After wandering around Georgetown on Saturday morning the
whole team met up and took a local bus to Batu Ferringi (Foreigners Beach). It
is quite a lovely spot with quite a few bars and hotels right on the beach.
Here for the first time in a couple of days I was able to sit down, relax with
a cold bear and watch the sun set in the tropics.
While waiting for sunset the a snake charmer turned up
announcing his arrival with the typical sound of a snake charmer. He would, he
said, do a little snake charming and magic show for us for the sum of 30
ringitt (about $10 AU). We did a little whip around and got the money together.
He had two rather large snakes, one a cobra and the other a tiger snake. I
suspect that the snakes were sedated and defanged but as you can see from the
look on the Abbie’s face they were still able to freak people out. A snake is a
snake after all. I think this old codger was better at selling snake oil rather
than snake charming but it is all part of the experience.
Dinner was lovely and a few more beers made the sunset more
enjoyable. One of the sad realities of this place and from what I have heard,
about many other places in South East Asia is the constant haze. You very
rarely see the sun as anything more than a bright area in the sky. The haze is
from the smoke of forest fires burning in Indonesia and Indonesia is not that
far away. The fires are not accidental. The deforestation is an act of
environmental vandalism that the Indonesian government is not capable of
stopping.
For many of the team the night markets at Batu Ferringi were
a treat. Genuine copies, counterfeit items were available in the stalls that lined
about 800 metres of the main road making it almost impossible to walk without
being confronted by the stall holders ready to offer a special price. After a
long few days we returned to RECSAM relaxed, happy and tired.
Sunday
The tribe split up. Some went to indulge in the delights of
a hotel at Batu Ferringi, others hired a taxi and circumnavigated the island of
Penang and I am not sure what the others did. For me, Sunday was another most
enjoyable day that began with a trip to the Botanical Gardens. Shirley, Kellie,
Sanjay and I met up with Ryan, Jacob and Eliana who had headed off earlier. The
plants in the garden are quite amazing but the real show is the monkeys;
hundreds of the little buggers. There used to be a lot more. Some inspired town
planner allowed the Penang gun club to open up a clay target shooting range
right next to the gardens. In the once tranquil gardens the sound of shotguns
can be heard, the sound amplified by the amphitheatre like range that also
makes every shot echo.
I found the monkeys most amusing. One of the big males had
his little clan around him but he appeared to be totally disinterested in them.
He was definitely the top monkey, the smaller ones followed him around. One
monkey seemed like an aide de camp who was occasionally belted if he tried to
get to food before his boss.
The monkeys have learned to intimidate tourists, who, in
spite of the signs warning that feeding the monkeys is prohibited, carry food
in plastic bags that the monkeys have learned to rip open. These audacious
little buggers bare their teeth and run at the tourists who jump and run away
often leaving behind their peanuts, chips and twisties. They tried it on me but
I just bared my teeth and stared back at them. After all I am a bigger monkey.
Another thing that these monkeys have learned to do is to
use tools. One monkey picked up a rock and carried about 10 metres and then
used it to grind up a leaf. It was a deliberate action and one I saw replicated
by several other monkeys. I was amazed to see this little monkey put the leaf
on the ground, put the rock on the top and then grind it vigorously with a back
and forth motion. Obviously there must be some benefit in grinding the leaves
and they have learned to use a rook as a tool.
The monkeys I really liked are scarce and rarely seen so I
was pleasantly surprised and delighted when I came across a pair these rare
animals. They are much larger than the little ones and are far more timid. They
are beautiful. They really are amazing. The first one I saw had ripped out a
chunk of sugar cane and was tearing it to pieces with its teeth. It flew up
into a tree holding the piece of cane and ate it on its own. I am still amazed
that these creatures live in what is really an environment increasingly being
encroached by remorseless urban development. The hilly and mountainous terrain
behind the gardens is obviously their natural sanctuary.
From the gardens we went to Mount Penang. You can see the
smoke haze that obliterates the view. The Malay Peninsular is only a couple of
kilometres away across the straits. You can’t even make out the water. What is
visible from the mountain is the large number of high rise apartment blocks
that are growing larger in number and taller in height each year. The old
kampongs, the traditional Malay villages, are being replaced by these vertical
villages as the price of land escalates.
A group of us made the trip up the
mountain in a 4 wheel drive ute. Shirley managed to find where we could get a ute to take us to the top. Kellie, Ryan, Jacob and Eliana crammed in the
back (I wanted to be there!) and the others crammed inside for a perilous 5km
drive on a one lane road with about 20 hair pin bends.
It appears that this
road is used by people as a walking and cycling track as well so each time we
came around a turn there was the possibility of ploughing into people walking
or cycling. The gradient was amazing. It was probably the steepest road I have
ever been on.
While were at the top of the mountain Kellie decided that she wanted the experience of being wrapped in a giant golden python. Rather her than me!
The journey down was on a railway something akin to the one in
the Blue Mountains. I think this one was steeper, far longer and almost frighteningly
fast. At one point the carriage going down is passed by the one going up. The
track at this point splits in two and the two carriages switch onto the short
side tracks and pass each other at great speed. A great feat of engineering!
We returned to Georgetown in the afternoon and then I set
out on a mission. Penang means FOOD. Our group walked through Little India and
snacked on beautiful samosas (50 sen or about 17 cents) with the sound of
Bollywood music blaring and the smell of incense drifting through the streets.
And if you think you have seen big incense sticks... the ones we saw were
enormous.
Not far from Little India there are a number of Chinese temples and
clan houses and there was some sort of festival occurring . The biggest ones were
almost 6 feet tall and the smoke was almost chokingly dense and with little in
the way of a pleasant smell. There were about six of these arrays of sticks.
Each of the sticks had a dedication placed on it. The only one I could read
(through the smoke) was in memory of a person from the family/clan.
My search for some street hawker food continued and, armed
with my little book and a bad map, I came across New Lane. I was in heaven! Sanjay
and I found sixty or so food stalls lined each side of the street and there was
a huge outdoor eating area.
Each of these stalls had their own specialities,
most only one or two dishes.
My Holy Grail was satay end there they were. Some
marinated, pork and chicken cooked over charcoal. The 12 sticks (and I Sanjay
and I shared them) cost 7 ringitt. For just a little more than $2 Australian
this was served and it tasted and looked great.
Having consumed the satay sticks with the requisite beer we
moved on to the next course, chew chong fun, rolled up steamed noodle sheets
cut into strips and served with a couple of sticky sauces. One was based on
ketchup manis and the other unknown but yum yum! I saw some Chinese people at a
nearby table and asked where they got it from and they most graciously pointed
out the stall. This cost the princely sum of 3 ringitt or less that a dollar.
Next was hor fun noodles with a bit of chicken and pork in a gelatinous broth
thickened with egg white. Very tasty. Another 3 ringitt.
Then we tried the Ikan
bakar or grilled fish. Very boney but very tasty. It cost a little more than the
other meals but it was devoured with another beer.
So the day was almost at an end and I felt amazed at how
much we had managed to cram in in just over 48 hours since we arrived.
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