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My reintroduction to Malaysia on Wednesday 6 December was a welcome one as after flying into Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong, I had a refreshing bandung in one of the cafes at KLIA 2. They put rich chocolate at the bottom of this deliciously pink rose water drink, and it certainly felt like a welcome return to a country I had visited three times before. Due to Malaysia being a Muslim nation, there are no bars at KL airport, which made my extended wait for my flight to Penang all the more frustrating. Passing through immigration at KLIA is usually a torturous process but when transferring from one flight to another, you go through a different system, and it's surprisingly straightforward. Indeed, both times I had no-one queueing in front of me and proceeded in under a minute, and that's with them having to take fingerprints and everything. My flight to Penang was delayed by over two hours again, a situation made worse as they had already let us through into the holding pen area of the gate, meaning the toilets and shops were no longer accessable. In addition to this, no-one was telling us anything, meaning I just had to sit forlornly and play Animal Crossing over the airport's WiFi. This was doubley annoying as I had arranged for Jeffrey, one of the furs in Penang, to pick me up from the airport and I had to relay my progress to him constantly. It turned out he was sat there quite a while and although he didn't seem to mind, I did feel a little bad. This only made my anger at Air Asia's general fuckery even more pronounced.
So I arrived over two hours late into Penang, touching down shortly before 8pm rather than the 6pm I had intended. This was maddening as it curtailed the already rather short amount of time I would be spending in Malaysia's second city. Still, Jeffrey was there to meet me and soon we were on our way to the hotel, which was just on the edge of George Town, the heart of the colonial area. George Town is the state capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so I was very much looking forward to exploring it. I had hoped to have a good look around that evening but due to how late it was getting, alas I had to pass. George Town is on the island part of Penang, and apparently we went over one of the two incredibly long bridges which connects it to the mainland. However, I was in the backseat and thus couldn't see that well out of the window, so I missed it. It was also dark which didn't help. Anyway, once I arrived at the hotel, I went through the checking in formalities and dumped my bags in the room while Jeffrey waited for me in the car park outside. The room was quite large but also minimalist, as was the lobby to be fair, but the staff were friendly and it was rather good value. However, I had no real time to explore as I hadn't yet eaten and Jeffrey had proposed we go out for dinner.
Ten minutes later, I was back in his taxi (for Jeffrey is a licensed taxi driver) and we were heading for one of his favourite restaurants - Terima Kasih. For a Wednesday evening, this was quite lively with a number of people sat at the myriad number of plastic tables scattered in its courtyard. The area had a stage to one end, where there was a lady singing Hokkein songs, a dialect from the southern part of China which is one of the main languages in this part of Malaysia. The food was rather good too - basic but wholesome. I had the bean sprout chicken rice from one of the small concessions along the perimeter of the seating area, while I also grabbed a beer which turned out to be a rather heavy 8% stout, which was the last thing I wanted in 32C heat. Still, it was the only one I hadn't drank before, so I beared with it, although the fact it came in a huge bottle did make it somewhat difficult to down. In the end, I had to leave some as I felt a little conspicuous just sat there after we had both finished eating, even if the atmosphere was rather jovial. The place is quite popular with the local Chinese community and it reminded me of some of the places I had been to in Laos the year before. The lights above the stage contrasted with the darkness of the seating area, creating a nice hue which felt quite homely. Certainly I would have been happy to have stayed had Jeffrey been drinking himself.
It was about 10pm by the time we finished but we didn't quite want the night to end, having started it so late. Jeffrey suggested we go to one of the local beaches, where he told me a modern light exhibit had just been installed called the Penang Avatar Secret Garden. This apparently immitates Pandora from the movie Avatar, but having never seen the film, I am not sure how true that is. It was quite close and he thought it would still be open, so we clambered back into his taxi and made our way there. The exhibit was situated inside the grounds of the Thai Pak Koong Temple, which is situated right next to the sea. When we got out of the car, we could hear the waves lapping at the beach while we also saw a modest temple with some colourful dragon sculptures guarding its entrance. On the beach itself there were stone statues of various animals, interspersed with shubbery and a tunnel-like walkway of ferns. The light show was on the hill behind this, and upon turning to see it, I was hit with a wonderful wall of colour. The entrance may only be a small wooden gate with some purple lights enticing you up some steps, but what's inside is absolutely magical. Trees have been bedecked in lights, with ferns having down, glistening in the sea breeze. There was a small garden with a Chinese chess set, whose heavy stone pieces you moved by guiding them through lit grooves etched into the board itself. There was a huge monument to snakes, which I found somewhat creepy, but the little wooden black snake with the bejeweled red eyes was quite cute. However, the highlight was definitely the fields of tulips you saw as you descended down the pathway around the back of the exhibit. The strength of the light - in white, blue, yellow, red and green - was so intense that it was hard not to be overawed by its beauty and even though there were a fair few fellow visitors, their presence melted away in such magic. Adding to this scene, looking up from the flowers we could see the ferns and the trees perched upon the hill from which we came, providing a fantasy backdrop which was stunning against the dark night sky. There were a number of Buddhist statues around here too, which I believe tied everything together. Upon leaving the Garden, we returned to the beach, where the darkness of the sea in the clouded moonlight was only more dramatic. There was a little brightly lit observation deck up which we climbed for a higher vantage, while we also got to see some of the high rises which make up modern George Town. It was certainly a great thing to see and as we were driving back to the hotel, with the time now being well past 11pm, I felt glad that at least we got to see something that evening despite my flight having been delayed. There was one other thing we did though - we dropped in on Tesco (yes, Malaysia does have branches of our Tesco) to try and go to a DIY store in the same complex called Mr DIY. Their logo is an anthropomorphic hammer so I was well-suited, and I needed some glue to stick the sole back to my footpaw after it had fallen off in the ball pool in Hong Kong. Alas it was too late and the shop was closed, necessitating a trip on the Friday morning before the con instead.
There was a 7-Eleven right next to my hotel and I had picked up some delightful cheesey Wotsit type things before I went to bed. They were incredibly moreish with a real rich milky flavour, so much so that I couldn't get enough of them. I was eating them the next morning, which proved to be quite an inadequate breakfast as the Thursday (7 December) was the only full day I had in Penang. Jeffrey was slightly delayed but did pick me up from the hotel only twenty minutes later than the time we had arranged, and soon we were heading into the suburbs to check out Kek Lok Si Temple. The view from the Temple back towards the heart of George Town was quite stunning, as was the architecture in the Temple itself. Constructed in a number of styles, specifically Chinese, Burmese and Thai, the plot covers over twelve hectares and so there was quite a lot to see, particularly when noted that it's the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. Built from 1890 to 1930, it's a place of pilgrimage for many Buddhists. The main sight is the Pagoda of Rama VI (Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas) with 10,000 alabaster and bronze statues of Buddha. It is built in the three aforementioned architecutral styles, making it quite a unique structure, particularly as it's perched on one side of the hill with its bright gold roof. The real highlight is right at the top though - the Statue of Guanyin, which was inaugurated in 2002. One of the best things about the temple is its labrynthine walkways meaning you have to walk all the way through it to get to the top. This means you get to experience a range of different things, including statues, varying Buddhist temples and fantastic architecture. It definitely feels like you are immersing yourself in the culture and getting lost in it all, which makes the final revelation of the Statue of Guanyin even more magical. To get there, you also have to take a small funicular up a steep incline, the entrance of which is through the conveniently placed giftshop. The little cab in which we rode was a cross between a lift and a railway carriage, and it was a triumph of engineering just to be able to get it up there. Once at the top, the views afforded to us were quite magnificent, and delightfully for my furry soul, there were also twelve carved statues, one for each sign of the Chinese zodiac. I quickly found the dog, although I must admit that I found the tiger the best. There were also a few smaller scupltures too which held up benches, which made them even more inviting to sit on. Up here, there was a small pagoda too over a small lake containing a cascading waterfall, which was also quite beautiful. There was also a car park up here, which slightly devalued the spiritual trek through which we had gone to get up here. Still, it was definitely worth doing it again and as we retraced our steps, we took our time, enjoying the ambience of this holy place.
I hadn't had any breakfast so on the way back towards Georgetown, we stopped off at a cafe in the little town at the base of the Temple. This was a place Jeffrey knew well, and although we initially struggled to find a car parking space, we did manage to park up outside one of the establishments he recommended. As he was locking his car, I crossed the road to check out a war memorial we had seen on our way up to the Temple, which was effectively a Malaysian soldier stood next to a jeep which was parked at an elevation. The licence plate said 1939 so I assumed this related to the Japanese invasion of the Malaysian peninsula. The text and the white obelisk in the background were all written in Chinese, so it was difficult to ascertain accurately what this was about. Still, this wasn't a time for history but a time for food, so I headed back to the restaurant whose claim to fame was its white coffee from a place called Coffee Tree. The restaurant was more a utilitarian courtyard with some hawkers around the periphery, and soon we had ordered some spicy soup and noodles and beansprouts, which made for a hearty breakfast. I also got some hot chocolate type thing, which may have been the white coffee I can't remember. Either way, it was definitely one of the best meals of my trip so far and an excellent place to stop. It was also served to us incredibly quickly, meaning we could be back on the road again swiftly. The plan was to go to the heart of Georgetown, but on the way we stopped off at my hotel as we were driving past it. I needed a dump as well as my phone cable, as all of the photographs were draining my battery. Fortunately, Jeffrey was happy to oblige.
As you would expect, downtown Georgetown is quite British. After jumping out of the car, allowing Jeffrey to find a parking spot, the first thing I saw was a memorial 'To Our Glorious Dead' commemorating those who lost their lives in the First World War. Following on from this, there was a park whose gates had a crest which wouldn't look out of place in any English cricket club. And across from this there was the grand Town Hall and City Hall, the former pastel orange building, which was built in the 1880s, not looking out of place in any colonial city, while the sheer white ornate structure of the ministry wouldn't look out of place as a Scottish country hotel had it not been for its colour. This latter building was constructed in 1903, it was built to alleviate the need for office space at the adjacent town hall and named so once Penang got city status in 1957. Combining Edwardian Baroque and Palladian architectural styles, today it is the seat of the Penang Island City Council. The park, which was the historic parade ground, had perfectly manicured verdent lawns while further exploration of the area highlighted a Chinese Chamber of Commerce Building that looked like Victorian industrial warehouses and something which I think is a law school which again had an English public school feel about it. At the centre was the Jubilee Clock Tower, which was built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. At 60 feet tall, it's a foot tall for each year of her reign. Interestingly, it also leans slightly due to bombing from the Second World War. It's whitewashed and topped by a Moorish dome, with four tiers working their way up to the top. The bottom one is octagonal while the ones above it are more elaborate, containing windows before you get to a clock face on each of the four sides. Roman pillars finish off the top tier.
Behind the Clock Tower there sits Fort Cornwallis, which sits right on the edge of the island, overlooking the sea and peninsula Malaysia beyond. A unique star shaped structure, it was constructed by the British East India Company in the eighteenth century with the initial intention of protecting Penang from pirates. Indeed it was in 1786 that Sir Francis Light (there's a statue of him in the fortress) built his original nibong palmwood stockade and marked the point where the British landed in Penang. It was then rebuilt out of brick and significantly enlarged from 1803 through 1810, with some of the materials coming from the Malacca fort, which was being demolished. There were a fair number of cannon pointing out to sea, with many of them coming from the Dutch. The most famous here is the Sri Rambai Cannon, which was forged in 1613. It was seized by the British in 1871 and fell into the ocean, appearing from the sea on its own accord in 1880. Local folklore suggests that women who are infertile could conceive if they stick flowers in its barrel, which is why we saw a number of people doing this. Meanwhile, all we did was walk along the thick ballistrades and battlement walls, talking about anything and everything. It was early afternoon by now so incredibly hot, but it was good just exploring. Most of the inside of the fort is quite open, although there are a few structures including a chapel and a storage area for munitions and gunpowder, the latter of which being built in 1814. At one end of the fortress there sits a lighthouse, the second oldest in Malaysia, a white metal tower 21m tall and a visibility distance of sixteen nautical miles. Next to the lighthouse there stands a structure resembling a ship's sail which I had no real clue as to why it was there, but perhaps it had something to do with the merchants seahouses clustered across the road from the fort.
The day was becoming quite hot by this point, so we dived back into the car and decided to go to the heart of the present day city. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a pretty array of merchant shops, concrete in construction but painted, and with wooden shutters on the windows. It definitely had a nineteenth century colonial feel about it and after parking our car in the car park of a solicitors (the security guard on duty told us it was fine and we had no reason to doubt him), we decided to explore. Interestingly, there was quite a cat theme to this area, with a fair number of modern art sculptures and paintings dedicated to felines. A couple of shops sold nothing but cat-realted paraphenalia while fantastically there was also a little shop dedicated to owl products. Indeed, many of the shops had an animal-based theme for some reason, but it was rather tastefully done with numerous handicrafts and exteriors in keeping with the colonial style. There were also a number of other non-feline related sculptures, which were great works of art of themselves, while some of the painted shopfronts on Cannon Street in particular were exquisite. Near here was the fantastically named Yap Temple, serving the southern Chinese community which came here through a huge diaspora in the nineteenth century. Indeed, there was quite a high Hokkein presence throughout the city, with this temple in particular having been completed quite late, in 1924. Some of the carvings and stonemasonary in the temple was breathtakingly intricate and it was a pleasure touring around the small complex.
Our next stop was further down the road at the impressively white Kapitan Keling Mosque. Built by the East India troops in the late eighteenth century, Kapitan Keling applied for a grant to expand the premises as the city's Muslim population grew. The East India Company granted eighteen acres of land in 1801 and builders and material from India was imported to built the mosque. Public roads and houses reduced the area of the grounds to eight acres by 1903 and in 1916, the present structure was built with its grey dome sitting atop a rather modern design. The traditional Islamic arches in the doors are still there, but it looks more like a luxury hotel than a religious building. We wanted to go and have a look around, but alas it was midday prayers so we were prohibited from entering. However, this didn't stop us from coming back later, and we had a stroll around the modest grounds, calling in at a small visitor centre. There, there was a rather nice lady and she took us into the main mosque itself, introducing us to a bearded chappie, who showed us around. We weren't allowed inside the mosque itself but as it was open plan, we didn't really need to enter as we could see everything anyway. On the wall there hung a clock detailing the five prayer times for the day, and after he had walked us around the periphery of the complex, he stopped and told us a lot about the Islamic faith. One of the highlights for us was the singing of the opening prayer, which resonated around the mosque, adding to its power. It was very evocative and he could project his voice so well, making this a real privilege. He also translated the Arabic for us and he was very courteous in answering our questions. Granted, there was a proselytizing aspect to all this - once the tour was over he instructed us to go back to the visitor centre where I got a free water and a huge tome explaining the Islamic religion - but to have such an intimate experience in such a wonderful place did feel like a blessing and I was very greatful.
Away from the Islamic faith, Buddhism was also quite prevailent in the city, particularly through the huge number of Chinese temples. Many were based on ancestral homes from southern China and we visited one of them as we waited for the Islamic prayers to finish. The Han Jiang Ancestral Temple was built in the mid-nineteenth century and has since been restored by the Teochew community of Penang. It once served as a school and had a number of unwelcome additions grafted to it, but the restoration has reverted it back to its original state, with the interior painting being particularly vibrant. Modern lighting and fibre optics only enhanced this, with the red and gold combination being quite striking. I spent quite a while in this temple as there were so many little things to see, particularly on the roofs, which had inate wooden carvings almost everywhere you looked. Fortunately, there were signs on hand to highlight what they all meant, which certainly added a lot of important context to this wonderful place. Interestingly, the initial courtyard was a rather shabby concrete experience, with the temple being set back, but once got into the Middle Hall, its true beauty presented itself.
Our next stop was the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu Temple in George Town. Built in 1833 and extensively renovated a century later, sadly this building was closed, meaning we didn't get the opportunity to look around. However, we did get to see the colourful entrance, with Ganesh on one side, while the ceramic sculptures making up the tower above the main entrance were so beautifully coloured as if to be breathtaking. Two rather derpy looking lions were sat outside guarding, but these were not as derpy as the leonine plush on the back seat of someone's car. Continuing the Indian theme, we picked up some dried Bombay mix and tasty pakora from a street salesman as we walked around. This was the Indian part of the city, with all the sights and smells of the sub-continent. There were quite a few vendors at the side of the road selling a range of produce, including quite a few which were familiar to me, in particular the unctuously sweet desserts. The curried pakora were brilliantly succulent and as we got lost in the streets of the old city, we got to see a range of other murals including one of Bruce Lee randomly. The child halfway up a wooden door, underneath which there was a parked motorbike making him look like he was riding it, was perhaps my favourite although the young boy walking the dragon was entertaining too. On a contemporary theme, there was even one of the Minions as those little feckers get everywhere. The other interesting thing we saw here was a red shrine box, in which people put insense and other small items to commemorate their loved ones. These are quite a big thing here.
The Cheah Kongsi was our next stop, with the time now approaching 3pm.
On the Friday morning (8 December), we tried to squeeze in a quick visit to the KOMTAR Tower in the centre of George Town. Constructed in 1974 and completed twelve years later, I had been told the views of George Town and across the water to peninsula Malaysia were definitely worth the admission and as we had a little bit of time before our 1:30pm train, we thought we would take a look. First though, we spent a fair bit of time bouncing between mall to mall looking for a) a Mr DIY that was open so I could pick up my shoe glue and b) a toilet which had toilet paper. Alas, the shops in Malaysia all seem to open late and we would have to wait until 11am to pick up the glue I needed. Meanwhile, we tried the toilets in four separate malls looking for one with some paper, until we eventually found one with a communal dispenser near the sinks which functioned well enough. This was quite a relief but after that palaver, it really wasn't the time for my bowels to lock solid. Most frustrating.
After this, we made our way through a number of shopping centres, all of varying quality from the Middlesbrough rundown bric-a-brac one to one which specialised in high end electronics (and which had an anime museum in the basement). We were on our way to the base of the KOMTAR Tower, where we would climb up to the 68th floor viewing platform. Unsurprisingly, it was rather expensive and leading up to the ticket counter involved navigating the gamut of restaurants and a few museums, including a dinosaur one that a party of schoolchildren were visiting. They were quite loud so it was good that we avoided them, as I breathed a sigh of relief as they headed in the opposite direction to where we were going. As is customary at these things, we were stopped by a photographer standing in front of a green screen just before the lifts, who told us we could get our photographs at the top for a nominal fee. I never really like buying these things but I did get one in the end, feeling a bit bad at the waste of resources entailed in printing the damn things out. For around £10 a pop, I was only getting one though.
The journey up the tower was rather swift, with the ascent fragmenting on the 65th floor, on which we had to board a second lift. Soon, though, we were on the roof terrace, where there was a rather overpriced restaurant which made half of the area interior. The other half was exterior and afforded wonderful views of many of the sights we had seen, including Fort Cornwallis, the Old Town and the Kek Lok Si Temple. It was good getting a perspective on the city, even if the wind made it a little scary. Adding to this sense of fear was the Rainbow Skywalk, the highest glass skywalk in Malaysia, which is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway sits at an elevation of nearly 250m above ground. It's one of those things that scares the hell out of you if you have vertigo as you can see the ground directly beneath your feet. The strong winds certainly weren't helping either. After pottering around for ten minutes, I realised that as we were going to KL, I actually had my luggage with me. I had left the bulk of it in the car but my hand luggage was on my person, and this contained my fursuit head. This suggested I could do some fursuit photos, a rare opportunity, although with the wind and the security guards I did have reservations. However, the wind soon died down and as it was only us and a family with a small girl up there, I was pretty sure that if it was going to be an issue, the guards would stop us. After all, we were wearing the blue protective slip on shoes they had given us to walk on the glass sky walkway (the rest of the terrace was wood) and we were adhering to all safety requirements so what would be the problem? In the end, the two men and one lady were very receptive to the fursuit head, and actually found it quite enjoyable, even when I was awkwardly carrying it around from the place they told me I could store my luggage to the platform edge or the walkway to get my shots. Alas as I didn't have the suit with me, we could only get headshots but I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
Once we had finished taking our glamour shots and I had purchased my one photo, we headed back down the tower and retraced our steps, heading back to the car. With time pushing on, Jeffrey drove back to his family home, where I got to meet his mother, father and grandmother for a brief period of time. They were really nice and were fascinated by my adventures, although the same could not be said for Jeffrey's protective yappy type dog, who actually bit me on the back of the foot. I had never been bitten by a dog before so it was quite a shock, although I was subsequently told this was common behaviour for her. Anyway, we weren't here for too long as we had our train to catch, with the station being in Butterworth on the mainland. This meant we needed to catch a ferry off the island, so Jeffrey's dad kindly drove us to the terminal. Going off the island is free, it's only coming onto it that you have to pay, so there was no need for a ticket - we could largely walk up the gantry and into the holding pen waiting room where we were sat for about a quarter of an hour. It was a little utilitarian, all steel and industrial paint, but the anticipation of my first Malaysian train trip kept me going and the place wasn't unpleasant. And soon we were on the ferry anyway, with the cars being loaded beneath us and us taking the top deck passenger route. We found a seat pretty quickly and waited to depart, with me spying another fursuit photo opportunity. As the journey was only about fifteen minutes, I didn't have time to don the full suit, which of course was now with me as we had left Jeffrey's car at his house when his Dad had picked us up, but at least I could take some more head shots. The people on the deck were most entertained by this, particularly the children, and I kind of wished that I had had time to put the full suit on. Still, we got some good shots and I got to look out front as the mainland came closer and closer to us. Once the ship started moving, I went down the steep stairs to the lower deck, which was almost touching the water. I was told that you could see dolphins and jellyfish, but alas what I mostly saw was plastic bags. We did run over a number of helpless orange jellyfish though, which you could see quite clearly when you were at the water's edge, so that was something.
As I was wearing my fursuit head, a Russian gentleman approached us, asking what it was about. We told him about furry and he told us about his five-week trip around SE Asia, which had started as a two-week trip but he just felt like extending it. He had been to Thailand and was now touring Malaysia. He seemed very intrigued with the fandom, and wanted my Twitter details, which I gave to him. I also told him about the fur scene in his homeland, which also interested him. We spoke to him for most of the second half of the journey and as we disembarked, only saying goodbye as we boarded separate buses. These were going to take us to the bus station, which was adjacent to the railway station, and was a route we could no longer walk as they had plonked a giant mall in between the ferry terminal and where we needed to be. It was past 1pm and I was getting worried that we would miss our train, particularly as the traffic signals on our route took ages to change, but we did just make it in time and joined the rather large queue at the ticket office waiting to board our train.
So I arrived over two hours late into Penang, touching down shortly before 8pm rather than the 6pm I had intended. This was maddening as it curtailed the already rather short amount of time I would be spending in Malaysia's second city. Still, Jeffrey was there to meet me and soon we were on our way to the hotel, which was just on the edge of George Town, the heart of the colonial area. George Town is the state capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so I was very much looking forward to exploring it. I had hoped to have a good look around that evening but due to how late it was getting, alas I had to pass. George Town is on the island part of Penang, and apparently we went over one of the two incredibly long bridges which connects it to the mainland. However, I was in the backseat and thus couldn't see that well out of the window, so I missed it. It was also dark which didn't help. Anyway, once I arrived at the hotel, I went through the checking in formalities and dumped my bags in the room while Jeffrey waited for me in the car park outside. The room was quite large but also minimalist, as was the lobby to be fair, but the staff were friendly and it was rather good value. However, I had no real time to explore as I hadn't yet eaten and Jeffrey had proposed we go out for dinner.
Ten minutes later, I was back in his taxi (for Jeffrey is a licensed taxi driver) and we were heading for one of his favourite restaurants - Terima Kasih. For a Wednesday evening, this was quite lively with a number of people sat at the myriad number of plastic tables scattered in its courtyard. The area had a stage to one end, where there was a lady singing Hokkein songs, a dialect from the southern part of China which is one of the main languages in this part of Malaysia. The food was rather good too - basic but wholesome. I had the bean sprout chicken rice from one of the small concessions along the perimeter of the seating area, while I also grabbed a beer which turned out to be a rather heavy 8% stout, which was the last thing I wanted in 32C heat. Still, it was the only one I hadn't drank before, so I beared with it, although the fact it came in a huge bottle did make it somewhat difficult to down. In the end, I had to leave some as I felt a little conspicuous just sat there after we had both finished eating, even if the atmosphere was rather jovial. The place is quite popular with the local Chinese community and it reminded me of some of the places I had been to in Laos the year before. The lights above the stage contrasted with the darkness of the seating area, creating a nice hue which felt quite homely. Certainly I would have been happy to have stayed had Jeffrey been drinking himself.
It was about 10pm by the time we finished but we didn't quite want the night to end, having started it so late. Jeffrey suggested we go to one of the local beaches, where he told me a modern light exhibit had just been installed called the Penang Avatar Secret Garden. This apparently immitates Pandora from the movie Avatar, but having never seen the film, I am not sure how true that is. It was quite close and he thought it would still be open, so we clambered back into his taxi and made our way there. The exhibit was situated inside the grounds of the Thai Pak Koong Temple, which is situated right next to the sea. When we got out of the car, we could hear the waves lapping at the beach while we also saw a modest temple with some colourful dragon sculptures guarding its entrance. On the beach itself there were stone statues of various animals, interspersed with shubbery and a tunnel-like walkway of ferns. The light show was on the hill behind this, and upon turning to see it, I was hit with a wonderful wall of colour. The entrance may only be a small wooden gate with some purple lights enticing you up some steps, but what's inside is absolutely magical. Trees have been bedecked in lights, with ferns having down, glistening in the sea breeze. There was a small garden with a Chinese chess set, whose heavy stone pieces you moved by guiding them through lit grooves etched into the board itself. There was a huge monument to snakes, which I found somewhat creepy, but the little wooden black snake with the bejeweled red eyes was quite cute. However, the highlight was definitely the fields of tulips you saw as you descended down the pathway around the back of the exhibit. The strength of the light - in white, blue, yellow, red and green - was so intense that it was hard not to be overawed by its beauty and even though there were a fair few fellow visitors, their presence melted away in such magic. Adding to this scene, looking up from the flowers we could see the ferns and the trees perched upon the hill from which we came, providing a fantasy backdrop which was stunning against the dark night sky. There were a number of Buddhist statues around here too, which I believe tied everything together. Upon leaving the Garden, we returned to the beach, where the darkness of the sea in the clouded moonlight was only more dramatic. There was a little brightly lit observation deck up which we climbed for a higher vantage, while we also got to see some of the high rises which make up modern George Town. It was certainly a great thing to see and as we were driving back to the hotel, with the time now being well past 11pm, I felt glad that at least we got to see something that evening despite my flight having been delayed. There was one other thing we did though - we dropped in on Tesco (yes, Malaysia does have branches of our Tesco) to try and go to a DIY store in the same complex called Mr DIY. Their logo is an anthropomorphic hammer so I was well-suited, and I needed some glue to stick the sole back to my footpaw after it had fallen off in the ball pool in Hong Kong. Alas it was too late and the shop was closed, necessitating a trip on the Friday morning before the con instead.
There was a 7-Eleven right next to my hotel and I had picked up some delightful cheesey Wotsit type things before I went to bed. They were incredibly moreish with a real rich milky flavour, so much so that I couldn't get enough of them. I was eating them the next morning, which proved to be quite an inadequate breakfast as the Thursday (7 December) was the only full day I had in Penang. Jeffrey was slightly delayed but did pick me up from the hotel only twenty minutes later than the time we had arranged, and soon we were heading into the suburbs to check out Kek Lok Si Temple. The view from the Temple back towards the heart of George Town was quite stunning, as was the architecture in the Temple itself. Constructed in a number of styles, specifically Chinese, Burmese and Thai, the plot covers over twelve hectares and so there was quite a lot to see, particularly when noted that it's the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. Built from 1890 to 1930, it's a place of pilgrimage for many Buddhists. The main sight is the Pagoda of Rama VI (Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas) with 10,000 alabaster and bronze statues of Buddha. It is built in the three aforementioned architecutral styles, making it quite a unique structure, particularly as it's perched on one side of the hill with its bright gold roof. The real highlight is right at the top though - the Statue of Guanyin, which was inaugurated in 2002. One of the best things about the temple is its labrynthine walkways meaning you have to walk all the way through it to get to the top. This means you get to experience a range of different things, including statues, varying Buddhist temples and fantastic architecture. It definitely feels like you are immersing yourself in the culture and getting lost in it all, which makes the final revelation of the Statue of Guanyin even more magical. To get there, you also have to take a small funicular up a steep incline, the entrance of which is through the conveniently placed giftshop. The little cab in which we rode was a cross between a lift and a railway carriage, and it was a triumph of engineering just to be able to get it up there. Once at the top, the views afforded to us were quite magnificent, and delightfully for my furry soul, there were also twelve carved statues, one for each sign of the Chinese zodiac. I quickly found the dog, although I must admit that I found the tiger the best. There were also a few smaller scupltures too which held up benches, which made them even more inviting to sit on. Up here, there was a small pagoda too over a small lake containing a cascading waterfall, which was also quite beautiful. There was also a car park up here, which slightly devalued the spiritual trek through which we had gone to get up here. Still, it was definitely worth doing it again and as we retraced our steps, we took our time, enjoying the ambience of this holy place.
I hadn't had any breakfast so on the way back towards Georgetown, we stopped off at a cafe in the little town at the base of the Temple. This was a place Jeffrey knew well, and although we initially struggled to find a car parking space, we did manage to park up outside one of the establishments he recommended. As he was locking his car, I crossed the road to check out a war memorial we had seen on our way up to the Temple, which was effectively a Malaysian soldier stood next to a jeep which was parked at an elevation. The licence plate said 1939 so I assumed this related to the Japanese invasion of the Malaysian peninsula. The text and the white obelisk in the background were all written in Chinese, so it was difficult to ascertain accurately what this was about. Still, this wasn't a time for history but a time for food, so I headed back to the restaurant whose claim to fame was its white coffee from a place called Coffee Tree. The restaurant was more a utilitarian courtyard with some hawkers around the periphery, and soon we had ordered some spicy soup and noodles and beansprouts, which made for a hearty breakfast. I also got some hot chocolate type thing, which may have been the white coffee I can't remember. Either way, it was definitely one of the best meals of my trip so far and an excellent place to stop. It was also served to us incredibly quickly, meaning we could be back on the road again swiftly. The plan was to go to the heart of Georgetown, but on the way we stopped off at my hotel as we were driving past it. I needed a dump as well as my phone cable, as all of the photographs were draining my battery. Fortunately, Jeffrey was happy to oblige.
As you would expect, downtown Georgetown is quite British. After jumping out of the car, allowing Jeffrey to find a parking spot, the first thing I saw was a memorial 'To Our Glorious Dead' commemorating those who lost their lives in the First World War. Following on from this, there was a park whose gates had a crest which wouldn't look out of place in any English cricket club. And across from this there was the grand Town Hall and City Hall, the former pastel orange building, which was built in the 1880s, not looking out of place in any colonial city, while the sheer white ornate structure of the ministry wouldn't look out of place as a Scottish country hotel had it not been for its colour. This latter building was constructed in 1903, it was built to alleviate the need for office space at the adjacent town hall and named so once Penang got city status in 1957. Combining Edwardian Baroque and Palladian architectural styles, today it is the seat of the Penang Island City Council. The park, which was the historic parade ground, had perfectly manicured verdent lawns while further exploration of the area highlighted a Chinese Chamber of Commerce Building that looked like Victorian industrial warehouses and something which I think is a law school which again had an English public school feel about it. At the centre was the Jubilee Clock Tower, which was built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. At 60 feet tall, it's a foot tall for each year of her reign. Interestingly, it also leans slightly due to bombing from the Second World War. It's whitewashed and topped by a Moorish dome, with four tiers working their way up to the top. The bottom one is octagonal while the ones above it are more elaborate, containing windows before you get to a clock face on each of the four sides. Roman pillars finish off the top tier.
Behind the Clock Tower there sits Fort Cornwallis, which sits right on the edge of the island, overlooking the sea and peninsula Malaysia beyond. A unique star shaped structure, it was constructed by the British East India Company in the eighteenth century with the initial intention of protecting Penang from pirates. Indeed it was in 1786 that Sir Francis Light (there's a statue of him in the fortress) built his original nibong palmwood stockade and marked the point where the British landed in Penang. It was then rebuilt out of brick and significantly enlarged from 1803 through 1810, with some of the materials coming from the Malacca fort, which was being demolished. There were a fair number of cannon pointing out to sea, with many of them coming from the Dutch. The most famous here is the Sri Rambai Cannon, which was forged in 1613. It was seized by the British in 1871 and fell into the ocean, appearing from the sea on its own accord in 1880. Local folklore suggests that women who are infertile could conceive if they stick flowers in its barrel, which is why we saw a number of people doing this. Meanwhile, all we did was walk along the thick ballistrades and battlement walls, talking about anything and everything. It was early afternoon by now so incredibly hot, but it was good just exploring. Most of the inside of the fort is quite open, although there are a few structures including a chapel and a storage area for munitions and gunpowder, the latter of which being built in 1814. At one end of the fortress there sits a lighthouse, the second oldest in Malaysia, a white metal tower 21m tall and a visibility distance of sixteen nautical miles. Next to the lighthouse there stands a structure resembling a ship's sail which I had no real clue as to why it was there, but perhaps it had something to do with the merchants seahouses clustered across the road from the fort.
The day was becoming quite hot by this point, so we dived back into the car and decided to go to the heart of the present day city. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a pretty array of merchant shops, concrete in construction but painted, and with wooden shutters on the windows. It definitely had a nineteenth century colonial feel about it and after parking our car in the car park of a solicitors (the security guard on duty told us it was fine and we had no reason to doubt him), we decided to explore. Interestingly, there was quite a cat theme to this area, with a fair number of modern art sculptures and paintings dedicated to felines. A couple of shops sold nothing but cat-realted paraphenalia while fantastically there was also a little shop dedicated to owl products. Indeed, many of the shops had an animal-based theme for some reason, but it was rather tastefully done with numerous handicrafts and exteriors in keeping with the colonial style. There were also a number of other non-feline related sculptures, which were great works of art of themselves, while some of the painted shopfronts on Cannon Street in particular were exquisite. Near here was the fantastically named Yap Temple, serving the southern Chinese community which came here through a huge diaspora in the nineteenth century. Indeed, there was quite a high Hokkein presence throughout the city, with this temple in particular having been completed quite late, in 1924. Some of the carvings and stonemasonary in the temple was breathtakingly intricate and it was a pleasure touring around the small complex.
Our next stop was further down the road at the impressively white Kapitan Keling Mosque. Built by the East India troops in the late eighteenth century, Kapitan Keling applied for a grant to expand the premises as the city's Muslim population grew. The East India Company granted eighteen acres of land in 1801 and builders and material from India was imported to built the mosque. Public roads and houses reduced the area of the grounds to eight acres by 1903 and in 1916, the present structure was built with its grey dome sitting atop a rather modern design. The traditional Islamic arches in the doors are still there, but it looks more like a luxury hotel than a religious building. We wanted to go and have a look around, but alas it was midday prayers so we were prohibited from entering. However, this didn't stop us from coming back later, and we had a stroll around the modest grounds, calling in at a small visitor centre. There, there was a rather nice lady and she took us into the main mosque itself, introducing us to a bearded chappie, who showed us around. We weren't allowed inside the mosque itself but as it was open plan, we didn't really need to enter as we could see everything anyway. On the wall there hung a clock detailing the five prayer times for the day, and after he had walked us around the periphery of the complex, he stopped and told us a lot about the Islamic faith. One of the highlights for us was the singing of the opening prayer, which resonated around the mosque, adding to its power. It was very evocative and he could project his voice so well, making this a real privilege. He also translated the Arabic for us and he was very courteous in answering our questions. Granted, there was a proselytizing aspect to all this - once the tour was over he instructed us to go back to the visitor centre where I got a free water and a huge tome explaining the Islamic religion - but to have such an intimate experience in such a wonderful place did feel like a blessing and I was very greatful.
Away from the Islamic faith, Buddhism was also quite prevailent in the city, particularly through the huge number of Chinese temples. Many were based on ancestral homes from southern China and we visited one of them as we waited for the Islamic prayers to finish. The Han Jiang Ancestral Temple was built in the mid-nineteenth century and has since been restored by the Teochew community of Penang. It once served as a school and had a number of unwelcome additions grafted to it, but the restoration has reverted it back to its original state, with the interior painting being particularly vibrant. Modern lighting and fibre optics only enhanced this, with the red and gold combination being quite striking. I spent quite a while in this temple as there were so many little things to see, particularly on the roofs, which had inate wooden carvings almost everywhere you looked. Fortunately, there were signs on hand to highlight what they all meant, which certainly added a lot of important context to this wonderful place. Interestingly, the initial courtyard was a rather shabby concrete experience, with the temple being set back, but once got into the Middle Hall, its true beauty presented itself.
Our next stop was the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu Temple in George Town. Built in 1833 and extensively renovated a century later, sadly this building was closed, meaning we didn't get the opportunity to look around. However, we did get to see the colourful entrance, with Ganesh on one side, while the ceramic sculptures making up the tower above the main entrance were so beautifully coloured as if to be breathtaking. Two rather derpy looking lions were sat outside guarding, but these were not as derpy as the leonine plush on the back seat of someone's car. Continuing the Indian theme, we picked up some dried Bombay mix and tasty pakora from a street salesman as we walked around. This was the Indian part of the city, with all the sights and smells of the sub-continent. There were quite a few vendors at the side of the road selling a range of produce, including quite a few which were familiar to me, in particular the unctuously sweet desserts. The curried pakora were brilliantly succulent and as we got lost in the streets of the old city, we got to see a range of other murals including one of Bruce Lee randomly. The child halfway up a wooden door, underneath which there was a parked motorbike making him look like he was riding it, was perhaps my favourite although the young boy walking the dragon was entertaining too. On a contemporary theme, there was even one of the Minions as those little feckers get everywhere. The other interesting thing we saw here was a red shrine box, in which people put insense and other small items to commemorate their loved ones. These are quite a big thing here.
The Cheah Kongsi was our next stop, with the time now approaching 3pm.
On the Friday morning (8 December), we tried to squeeze in a quick visit to the KOMTAR Tower in the centre of George Town. Constructed in 1974 and completed twelve years later, I had been told the views of George Town and across the water to peninsula Malaysia were definitely worth the admission and as we had a little bit of time before our 1:30pm train, we thought we would take a look. First though, we spent a fair bit of time bouncing between mall to mall looking for a) a Mr DIY that was open so I could pick up my shoe glue and b) a toilet which had toilet paper. Alas, the shops in Malaysia all seem to open late and we would have to wait until 11am to pick up the glue I needed. Meanwhile, we tried the toilets in four separate malls looking for one with some paper, until we eventually found one with a communal dispenser near the sinks which functioned well enough. This was quite a relief but after that palaver, it really wasn't the time for my bowels to lock solid. Most frustrating.
After this, we made our way through a number of shopping centres, all of varying quality from the Middlesbrough rundown bric-a-brac one to one which specialised in high end electronics (and which had an anime museum in the basement). We were on our way to the base of the KOMTAR Tower, where we would climb up to the 68th floor viewing platform. Unsurprisingly, it was rather expensive and leading up to the ticket counter involved navigating the gamut of restaurants and a few museums, including a dinosaur one that a party of schoolchildren were visiting. They were quite loud so it was good that we avoided them, as I breathed a sigh of relief as they headed in the opposite direction to where we were going. As is customary at these things, we were stopped by a photographer standing in front of a green screen just before the lifts, who told us we could get our photographs at the top for a nominal fee. I never really like buying these things but I did get one in the end, feeling a bit bad at the waste of resources entailed in printing the damn things out. For around £10 a pop, I was only getting one though.
The journey up the tower was rather swift, with the ascent fragmenting on the 65th floor, on which we had to board a second lift. Soon, though, we were on the roof terrace, where there was a rather overpriced restaurant which made half of the area interior. The other half was exterior and afforded wonderful views of many of the sights we had seen, including Fort Cornwallis, the Old Town and the Kek Lok Si Temple. It was good getting a perspective on the city, even if the wind made it a little scary. Adding to this sense of fear was the Rainbow Skywalk, the highest glass skywalk in Malaysia, which is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway sits at an elevation of nearly 250m above ground. It's one of those things that scares the hell out of you if you have vertigo as you can see the ground directly beneath your feet. The strong winds certainly weren't helping either. After pottering around for ten minutes, I realised that as we were going to KL, I actually had my luggage with me. I had left the bulk of it in the car but my hand luggage was on my person, and this contained my fursuit head. This suggested I could do some fursuit photos, a rare opportunity, although with the wind and the security guards I did have reservations. However, the wind soon died down and as it was only us and a family with a small girl up there, I was pretty sure that if it was going to be an issue, the guards would stop us. After all, we were wearing the blue protective slip on shoes they had given us to walk on the glass sky walkway (the rest of the terrace was wood) and we were adhering to all safety requirements so what would be the problem? In the end, the two men and one lady were very receptive to the fursuit head, and actually found it quite enjoyable, even when I was awkwardly carrying it around from the place they told me I could store my luggage to the platform edge or the walkway to get my shots. Alas as I didn't have the suit with me, we could only get headshots but I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
Once we had finished taking our glamour shots and I had purchased my one photo, we headed back down the tower and retraced our steps, heading back to the car. With time pushing on, Jeffrey drove back to his family home, where I got to meet his mother, father and grandmother for a brief period of time. They were really nice and were fascinated by my adventures, although the same could not be said for Jeffrey's protective yappy type dog, who actually bit me on the back of the foot. I had never been bitten by a dog before so it was quite a shock, although I was subsequently told this was common behaviour for her. Anyway, we weren't here for too long as we had our train to catch, with the station being in Butterworth on the mainland. This meant we needed to catch a ferry off the island, so Jeffrey's dad kindly drove us to the terminal. Going off the island is free, it's only coming onto it that you have to pay, so there was no need for a ticket - we could largely walk up the gantry and into the holding pen waiting room where we were sat for about a quarter of an hour. It was a little utilitarian, all steel and industrial paint, but the anticipation of my first Malaysian train trip kept me going and the place wasn't unpleasant. And soon we were on the ferry anyway, with the cars being loaded beneath us and us taking the top deck passenger route. We found a seat pretty quickly and waited to depart, with me spying another fursuit photo opportunity. As the journey was only about fifteen minutes, I didn't have time to don the full suit, which of course was now with me as we had left Jeffrey's car at his house when his Dad had picked us up, but at least I could take some more head shots. The people on the deck were most entertained by this, particularly the children, and I kind of wished that I had had time to put the full suit on. Still, we got some good shots and I got to look out front as the mainland came closer and closer to us. Once the ship started moving, I went down the steep stairs to the lower deck, which was almost touching the water. I was told that you could see dolphins and jellyfish, but alas what I mostly saw was plastic bags. We did run over a number of helpless orange jellyfish though, which you could see quite clearly when you were at the water's edge, so that was something.
As I was wearing my fursuit head, a Russian gentleman approached us, asking what it was about. We told him about furry and he told us about his five-week trip around SE Asia, which had started as a two-week trip but he just felt like extending it. He had been to Thailand and was now touring Malaysia. He seemed very intrigued with the fandom, and wanted my Twitter details, which I gave to him. I also told him about the fur scene in his homeland, which also interested him. We spoke to him for most of the second half of the journey and as we disembarked, only saying goodbye as we boarded separate buses. These were going to take us to the bus station, which was adjacent to the railway station, and was a route we could no longer walk as they had plonked a giant mall in between the ferry terminal and where we needed to be. It was past 1pm and I was getting worried that we would miss our train, particularly as the traffic signals on our route took ages to change, but we did just make it in time and joined the rather large queue at the ticket office waiting to board our train.
