, which is nice because you get a feel for the old and the new.
You get an idea here of how steep the funicular railway is. One part goes through what's considered the steepest tunnel in the world.
Here's one of the new and improved rail cars. It only takes about 15 minutes to get up or down the hill. It's a great ride!
After our tram ride we were off to tour the city on another type of vehicle back in the older part of George Town again. Trishaws here we come!
Somehow I was the last one to get to my ride so I snapped a quick photo of everyone else as I passed them by.
It was fun to be able to share these photos with them.
And Mark got one of me so I wasn't left out.
I have to admit this ride wasn't nearly as much fun as the one in Vietnam. First of all my cycler was a little bitty guy who I felt like was on the struggle bus pedaling me around. Plus there just wasn't as much cool stuff to see as we saw in Ho Chi Minh City.
We rode through a bit of Chinatown and Little India but this temple was the only really colorful thing I saw. The most exciting thing that happened was when we ran into a tree! I'm pretty sure the bike didn't have any brakes so that was the only way the cycler could stop when a car in front of us didn't move. He called him the "Stupeed ah cara man!" He apologized to me as best he could, we weren't going fast so it wasn't a big deal, just made for a good story. :)
Our ride ended at the Khoo (Choo) Clan House, an incredibly fancy structure that dates back to the late 19th century.
Clan houses were gathering places for the Chinese immigrants who came from South China. The Khoo (Choo) family was one of the most successful and originally built a klan house even larger than this one.
That structure was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. The Khoos took this as a sign that they had been too prideful so when they rebuilt they made the clan house smaller but still decorated it with amazing art, much of it covered in actual gold.
This is the original immigrant, Khoo Yang Tin who founded a rice trading business which eventually expanded into real estate and plantations. Much of Penang today is still owned by the Khoo family.
All of the names on this wall are used as middle names for sons in the Khoo family. Depending on which generation they are from determines which name they will carry. This tradition would have had to have been brought from China. It continues today and the names are set for many more generations to come.
Family history records right here. The Khoo family can trace there roots back over 500 years. That's pretty impressive!
An interesting thing about the walls, they tried to keep them plain like this one. This is the side of a doorway so you can see how thick the walls would be to help keep spaces cooler. By not painting them moisture could be absorbed into the wall itself to cool it down.
Here's our guide, Lawrence of Malaysia, that's what he called himself. He was a Christian of Chinese descent which means that he is a super minority here in Malaysia where the Muslim Malay population makes up 55% of the population, Chinese are 21%, and South Indians are 7%. Total population is about 34 million people. It was interesting to hear his perspective as it sounds like the Malay definitely have more privileges in the country than others. There are some business projects that can only be bid on by Malay, and 90% of university students must be Malay. He ended up going to university in Singapore because although he tested high in everything else his Malay language skills weren't good enough. One other interesting thing he noted was that if you are Malay you are required by law to be Muslim. If someone who is Chinese or Indian wants to marry a Malay they have to convert to Islam.
These two statues were sitting outside the entrance, looks like they've been rubbed for luck a whole lot of times.
Impressive entrance to the clan house. At the bottom left stair rail there is an old coin embedded in the concrete. Supposedly if you rub the coin and it falls out the clan house is yours.
Apparently this guy has been watching too many magic shows on the ship because when it was his turn to rub the coin, low and behold a coin falls to the ground! He had a couple of the group going before they realized that he had placed a coin on his finger before he ever reached up to rub the real one. Good one Karl!
There is a lot of gold in this detail work!
And even more inside.
There was a wall of these intricate drawings that I thought were just beautiful.
And more gold.
The detail on these door panels was so intricate, can't imagine how long it would have taken someone to create them.
The Khoo Clan House was definitely not air conditioned and by the time we left there we were in need of a little refreshment. Lawrence suggested we try one of the Durian flavored ice cream bars in a nearby shop.
I was well aware that Durian smells horrible, but Lawrence assured us it is the "King of Fruits" so we really should try it. He planned to get us some of the real thing later in the day but just as a teaser we could try these. It wasn't terrible, but I think it's a taste you may have to learn to enjoy. Mostly it tasted like browned onions, not a bad taste but not exactly a fruity one.
One last shot of the entire front of the Khoo Clan House. Note the Chinese lions in front.
We'd seen some lotus ponds the day before on the way to KL so I stopped for a quick picture of these that were just in pots along the sidewalk.
Time now for some real Durian. This is how it looks when its cut open, and yes, it smells bad. And they aren't a cheap fruit, this one cost about $35 for the whole thing, and that's in Malaysia where food is super inexpensive.
You could buy it already pre-packaged at this shop.
If you wanted to try some of the Durian you needed to put on a glove so that your hand didn't stink afterwards. The fruit has big pits in it so you just pull out a chunk that contains one of them and start to eat away.
This shot is from the video Jane took of us trying the Durian. You can see how much Karl liked it! He took one bite and tossed the rest back in the bowl. I didn't love it but it was okay. Partly what was strange to me was the texture, it was kind of mushy smooth and yet stringy at the same time. The flavor was pretty much the same taste as the ice cream, browned onions. Would I eat it again? Maybe. At least I tried it and I ate all of my piece. I think Lawrence takes people here because he knows they won't like it much which will leave him with a good bit of Durian to take home with him!
"Children on a Bicycle" is one of the favorite pieces of street art in George Town, with a real bike being ridden by the children painted on the wall. Although it looks like it might have been there longer it it was actually painted in 2012. There's so much joy on the faces here.
We spent more time than we would have liked driving to a restaurant for lunch today but passing by the sign outside this bakery made me smile.
Following lunch we went to the Pinang Perenakan Mansion, a restored mansion from the late 19th century. Wealthy Chinese immigrants known as Babas & Nyonyas would have lived in the kind of opulence found in this place.
Here we are outside of the entrance to the mansion. Anything inside that was moveable was not original to the house but it was to the period. Fixed features have been restored and have always been part of the home.
These screens divided the entry from one of the side rooms. During the restoration they started painting one of the door frames with gold paint until they realized that what was there was actually real gold. Check out the detail!
Part of what made these types of home eclectic was that along with the Chinese decor there were also Scottish influences, like these imported floor tiles. Rather than show you each room I just put several of the different designs in a collage.
Mark & Karl resting for a bit while we waited for those wanting a bathroom break.
Beautiful mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture was throughout the room.
Another gold detail and some antique furniture.
The window glass in the mansion also came from Scotland.
Hard to see the pretty designs on these upper windows which also came from Scotland, but they were lovely.
Apparently a year or two ago some Feng Shui experts came to the mansion to find where its best "qi", or life force was. Turned out to be this spot in the middle of the house, and if you spent time sitting here years could be added to your life. Jane decided to have a seat so that she could add a few seconds.
Some more Scottish glass, these with Chinese details.
While you may think this is a regular bed you would be wrong, it's an opium bed. Here's where residents could lounge while smoking their opium pipe and get stoned. I've wondered what an opium bed looked like and now I know.
According to Lawrence this space, on the other side of this silver screen, was where they would hold prospective concubines, however I can't confirm that.
Also in this space was this jade furniture. It doesn't look the most comfortable but it is beautiful....and heavy.
In another part of the mansion was the family shrine, just as fancy as the rest of it.
The likeness above is Kapitain Chung Keng Kwee, an important figure in Penang history. He had a thriving tin mining business during the 19th century and was a political and social leader as well as a philanthropist. He would have had a house like this one.
There is a bronze statue of Kapitain in the room as well, done on a one to one scale which means he must have been larger than life as he wasn't very tall physically.
Here you see the shrines for ancestor worship in the mansion.
A few of the magnificent types of jewelry that the women might have worn during this time period. Definitely a lot of wealth here!
Our final stop on the tour was Chew Jetty. There are seven different jetties in George Town, which are basically houses out on stilts. In Malaysia you are required to pay property tax and a land tax as well. By living over the water you can avoid paying the land tax. People have lived on these jetties for generations. Most of Chew Jetty is now commercial with tons of shops, a real tourist attraction. We enjoyed a little nutmeg juice as we walked along the narrow, wooden walkway.
The jetty opened up as you reached the end. In the background you can see another of the city's jetties.
There's a little "street" art here as well.
This photo is one of the actual homes on the jetty. And just in case you are wondering, no, there are no sewer services that go out here. All waste just goes into the water. It's something that the powers that be would like to change.
A couple more views from the jetty.
We could see a storm rolling in from the end of the jetty and wondered if we'd be able to get back on the ship before it arrived.
This is definitely a place where a boat would be much more handy than a car.
Just before we were going to leave Chew Jetty Lawrence asked if anyone would like to try some Char Koay Teo (Cho Kay Teeow), a local favorite food. Since that was one of the dishes that my research suggested you should eat in Penang I said, "Yes, please!"
This is Char Koay Teo, savory noodles, bean sprouts, green onion, scrambled egg, and shrimp. It had a tiny bit of spiciness but just enough. This plateful cost about $2. Everyone else said they were too full to try any but once they saw how good it looked, and I exclaimed how delicious it was they all took a bite or two. Most of us were wishing we'd just come here to have Char Koay Teo for lunch. I had really wanted to try it and I was grateful everyone was willing to take a few extra minutes so that I could before we went back to port. For me it was a great way to end the tour.
One last photo of the day with my buddy Wyatt. Aubrey had messaged me that she hadn't seen him lately in any of my posts and was wondering where he was. I happened to see him that night up in the Windjammer so went over to talk to him and see how he was doing. He gave me a hug and asked how I was as well. It's always a good day when I can get a hug from Wyatt.
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