Penang

Leaving the jungle, we drove back to Kuala Lumpur and flew to Penang in the northern part of the country. In paticular, we were in Georgetown on Penang Island, an area whose population is majority Chinese. Of course, there is still a strong Muslin presence with many Mosques, but note the Chinese lanterns hung for New Year right in front of the Mosque:

We spent a lot of time wandering around Georgetown, giving us an opportunity to view the extensive (and intricate) street art in the city.

We also visited Khoo Kongsi, which is the largest Hokkien clanhouse in the country. Established in the mid 19th century by members of the Khoo family who had been in Penang since the 17th century, the clanhouse is more of a little community where the family lived, dominated by an impressive temple. Most Chinese in the area speak the Hokkien dialect, in addition to Malay and English.

In the photo on the right, the yellow sign prohibits rolling the granite ball that is in the lion's mouth (there were a number of these statues). We were not even aware of the granite ball until we read the sign and, of course, after reading all we wanted to do was roll the ball. Nonetheless, we restrained ourselves.

One of the coolest things in the temple was a giant tome that was one of eight (!) tracing the genealogy of the Khoo family back over 650 years.

Food, and particularly street food, is very big in Georgetown. We found a stand selling a kind of fritter filled with various things, and stopped to share one with banana and chocolate, but we had to wait a bit as many locals were there buying a significant number of the yummy treats to take home.

On our second day in Penang, we went to Kek Lok Si Temple, which is the largest Buddhist Temple in Malaysia, and is a pilgrimage site for Buddhists from all over Southeast Asia. The temple includes several large pagodas including the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which actually has 10,000 alabaster and bronze statues of Buddha within it. Also interesting, it is made up of different Buddhist architectual styles -- Chinese, Burmese and Thai (from bottom to top). (It is in the background of the photo below.)

Above the temple, reached by funicular from one of the numerous temple buildings, there is a giant statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy.

There are also statues of the animals in the Chinese zodiac, and the area was heavily decorated with dragons for the (then) upcoming Year of the Dragon.

After leaving Kek Lok Si, we walked to the the base of Penang Hill, and caught the funicular to the top. We have ridden many funicular railways all over the world, but this one was the most impressive because it is both incredibly steep and incredibly fast. Shana enjoyed learning about the railway from the "driver" on our way down.

The top of Penang Hill provides a great view of Georgetown and even the part of Penang that is on the mainland.

There was not a lot to do on the top of Penang Hill, but we did enjoy the relative cool at over 2,000 feet, and we did walk through a new museum that provided information on the history of Penang Hill, which was used as both a residence and a getaway by a wealthy British colonialist starting in the 18th century. Now, although some people live there (there is both a Mosque and a Hindu Temple at the top), it is mostly a place to visit for locals and tourists alike.

We enjoyed our time in Georgetown, but were looking forward to our next destination -- Langkawi.

More soon.

Jeff and Shana