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We got an early start this morning…Korynn, Ellie, and I arrived at Penang’s silk batik factory by 9am. Before this trip, I didn’t even know what silk batik was, but now I do and I think it’s one of the coolest things ever! A Malay woman gave us a tour of the “factory” AKA dirt floor patio-thing off the side of a building. Interestingly, all of the workers were men. They were using various techniques as they completed different stages of the silk batik production process. One man was stamping hot wax onto fabric while another was actually doing free-hand painting with wax on the fabric. At another station, a young guy was actually painting the silk. It looks kind of like water colors because the paint spreads out once it hits the fabric. The wax keeps different sections from mixing. Generally, it seemed like the main design on the silk was some sort of flower. The woman who gave us the tour told us that you can recognize real silk batik from the fake stuff because real silk batik products no not have a “right” and “wrong” side like regular old fabric.
After the tour, we just HAD to check out all the fun stuff they were selling in the store. I was tempted to get a beautiful batik painting, but I decided against it. Instead, I bought a fairly large square of silk that can be converted into at least 5 different types of shirts! How cool is that? I’m excited to wear it this summer! It cost less than $20 for the handmade silk batik. The table clothes were really neat and they definitely would have looked good in my apartment at school next year, but I was worried that I would get too upset if any food got accidentally spilled on it! Even though I only bought one thing, it was quite a process because you have to pick out the perfect color combination. I chose a blue one with pink/orangey flowers on it!
Our cab driver insisted that we stop at this coffee/chocolate store on the way back to town. Let me just tell you how they had the BEST chocolate! It tasted great because it was room temperature, so it just melted in your mouth. I tried weird combos of milk chocolate and green tea, mango, and melon. The girls working at the store were so eager to give us samples. I also tried normal combos of chocolate with coconut, strawberry (SO GOOD!), almonds, and hazelnuts. Although it all tasted absolutely delicious, I knew it would be better for my bank account and my waistline if I didn’t buy anything. It was tough! We all tried white coffee, which I thought was pretty good considering I don’t really like coffee, and we tried their special hot chocolate, which was wonderful! Overall, it was a fun little adventure – very delicious!
We had our cab driver drop us off in Chinatown in Georgetown so we could explore some of the city for a bit before we headed back to the ship for lunch. There were countless stands selling fresh fruits and vegetables! It was your typical Chinatown…
Even though I was about ready to curl up in bed because I felt so burnt out, I managed to drag myself off the ship for one last “hoorah” in Malaysia – turns out that it was SO worth it! Ellie and I and this other guy we met took a cab to the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia: Penang Kek Lok Si Temple. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Up until this point, I hadn’t really seen too many temples. I’ve seen a whole bunch of Hindu ones and a few Chinese ones from the streets, but not up close and personal. Our driver informed us that this temple was built solely on donations from patrons and other visitors. I found this to be absolutely incredible because there were so many different buildings! We saw plenty of Buddha statues, that’s for sure! In front of most of the statues, there would be incense burning, fruit offerings set out in bowls, and 20-30 candles burning. Seeing the architecture and painting inside the buildings was really REALLY cool. They were all colored so brightly with such cool designs! We paid 4 ringgets ($1.25) to go up a lift to the top where there were more buildings and a huge 150ft statue of the Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy. The funny thing about the temple was that you would enter a large room with Buddha statues, incense, and the whole bit, but in addition, there would be shelves set up with stuff for sale. When I say stuff, I mean junk! All kinds of little Chinese knick-nacks and things. I couldn’t believe that a place of worship was so commercial ( I guess that’s the word to use…???). There were at least 6 or 7 stores that we saw while we explored the temple. From the top of the hill, we were able to look out over Penang, which was awesome! Okay, back to the huge statue of the woman...She was actually still under construction. They’re building a bunch of pillars around her that are still a work in progress. Once those are finished, they’re going to use the pillars as support for a roof that will cover the statue – it’ll be able 200ft off the ground. In order to raise funds to continue construction, they had roof tiles that you could personalize with your name or whatever for just a small price. Ellie, Anthony, and I decided to split one three ways. We each ended up spending 10 ringgets (a few cents short of $3) to put our names on the yellow clay shingle. Isn’t that so cool?! I wrote the “Swink Family” on it…I think it’s awesome that we’re a part of this huge beautiful temple in Malaysia – of all places! Even if the rest of the family doesn’t appreciate it, I at least know that I do and will years from now when the statue is complete!
We finished exploring the temple and then began the long descent down the hill/mountain to town so we could catch a cab. By this point, we were all quite sweaty because Malaysia is HOT HOT HOT and we climbed quite a few steps at the temple. Finding a cab was quite an adventure, but finally it worked out and we headed out to the mall and finally back to the ship. When we got back to the harbor, the line for the tender was SO long. UGH it was terrible! All I wanted to do was get back to the ship so I could eat, shower, and lie down in my bed! After waiting for awhile, we found out that we could jump to the front of the line because we didn’t have any bags that needed to be searched. We sat on the lifeboat for a half hour until it filled up so we could take the 5 minute ride out to the ship. I have to admit, I was quite antsy to get back on the ship because I was thirsty, hot, and exhausted! Thank goodness we were able to jump in the front of the line. The people who we were with in line didn’t end up getting on the ship until after 8:30, and dock time started at 9. We definitely got lucky that we were able to get back to the ship at 7:45!
Goodbye, Malaysia – it’s been fun! 3 days until Vietnam! Within those three days, I have at least 2 papers I need to write, 1 HUGE test, Easter Sunday, and meetings for our sea social. I’m going to be beat before we even get to Vietnam. Ahhhhh!!! As you can see, I have no time to recover from Malaysia because there’s too much going on in such a short amount of time!
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