Monday and Tuesday, November 14-15, 2022
We look around Georgetown. There's beauty everywhere in this hometown of Jimmy Choo (of the shoes label), including a lot of big paintings.
This popular mural of children at play lures tourists into an alley near the bus stop, where they take selfies.
The history of many peoples who passed through the islands is retold in art.
This year, wire wall sculptures are popular (see the one on the upper left of the building?) Motives and materials are inventive.
Penang is filled with craftspeople. This simple idea is typical - a twig, clothespins, and string, looped by twinkle lights. We'll steal this idea for Advent: our Jesus the Light of the World theme at BIC. "We have sticks and string," W notes. (But someone else thought it up.)
Everywhere you look, things are repurposed for eye-catching displays. This becah (rickshaw) is overgrown with ferns.
Bechas - bicycle rickshaws - line the main tourist roads. Someone will take you for a ride for $9 or $10.
One artist shows us a little tabletop bowl in a cluttered workshop. She and her husband create little figurines and scenes from edible beans. Their watercolor paintings are exquisite, too, but "Enough already ... resist, Rosemarie, resist."
I pick up a teensy classroom for our 4 homeschooled grandkids. The crafter carefully writes out the Mandarin meaning: "Thank you teacher." I place it next to my reading glasses for scale. It's tiny perfection.
Common materials are fashioned into arrangements.
Nearby, the artist coop brings me to a standstill at its shelf of hand-carved vases.
4 doors side-by-side, personal and striking, line the road in Chinatown.
This blue ...!
The hotel entry is cleverly shielded from the street by planters with 3 palms in each.
By the elevator to the lobby, three spouts drop water into the pipes below, masking traffic sounds a few meters away.
This bugs me: above our hotel bed, a waterlily is hung on the diagonal. My head keeps trying to wrap itself around a slanted horizon of water.
It reminds me of university days when I was the choir pianist. On spring tours, we occasionally performed in venues where DIY tuners cued from a middle C that had dropped to B or Bb. I have perfect pitch so it required extreme mental gymnastics to play the score as written: my brain registered a lower key so my fingers kept scrambling not to adjust to what I was hearing. Sometimes, for variety, I'd transpose the accompaniment to a higher shape on the keyboard so my ears could relax into the pitch on the page.
Visual or auditory tipping is weird, right?
We stroll through Little India as evening approaches. There are sparkly children's shoes in bins.
Every kind of rice you can imagine is sold from big metal tubs.
Customer comfort is a low value. When the employees unpack new goods, no one cares that you can't negotiate your buggy through the aisle. (If you want something, you'll be back.)
All across Georgetown, the food is varied and excellent. We feast at a German restaurant (W's go-to food in a new city.)
We set our mouths afire with exceptional laksa.
The hole-in-the-wall shop, emptying as we come in, quickly refills as we sit down.
Fresh ingredients make a not-to-miss noodle soup. The chef (the little woman in front, above) has a workstation inside the entry. There's no face shield or quality control. You eat everything she tosses into your bowl, submerged in her delicious broth.
Further up the street, we cool our tongues with shaved ice (Korean style), which is beyond refreshing. We choose mango and cappuccino flavors. Thanks to Tabi and Kirsten, who first introduced us to this delicacy years ago in KL, Malaysia's capital city.
Another morning, we try dim sum at another "best-rated" place, a short bus-ride away.
It's ok, as is the noodle dish, but we've had better.
The wet market is just around the corner, with live seafood and freshly-caught fish.
The hot nutmeg drink is interesting, as is the barley drink at another shop.
We sample a highly-rated char siew, barbecued meat on rice, with a splash of vegetable for color. We add hot sauce: this dish was a bit bland for our Indonesian palates.
Penang is a city of many religious expressions, reflecting a diverse population. Christian churches.
Chinese altars.
Thai temples.
Every part of the city is a glimpse into the past. There are mansions from British colonialism.
Some buildings reflect the Chinese traders who swept through the islands.
We stroll past a "World Heritage Site" fire station.
The alley is bedecked in festive colors and balloons.
We pass recently constructed apartment blocks.
Penang also has modern malls with Christmas ornaments on display.
Before we turn into the hotel for the night, we cross the street to walk along the waterfront. Fisherman families live along the water.
We stroll down the wharf beside their homes.
Across the bay is a restricted government jetty.
This gives us pause: these toddler slides and swings sit on the edge of a 2 meter/7' drop-off to the bay. I guess kids learn caution early.
The views are spectacular at sunset. The waves of a motorized cutter sweet under smaller boats moored in front of the homes.
Nightfall across the city makes for a colorful panorama outside our hotel window.
Wednesday to ThursdayWe run a few errands, finish packing at the hotel, and drag our luggage to the bus stop with its beautiful backdrop.
W and I ride the bus up the east coast to the conference hotel. The man sitting in front of us has 2-3" hairs curling from both ears. (Look closely.) I wonder, doesn't that tickle?
Our destination is Batu Ferringi on the northern coast of Penang island. After check-in at 2:00, we're ready for lunch. We walk along the beach toward the restaurant. Oops, we're met by a drainage canal. Either we wade across and continue (nope - I don't want to take off my sneakers and put them on, full of sand) OR we go back to the road (yup.)
We pass a full-sized schooner, dragged from the sea onto dry land. It's become a restaurant. Wow, that's a big boat. Imagine the skill required to work in the rigging!
The foodcourt sits along a tourist market.
The highly-recommended Sizzling Chicken is good. Unfortunately it's paired with the cook's preferred noodles, which have almost the same black sauce. It would have been more interesting with a combination of diverse flavors. (Next time, different noodles.)
Back in the lobby, I'm drawn to this simple floral arrangement on the front desk. A closer look reveals 2 kinds of leaves (philodendron and palm) plus a blooming shrub in the middle. I can easily replicate it from our garden.
The meetings are a cacophony of old and new friendships, good food, and counsel to transform the heart.
The dessert buffet has more than one table of goodies.
Thursday for lunch, we visit Hudson Deli, where an Austrian chef prepares the best Reubens in the city. Yum. 5 (of 8) order that sandwich, based on its reputation. Worth the type.
Some of us skip the tours offered. I spend the afternoon calling, writing a book prospectus based on our lunch conversations, and catch up with friends. I need some quiet for ears, eyes, mind, and heart.
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*God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:1-10
Prayer: God, be our refuge in times that are uncertain. Be our hope in hopeless situations. Be our comfort when we grieve. And be our joy, day by day, as we see the wonders of your creation and the creativity of your creatures. Because you are good we come to you today in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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