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Home to Penang,
Hello once again from the warm and wet climes of Malaysia. This instalment is about our fortnight in Penang (where Nanny Wortley was born in 1917).
We were lucky enough to get here at the height of festival season. Ramadan was just finishing and the Chinese Ghost festival was just beginning. Little alters made from paint tins and what not were filled with incense and surrounded by cakes to feed all the demons. Stages and puppet thwarted were erected down side streets, with entire plays and Chinese operas performed throughout the night. We found an opera by accident. Nearby houses and shops had donated chairs to make an auditorium in the road. The next day we went back and the stage had disappeared. A weird and wonderful event.
Most of our time was spent in Georgetown. A place filled with history. A major stop on trading routes means that you will find most of Europe and a fair chunk of China and India knocking about. During my Nan's time here there was a World War with Japanese occupation and battles between the British and Communist Guerrilla factions. however there is little of that social upheaval littering the streets these days. Instead there are cycle-delic trishaws with whirly flowers and speakers blaring out a mix of Bollywood cheese and Eurotrash pop. After dark the roads are squished in by countless foodstalls and gazebos sheltering both tut and treasures. Little India is almost always buzzing. It was only when we left at sunrise that we realised that the streets of Little India were two lane roads. The rest of the day and night the shops spill out so far that you can barely fit down there hopping sideways.
A truly unexpected pleasure was the art scene. Around Armenian Street there's a plethora of great galleries boasting contemporary art, mainly from locals and residents. I highly recommend a visit to StudioHoward. There are a lot of local artists supported here and the owner himself is a talented photographer, who's main aim is to document the beautiful and varied architecture of Georgetown. The other top pick is Unique Penang Art Gallery. Run by this years winners of the coveted 'Mike think's you are the nicest Couple, maybe ever, but definitely this year' award, Unique Penang houses the couple's work as a photographer and painter respectively. During the day they teach art classes and by night they haul passers by off the street, get pictures, play ukelele's and write postcards to the future. So head down Love Lane after 5pm and say hi.
Other places of interest include the Clan Jetties and Peranakan Mansion. The former is home to generations of Malays, living in wooden homes on stilts over the water. The latter is a gorgeous building housing an immense collection of Peranakan antiques. We also enjoyed Jalan Penang, a must for the crazier of the shoppers among you. The State Museum and Fort Cornwallis are great budget options. To visit both will set you back a staggering 60p. The fort has an awesome cannon and the museum is a wonderful insight into the beautiful yet turbulent history of the state.
I'll quickly address the topic of food, but again this will require a blog to itself. Penang is the unofficial food capital of Malaysia, rivalled only by Melaka (we shall be putting this fight to the test). It truly is a culinary paradise. Must visits are:
Little Angels
Waterdrop Cafe
Woodlands Cafe
Kapitans
New World food court
The whole of Chulia Street after 7pm
Red Garden
The last on that list is great after 9pm. A big food court with a little stage where singers of varying quality cover songs to wail along to. The beer isn't cheap, but it helps lubricate the vocal cords. Those above make up a tiny fraction of the marvellous eateries and streeteries Georgetown has to offer.
Edited highlights of the rest of Penang include parasailing in Batu Ferrenghi. A truly awesome experience flying up over the beach. The combined orientation and safety lecture lasted approximately 40 seconds. "if I do this silly dance don't do anything. If I do that silly dance with this gurny face you pull really hard on these ropes and make pray... Understand?"
There was also a lovely jaunt round a tropical spice garden with free lemongrass tea and a trip to Kek Lok Si. This is an incredible Buddhist temple complex in three styles. You get to the top through a gauntlet of stalls run by shouty people. The buildings are stunning and the view from the top of the Pagoda reaches all the way across the island and to the mainland. Well worth the post-traumatic stress and novelty joss stick set we accidentally bought. Nearly forgot, we also did Penang Hill. Bloody great hill with an Owl Museum. There is a prize for anyone who comes up with an owl based pun I haven't already used.
Best leave it there as the few of you that have soldiered through are probably in need of a glass of water.
Thanks for tuning in and see you next time.
Mike and Lou
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