Selamat,

I learnt a new word!

I have had a very busy day today. I got up very early (for me anyway; 8.00am) and after breakfast headed to Lebuh Leith, where there are some fantastic old colonial style houses, to visit the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. This was a house that was owned by a Chinese man that moved to Penang in the 18th Century, as a pauper at the age of 16 and made his fortune. I arrived for the tour, as planned which was really interesting in terms of the history of the family and of the house.

The mansion was built, using a Feng Shui expert to help with the lay out and architecture of the house. In Feng Shui apparently it is preferable (though easier if you're rich!) for houses to be built facing the water, with mountains behind for protection and 'on the dragons back' or hill, so the front of the house points down towards the water and is lower than the back. Well the house wasn't built on a hill, so the master made the house higher at the back by adding another foot to the flooring. It is built at an angle to the road, so one end of the house is closer to the outside wall than the other and the centre of the house is where the Feng Shui master felt the most energy. There are 5 courtyards in the house, the main one being after the main entrance hall. The courtyards are amazing, as they are actually built into the house, just the roof is missing, again this was to envelope the importance of Feng Shui, by allowing water and air to be a part of every day living. Even the walls, that are a foot thick, have copper guttering running through them to ensure water is a part of the house, as it is thought that by nurturing nature you will be more healthy, happy and wealthy!

During the Japanese occupation, suprisingly the House was untouched; the Japanese used a school nearby to house their army and when the allies bombed they luckily didn't hit it at all.

Up until the 80's the house was owned by Cheong Fatt's Grand-daughter in-law, who rented out every available space in the building. It was used by many people to live, eat and sleep in, whom did not care for the house and often stole articles to sell, such as the door handles etc and hence a lot of restoration work has had to happen to get the building back into it's near original splendor.

After this, I went to the Penang Museum, which tells you further about the backgrounds of the different cultures and races that make up Penang and of the first settlement here by the British.

After my little legs were aching from all the walking, so I though I would jump on the free shuttle bus that goes round Georgetown, (named after George III). After waiting for about 20 mins, a bus pulled alongside me and told me that bus I was waiting for stopped at 3.00pm, so I walked round to Fort Cornwallis, (built on the spot that the British Fleet first disembarked under Captian Francis Light in 1786), had a little look through the wall, as I couldn't be bothered to 'do' another museum and then caught a bicycle rickshaw back to the guesthouse, just before the thunder and lightening began.

I'm pretty beat now, though I'm going to check out an Indian restaurant for my dinner.

Hope everyone is well. Keep up the messages on the board...

Love Lynds x x