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Published: December 5th 2008
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Penang City Hall
Yeppers, it looks pretty old. Will spare you more of the same as it's dull as a bowling ball to see other people's pics of old buildings. We had planned to fly to the Philippines from Indonesia but it's cheaper to fly there from Saigon. So we instead flew to Kuala Lumpur again in Malaysia and went north to the island of Penang. This island was leased to the English in the late 18th century and you can't throw a stick in Georgetown without hitting a historical building.
We visited a mansion built by an uber wealthy Chinese guy who had come to Penang penniless. He had 8 mansions built for his 8 wives in various cities throughout China and here. In his will he left everything to his passle of children including the youngest who was only 2 when he died at 74. Jeez! His will did not allow any of his properties to be sold until all of his children died. Strange! To make sure that they didn't sell this particular mansion he had it built in a Chinese style instead of the European style that was popular at the time. That way nobody would want to buy it.
But he didn't want people to think he was out of touch with the latest and greatest. So he had lamps, tiles and iron work
from Scotland installed as well as beautiful art deco stained glass put in the more than 200 windows. He consulted feng shui specialists and they told him not to build the house parallel to the road but maybe 20 degrees off of parallel. And how stupid is this... everyone else on the street built their houses off parallel too. It looks really strange to see all these cockeyed houses running down the street.
The food in Penang is excellent. There are local specialties of Chinese, Indian and Malay food. We especially loved the Indian food here. Yummy curries, naan bread, and the best veggie food you've ever tasted.
We took a ferry from Penang to another island called Langkawi which is a big tourist draw for Malaysians. They have duty free alcohol there. Yay! Not a lot to see there but nice beaches and some pointy granite spires in places.
My mom complained that there are hardly any pics of me posted so I managed to get one on here. Hi Mom!
Next we'll go to Thailand and travel through the south to Cambodia and then Vietnam, flying from Saigon to Manila.
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Larry Green
non-member comment
Hi guys
Just wanted to say hi... Kristin and I read all your posts... it's just SOME OF US have to work and don't have a lot of time to reply ;-) Keep posting, have fun, and be safe.