Today we said goodbye to East and Southeast Asia with a visit to Penang, a small island at the mouth of the Malacca Strait. Before this cruise I had never heard of Penang or the Malacca Strait, but I’ve learned that they have quite a history and remain important today.
It’s all about the Malacca Strait, which cuts an enormous distance off the route from India and points west to China and the Far East. If you can’t use it you have to sail all the way around Indonesia, adding a huge cost in distance, time and money. So back in colonialism’s heyday, what did the very clever British do? They established outposts at Singapore at one end of the Strait and Penang at the other, giving them effective control of this critical waterway. It’s worth a moment to pull up a map of the region and see what I’m talking about.
Penang is a small island but it’s very urbanized, and the capital, George Town, is densely populated. We docked right at the city, so no long drives to get to our tour destinations for a change, which was nice. Our first stop, which I’m only going to fully write once, for obvious reasons, was at Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Thai Buddhist temple that is famous for housing one of the world’s largest reclining Buddhas. At 105 feet long, this Buddha really is pretty big, and it’s doubly interesting, as it’s a columbarium, which is where the urns of the cremated are housed. How about that.
Our stop at the Thai Buddhist temple actually gave us a two-fer, because it’s directly across the street from Dhammikarama, the only Burmese Buddhist temple in Penang. This temple also houses a large Buddha, this one standing, and it’s also very impressive. We’re leaving this part of the world now and I’m not sure how many more Buddhist temples we’ll see, but I’ve really enjoyed visiting them and learning more about this religion and philosophy of life.
A short bus ride later we arrived at the next spot on our day’s itinerary, Entopia, a tropical butterfly garden. If you’ve ever been to the butterfly garden in Hershey, it’s a lot like that, but larger. I don’t have room on this page to share all the photos I took of the beautiful butterflies we saw, but I wish I could, because they were, well, beautiful. They also had smaller displays of snakes, scorpions, and the largest spider I’ve ever seen. Can you envision a spider so large it’s called a bird eater? Well, you don’t have to envision it, because I’ll show you a photo.
We really did have a varied itinerary today, because our next stop was at a batik factory, where we got to watch the process of creating genuine handmade batik. It is very labor intensive, which explains why real batik can be expensive. By the way, future travelers, there’s a lot of fake batik out there, so buyer beware. I’ll include a few photos below that hopefully give you an idea of how this beautiful cloth is made. As you might guess, the factory has a large gift shop, and Michele bought a gorgeous skirt. Great stop, I learned a lot.
By now it was lunchtime, and for a change lunch was included with our excursion, so we made another short trip to a nice restaurant that provided a lovely buffet. My only complaint was that they “Americanized” the food, meaning they cut way down on the heat. I like spicy food, and was hoping for the real deal, but at least it was delicious.
We had two more stops to make after lunch, and the first was at Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple in Makaysia. This temple was a little reminiscent of Batu Caves, in that it’s built into the side of a mountain, and there was a lot of climbing involved to get up to the middle level, which was as high as we were permitted to go. The temple conveniently provides a lift (at a small charge) for those who can’t or prefer not to make the climb, but we took the steps without difficulty, the only damage being drenched clothes due to the heat and humidity. It’s a beautiful facility, and once again I wish I could show you all the photos I took, but I’ll have to settle for a few of my favorites.
Our final destination of the day was at the restored mansion of a Peranakan tycoon in downtown George Town. Peranakan is a term you’ll hear often if you spend any time in this part of the world. It refers to the descendants of Chinese immigrants who intermarried with locals of Malay/Indonesian heritage, and is a thing here, which I wouldn’t have guessed. The mansion had been abandoned and fell into disrepair, but was purchased by a wealthy individual who restored it to its former grandeur and filled it with period furniture. It’s very elegant, and its most unique feature is the center of the house, which is open to allow rainfall to enter and collect, where it is then circulated around the house to provide cooling. Very clever.
Back on the ship, we pulled out and headed west, leaving this fascinating area of the world behind us. Next stop, Sri Lanka, and then India, where the Taj Mahal awaits. Can’t wait, so stay tuned, because I’ll be sure to be back to tell you all about it.
Exterior of the Thai Buddhist temple.
I couldn’t get enough of the dragons.
The big draw though was the reclining Buddha, one of the largest in Asia.
Directly across the street was a Burmese Buddhist temple, which had this large standing Buddha.
You truly never know what you’ll find at a Buddhist temple. I was intrigued by these statues of men carrying a bell.
Go long, I’m open.
This row of statues was behind the big Buddha.
Entopia is a wonderful Butterfly garden that also has a smaller collection of snakes, spiders, monitor lizards and a few other local critters. Happily, these beetles weren’t alive.
I loved the gorgeous butterflies and moths at Entopia.
I wasn’t familiar with any of them, but they sure were pretty.
Pretty sure this one was a moth.
One more butterfly.
This charming creature is called a Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater.
We watched the artisans create batik cloth by hand at the factory. It’s time consuming, but the results are amazing.
An artist drawing a print by hand.
This artisan is using blocks to create a repeating pattern. I watched him for a while, and he never overlapped. Perfect every time.
A finished product drying.
At the Kek Lok Si Temple.
Worshipper praying at the temple.
There was a lot to see outside the temple.
The gardens were beautiful and had a lovely view of the city.
This is called the Gate of Heaven, and passing through it is supposed to bring very good luck, so I have that going for me.
At the elegant Peranakan mansion.
Every room was beautiful.
How about this one.
The bedrooms were nice too. Quite a bed.
This room is a shrine to the family’s ancestors.
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