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Published: September 29th 2009
It was still drizzling as I made my way across the road to a waiting taxi. Earlier in the afternoon it had rained heavily. When it rains heavily here, nothing much works. Phones, Satellite TV and the shops just seem to give up.
It’s 6:30pm on a Saturday night in Kuching and I was heading to the airport for a little break to an island 1200km away to the north west.
The End of the Fast
Ramadan is coming to an end. For the last four weeks Muslims throughout the world have fasted during daylight hours to reinforce their faith in Islam. The end of Ramadan is celebrated by Hari Raya and in Malaysia, we get a two day public holiday. My office has announced it will close for an extra day. With Monday to Wednesday off, I decide to head off on a few days holiday.
The two hour flight on the budget airline AirAsia is uneventful (and surprisingly comfortable), and we land a few minutes early at Penang International Airport. It is 10:50pm local time.
Penang Island is off the coast peninsular Malaysia some 300km from Kuala Lumpur. It is the site of the first
British settlement on the Malaysian peninsular. Once an important strategic trading port, it is now known for its duty free shopping, beaches and tourism.
My guide book tells me the trip from the airport to Georgetown its capital, will take 25-30 minutes. My taxi driver apparently hasn’t read it as he weaves and speeds his way all over the road. I am sitting in the back wearing a crappy seatbelt wondering if I should have stayed in Kuching. The driver is friendly and points out a few landmarks. He wanders over the road as he talks, sometimes using both lanes, wheels astride of the white line.
Despite his best efforts, we make it safely to my hotel, the Royal Penang. It has taken us 17 minutes.
Don’t Worry, my Big Brother will look after you
When I arrive in a new city I generally don’t plan too much on the first day. I just walk.
Even if I had a particular destination in mind and a good map, I would still get lost. So I don’t bother any more. I just wander around and take in the sights. This morning I do have a vague idea
of wanting to walk to the sea. I have seen it from my hotel room, 18 storeys up high.
As I walk to where I think is the sea I notice that Georgetown has some similarities to Kuching. It has the same two storey shop houses. There are more motorbikes here though and a lot of high rise residential blocks that are rare in Kuching.
After walking for an hour I find the sea. What I don’t find though is a beach. I walk beside some jetty’s heading out to sea. They are crowded with small houses. I walk down one with a sign saying it is the Chew Jetty.
I find out later that this is one of seven “clan” jetty’s along Weld quay. The Chew Jetty is named after the original Chinese immigrant families that built it in 1850. There are dozens of houses and hundreds of people living here, all with the Chew name.
Away from the jetty, I walk some more. It’s hot and I need a cold drink. I wander into a food hall called the “Cafe Kar Bee” which is some distance from any landmarks and sit down at a
table outside. I am asked by a man if I want a drink. I go through a list of my preferences. He shakes his head every time. Eventually I follow him inside to the drink fridge to pick something out.
Inside four men are playing Mah-jongg. One of the men asked me if I know how to play. No idea, I say.
He has good English and only a couple of teeth. The game breaks up as it seems they have found something more interesting to do.
They interrogate me.
The man with the abbreviated teeth is Mr Lim. He asks the questions. I answer and then he translates in Chinese to others in the cafe. By now there are about a dozen interested listeners. My nationality, age, marital status, occupation and salary are all of interest to them. When he asks me my salary in local currency, I make a mistake.
I reduce the amount by 30% because I don’t want to seem like a rich foreigner. It’s not that I get paid a lot, it’s just the exchange rate is particularly good, and Malaysians in general have a comparatively low income.
As he
translates there are gasps from the listeners.
Oops, should have reduced it by 60%.
After the show and tell exercise, Mr Lim tells me he can organise a tour of the island with one of his friends in his private car. We negotiate a price (it probably would have been cheaper if I used 60%) for a half day tour the following day. I arrange to meet his friend Mr Kang, outside my hotel at 1 pm.
As we finish our negotiations a tall young African man wanders over to us with some things to sell. He is a student here from Kuala Lumpur to make some money to support himself. I buy a wallet and belt from him, paying the asking price. Mr Lim says I pay too much. I know I say, but tell him he is a student and needs the money. Yes, he says that’s ok, in Africa they are very poor.
It’s the middle of the day and it’s hot. I decide I want to get a taxi back to hotel.
Mr Lim says no problem, he will arrange.
Ten minutes later the taxi turns up.....driven by his brother.
His brother is older and smaller than Mr Lim. He is friendly and like his brother, has good English. Not like his younger brother, he has a full set of teeth.
Mr Lim the younger announces that Mr Lim the older will now be my tour guide for tomorrow.
“But I have made an arrangement with Mr Kang”, I say.
“That’s ok, you can cancel it and go with my brother”.
“If you want to change the arrangements, you will have to do the cancelling”, I tell him.
“No, problem, I will tell him”
As we drive to my hotel Mr Lim the older tells me he is 70 years old and he controls everything around this area. The food hall I was just in is owned by him. These days he only works if he gets a booking by phone from his contacts.
In the 10 minute drive to my hotel and learn quite a lot about Mr Lim. Some of it I would rather not know such as:
His wife is 65 years old and is no longer interested in sex. He is interested in sex and wants it all the time.
He travels to Thailand at least once a month to have “massages” with young women. He makes the international sign of finger going in and out of the “O” he makes with his other hand. The “massages” in Thailand are chepaer than in Penang. The “massages” in Thailand are chepaer than in Penang (no, this is not a typo, it’s just he did insist on making this point again and again).
He tells me he is going to Thailand on Friday.
He drops me off and I say I will see him tomorrow. I think it should be an interesting day.
Riding The White Line
Next morning I give up on breakfast, even though it is part of the room cost. There is a huge line to get into the buffet. With the Hari Raya holiday, many people have come to visit from Kuala Lumpur. The hotel is packed.
Later, I go for a walk and have lunch at the New World Centre shopping centre/food hall near the Hotel. The food is great. It’s always great.
Mr Lim picks me up at 1pm for my tour. We
head inland to Penang Hill, some 10km to the west. The hill has a great view over the island and is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Traffic is heavy because of the holiday makers. Three quarters of the way there we decide to try later. It’s just too busy.
I hate it when the locals get in the way of my tourist activities. Seriously.
We head back to the coast north of Georgetown to the Butterfly Farm. As we drive along the coast road, hotels and resorts either side block out the sunlight. I glimpse golden beaches and rocks as my head swivels back and forth from the road ahead.
You see, Mr Lim likes to “Ride The White Line”.
He will not be confined. Whenever he is able, he straddles the line in the middle of the road with his taxi, claiming it for himself. The road has tight bends and is busy with buses regularly coming the other way. It doesn’t matter to Mr Lim. He’s been driving his taxi for 38 years and he’s not going to let a painted line on the ground determine where he is going to
drive. He swerves back and forth, going wide (very wide) on the sharp corners.
I glance down hopefully at the glove compartment in front of me, looking for a sign this taxi has air bags.
Damn.
We make it to the Butterfly Farm, the only casualty being a mosquito Mr Lim squashed while he was driving.
As I think back, it would have been good to get a photo from the car on one of those bends. Especially when Mr Lim was hunting the mosquito around the car.
It’s funny though, it didn’t seem a priority at the time.
Butterflies and Beaches
As expected, the Butterfly Farm has butterflies. There are lots of the pretty buggers flapping around the enclosed area. There are bright coloured flowers and plants where the butterfly’s feed. I wander around killing a few.
I’m kidding, just seeing if you are paying attention.
I stop at the Scorpion Enclosure. It’s not really accurately named though. There are scorpions but they are not really enclosed. There are groups of black scorpions huddled together in an area a couple of metres square. If I wanted to, I could reach
Butterfly Farm
No, not butterfly's, fish.down over the ½ metre plastic fence and grab a handful. I don’t.
I wander around some more, taking photo’s. I go through the exit and wind my way through a maze of souvenir shops and head back to the taxi.
Next stop is the beach at Batu Ferringhi.
It’s crowded with holiday makers, most of them Malaysian. There are jet skis lined up along the shoreline and some racing about. Power boats are dragging people dangling from parachutes. It is noisy and chaotic. I wander if it is all safe. Mr Lim answers my question by telling people have died here from accidents.
In front of us three children are on a tired looking white horse that is being led around the beach by a tired looking man. One of the parents stands next to the horse for a photo. He laughs as he punches the horse on the neck, making it shudder. I cannot think why he would do that with his kids sitting on it. I feel like going up to him and punching him on the neck. Then maybe putting three kids on his shoulders and leading him around the beach for
Batu Ferringhi Beach
Crowded because of the Hari Raya holiday a while. Fortunately, my cultural sensitivity kicks in and all I do is swear at him under my breath.
Before we leave I take a video of a paraflying tourist couple landing somewhat awkwardly on the crowded beach. (see video).
I think I Can, I think I Can
We head back to Penang Hill. The traffic seams lighter and Mr Lim is confident. At the base of the hill is a station where you purchase tickets for the train trip to the top. It’s cheap and the trains run every 30 minutes.
There are not that many people around as I head into the office to purchase a ticket. There is a sign that says they are now selling tickets for the 8:15pm trip. It’s now 4:30pm.
I find out later that the line was shut down for a few hours and people were stranded at the top.
We give up on Penang Hill and do a last stop at the nearby Botanical Gardens. It’s busy with families and joggers. It is a popular place to exercise here because it's cool.
I wander around and take some photos of monkeys in the trees.
Mr Lim drops me off at my hotel and we arrange to start again tomorrow at 10am for a renewed assault on Penang Hill.
It’s funny though, as I found out, something’s are just not meant to be.
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anonymous
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Hi Tod George Town appears to have changed a lot since we visited, but not the driving - we had some hairy rides too.