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Published: September 26th 2005
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Sunrise
The view from our balcony. Our first week in Penang was full of, well, firsts. Phil went to work on Monday and was introduced to the team he would be working with. On Tuesday Carole took us on a tour around the main areas of the island. We visited the local wet market, she showed us the nearest hospital and other medical offices, then we went up to Penang hill. There is a lot to do and see in that area. We then went down into Georgetown and had lunch at the newest mall, Gurney Plaza. It’s by far the nicest, newest building I had seen in Penang. That area of Georgetown is where most expats live because most of them have kids and it’s near the international schools, and so it has more western-oriented shops and restaurants. Carole then drove us out to Ferrenghi Beach on the north side of the island. This is where all of the nice beaches and resort hotels are located. It’s also where the tsunami hit. Apparently there were some Japanese tourists on the main beaches who realized what was happening and told people to get off the beach. Unfortunately the more remote beaches are where the locals like to
View of mainland
Again from our balcony: the bridge to the mainland, mainland, and Pulau Jerejak (island) picnic and that’s where the most lives were lost. A lot of people’s homes were destroyed too, so temporary housing has been set up in the area. It seems more like permanent housing since no other housing is being built. Then we drove back into Georgetown and went through the old downtown area. The fringes of Georgetown are newer and look nicer, but as you get further into town you start seeing all the old original shop buildings along teeny tiny narrow streets. The buildings just look decrepit and run down, though if you look past all the signs and peeling paint you can tell that the city used to be beautiful. People have told us that Georgetown today is what Singapore looked like forty years ago before the building boom. The rest of the week was spent working, unpacking, exploring the local restaurants and grocery shopping.
On Thursday I signed up with the International Women’s Association of Penang. I am hoping to do volunteer work with them since they already have established programs. I also cooked dinner for the first time that night; used every pan in the kitchen! That doesn’t say much since the apartment came with
Island
More of Pulau Jerejak and new construction. only a fry pan and sauce pan. Needless to say the kitchen was trashed and I was sweaty from an hour in a non-air conditioned room. Yep, the kitchens are not air conditioned, nor are the bathrooms. The highlight of the week was getting our shipment of stuff from the US on Friday. YAY! The computer, kitchen stuff, more clothes, my craft stuff! The joy was short lived, at least for me. After opening a couple boxes it became very apparent the customs had indeed opened and gone through all our stuff. And they confiscated at least two of the dvds we shipped over. I knew they would be going through our stuff and why they did it, but I wasn’t prepared for how I felt about it. Violated. Like someone had broken into our house. It was just creepy knowing that someone else had gone through our stuff. You quickly realize how much freedom you have in the US. Your private life is just that, private. We could own the largest porn collection on the West coast and no one would care (well, our friends might be disturbed, and not that we do). Here you would be arrested and
13 floors down
A view straight down from our balcony to the koi pond in front of the apartment. Phil said this picture made him queasy just looking at it. prosecuted. It’s just so different, but I try to remind myself that this is the way they do things here. It’s their culture. I don’t have to accept it, just understand it. Anyway, we were just happy to have our stuff. Especially the computer. Our biggest challenge and worry was how we were going to plug in the computer. As of then we had not seen any plug converters that accepted US three-prong plugs. Crap!! We tried plugging our power strip into the power converter and then into the wall thinking that the converter would be able to handle it. Not so. Thank goodness we were sitting a ways away and that the floors are marble. When we turned the power on at the strip sparks came flying out of the phone jacks on the strip and white smoke came out of it. We FRIED it!! After that we were even more worried about how to plug in the computer. We didn’t want to fry it too. So we used my curling iron as the guinea pig. :-) The converter was working fine, so it must have been the power strip. And it was. Phil searched the internet from his
Living/dining room
This is it! Sorry the picture is dark and grainy. I will take better ones later. laptop and found out that you shouldn’t try to plug in a US power strip. Oops. He also found out that computers and monitors with automatically convert from 110 to 220 volts. I guess electronics companies anticipate that not all their products will be used in the US. All we needed to do was buy new power cords for the computer, monitor and our printer. The hilarious thing is that the cords that power rice cookers also power computers!!! We were up and running in no time.
On Saturday we drove around the island. The southern and eastern parts of the island reminded us a lot of St. John where we had our honeymoon. Narrow winding roads, lots of jungle and small little villages. Along the way we saw a tropical fruit farm where you can take tours and sample the fruits and we saw the durian farm (see the previous entry for the link). We sped past that one! The road passes by a small reservoir in the interior of the island and then meets up with the north beaches. There are several farms and gardens to see in that area. We went to the Tropical Spice Garden.
Kitchen I
Here is the kitchen and our "back porch". The refrigerator is easily 1/3 the size of our fridge at home, which makes shopping interesting. The porch houses our washer/dryer combo (though I can't figure out how to make it dry) and the drying rack. Yay for crispy clothing :-) Spice Garden The site and many of the plants have been there for quite a while, the garden itself opened just two years ago. There are several cool features in the garden including a bench swing that sends you out over a small cliff (there is a safety net) and several hammocks. At the top of the hilly site is a spice museum, gift shop and café. The café is literally right above the main road below, but you would never know it. And the view of the ocean and surrounding beaches is spectacular! I would definitely go back, even just to have lunch. Unfortunately our camera was not working so we have no pictures, but I’m sure we will go again. I’ve added a couple of pictures of our apartment that we took recently. We broke down and bought a cheap little film camera so we can take pictures while our digital is being fixed. More entries to come soon!!
Phil & Selina
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Kirsten
non-member comment
Sweaty Cookin'
I remember the joys of cooking in New Orleans, with a mostly useless ceiling fan and a gas Viking stove. My dad has spent lots of time in Malaysia, and he says that New Orleans in summer in a walk in the park in comparison - so I hope you find a fan soon! Take care, Kirsten