A Weird Little Museum, Chinese Buddhism, and Roti Canai

Attention Bill Geist (a CBS Sunday Morning contributor for years and devotee of quirky, off-beat museums) - there is the weirdest little museum in Tanah Rata, Malaysia. If you're ever here, Bill, do pay it a visit.  It is called The Time Tunnel and was created by a Chinese man who had an incredible collection of 'stuff' and needed a place to put it.  We had to be persuaded, by Sevalam our driver/guide, to visit it and it is a hoot.  First, it is not a tunnel but it is a trip through time in the Highlands.  First stop, a visit with an aborigine . . .

No, he isn't alive but a reasonably good replica of what he looked like when 'discovered' by the first 'white' men, the British.  There are still a good many aboriginals living back in these hills, lives largely unchanged since . . . on the other hand, many of the aboriginals opted to go modern and accept the Malaysian government's offer of free housing, power, etc.  One caveat - they had to become Muslim!

Back to the Time Tunnel . . . this is the strangest collection of odd things, many of which reflect American culture but probably not the best parts of it.  For example . . .

This is a display of 'darkie' toothpaste - huh?  Allegedly using this would make ones teeth as white as those of a black person.  The name was apparently modified to 'Darlie's' over time . . .

And one of my favorites, an advertisement for Kickapoo Joy Juice - in Chinese!!

Cigarettes asked in round tins . . .
And one of the crudest wheelbarrows I've ever seen.

A typical Chinese tea house (complete with Nescafe sign) . . .

And Tim with our driver (That's the Malaysian flag in the background)

On to the Buddhist Temple, this one Chinese and quite different from the other temples we've seen.
These Buddhas look very militaristic, ready to take up arms and defend the temple (this was one of the few serene ones).

A couple of young girls were preparing some sort of altar decoration which involved making a sort of ornament from cut down soda cans.  This matrix of dots with interconnecting lines meant something and the objective was to put one of these ornaments on each dot; they told us the final design would take over a hundred of these ornaments!

Last stop of the day is late lunch/early dinner.  We keep hearing about roti canai and how we absolutely have to try it.  One version left us unconvinced that it is a culinary delight.  Our driver has assured us that we didn't have it in the right restaurant.  The one we did have was a sweetish crepe- like affair that was chewy and unremarkable.  So after a stop to pick up Severa's wife, we head to the 'authentic' roti canai place - in their neighborhood.  

And the famous roti canai being prepared . . .

And, at last, the dish!!  This had a savory filling - eggs, some sort of sausage - accompanied by some daal for dipping - and was very very tasty.

Lovely way to end our stay in the Highlands.  Tomorrow, we're off early on the bus to Kuala Lumpur where we will overnight at the airport hotel.  Early morning trio of flights - KL to Sydney, Sydney to Nadi, Fiji, Nadi to Savusavu, Fiji - a 24-hr trip, starting at 9 a.m.

Roses, Lavender, Cactus, and Bees . . .

Soren, the guest house manager, has hooked us up with a car and driver for the day so we're off to see the 'sights'.  The Highlands are renowned for the hiking trails through this dense jungle terrain but the weather is pretty skunky so this will not be a hiking day.  Instead, we opt for the Rose Valley, the Lavender Farm, and the Bee Farm, all of which are relatively sheltered and we've borrowed umbrellas.

Interesting, this is more like a commercial rose operation than a 'valley'.  Reminded us of a trip through a really high-end nursery like Swanson's in Seattle.  As did the Lavender Farm . . .

There were actually more non-lavender plants than lavender but beautiful nonetheless.  And, big surprise, the cactus garden!  They looked kind of peaked but we were amazed to see cacti in this jungly environment.

Bee farm was not at all photogenic but we did buy a couple of 'tubes' of local honey and learned that they have not had any 'hive collapse'.  Long and full day . . .

The Amazing Highlands

Four plus hours by bus from Penang we're almost in the Cameron Highlands.  'Almost' because the last couple of kilometers takes us an additional two hours so we're quite late arriving.  It's dark; the delay has been because of the 'night market' which is a long-standing Friday and Saturday night institution. The streets are utterly clogged with stalls, cars, scooters, bicycles, busses, people - it's a grand colorful mess.  These night markets are absolutely the norm all over southeast Asia - we've seen them in every city and large town we've visited.

We have five nights here and the guesthouse we're booked into is lovely - they greet us by name when we arrive after a 2-3 minute walk from the bus stop.  Ahhh . . . settle in, and then off for a quick bite.

(This post is out of sequence so this was our first day.)  We decide on a walk to MARDI - the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute - which is both a garden and nursery.

Another one of these condom-like things which is about a foot long!

Looks like a troll house on a stem.

Have no idea what this is but it's oh so exotic!

And then I offered to photograph these young women and they promptly wanted their photo taken with us.  All the women - young and old - wore the head covering.

And one of our absolute favorite plants, the datura brugmansia which was growing, sapprophyte-like, in a fir tree!

And one that just grew, untended, right near the entrance.  Tim wanted to take this one home.

Lovely day, long walk there and back but most delightful.  The MARDI gardens were filled with families which we thought was so unusual.  There were no rides, no video games, no kid-centric activities but lots and lots of kids.   And then on the way home, walking on one side of the canal we waved to a family having a picnic on the opposite bank.  They enthusiastically waved back and beckoned us over to share their picnic!  We declined but were so touched.  

If You've Ever Wondered About Tea . . .

Tea's one of those things that I've pretty much always taken for granted.  It comes in a box, in a bag, loose in a tin - a bunch of crunched up leaves and bits that one puts into hot water, steeps for a few minutes, and the result is a favorite drink worldwide.  We're now in the Cameron Highlands, one of the tea-growing/processing capitols of the world and are amazed.  At approximately 5,000' in a mountainous jungle terrain, tea plantations abound.

Those stripes you see are the walkways for the workers (most of whom are from Nepal) who painstakingly shear the leaves, load them into baskets, and finally stuff the leaves into 50 kg sacks for transport to the processing plant.

This is tedious work and the workers get about 900 MR a month - roughly $1/day.  They are provided with housing (dorms) but not food.  And, amazingly tea plants can be sheared every three weeks!  In this climate they seem to grow while we're watching.  Interestingly, now they can't shear fast enough - they can't get workers.  The locals won't work for $1/day, and more restrictive immigration laws have meant fewer workers from other countries.

Sign advertising the basic data of this tea operation.  The actual processing was done by the time we got there but it's all quite simple:  dry, sort, crush, separate, package.

View from the tea house at the BOH (Best of Highlands) Plantation.   This is owned by the Russell Family from the UK, and one of the billboards describing the history of the Plantation says that the founder worked for $1/day in the late 1800's!  Not much has changed . . .

And we can't help but think of the incredible effort to clear this land which is a dense, very dense jungle!  We're hoping to trek to the Mossy Forest which includes the oldest tree on the planet - weather is not cooperating.

Fortunately, we're in a most wonderful guesthouse (Arundina) in Tanah Rata (the main town in the Highlands) and have been given the 'best room in the house' - with access to a gorgeous garden - despite having booked the basic double room.  The manager, Soren, is of Indian descent (from Chennai) but he is third generation Malay/Indian and has no real connection to India.  However, Malaysia is a Muslim State and he, as a Hindu, does not enjoy the same rights and privileges as a full-on Malay.  Every resident has an identity card which specifies their status - Soren is a Bumi Petra (sp?) which means that he's not a 'real' Malay and definitely not a Muslim.  What this means is that he pays more for a car loan, is not entitled to some of the 'perks' of Malaysian citizenship and no matter how long he lives here, he will always be a 'Bumi Petra'.  No matter, he is a joyful, friendly young man whose wife is from Sarawak, Indonesia (Borneo) and they have one 3yo daughter who is an absolute sweetie.

Enough for one day's adventure - tomorrow I think we'll 'do' more of the indoor attractions as it looks like this wet weather is here for a long visit.

Leaving Penang . . .

A couple of observations and photos before we leave Penang.  The food . . . there is probably no other place in the world that has the incredible variety of ethnic foods - all safe and cheap.  We've eaten two dinners at the local Red Garden which is Penang's version of a food court.  But this is unlike any of our food courts.  It' open air, sells beer, and is incredibly diverse . . . you can get Syrian, Chinese, Indian (south and north), Malay, and Korean food - then some inventive foods like . . .

The food court before things start to get really lively . . .

And I can't leave without mentioning the dreaded duran.  We kept seeing signs on busses 'No Duran' and below that was an icon that looked like a bomb.  What the heck is a duran?

Turns out it's a fruit surrounded by a really nasty looking hull/shell/outer core and that's what smells, no, stinks to the proverbial high heaven.  No one could describe the smell but all I could think of was skunk - utterly distinct and almost impossible to get rid of.

The duran with its outer shell.

I never saw someone order one of these, never witnessed the peeling and preparation (plating??), but the people I asked assured me the 'fruit' was delicious.  It must be masquerading under another name by the time it makes it to menus . . . one of those mysteries like Buddha's earlobes.

Tomorrow we're off to the Cameron Highlands, a 4-hour bus ride to the mid-center of this part of Malaysia.  It's high (6,000'), jungly, and promoted as beautiful and unique.  We've thoroughly enjoyed Penang and are looking forward to some rural time.

The Funicular to the Top of Penang Hill

This is one of the 'must do' things in Penang and a short bus ride takes us to the Penang Hill Funicular.  If you look carefully in the second photo, you can see the funicular track up the hill.

We know this is 'school holiday' time in Malaysia (don't tell your school pals in the US but the children here are off from mid-November until early February!) and I think half the families in Malaysia have come to the funicular!  The operators cleverly don't let you see the whole line because it would deter all but the hardiest from waiting it out.  The lines snaked around . . .

and around . . .

you get the idea.  It took over an hour to get to the actual funicular car; we kept telling ourselves it was worth it.  We got a wee bit nervous when we saw two offices near the top:  one said 'Halliburton' and the other 'Flagstaff'!  Huh??

The actual ride takes about 2-3 minutes and the ascent is dramatic and very, very steep.  There are only two cars which explains the awful wait time and we read that this is the newly-renovated funicular - can't imagine what the old one was like.  We both find it hard to complain when we see a display of sedan chairs used to transport the British to the 'crag' (think that's about half way up) using coolie laborers.  The mind reels . . .

The view from the top is indeed impressive.   We are looking down at Georgetown and the straits over to the mainland.

The 'lock thing' has obviously caught on here.

And it's Penang so there's food, lots of it.  We reward ourselves with a mango ice which is a huge treat of flavored shaved ice, sliced mango, topped with mango ice cream.

Yet another long line for the return journey and we're back home.  Tomorrow is our last day in Penang . . . it's been a lovely, fun-filled time here.

Penang Butterfly Farm

How can anyone not love butterflies??  They are magical, beautiful, delicate, and have no real purpose in life but to bring joy - oh and reproduce.  Did you know that a butterfly's life span is about 2 weeks and they spend 48 hours of that in one mating event??  How's that for a useless but jaw-dropping piece of trivia?

An hour or so on Penang Transit and we're at the entrance to the Butterfly Garden.  What a surprise - getting out of the 'city' - we make our way up the east coast of the island and are amazed at the beaches, mountains, jungle . . . this could be any one of the Hawaiian Islands.

This isn't a butterfly garden, it's a farm where butterflies are literally cultivated along with the plants needed to sustain them.  We're in luck and a guided tour has just started.  The guide is very knowledgeable (trained in IT but could't find work!) and encourages the 6 of us to let the butterflies land on us, take photos of them, even hold them, ever so gently . . .

Let them ride along on your collar . . . 

Or your ankle . . .

Or just sit quietly in your hand . . .

Just for variety, we have some other creepy crawlies (millipedes)-

And the most amazing stick creature . . .

And the once daily release of the 'baby' butterflies . . .

All in all, a magical afternoon!