That about covers it! I can't remember the last time we went on a full-on bus tour, complete with tour guide and microphone but this was a delight. Our guide, Corinne, spoke perfect English as well as Chinese (don't know if it was Mandarin or Cantonese) but, like all our stops on this trip, the number of Chinese tourists is staggering. Our first stop is Ft. Cornwallis, a remnant of the British presence and, of course, it has a cannon pointed at the harbor.
The Fort remains, but only as a tourist attraction.
On to the Chocolate and Coffee Museum complete with displays of the history of these two most wonderful - and essential - dietary items and samples galore.
Next stop, the Chew Jetty. A bit of history - when the British brought the Chinese to Penang to work, they built houses on stilts at the water's edge (the surrounding jungle was too dense to clear). At their peak, there were 36 jetties, each inhabited by clan members from China - thousands of workers in hundreds and hundreds of houseboats. Over time, they were urged to stake out a plot of land and move off the jetties, which most of them did. But not all. There are now 6 remaining jetties, still inhabited by members of the original clans and the Chew Jetty is the biggest and definitely the most visited!
For us, it was like stepping back in time to our life at 2420 Westlake in Seattle. But this jetty didn't float and these houses didn't bobble around with the tide. The reason, they're built on concrete encased pilings.
These are some very serious walkways! The sign in the background advertises an auto repair shop - not sure if that's part of this jetty or not!
Could be our dock in Seattle. Complete with potted plants - desert rose just like we have in Tucson!!
A view to one of the other 5 jetties - you can see how low the tide is.
On to the two most famous Buddhas in Penang - a 90' reclining Buddha and an equally long/tall upright one.
Interestingly, this is a Thai temple - on ground owned by Thailand - in the middle of Penang, Malaysia.
The splendor and bling of this temple is amazing. These dragons out front are made of mosaic glass, each piece painstakingly hand-set.
And right across the street is the Burmese Temple and Buddha - 90 feet tall. This too on land that belongs to Myanmar right in the middle of Penang.
Just one of the many structures on the Burmese temple grounds.
So we've been wondering about Buddha's earlobes - every single Buddha statue has these super elongated earlobes (even the ones we saw in the museum in Phnon Penh and those are very, very old). Check out the earlobes in all my photos.
No one has been able to explain this to us so we asked Corinne, our guide. She tells us that the 'perfect' Buddha has 88 physical characteristics, including the elongated earlobes and fingers and toes that are even, namely not graduated in length. She didn't remember any of the other 80 some odd so we looked it up when we got home - couldn't find any reference so we're still curious about those earlobes . . .
After Buddhas, it's off to the Penang Botanical Gardens, a lovely, green spot about 20" out of the city. We take a quick tram ride and see a most bizarre tree - the bomb tree. It has branches growing from low down on the trunk and the fruit(?) is encased in a coconut shaped thing that looks like a bomb.
Most bizarre.
Monkeys along the way . . . they always look like worried old men to me.
A view of the field of the Gardens . . .
And last stop on the tour, the 'Local Products Emporium' where we watch bakers making some sort of Chinese delicacy (?) that's about the size and shape of a golf ball. Even after sampling, we can't decide if it's a sweet or a savory. Can't resist a couple of purchases including some sort of fried/salted fish chip, the Chinese biscuits, and jelly fish chips . . .
A lot of excitement for these two kids for one day . . . tomorrow, the Butterfly Farm and our first foray on Penang's public transit.
On to the Chocolate and Coffee Museum complete with displays of the history of these two most wonderful - and essential - dietary items and samples galore.
Next stop, the Chew Jetty. A bit of history - when the British brought the Chinese to Penang to work, they built houses on stilts at the water's edge (the surrounding jungle was too dense to clear). At their peak, there were 36 jetties, each inhabited by clan members from China - thousands of workers in hundreds and hundreds of houseboats. Over time, they were urged to stake out a plot of land and move off the jetties, which most of them did. But not all. There are now 6 remaining jetties, still inhabited by members of the original clans and the Chew Jetty is the biggest and definitely the most visited!
For us, it was like stepping back in time to our life at 2420 Westlake in Seattle. But this jetty didn't float and these houses didn't bobble around with the tide. The reason, they're built on concrete encased pilings.
These are some very serious walkways! The sign in the background advertises an auto repair shop - not sure if that's part of this jetty or not!
Could be our dock in Seattle. Complete with potted plants - desert rose just like we have in Tucson!!
A view to one of the other 5 jetties - you can see how low the tide is.
Corinne explaining to Tim how the tsunami affected Penang - 36 people died here.
On to the two most famous Buddhas in Penang - a 90' reclining Buddha and an equally long/tall upright one.
The splendor and bling of this temple is amazing. These dragons out front are made of mosaic glass, each piece painstakingly hand-set.
And right across the street is the Burmese Temple and Buddha - 90 feet tall. This too on land that belongs to Myanmar right in the middle of Penang.
Just one of the many structures on the Burmese temple grounds.
So we've been wondering about Buddha's earlobes - every single Buddha statue has these super elongated earlobes (even the ones we saw in the museum in Phnon Penh and those are very, very old). Check out the earlobes in all my photos.
No one has been able to explain this to us so we asked Corinne, our guide. She tells us that the 'perfect' Buddha has 88 physical characteristics, including the elongated earlobes and fingers and toes that are even, namely not graduated in length. She didn't remember any of the other 80 some odd so we looked it up when we got home - couldn't find any reference so we're still curious about those earlobes . . .
After Buddhas, it's off to the Penang Botanical Gardens, a lovely, green spot about 20" out of the city. We take a quick tram ride and see a most bizarre tree - the bomb tree. It has branches growing from low down on the trunk and the fruit(?) is encased in a coconut shaped thing that looks like a bomb.
Most bizarre.
Monkeys along the way . . . they always look like worried old men to me.
A view of the field of the Gardens . . .
And last stop on the tour, the 'Local Products Emporium' where we watch bakers making some sort of Chinese delicacy (?) that's about the size and shape of a golf ball. Even after sampling, we can't decide if it's a sweet or a savory. Can't resist a couple of purchases including some sort of fried/salted fish chip, the Chinese biscuits, and jelly fish chips . . .
A lot of excitement for these two kids for one day . . . tomorrow, the Butterfly Farm and our first foray on Penang's public transit.
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