....previously, Chinese Remedies and Jungle Melodies........
With Rich fighting fit again, we enjoyed our stay (as usual) in
KL, and were lucky enough to pick up a couple of jobs as film extras.
The first was a Chinese movie with a futuristic feel, and a bizarre sounding plot line- something to do with a plane crash, followed by an encounter with an island full of mutated cats! It was a long 24 hour shoot, and not quite as professional as we experienced last year, but it was great to do something so different and we met a lot of lovely people from different backgrounds and nationalities working as extras and living in
KL. Apparently there are some people trying to make a living within this industry!
The second job was for Rich, and involved him dubbing the lines of an actor playing an army captain with an extremely strong Scottish brogue in a local movie set in
Sarawak in the 1960's. It was quite difficult for Rich, as he had to be loud and angry in the scene, not something that comes naturally to him, but after a few takes he really nailed it, and sounded very professional! It was extremely interesting to see how the dubbing process works, and will be even more interesting to see how it turns out when it reaches the cinema here!
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| Rich dubbing his own voice in, KL |
We were also very fortunate to time our
KL visit with that of a lovely couple we had met in
Iran, and although we didn't have a of of time together, spending the evening with them was the little touch of
Iran we'd been missing so much.
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| Enjoying dinner with Fatima and Masoud from Tehran |
Penang was calling (or rather, the casting people from Indian
Summers!), so we made the 4.5 bus trip up to the island. As far as places to linger,
Penang is not a bad
option. Numerous visits to the city had shown us it had an unhurried
pace, but also plenty of activities to occupy our time. We know the
Georgetown heritage area quite well, but we now had time and the
opportunity to explore further, into other parts of
Penang island. The majority of our days were spent in a leisurely manner,
checking out previously unseen (by us!) sights and areas around the
island.
The Snake Temple at
Bayan Lepas was something different and unexpected. Back in the day when the place was surrounded by jungle, snakes began to enter the temple, and were accepted as something special and holy. Now the concrete jungle has taken over, but the snakes are still welcomed, and have become something of a tourist attraction. Mostly the pit vipers just hung around looking bored, but apparently they are still capable of poisoning, so we kept our fingers clear!
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| Sleeping Buddhist nun, Snake Temple, Bayan Lepas, Penang |
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| Snake Temple, Bayan Lepas, Penang |
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| Pit vipers, Snake Temple, Bayan Lepas, Penang |
Clan houses and jetties are particular to
Penang, and have an compelling history (which we found out at
Penang Museum!). When Chinese migrants first began moving onto the island, centers were set up for the new comers by their fellow countrymen to help them feel welcome and make connections with their kin folk from back home. Many settled on the waterfront jetties (where, interestingly, the residents don't pay any tax as they are not officially on
Penang land), and large numbers of their splendid clan houses are dotted around town, some open to visitors.
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| Clan deity, Penang |
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| Clan jetty, Penang |
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| Interesting window, Clan jetty, Penang |
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| Clan jetty, Penang |
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| Offerings of Guinness- no wonder he has a black tongue!! Penang |
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| Candles burning in a clan house, Georgetown |
A fire walking festival at a Hindu temple was another excursion one evening, the first time we have actually seen people in a trance walking and running over hot coals. It was something to do with the Tamil New Year (Pathandu), and the turn out was rather large (hence the terrible photos- it was very difficult to see, and a lot of pushing going on for the best vantage points!) After some time, and dozens of runners, the loud music started and a group of rather drunken and rowdy young men turned up with an enormous statue, and we took our leave.
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| Preparing to run the coals with a baby, Penang |
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| Running on the coals in a trance, Penang |
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| Cooling the feet at the end, Penang |
Keeping with the multicultural feel of
Penang, another evening was spent
at Vaiskhi, a Sikh celebration. Apparently as well as promoting their
culture, it was also the celebration of the day the caste system was
abolished for the Sikhs and the name Singh (Lion) instated in their religion. As there are not a huge number of Sikhs here on
Penang, a few token Tamils
were roped in to help with the numbers, and provided some fantastic and
colourful entertainment. We unfortunately ate before we arrived and
couldn't partake in the very typically Sikh free food on offer.
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| Boys with beards, Sikh festival, Penang |
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| Lights and glamour, Sikh festival, Penang |
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| Lights and glamour, Sikh festival, Penang |
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| Beautifully made up, Sikh festival, Penang |
Next on the cultural agenda was a festival celebrating the end of the rice harvest for the
dayak people from
Malaysian Borneo (obviously symbolic in
Penang!). This evening contrasted the other events we had attended in that it seemed to be mostly for the very vocal members of the
Borneo community living here, with almost no foreign tourists present. But of course, everyone was welcome, and this time we were pleased to have empty stomachs to enjoy the free food and drinks that were provided. The costumes from
Sarawak and
Sabah were beautiful, and we recalled some similarities in design and patterns to the attire we saw in
Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). We enjoyed some dancing, a blowpipe competition, and a bizarre "Mr and Miss
Borneo" type parade, before the local politician arrived, and we left to avoid the boring, long speeches.
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| Beautiful costumes, Penang Borneo Festival |
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| Dancers from a different region, Penang Borneo Festival |
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| Waiting to perform, Penang Borneo Festival |
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| The dancers in action, Penang Borneo Festival |
We always love the National Park at
Teluk Bahang on the far western tip of
Penang island, and another day was spent in a sweat walking through the park's jungle to a mostly undisturbed beach that was home to a turtle sanctuary and, surprisingly, a community of long term travelers in it's basic camping ground. After a look at the sweet little baby turtles awaiting release back into the ocean, we had a cup of tea and chat with a lovely Polish couple traveling the world by camping and hitchhiking.
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| Turtle Sanctuary, Teluk Bahang National Park, Penang |
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| Babies awaiting release, Teluk Bahang National Park, Penang |
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| Teluk Bahang National Park, Penang |
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| Teluk Bahang National Park, Penang |
The low point of the
Penang day trips would have to
Batu Ferringhi. We
have passed this area many times on the bus going elsewhere, but never
stopped before. We assumed it must have something going for it because
of the huge numbers of holidays makers who come here for the beach, but
were bitterly disappointed. Not only is the beach dirty and water murky
and unappealing for sitting on and swimming, the jet skis racing around
at high speed making a huge amount of noise really spoilt the place.
Also, the fact that it was mostly locals and Middle Eastern honeymoon types
here, we didn't feel comfortable to strip off to our bathers to swim and
relax. Add to that an unattractive strip along the road with over
priced restaurants, posh hotels, high rises and no shade, and we didn't
even stay for the approaching sunset.
Other times were spent in
Georgetown, with plenty of activities to keep us busy, including museums, temples, markets, a free jazz afternoon, wandering around some of the traditional craftsmen in the area (including incense, rattan, sign makers), catching up on recent movies at the cinemas, trying the MANY different eateries (tried durian coffee for the first, and definitely the last time!), and checking out some of the arty shops in the heritage buildings.
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| Colourful mural, Georgetown, Penang |
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| Nice old sign, Georgetown, Penang |
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| Hand made incense, Georgetown, Penang |
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| Colourful flowers for offerings, Georgetown, Penang |
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| Temple shop, Georgetown, Penang |
Time appeared to be running away from us, and we decided it would be a good time to do a visa run to
Thailand and come back to
Malaysia with a new visa before we got busy here. We passed the time on the train to
Hat Yai, Thailand, chatting with an eccentric trainspotter from the
UK (aren't they always?!), and after a night near
Hat Yai station, had a couple of days in
Satun, very near the south western border with
Malaysia. It's an extremely low key town, with most tourists moving on immediately to one of the stunning islands off the coast. We were disappointed to see the old morning market and rickety walkways along the river in the town had been bulldozed, but the villages on the edge of town were still very simple and rustic, and our day strolling around the back waters here was pleasant.
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| Riverside, Satun, Thailand |
From here, we joined all the Chinese package tourists in their bad fashions for a ferry ride to
Pulau Langkawi.
Langkawi Island is one of those places we'd heard bad stories about for years, and had always presumed to be a nightmare, but had never actually been to see for ourselves, so this was our chance. We were expecting the busy streets, expensive prices, jet skis on the beach (and 4WDs to tow them), package tourists, and tacky shops at
Pantai Cenang (the main accommodation hub), but we were also surprised to find it a beautiful beach, with fine white sand and warm blue water- there was even one part of the beach that was free of vehicles and much quieter.We also hunted around a bit and found some cheap places to sleep and eat, although they were few and far between. There was a distinct multinational vibe, mainly from the Middle Eastern expats, and Turkish,Yemeni and Iranian restaurants were mixed with Thai and Malay places along "the strip". We met an intriguing retired Iranian colonel owner of some bungalows, and spent an afternoon listening to his fascinating stories. Of course, for many, the main attraction of
Langkawi is the duty free prices, with beers at 1.80 RM/AU0.63, compared to 5RM/AU$1.75 on the mainland, and we did partake in a few sun downers to be sociable. It seems there are many stunning, natural, wild places left in
Langkawi, as we saw on the ferry coming in, and on our flight back out to
Penang ( at AU$10 each, we gave up our usual "only fly if we have to" mentality!), but as there is no public transport on the island, and the taxis are fixed at a high rate, we mostly hung out around
Pantai Cenang and the surrounding area. So, in conclusion,
Langkawi was better than we'd expected, and was a nice change of scene and a dose of beach time before heading back to
Penang.
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| Shops galore on Langkawi |
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| Arab tourists on Langkawi Beach |
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| The quiet end of Pantai Cenai beach by day....... |
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| .....and at sunset, Langkawi |
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| A hairy man outside our room, Langkawi |
.....our experiences as TV extras in Background Action, here......
