Day #18 George Town Walk About

Day # 18 George Town Walk About 

Hindus, Penang Muslims and Khoo Chinese Confucian

We decide to get going earlier today so we don’t hit the noon heat. 
We pass people making wicker

or working on motors and doing their daily work.

I wonder about an advertisement for marriage counseling or change in luck or fate reading. Which career will I chose for my retirement plan? 

 As we walk along I see some Hindu people praying at a corner shrine. I don’t understand what they are doing but the tradition seems to be to burn bits of coconut and then at some point offer them to the shrine. After that they take burning coconut and smash it on the pavement.  One man who I have just taken a picture of suddenly throws his coconut down and yells repeatedly in anger, “give me an answer towards the small figurines in the sidewalk shrine”.  

"Give me an answer!" 

We hire a trishaw which only fits one and half American hips and is driven by a man who has no teeth and looks 110 years old. He happily takes us to the Muslim mosque and directs us inside even though it is closed to tourists.  We take off our shoes as required but still are thrown out shortly after we enter.

Next he takes us to 
Khoo Kongsi, a Tua 
PckKong Temple.

It is the spiritual center perpetuating Confucian practices for the Khoo clan, which along with 4 other clans make up the Hokken community. Apparently this temple represents education and wealth and the importance of children loving their parents. There is a wonderful carved picture of a young man saving his father from being eaten by a tiger.

 I also learn from a tour guide that you must decide if you want to be happy or sad and am shown the doorway figures representing this decision point.  

Happy 

Sad 

There is a room where the names of everyone from the clan who has gone away to be educated are listed on a plaque. There are many stories on the walls carved out concerning Confucius philosophy. I tell John I need to learn more about religion.

John wants to go to the Blue Mansion next and asks our trusting trishaw driver to take us there.  The driver tries to tell John we can't make the 11 am tour but John insists. He drives us reluctantly but as quickly as possible the wrong way down a one-way street.

Our driver looks like he can barely walk let alone bike us down these incredibly busy streets jammed with cars and motorcycles. He mutters away behind us insisting we won't make it. Once there we find he is right--we should have been there 15 minutes in advance and the 11 am tour was full. We end our relationship with this poor and disappointed man who has given us his best and decide to walk to Little India.  

Along the way we stop at the Chocolate Mansion for their tour. 

Unfortunately it doesn’t give us samples and sells chocolate that promises heaven in your mouth as well as lower blood pressure, heart attack prevention and sunshine feeling.  John decides he can’t justify $15 for this best possible positive outcome ~ there are no randomized control group trials on this brand.

Wandering back we try out some of the Indian batik shops. which are huge. I try to convince John to buy a shirt (only $10 and soft cotton) but they don’t seem to be able to find his size. We promise to “come back later”, a term we learned in Burma.

Back to the hotel for a nap and unfortunately John has gotten a cold of some sort and his coughing repeatedly. Maybe some chocolate would have prevented that?

DAY 17 Seahawks True Love

Day #17 Seahawks ~ True Love

I wake up to be informed by John that this is Seahawks day. He says it is essential he watch this over breakfast.  He goes down to get his double espresso with great anticipation. He can’t get a real video feed but can get an update of each play with no pictures from ESPN.  When I arrive he is glued to the screen and narrates saying such things as, “ there is an injury, ok on  4^th and goal. He failed to score . . . oh man that hurt things.”   I wonder where I am. Burma, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Seattle.  John oblivious to his surroundings continues his narration and play by play even though he has no video to watch.  “shot gun, only 2 minutes left, holy shit ~ Seattle interception!, oh no a penalty, holy smokes 23 seconds left,  wait it is not over, San Francisco can’t possibly win, 18 seconds left, what a huge … huge… interception!”, Seattle is going to the Superbowl!

I, of course, have no idea what John is talking about in this foreign language and tell John all Seattle has to do is prevent San Francisco from getting another goal. He is not impressed with my wisdom.  There is a young Asian couple sitting at the table next to us holding hands and looking fondly into each other’s eyes. John looks just as fondly at the Seahawks on his Ipad. How things change…. Can’t imagine what this couple thinks of John’s comments. Later in the day I hear John replaying in our hotel room the videos of some of the plays that he couldn’t see earlier.  

Pinang Peranakan Mansion

We saunter lazily around the city looking at the mix of Colonial architecture alongside Chinese and Indian buildings. We visit the Pinang Peranakan Mansion also called the Green Mansion, a stunningly restored residence that is decorated with original antiques and furniture with mother-of-pearl inlay.









Every door, wall and archway seems to be carved or decorated with gold leaf. The house belonged to one of the wealthiest merchants of the 19^th century.  I find it garish and ugly but then fashions do change.  

We come back to the hotel for afternoon tea that includes some wonderful sweet dishes and John naps.. or maybe he is really watching re-runs of the Seahawks game? 

We end the day with another fantastic meal at our hotel. The same romantic couple is sitting at the table next to us holding hands. John leans over and tells me that if we are lucky we can get the entire Seahawks game on U-tube that night and watch it together.  

Our bedroom 

View from bedroom 

Day # 16 Air Asia to Seventh Heaven

Day # 16 Air Asia to Seventh Heaven

Penang ~ Seven Terrace’s Hotel

We go to the “low cost” airport for our Air Asia flight to George Town in Penang. There are very few tourists at this airport and when we board I notice the very handsome and sexy male flight attendants who are wearing tight jeans. Hmm… 

Penang

Said to be “pearl of the orient” Penang is an island that divides the waterway or junction between the markets of Europe and the Middle East. It is cosmopolitan and especially known for its food. 




Apparently the sultan of Kedah signed an agreement in 1771 with the British East Indian Company handing it trading rights in exchange for military assistance against Siam. Fifteen years later Captain Frances Light on behalf of the East Indian Company took over Penang and allowed new arrivals to claim as much land as they wanted and attracted settlers from all over Asia. Penang became a state in the Federation of Malaysia in 1948 and one of the independent Malaysia’s 13 states in 1963. It has built itself to be one of the largest electronics manufacturing centers in Asia.  

George Town 
Arriving in George Town we take a taxi to a small boutique hotel called Seven Terrace’s Hotel that John discovered on the web site. 

Seven Terrace Hotel 

It has 16 guest rooms and is beautifully decorated with traditional Chinese, gold painted furniture. 





Our room is very romantic and has two floors with an upper floor for bedroom and balcony and lower level floor with chairs and couch. 

The dining room is
 small and elegant. 

Yes there is Internet, which surprises me! 

Tour director John 

We walk to the huge and famous Colonial style Eastern Oriental Hotel. John has been told by his cardiology friend to go to the lounge of this hotel for a view of the sea at sunset, but we find we can’t get there without a room key to operate the elevator. We explain our wishes to the concierge but are denied admittance. We try to go up the elevator on someone else's key but everyone gets off on the wrong floor.  I am sure we don’t look proper enough or perhaps John shouldn't be wearing shorts or perhaps we need to be Malaysian.  (reminds me of the Orwell book Burmese Days where Flory’s Indian friend wasn’t allowed in the British quarters and Flory did not support him). John wonders if he has made a mistake booking us into the boutique hotel instead of this magnificent hotel because of its beautiful ocean view. Instead we opt to sit outside this hotel by the pool and with a seaside view for drinks and order chicken satay. This is delightful and I can’t imagine we have missed anything in the lounge.

George Town
In George Town there is hawker food such as Chinese noodle dishes, Indian crepes and curry and Malay food everywhere but we are reluctant to try it given our recent GI issues. At one stall I see we can fry our own food like to we do beef fondue at Christmas time ~ surely this would be safe? We walk about and it is a cultural grab bag of Indian, Malay, English and Chinese architecture, culture and religions. However, our tour book says mainly Chinese. 

 Wall art is everywhere
and I like it. 

Clan Jetties in George Town

In 2008 the historic heart of George Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for having a unique architectural and cultural townscape. Continuing on our walking adventure (now 8:30 pm) we walk along to see the jetties.  There are five clan jetties jutting out into the ocean spread along the waterfront of Weld Quay.  Each jetty but one represents a specific Chinese clan of immigrants and share some common historical origin. We walk down several jetties, which are floating docks with houses built along the rickety docks. Reminds me of the houseboats on Lake Union but much more precarious and dilapidated. As we walk along we are able to peer into their homes, all of which have some religious shrines, which have many different figurines on them. We think these people may be practicing Taoism but aren’t sure ~ perhaps it is Confucianism? We really enjoy seeing these families who sit about comfortably chatting with each other and comment that this doesn’t happen in Seattle or Vashon.  


Then we come across this amazing beautiful temple lighted with hundreds of red, Chinese lanterns.

 We are the only tourists there but it is clearly a shrine of some sort. We hope we will find information about it in our tourist book. The advantage of not being in a tour group is the sense of self-discovery but the disadvantage is you don’t necessarily know what you have found. I guess this was true for Columbus too.

We catch a taxi which advertizes itself on the side of the car as having a meter and that bargaining is not allowed. We get in to find he doesn’t have a meter and we must barter over the cost.  Turns out the driver doesn’t know where Seven Terraces Hotel is and John, because of my advice not to bring his Ipad no longer has his trusty navigational system that he has used to direct taxi drivers since Bangkok. Finally the driver calls the hotel and gets information. Safely home we have a wonderful dinner in our small hotel.  The food is fantastic and atmosphere very romantic. John says, “we don’t have anything like this in Seattle” and tells me that he has made the right decision about his choice of hotel. As usual my personal tour director is clairvoyant.

DAY #13,14,15 Travel to Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

Day #13 & 14 & 15 Travel to Malaysia ~ Kuala Lumpur 

STAY TUNED PICTURES COMING SOON

We have our first good night’s sleep with no alarms at 5 or 6 am and John wakes up with fewer joint pains.  Perhaps we won’t be seeing his cardiology friends at the hospital today. We spend the morning relaxing in the fantastic Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which feels a world away from Burma. On the 20^th floor I look out our window at all the skyscrapers and the park as the KLCC lake symphony fountain does a showcase. It reminds me of Dubai. I am happy to take the day off touring as I feel my brain hard disk is overloaded with Burma information. However, by noon John is invigorated, rebooted and eager to see more. He is out the door in search of a Starbucks while I blog. He comes back disappointed that he could not find the Starbucks and waited so long for his coffee.  He has discovered he can walk more easily now with some pain but less like a very old man. We decide to have lunch by the fountains. 

Habits and Rebranding

 As we leave the hotel we notice some amazing cars lined up in front of the hotel… such as Lamborghinis and Maseratis.  This place feels like New York and prices are similar.  As we round the corner a Starbucks pops up!  I ask a cute Malaysian girl server what an Asian Dolce Cappuccino has in it and she tells me “creamer” and writes out the word for me. When I ask if this means cream she says “no”.  Perplexed I ask if it has chocolate in it and she replies, “we don’t have chocolate” and looks at me as if I am very strange. She asks if I want ice and I say, “no thank you” worrying about the effect of ice on my intestinal progress. Okay I ask, “what about a mocha? Does that have chocolate? Can I have decaf coffee?” She looks perplexed by my ridiculous questions and explains that chocolate is caffeinated.  The line behind me is lengthening.  Okay I say, “not a problem” I will have that and I feel guilty being such a creature of habit. When my drink finally is served after three other people in the line behind me have already received their drinks, it comes with ice in it.  Hmm, I say as politely as possible, “I didn’t know your coffee mocha had ice it and didn’t order ice but I will try this anyway”. Another server tells me he will gladly make me another one. I thank him commenting I am from Seattle where Starbucks was started ~ he also looks at me with confusion and explains that coffee here is adapted to the culture. We try to find a nonsmoking table only to discover such tables don’t exist and many young people are smoking.  John is reading the Financial Times about the housing bubble in Canada. He too is a creature of habit.  As we are sitting right next to the largest and most elegant designer shopping mall in the country I suggest that since John has discovered he likes markets that we go to look for shoes. He accuses me of rebranding shopping malls as “markets” and I argue they are same thing. Needless to say we don’t go to the shopping mall.

Islamic Art Museum

We grab a taxi and go to the Islamic Art Museum, which is a beautiful museum and has a special calligraphy show on display. Upstairs are magnificent architectural displays of different mosques from around the world representing different architectural styles. There are clear explanations of each of these places with some interesting history of their development. Also there are several hundred displays of the Koran ~ some as small as 1inch in size and some very large. All painted and intricate and I can’t imagine how long it would take to do one of these pages.  We must leave the museum because it closes at 6 pm not because we are finished viewing this elegant place. 

National Islamic Mosque
Crossing the street to enter the National Islamic Mosque we are lucky to find this is open to tourists daily at the very hour we are there.  How does my tour director know these things?  He is prescient and feels lucky for this unplanned tour schedule. As foreigners we are not allowed inside the mosque but just to walk outside the hallways. This place doesn’t compare to the mosques in Oman where we were allowed inside to view the amazing walls and rugs. 

Next stop is the Chinatown covered market where we search for a bag to hold my monk puppet.  John negotiates the price and by the end of the walk we have bought 3 bags instead of one. I think we likely haven’t saved any money but now have enough luggage to buy more things. 

Hindu Shrine
Crossing the street we come across a Hindu temple we are permitted to enter and take off our shoes. On this Hindu holiday day this beautiful temple is buzzing with families and ceremonies we don’t understand. Sitting on the floor we watch these events and I feel amazingly peaceful.   We later find out that this Hindu shrine, called Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest in Malaysia.  From Chinatown we hail a rather dicey and dilapidated taxi with a somewhat scary looking driver. He tells us he doesn’t have a meter but will take us for 10 ringgits (3 ringgits to a dollar). I imagine being James Bond if we are hijacked ~ but appearances are deceiving. We end up having a delightful ride home with a driver who previously worked for Malaysia Airlines and has traveled all over the world. He tells us about Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas and his experiences. His wife is still an airline hostess and I suspect he is not a real cab driver but just moonlighting to keep himself busy while she is gone traveling.

Day 15 Bird Zoo and Friends for Dinner

I have taken a break from blogging and picture taking in KL.
I am hoping I can have John's pictures when we get home to fill in the day and our experience going to the world's largest bird zoo. However, I do want to mention that instead of going to the hospital to meet John's physician colleague to determine whether he had dengue fever or not John feels so much better that we go out for dinner with him.  We meet Dr. Kannan Pasamanickam, his wife and 23 year old daughter and their two friends and go to an Italian restaurant.  I find it funny that we would eat Italian food in Malaysia.  Kannan is a delightful man who came to Seattle 25 years ago with his wife and children for a year and currently works as a cardiologist in KL. His wife is a nurse, his son in residency in Australia and his daughter in psychology in Scotland.  We had a delightful meal talking about relationships between the different religious groups and learning about durian fruit.  

Day #12 Betel Chewing, Marionette theatre & Reflections on Burma

Day #12  Betel Chewing, Marionette Theatre & Reflections on Burma 

January 15

I talk to boys at a local school 

John is still sick and I am recovering. One or two of the other tour group members seem to have the same GI problem.  While the intrepid four women friends and David the photographer take off for a full day boat ride to the south of the island, the rest of us stay near our beds and the toilets at the Pristine Lotus Spa Resort.

In the morning, John, Skip, Zanny and I take a bike ride to see the countryside. We stop by a school while the children are out for recess playing. Some boys are playing soccer with an empty box with great expertise.

We have some fun teaching them English while they try to teach us some words in the national or standard Burmese language.

I have only really learned one word although attempted to learn some other others – that word is hello ~ ming guh la ba which is yelled out as we bike by or see people from our boats.  People smile at us and repeat the word back when we do this.  Occasionally I can remember the word for thank you ~ which is Jay-zu and makes me think of Jesus.  

We take pictures of them while they take pictures of us.  I-phones in the hands of young school age children ~ how Burma is changing! 

All the boys are wearing green yongyi ~ the school uniform. 

Add caption

All age groups are attending this school from age 3 to 12 years. Then we talk to some of the girls who are playing separately from the boys ~ I can't tell if this is forced separation or exclusion.

We continue on our bike ride with a great number of monks and others going in the opposite direction. We wonder what we are missing?

John and Skip bike back for the hot, natural springs we have passed on our ride. Apparently these springs are the start or end point of several trekking routes and John and Skip think they are ready for this.  

Zanny and I continue passing some local taverns and stop to watch a group of women cutting down sugar cane.  We comment on the group support, friendly atmosphere and teamwork of these women.

People are bathing in the stream by the road. Doesn't seam like there is much privacy.

In the afternoon John’s illness has worsened so he retreats to bed. Zanny and I discover that the reason people are going in the opposite direction is a traditional yearly rice initiation. This occurs at the time of a full moon and all the community meet to play volleyball and other games and listen to music. We seem to be the only tourists. 

There is lots of local food that Zanny boldly samples while I refrain.  

I talk to a man with red lips and limited red teeth who I have previously seen spit out red fluid on the ground. He is sitting on his motorcycle with a small 2-year-old toddler on his lap. 

I ask him about betel chewing and he tells me he does this daily 3-4 times a day and started when he was 24 years old (he is now 37 years). It costs him 200 kyats (pronounced chat) a day, which is very cheap. He won't smile for the picture of his red teeth and mouth. 

We watch some locals selling the betel product as they take a betel leaf and paste a white glue-like substance on it.  

This is followed by adding bits  spices, perhaps some tobacco, then lime and finally a betel nut. 

The leaf is folded into a cigar size and put in a small bag holding three cigars total.  

This is a big business, as we see these being sold and chewed everywhere. I wonder about the addictive aspect of this substance or whether it is used like coffee.   Apparently it is a stimulant and used to keep people awake and active.

Environmental Issues

Zanny and I take a boat over to the biggest town in the area. The best part is the trip through the marshes and floating gardens as the sunsets.  This time I notice the egrets and rich birdlife. 

Upon return we see people cooking on bonfires and I wonder about the survival of Myanmar’s forest. Oo Myint has talked about the deforestation and efforts to stop chopping down the teak trees.  But since 90% of the population relies on firewood for cooking and each household consumes 3 tons of wood a year ~ this must put pressure on the forests until the government comes up with a plan to provide electricity or a different kind of stove. Apparently, Myanmar has more standing forest per inhabitant than any other country in Indochina but it is disappearing faster than anywhere else.

Apparently, Myanmar has few official policies about environment issues. It is apparent that recycling is in operation everywhere when one is at the markets ~ for making use of every little thing is clearly part of daily life. I think about my coconut necklace, my lotus or cotton scarves, and the looms and paper made out of bamboo. Nothing is disposed of, although I cringe when I see the water bottles or plastic bags floating in the marshes and gardens or on the edge of streets. We arrive back with 30 minutes to shower, make up a limerick and marionette show for Virginia’s 75^th birthday.

Marionette Theatre

At several of our group dinners we have been entertained by colorful puppets up to 3 feet high that are said to be the most expressive of Burmese performance arts. It began with the Mandalay kingdoms in the 18^th century and continued to the early 30’s.  These puppets are manipulated with a dozen or more strings and our performances have shown many different beautifully dressed puppets including horses, princes and princesses, kings and queens, nats, and elephants. They are shown in conjunction with classical music, which is played very loudly with harsh, repetitive harmonies. I find it hard to call the sound melodic or relaxing and in fact found it quite grating and without subtlety to my ears. I am sure this must be a learned pleasure. I don’t think I will buy any of these CDs. John, Skip, Zanny and I had been talking about a marionette show for Virginia’s 75^th birthday.  Since she doesn’t like to be sung happy birthday and clearly is a wizard of limerick we thought we would try a limerick marionette show without the music backdrop.

Since the boys ended up in bed and Zanny and I distracted by other events we had limited time for preparation. My plan was for my monk was to seduce Virginia (who has purchased 3 other puppets). However, I can’t get the monk’s strings untied and haven’t had time to practice how to use the 10 strings simultaneously.  Nonetheless at dinner Zanny and I do our limerick with my monk acting without the use of strings. He relied on me for the kiss Virginia surely deserved. …I hope I will be like her at 75.

Reflections on Burma

Hopes for Burma's Future

John and I reflect as we leave Burma about the highlights of our trip. It turned out to be a fantastic trip ~ despite the dicey ending with John’s GI problems and joint pains and Skip’s cardiac concerns. Actually when we parted from Skip and Zanny at the Yangon airport we weren’t sure if we going to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital or Skip was going home. But we realized that all but the free day in Burma we had seen most everything on the itinerary and much more.  John confesses that he actually wasn’t as big a fan of the temples and pagodas as he thought he would be.  He preferred the markets and viewing the local people.  I was surprised by this, as I know he avoids shopping in US like a plague.   Hmm. . .  is a transformation happening here?  

A big part of what made this trip so memorable was the diversity and uniqueness of the group itself. The intrepid four lady friends from US, UK and France were an inspiration to us about exotic travel in one’s mid to late 70’s. There wasn’t a Burmese site they didn’t want to see or learn about. Both of the ambassadors from the US were as curious about the Buddhas and temples and finding out about their history and dates as they were about shopping in the markets and bargaining for best prices. The oldest member of the four, the former ambassador to the Czech Republic would be leaving in 3 weeks after getting home from this trip for Iran! John now is fully convinced we should go there next.  The UK journalist kept us in stitches with her frank insights. The French communications-branding expert taught us how to think about romantic spots and buy cheap jewelry and wear it looking like a million dollars. The other couple from Minnesota always helped fill in gaps in our knowledge and provided extra medical consultation as needed. Finally our photographic expert David not only survived 4-5 days without a suitcase and also two falls and a dislocated finger without serious injury but in spite of that coached me about using my camera.  He also took my camera (in addition to his three cameras) to get illicit pictures for me in places where women weren’t allowed to photograph. Undoubtedly I hope this will result in better pictures but he offered to send all his pictures if mine are a disaster.  Finally, our guide Oo was a pleasure.. adapting to our shopping frenzies, changing schedules according to input from the group and giving us his honesty and personal insights about the changing face of Burma. 

 I hope his dreams and hopes for his children will be realized and they will get the education they deserve and that the Burmese people will eventually get health care and freedom to make their own decisions.