A BRIEF REPRIEVE - SINGAPORE

We took the short flight (about 1 1/2 hours) from Penang back to Singapore. The photo below was on the door of the Penang airport.  The fruit really does smell horribly - a little like weak sewage.  It's suppose to taste delicious, but I'm not sure how you'd get beyond the stench.

  Fortunately, when we got to the Silkair terminal, Charlie asked if our bags could be checked through to LA.  The answer was yes, and even better, we got boarding passes for our next two flights.  When we got to the airport we thought we knew the drill.  Terminal 2 - windowless room - but we weren't completely correct.  Our last night in Singapore was in Terminal 3.  We arrived at about 11:15 and discovered our room was for 12 hours.  Since our flight the next morning was at 7:10, and the earliest we would head for the plane would be 5, we couldn't check in yet.  You could, we found, rent the rooms by the hour, and we could extend our time, but that seemed peculiar.  (Kind of like the rooms along Colorado that the ladies of the night use for a quickie.)  We could, however, check our carry-on bags into a check-in place for the afternoon, which we did.  Kind of an hourly hotel for carry-ons.

We then went off to take our free Singapore tour from the airport.  Fortunately, this was only possible if we had boarding passes for our next flight.  Hurray!  We did. We took the 4 pm tour.  In order to leave the airport we had to go through immigration, which we did, and then were herded onto buses.  Singapore has a lot of rules.  This tour was also very tightly controlled.  If it began to rain, we wouldn't be let off the bus.  Fortunately, it only drizzled, so we were allowed a brief walk-about.

The photo below was taken from the bus.  The buildings were in the China town portion of Singapore and were very much like the buildings we saw in Penang.

When we got to Terminal 3, we teased the Ambassador Transit Hotel folks about a window.  Surprise! You could get a window, but it would face the runway.  Lots of people who were there for a quick night's sleep didn't want any noise.  Charlie and I are such airport junkies that a runway view seemed nifty - chose the window.  Truthfully, like the old Motel 8 ads used to say, when the lights are out, all rooms look the same.

Two easy flights back to LA.  We're home

LIGHT NIGHT IN PENANG

After Chris dropped us off at the hotel, we wandered out to get lunch.  A lot of places were closed on Mondays.  Sam's all-batik-all-the-time store was shut, as were a lot of others.  We couldn't get another chance to try yesterday's eatery for lunch, so we tried 78 (the cafe across the street).  Actually, this one was even better.  

Given that our flight home was an endurance contest, we decided to rest in the afternoon.  Chris had recommended the Red Garden for dinner.  It was close by the hotel, so we wandered over.  What a great place!  All the tables were surrounded by different eateries.  Each table was numbered.  A guy told us to choose a table, and asked us what we wanted to drink.  He brought the drinks, we paid, and then we went to choose what we wanted for dinner.  Name an Asian cuisine - it was there.  I'm not sure where "clay pot frog porridge" comes from - no, we didn't try it.  

The photos below are from our hotel window.  Dramatic sky.

A FULL DAY IN PENANG

Our room is quite comfortable, so after a good night's sleep we went to the breakfast buffet, met Chris, and off we went for our Penang city tour.

The building below is of government structures.  There are a number of colonial style buildings in the area (Georgetown).  Some have been refurbished, some have had the fronts as entry-ways to very modern structures (truly an awful combo), and some have been left to fall to bits.  The city of Georgetown was established by Colonel Light for King George III in 1880 something.  Light convinced a local sultan that he would protect him.  When the Siamese came and attacked the sultan, the British reneged (trade with Siam was more important than the sultan).  Eventually, they came to an agreement with the sultan, paying him a yearly fee to stay, and all was well.

A Church of England church.

This bird is like a starling around here -but it has a great song, myna-bird like markings, and is really hard to take a photo of.

We then visited a Thai Buddhist temple.

The fortune-telling broken machine struck me as very funny.

A Thai reclining Buddha

Across the street from the Thai temple was a Burmese Buddhist temple.  Buddha is standing in this temple.

Between two dragon sculptures was a globe which helpfully showed us where we were.  Charlie is pointing to Pulau Pinang (Pinang island).

The decorative palm above is common for gardens in Malaysia

Our next city tour spot was the Khoo clan compound.  Many of the Chinese clans had their own compounds.  Arguments led to clan riots at the end of the 18th century which the British put down with force.  These places were a little like Hutongs in Beijing, except there was a temple in it as well.

A view from the Khoo clan compound.  To the left are local city dwellings.  In the center is a modern building, and to the right a structure of the Khoo compound facing the street.

Next on our tour was a visit to a typical home of a Chinese man/Malay woman couple.  This combination was so common that these unions developed their own culture.  Below is the main entrance of the home.

We then went on to visit Fort Cornwallis.  The palm in the first photo below is a betel-nut palm (you can just see the red betel-nut fruits hanging near the trunk.  Pinang city's symbol is the betel nut.

A few photos below from the fort.

A Georgetown typical street.  The blue sign in the middle 78 cafe is where we had lunch.  It was even better than yesterday's lunch.  2 cokes - 2 mee sua (fish soup with noodles)  all for about $4 US dollars.

After lunch we shopped around a bit.  We found a store that had nicer stuff.  Some of the stores really have cheesy items.  Our most difficult problem here (beyond stomping around in 90°F and 95% humidity) is that it's really hard to cross streets.  They drive right-hand-drive like the British, there are lots of cars, and there are a few places to get across the road.  It helps to have two of us checking opposite directions.  Back to the hotel for a shower, and a rest.

FERRY THEN A DRIVE TO PENANG

We got up early this morning, called for someone to pick up our luggage, then rode over to the main dining area.  We were there by 6:40, but although the eating area was supposed to be open by 6:30, they were just starting to get breakfast going.  I wasn't too hungry - neither was Charlie, so we made do with toast and tea.  

We took a bus to the ferry dock about 7:45 - things are close at hand on Pangkor Island.  The ferry left about 8:05.  The photos below are from our ride to the peninsula mainland.

The passing ferry above looked like ours.  We rode on the open back end at the top which was quite nice first thing in the morning.

Chris, our guide from Kuala Lumpur was at the dock waiting for us again.  I think he's Peterson Travels few car drivers.  We were supposed to stop and look at orangutans on some island reserve in the middle of a reservoir.  However, the reservoir water was too low to get to the island.  Apparently, once on the island, you walk inside a covered walkway.  The orangutans walk around outside - kind of an inside-out-zoo.  The entrance to the reservoir is seen in the photo below.  It really was very un-eco-like.  A lot more like a circus entrance.  I'm sorry we couldn't get onto the island, but the entrance chaos was off putting.

Chris felt badly that we couldn't get our orangutan viewing in - so he brought us to a Penang Chinese temple that had poisonous vipers inside.  They were fed eggs and vegetables, so they seemed very lethargic.  The least dangerous vipers I've ever watched - although the sign below gave a hint that petting or swiping at them wouldn't be a good plan.

A few of the temple's vipers above.

After Chris dropped us off at the hotel, we decided to stroll around looking for tourist shopping.  We were both really thirsty, and found the side-walk cafe?  restaurant?  above.  We ordered Cokes, then after watching someone else order a small bowl of noodle soup - we ordered that too.  It was really good.  Our whole lunch - cokes and soup came to about $4.  

We walked up and down the length of the shopping street, but really didn't see much beyond junk.  Fun street to wander though.

A popular way to eat in Penang is from hawkers who sell food cooked on the spot.  The photo above shows people buying/eating hawker foot.

The view from our window at the Bayview hotel.

We had dinner in a revolving restaurant at the top of the hotel.  The good:  1.)  Beautiful view  2.) cheap  The not so good  - the food.  We'll try something else tomorrow.

PANGKOR - NEW ROOM

We were up early in the morning - it was hard to sleep when the room was as yucky as it was.  We went to the main desk and complained bitterly.  Our new room was an apology for the bat cave.  It was way over the top - but really a special place.  

At breakfast, the hornbills were out in force.  The bird below was sitting on the rail of the breakfast buffet patio.

Here's our new view.

The first cottage to Charlie's right was ours.  Good grief!  We went from yuk to wow in one day.

Once we settled into our new elegant digs, we asked at the desk how to get to see the island.  We had signed up for a 'round the island boat ride, but it was seeming less and less like something we wanted to do.  The desk suggested we take a taxi round trip.  That turned out to be a great plan.  We spent two hours, out and back.  The time spent mostly at stops.  The island is pretty small.

Below are women packing dried fish - one of the main occupations of the island.

Foo Lin Kong Temple seen above.  It has lots of very peculiar doo dads around it.  Behind to the left was a miniature "great wall of China".  It also had dragons, pottery, and miscellaneous odd sculptures.

A Dutch fort left over from the Dutch colonial days.

Downtown Pangkor.  A collection of little shops for tourists and food shops for the locals.

These noodle piles were on a side street in "down town" Pangkor.  They were about two feet high and at least two feet across.  The word in Malay for noodles is Mee.

Charlie and I are learning a few words of Malay   Nasi (rice)  mee (noodles)  goreng (fried)  ayam (chicken) awas (caution)  sg.  (not sure of the original word - but the abbreviation stands for river) Lamak (coconut milk sauce)  

We had dinner in the Pacific Cafe (the a la carte restaurant in the resort).  Given the fact it was a resort - there weren't a whole lot of choices.  After dinner we got a beer in the upstairs bar.  For a Muslim country, no one seems off-put by beer and wine around here.  There were some singers that were pretty good for a resort on an island in the middle of the Malacca Strait close to no where in particular.

HORNBILLS AND MOLD - ISLAND OF PANGKOR

We took a turbo-jet from Kuala Lumpur's 2nd (smaller) airport to the island of Pangkor.  It's completely covered in dense jungle.  On the north end of the island is a tiny airstrip and our resort just beyond.

Below is a view of the Malaysian peninsula from the air.

Our airplane seen from the inside of the "airport".

The guy that picked us up at the airport was border-line rude.  He had a sign with the name of the resort we were going to.  When we said that we were supposed to go to the resort, he snapped "Show me your voucher so I can check".  Then when we got to the resort, the lady at the counter announced, "You came too early, our check-out time is noon"  We had arrived at 11.  She seemed totally flummoxed as to what to do to us.  For some reason, rather than asking if we'd mind waiting for a room, she found room 366 - the bat cave.  First, our key didn't work properly.  But worse, the room stunk of mold.  They managed to fix the deal with the key, and we, stupidly didn't demand another room in the beginning.  We really thought that running the air conditioning would clean the place out.  No.  It made it worse.  The next morning (now) we demanded another room - we were up trying to decide how to avoid Legionnaire's Disease.  Opening the door meant mosquitos and macaques.  We turned of the air con ran a fan and chanced the pests.  We are waiting for another room.  If it smells the same - oh well - we tried.

Once we were settled - we went to the beach.  Our joke last night was - if you let a place in the jungle run down enough - the local inhabitants begin to take over.  While we were sitting on the beach, the monitor lizard seen below, walked up to the small boy, decided he wasn't tasty enough, and walked across the sand.

For a short while in the afternoon we had WiFi.  It stopped working in the evening (hence this later post).  Here's Charlie below, catching up with things.

We sat on the beach most of the afternoon.  Here's some scenes from the shore.

After we got dressed for dinner (not as fancy as it sounds) we walked out of the bat cave and there in a tree was a hornbill.

It turns out that at 7:30 in the morning and 6:30 at night they put bread out for these birds.  The birds, in turn, hang around all day waiting for hand outs.  We didn't notice them yesterday - but, good grief, they're all over.

Above is the stand and the food (mostly bread) left out for the birds.

Tropics-Charlie before dinner.

Before dinner, we took a walk on the beach.  We noticed when we went swimming, amazing patterns in the sand made from tiny sand balls.  Suddenly we remembered a nature special about these little sand crabs that spend their time rolling up balls of sand as they dig their holes and leaving them outside.  This place has zillions of these creatures.

If you look carefully, in the center of the center groove, is the sand sculpture crab responsible for the design above.