Penang, Malaysia

To make up for spending my last port in Malaysia at a mall, today I went on the "Grand Penang Tour." It was a really well done tour, and if it got back a bit late I was in no hurry since I had a night off to look forward to!

We started out visiting the Mansions of two Chinese millionaires who lived here more than a century ago. The houses were of course, lavish, beautiful, and filled with expensive antiques. The second one we saw, the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, recently won a major UNESCO World Heritage award for best project, regarding the major restoration some private investors put into the building a few years back.

After the mansions, we visited two contrasting temples, both Buddhist, but one Thai style and one Burmese. The Thai temple has the 4th largest reclining Buddha in the world, and yes, it was big. It was really interesting to me to see the urns of people's ancestors displayed in cupboards in the walls, like small gravestones stacked on one another along all the walls. Apparently, the higher up your ashes are placed, the more expensive the "plot."

We had a great lunch at the Golden Sands beach resort and some time for photos there, then our next stop was the Penang Butterfly Farm. I saw a sign claiming it was the first live tropical butterfly farm in the world...could it be true? Who wants to google it for me? :-) Anyway I love butterflies so enjoyed having a bit of fun with my camera. Next we headed on a drive around the island (about 800,000 population), with stops at a spice stall and a local village. It was really a great day and I enjoyed myself. I love feeling like I've picked the best tour. :-)
------------------

Port Kelang, Malaysia

This port is the docking point for guests to access Kuala Lampur, the capital of Malaysia, with its famous twin towers (think Entrapment). I wasn't lucky enough to have time to get there, as it is nearly two hours each way. Instead I got off the ship with two of my friends, Ash and Eddie, English guys who work as stage technicians. We took the shuttle bus that was offered from the terminal, and it dropped us off at a really nice mall. Now there were all kinds of stores that I recognized, and plenty of ones I didn't. We went shopping in their grocery store, I tried a few local pastries (one, a roll with red bean in it, was pretty good and interesting). We saw a starbucks, but opted for the road less traveled, and did a bit of internet catch-up in a coffeeshop packed with Malaysian people. We got a few stares, but it was nice to try their food and relax. I had a potato curry. A few hours later, before we left the mall, I managed to eat again. We decided to check out the food court, where all the options were very decidedly Asian, the one thing very distinct from an American mall. I had a big plate of noodles and veggies. We passed a movie theatre in the mall, and I was tempted to take the time out to see a film and feel a bit like I was at home, but ended up doing quite a lot of wifi instead. As a nice surprise, I was able to skype my parents!!

We hurried back in the early afternoon as I had a reahearsal to get to (the reason why I couldn't get out to Kuala Lampur). We had a little hallway party each eating our cupcake from the box of 3 we had found for 5 Ringitts, less than $2.
------------------