Penang is the oldest settlement in Malaysia set up by the British.
It is an island and its main city is named Georgetown. People
seem to also refer to the city as Penang. Although the names of
many Georgetown streets reflect that British heritage, the city
is really a Straits Chinese stronghold (with a heavy Indian contingent
thrown in). The Straits Chinese are Chinese who settled in the
towns along the Strait of Melaka (separates Sumatra from the peninsular
Malaysia). They maintained their Chinese heritage but also developed
unique aspects of their culture.
Food and architecture are two noticeable aspects. Not surprisingly,
many of the Chinese started small businesses. They developed a
type of row house for their businesses and to live in. The buildings
are narrow. The ground floor is the shop and the second floor
(and sometimes a third) is where the family would live. The upper
floors extend over the sidewalks so that there is a covered arcade
for pedestrians (I ended up walking in the street a lot because
people parked their motorcycles on the sidewalks). Shuttered windows
characterize the facades, as do carvings or brightly painted details
(depending on when the building was built). I really like the
shops/row houses, and they were actually the main reason I decided
to go to Penang. Most of the central part of the city is still
made up of block after block of them. They were once common in
all of the trading towns of the strait. Most have fallen victim
of modernization. They have virtually disappeared from Singapore,
and KL has fewer and fewer. There is a historical trust society
in Penang to try and preserve as much as is possible so that the
city is able to keep its sense of history. I visited their office,
and at this point, education and increasing awareness are their
focuses mostly because of funding. I guess I was an example of
how the city's heritage can be a tourist draw.
The buildings have also enabled the city to market itself to
the film industry. Parts of Indochine and Anna and the King were
filmed in Penang. There is an old cemetery in Penang (actually
two, separated by a wall, Protestant and Catholic). The famous
bodies include Stamford Raffles' brother-in-law and Thomas Leonowens
(the husband of Anna of The King and I fame).
Another sight to see was the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. It
was another of the colonial chain set up by the Sarkie Brothers.
The hotel has recently been restored and truly is a grand hotel.
I didn't stay in the E&O but found a small hotel that had
quite a bit of colonial charm. It was originally built as a mansion
in the British colonial bungalow-style. The family that built
the house sold it at the onset of WWII, and it was converted into
a hotel. In those pre-air conditioning days, the idea was to have
maximum airflow with large hallways, high ceilings, and lots of
windows. The lobby and center hall made me feel like I was stepping
into a Somerset Maugham story. One thing that was really exciting
about this trip was to see Bahasa Malaysia (which is just about
the same as Bahasa Indonesia).
I recognized so much more than I expected to. It was very weird
because once I got into the language mode, words just started
popping into my head whenever I looked at things or even when
I was thinking about certain things in English. I didn't actually
use it much, though, because most of the people in Penang are
Chinese or Indian (they would rather use English than Malay).
From Penang I took a bus to KL (only five hours). KL, too, has
changed so much since I was last there ten years ago--lots of
big buildings and much more of a modern feeling. I arrived in
the early evening so I needed to find dinner. I ate at a street
of food stalls (I had some kind of Indian lamb curry). While I
was looking for food, I passed by the Petronas Towers, the world's
tallest buildings. I was surprised by how much I liked them. I
have yet to see a picture that really does them justice. At night
they are lit up, and with their unusual design, they look like
something out of a science fiction movie.
I played tourist on Friday afternoon and went into Chinatown.
I had a brochure for a walking tour of the area. Old Straits Chinese
buildings can still be found there, but they are under pressure.
One of the highlighted buildings on the map had been replaced
by a parking lot and two others had had fires. The main street
in Chinatown is a buyer's paradise. All kinds of goods by Gucci,
Louis Vuitton, Cartier and CDs and DVDs were on sale in little
stalls for dirt cheap prices. All were fakes and copies, of course.
I looked but didn't buy (a lot of that stuff can be found in Vietnam).
It started to rain so I ducked into a restaurant that I had been
thinking about going to. It was an old row house that had been
converted. It was supposed to look like a Shanghai teahouse of
the 30's. I had a good meal (shrimp) and wrote post cards while
I listened to the thunder crashing and saw lightning flashing
(tropical rainstorms are great!). By coincidence, in the next
day's newspaper there was an article about the restaurant and
how old buildings can be made viable.
Sunday was a free day for me. I started off by going to church.
It was packed. I suppose part of it was the Easter Sunday turnout,
but it also appeared that there were a lot of Philippinas. If
KL is like Hong Kong then Sunday church is the start of the social
activities for the maids' day off.
After church I went to the Petronas Towers again to try and get
a (free) ticket for the bridge that joins the two towers at the
fortieth floor. I got there at 9:40, expecting to get right in
since it opened at 9:15. I was very wrong. The line went across
the lobby, out the door, and around one of the buildings. Since
going up was not going to be an option, I decided to go back into
Chinatown. I walked around and then returned to the hotel. At
around noon we headed to the airport and then back to Vietnam.
