Part IX

Salamat Malam, (Malay is very similar to Bahasa Indonesie! They all understand English though anyway)

Still in Penang, it's a cool place, well... it's really hot actually! Checked out the museum where they had all these paintings from the colonial era, local landscapes and portraits of pompous old poms.

Went to Fort Cornwallis. It a 19th century outfit that never actually fought any battles. It's named after the governor general of Bengal at the time, must be some form of aristocratic butt kissing I imagine. "Sir, look at this nice fort I built in your name!" Had a nice atmosphere amongst the trees and parrots and chickens. There were even a pair of horses grazing there for some reason. They were cranking out some classical giving it a very historic British air. Probably go back tomorrow and sit amongst the canons drawing.

Going to be here for a while as I wait for the LTSA to fax me some licence details so I can hire a motorbike. Damn civilised countries! : ) Indonesia didn't care about whether you were licenced or not. Then again, Indonesians didn't really seem to care much about anything...

Actually found some tasty food today in the form of a laksa. My last couple of meals being a bit of a disappointment. Little India and I can't even get a decent curry! The laksa here is quite different to the Singaporean style, there's no coconut cream in them, the soup is made of ground up mackerel and tamarinds. Quite tasty, very fishy though, just as well I had some gum!

[resumes the next day]

A night at the opera...

Last night I was wandering about the city in search of some kai when I came across this wicked Chinese temple with dragons carved out of the stone pillars. I was taking some pictures when this Chinese fulla Ang called out to me. He told me that the place was his clan house and that they run a traditional Chinese opera company. They don't advertise it in English at his grandmothers request, it's by word of mouth which is the old Chinese way. The temple was closed for the night but he showed me the room beside it, the clan meeting room. His grandmother was there, she's ancient with a cataract in one eye. The room has photos, some really old, of clan ancestors and the family tree.

We jumped on his bike and went to the place where they were having the opera. A temporary stage set up on the street. Its moves around from temple to temple all over Chinatown. I went back stage and checked out the performers putting on their make up and had a go on some of the traditional instruments, tried the harp and that 2 stringed violin type thing the busker dude in welly uses.

They do the opera in honour of their deities. Apparently the government wanted them to do it for the tourists for money but they weren't down with that so they pretended they'd forgotten how to do it. There was some ritual at the start, incense burning at a nearby temple. They had massive incense sticks 2m high and about 20cm in diameter. A dude came around giving out tasty little cookies with brown sugar in them.

Eventually the opera started, some toothless old crone with grey makeup came out and rambled on in a conspiratorial manner then out came some extravagantly dressed people talking in strange high pitched Chinese. I checked it out for about an hour or so, was entertaining. Not something you see every day. More a labour of love than anything for the performers, there weren't many people there cos they prefer to watch telly these days.

Starving, time for breakfast.. um.. late lunch.

I have decided...

Penang rocks!

Who can argue with a place with place names such as Cheapside and Love Lane, which happens to be my address. There are 'hos on Love Lane. Well, I'm picking that's what the extremely hot but hard looking hindu ladies just down the street are.

LTSA came through for me and I'm mobile again. Yeah! Usually they're breaking my ass, not helping it...

Hired a bike and cruised out to the old world war 2 British fortress that they've turned into a war museum. Got to pose with a heavy machine gun. Woo hoo! Checked out some bullet holes from where the japs executed prisoners. Saw the gallows where they hung the Japanese general... oh the horror, the horror!

Cruising the city during peak traffic is heaps of fun but not for the faint of heart. Unlike the sea of fellow bikers and pot holes and fish drying racks of Indonesia, there is a sea of cars and traffic islands that we bikers get to zip in and out of. It's quite simple really, find a gap, go for it. Gaps tend to appear right when you need them too. Just have to watch where you're going and not sight see too much. There are even some dedicated motorbike routes. Petrol is cheap here, less that 2 ringgit per litre, i.e. less than $1NZ

Saturday

Been cruising around the island all day which has been most worthy. First I headed out to find the cable car up Penang hill and a nearby town called Air Hitam which is supposed to do a good Ayam Laksa. Found the laksa first, was ok. Had lots of lime tasting leaves in it. The local laksa is a worthy dish but the Singaporean variety is nicer IMHO. Everyone was there at the markets being Saturday and they all brought thie cars. I saw an impressive looking Buddhist temple up on the hill and went up to check that out. The road kept going on up so I followed it as it looked particularly interesting. Turned out it was an access road to the reservoir and some TV aerials on the hill. I went up and up and found a track going off into the jungle marked with a sign in Chinese. Up for the adventure I set off and about 3 minutes later stumbled upon a temple among the trees. There was no one about so I rocked on up to investigate. It appeared to be in honour of Lao Tsu. I'm assuming that's who the statue of an old beaded man in a blue robe with trigrams on it was and some other fulla too. I lit some incense and chilled out there for a while. Had an awesomely calm atmosphere and an excellent view.

Upon leaving it seemed appropriate to coast down the hill which was a most enjoyable way of descending the mountain. Got down to the temple and went in. There's this mammoth Bodhisattva statue there, all in bronze. Largest of its kind in the world apparently. They're currently assembling some massive carved pillars there to house it. The place is Buddhist but doesn't seem to be far removed from the Hindu origins, utilising swastikas and multi-armed deities. Not sure what the deal is, my knowledge of Buddhism is patchy at best. Found some sanskrit flags that were identical to the pages I found up on Mt Sibayak.

Another road headed on along the hill past the temple so I went for a nosey. It continued for quite some way and I saw 2 iguanas and a squirrel, all running for there lives in terror as my mighty black Honda bore down upon them. Wasn't going all that fast...

I headed off to the cable car but every man and his dog was there on the account of it being Saturday so thought I'd leave that to Monday.

After leaving there, a mish to the botanic gardens was in order. They currently have the 16th International Penang Floral Show there, finishing Sunday. Skillful timing on my part... Got some impressive shots of the orchids. Rude little plants that they are. They had some impressive floral art displays based on the 5 Chinese elements too.

Botanical urges satisfied, I headed off to the top of the island through an insane amount of traffic. Motorbikes are definitely the answer here. Got up to Batu Ferrengi which is a resort outfit with a nice beach and big swanky hotels. It was full of fat old Australians by the looks. A replacement destination for Bali maybe? I tarried not and headed on further up until I got to the National Park. Quite a nice spot there, lovely little secluded beaches amongst the rocks with monkeys hanging out. The mosque in town cranked up while I was there. (yep, another predominantly Muslim country) and a bunch of dogs out on a fishing platform in the bay started howling at it.

A strange little metallic spider leaped onto my bare (beer?:) belly, I tried to get it to leap into the tree above but no, he decided to abseil into the sea. I thought, oh well, off to his demise but no.. he motored away under his own power, off out to sea. Strange critters over here. Saw a little walking fish there too. Saw what the guide called a cicada the size of a sparrow in Sumatra (no exaggeration).

After some time it was getting late but not feeling like heading straight back I followed the road on around the island. An excellent little scenic drive past a massive new reservoir, lots of jungle and some Durian plantations. The road got quite high up into the hills a couple of times too with some impressive views, lit by the setting sun. Saw a little car full of asians with an All Blacks sticker in the back window and felt mighty patriotic. Go nationalism!

Georgetown is so multicultural. Loads of Chinese, lots of Indians, there are churches and mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples. High rise apartments and quiet suburban neighbourhoods. I'm yet to find a slum. Ads for yoga and retreats for monks. I saw a Scottish Freemasons lodge and even a couple of suit clad Mormons, bible in hand. There are seedy hookers and transvestites literally a stones throw away from a traditional Chinese puppet show. (Right on my street : ) The British left behind a very vibrant, diverse and particularly cool city. ...a parade just went past outside, complete with brass band! Some sort of Chinese festival I think...

A stark contrast to Sumatra, where, apart from some dilapidated old buildings and a cool clock tower in Bukittinggi, it's rather hard to tell the Dutch were ever there. Well, apart from the rampant Catholicism (Katolik I think they call it) in the north... I'm not sure if thats an improvement on the traditional Animist beliefs or not...

Not to dis Sumatra too much though. Actually, I've been back in the civilised world for long enough now to formulate an informed opinion on Sumatra rather than an emotion driven one. West and North Sumatra to be precise, as that's all I visited. The more heavily populated North Sumatra is dark and savage. The Bataks were cannibals. Ran into 2 people wandering about with guns, hunting I assume. Nora had a gun in her lounge. I never felt in danger anywhere though, they're not hostile people. Theres just some sort of dark primieval energy underlying the place. Some of it found it's way in and I'd really had it by the end. The Qigong wasn't having much effect at dispelling it either.. except on the top of Sibayak which seemed to be free of that bad vibe. Certainly eating with the hands and crashing through the jungle getting bitten by leeches, ants and mozzies has a certain de-civilising effect on the psyche which took days to clear, along with the tummy bugs! It was like a weight lifted as soon as I got on the ferry.

West Sumatra and the Minakabau people are a completely different kettle of fish however. The mood is light. They sit around in the evening strumming on the guitar, singing folk songs and it's pretty good too. I haven't had a game of chess since leaving there either. The place is a shambles and there's rubbish everywhere but it has its charm. There is still rain forest about and fruit trees everywhere, its like man and the jungle are in harmony. Basically if there's not a rice paddy, habitation or a road there, it's jungle. In the North, so much of the jungle has been cleared and the jungle I did visit felt inhospitable.

Sumatra is definitely an adventure and there is some real cool stuff to see and do. It's also kind of nice being a novelty item that everyone wants to say "hello" to.