Monday, December 9, 2019; Penang, Malaysia

Monday, December 9, 2019; Penang, Malaysia

The ship was approaching the dock as we looked out our balcony.  This time, the ship tied up with it’s starboard side adjacent to the terminal building, but alas, there was no unlocked Wifi signal available from out balcony. 

After grabbing a quick breakfast, we headed to our disembarkation lounge.  We  followed all the rules and still managed to get pretty decent seats on the bus, but the mobility challenged were already seated on the bus well before we arrived.  We ended up with a Chinese Malaysian guide who was easier to understand than the Indian Malaysian guide we had yesterday.  Our bus today was also in much better shape with a PA system that worked and AC that was ample for the job.  Yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, the air conditioner didn’t work until after our lunch, and the PA system was terrible.  It also felt like the bus we had yesterday badly needed some new shock absorbers.  

Our first stop was the Temple of Paradise, the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia.  This was also the most rigorous of our stops which required some uphill hiking from the parking lot to the 7 story Pagoda that is the most characteristic feature of the temple.  Our guide introduced us to some of the basic beliefs of Buddhists and the significance of some of the features of the temple.  There are so many gods in Buddhism that it’s hard to keep track of them all.  The temples tend to be very colorful and elaborately decorated, almost to the point of garishness.  There are many colorful figures with many facial expressions and in many interesting poses.  Some figures are gigantic, and many of the more sacred ones are covered in gold leaf.  This temple has a large turtle pond.  It was thought that releasing a turtle into the pond would bring long life, but the pond is so full of turtles now that a sign prohibits the release of any new turtles into the pond, but for a fee, you can reintroduce turtles that are already in the pond as a form of homage.  

Buddhist temples offer many opportunities to make offerings, whether it be in the form of money, incense sticks, banners or other items that can be purchased on site.  This must be what funds these temples.  

This temple had many worship shrines and a large central worship hall where some sort of ceremony was in progress.  The room was filled with people dressed in black outfits.  The front and sides of the hall were filled with golden Buddhas in various poses behind glass panes. 

Our guide had advised most people to avoid climbing the Pagoda because the stairs are very narrow and can be very congested.  This brought to mind the scene in the movie “In Bruges” where one of the character chides an obese American tourist who was going to climb the clock tower, provoking quite a scene.  Ultimately, that tourist does attempt to go up the clock tower, but apparently dies in the stairwell, obstructing it for the rest of the day.  We are happy to report that we did manage to get up into the Pagoda, at least as far as they would allow- Six levels.  The doorway to the 7th level was locked.  

It was sunny, and the temperature was in the mid 80’s, with 75% humidity, so we did work up a bit of a sweat by the time we had made it back to the air conditioned bus.  

Our second stop was the mansion of a rich Chinese-Malaysian business man who made his fortune during the Tin rush.  It is a museum of Baba-Nyonya culture, which is also known as Straits Chinese culture. The Baba is an ethnic Chinese man who marries a local woman, the Nyonya, who may be of native Malaysian, Burmese, or even Thai lineage.  The Straits Chinese are a very influential and important part of the Malaysian cultural landscape.  This museum showcases a lot of jewelry, some of which is available for sale, as well as art works of many types that were collected by this family.  The house itself is an example of a grand mansion of the era.  

A short drive took us to a Thai Buddhist Temple, which is the location of the fourth largest reclining Buddha in the world.  This temple acts as a sort of Mausoleum because underneath and behind the enormous comfortable looking Buddha are thousands of nooks containing crematory remains in jars with memorial plaques, inscriptions and figures. There are also Golden Buddhas around the periphery of the room representing each of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac and each day of the week.  For a non-Buddhist, it is all fascinating, but hard to figure out.  On the other hand, a Buddhist walking into a Catholic Church would probably feel the same way looking at the Stations of the Cross and the candles at the base of figures of the Virgin Mary and the Crucified Jesus.  By this point in our trip , we must admit to being a bit Cathedral/Mosque/Temple fatigued.  

We recharged our batteries in a nice hotel banquet hall where we had a nice buffet lunch.  It was nice to find a modern western facility since most of the Temples we have visited had squat toilets with no toilet paper or soap.

Our next stop was a refreshing diversion in the form of a huge entomological park with all manner of insects, lizards, spiders and plants.  The most memorable part is the huge central room filled with butterflies fluttering about in abundance.  It is always fun to visit a butterfly house, and a challenge to get a few good pictures of them.  

Our final stop was what can best be characterized as the cruise ship excursion’s mandatory shopping stop, but this one was a legitimately interesting and educational one to a Batik Factory.  Batik is a textile technology that involves applying wax to fabric to create artistic patterns that resist dying.  Wax patterns can be applied by stamping or hand painting, and the colors can also be applied in a vat, or hand painted in multiple steps to create different effects and patterns.  It can be quite labor intensive and can require highly skilled artisans to produce good quality batik.  It certainly gave us a greater appreciation of Batik, and what to look for in terms of quality and artistry. 

Our bus got stuck in heavy traffic as it approached the cruise ship terminal, and literally inched its way the last 2 miles in nearly an hour.  We were an hour late, arriving just a half hour before the all aboard deadline.  Thank goodness for being on a ship’s excursion.  

We decided to use our AAA specialty dining vouchers to eat at the Sabatini’s restaurant and ordered lobster for Janet and steak for Ben so we could have DIY surf and turf.  They actually brought out two lobster tails on Janet’s platter, and Ben’s steak was huge. Ironically, Ben’s steak was more tender than the lobster tails.  Dessert was delicious.  

As we dined, the captain came on the overhead announcing that the ship’s departure was being delayed because 3 guests remained missing and unaccounted for, and that the ship would wait another 20 minutes, which would have been a full hour past the All Aboard deadline, for them to show up.  Then as we were finishing dessert, the Captain came on the speakers again to say as they were casting off the lines, the missing passengers were spotted racing through the terminal, so with 2 of 4 lines already cast off, and the gangways put away, they had to get out an emergency gangway to get those passengers aboard.  Boy, they were very luck to have a Captain willing to delay departure of the other 2497 passengers by a full hour to accommodate them.  It did save them from finding a way to get from Penang to Phuket overnight.  

We just barely made it to the 70’s Name That Tune Trivia, and started playing by ourselves when a couple from New Zealand came in after the first 3 songs and joined us.  Eventually 2 other couples from New Zealand who were with them showed up.  We missed winning by one point.  For some reason, Kaitlyn, who was hosting the Trivia insisted that the “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” song she played was not by Simon and Garfunkel because the playlist she had said it was by someone named “Fred Carter Jr”.  She would not accept Simon and Garfunkel despite there being 100% agreement among all of the audience in the lounge that she was wrong.  She was being a bit arrogant about her infallibility on that one, and only relented to allow a half point for Simon and Garfunkel, and if there were any more complaints, there would be no points.  Well, everyone in the room lost a half point for that one.  Being the only one in the entire lounge that was in her 20’s, maybe she can legitimately claim to not know that song, but really?  Looking him up in Wikipedia revealed that he was a session musician who had worked on “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” among other songs by many other singers as a session musician, but that doesn’t knock Simon and Garfunkel off the top billing for that song.

We opted to call it a night because we had already seen the Branden and James Cello and Tenor singer act in the Theater, and we have to be up at dawn again tomorrow for our Phuket excursion.  We sure do miss not having a sea day or two between ports of call.  Today’s excursion was certainly exhausting.  We clocked over 12,000 steps and nearly 5 miles in the heat and humidity today, so we won’t have any trouble falling asleep tonight.