28th March - I take back every word I said about Malaysia and Indonesia in an earlier blog, where I referred to them perhaps being not so well developed as other areas we have visited. This comment was prompted by our experience of Krabi and around, where signs in English were few and far between, roads were poor, and houses and streets more dilapidated and dirty than we had seen further north in Thailand. We also found many of the people in these southern parts of Thailand to be sullen and many so overweight that they look like a burden to themselves.

 

From the moment we passed into Malaysian territory, I saw a country that seems prosperous and well organised. Many signs are in English as well as Malay and we have been overwhelmed by the helpfulness and friendliness of the people here. Time to sit back, take stock, and not pre-judge!

 

The countryside we passed through on our journey was beautiful and even Penang, an island city, is lovely. It is connected to the mainland by a spectacular bridge that, we are told, is around 26 kilometres long. We can see it in the distance from our 10th floor hotel room, which we checked into in early evening, just after the first rain in many months arrived in the form of a major thunderstorm. And yes, we did get wet! We are thinking of hiring ourselves out as rainmakers, as we seem to have coincided with ‘the first rain in months/years’ in Rajasthan and in Thailand, too.

 

29th March – We have stumbled on one of the best locations for sightseeing in Penang. From our bedroom window we can see three of the guide book’s recommended visits: the chocolate factory, which we shall avoid as I might not be able to control myself; the Blue Mansion, originally the home of one of China’s last true mandarins; and the revolving restaurant of the City Bayview Hotel. Oh, and the free city centre shuttle bus stops directly outside our hotel!

 

What we didn’t get right was the time. We wondered why we were the last people in the restaurant we went to last night, and this at only 9pm. The answer was provided by the gateman at the Blue Mansion, where we turned up this morning for the 11am tour, only to be told we were too late. The lovely man looked at Alan’s watch and laughed: “Ah, Bangkok time. Here, one hour later.” Clearly used to idiots like us just arrived from Thailand.

 

So we went instead to the Kek Lok Si temple, a mishmash of Chinese-style temples and monastery built on a hillside with, as its crowning glory, a 120-foot-high bronze statue of a goddess. We travelled out and back by local bus and ate a delicious snack of tiny chicken curry pasties from a stall on the way up the narrow alleyway that is the only means of reaching the temple. Their tactics were not wasted on us – Alan bought a very nice shirt from one of the many market stalls aimed at trapping visitors.

 

30th March – We are enjoying Penang so much, not least the nightly thunderstorms, that we decided to stay until Thursday 1st April. Today we visited a Chinese clanhouse, highly ornate and belonging to a family that flourishes in the area to this day. We took one of the cycle rickshaws and, when the rain turned up right on schedule in late afternoon, our man jumped off to put up the hood and cover our legs with tarpaulin to keep us dry.

 

I have not worn a watch for years, but I think Alan is getting tired of me asking him what time it is, so we stopped off in the city centre, at the most confusing shopping centre I have ever been in, and bought me a lovely new watch.

 

In the evening we treated ourselves to the buffet supper, very good value for the money, in the revolving restaurant at the City Bayview. It was wonderful to have a grandstand view of the thunderstorm and large cruise ships arriving and departing in the bay separating the island of Penang from the mainland.

 

31st March - This morning we turned up, this time at the right time, to join the one-hour tour of Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, named the Blue Mansion (due to its beautiful indigo colour) by the makers of the French film, ‘Indochine’ in the early 1990s. The Chinese lady who was our tour guide was entertainment on two legs. She told our group in no uncertain terms that this was a private house, although you can pay for a homestay here, and that we were to stay together as a group and not to take photographs. All of this was done with a smile on her face, so no one could take offence. A young girl joined us belatedly and soon we could see her ‘hotching’ to get away. She finally plucked up the courage to say she only had fifteen minutes and could she go and look around for herself. Without breaking step or losing the smile, our Chinese lady informed her that, without the talk, the house would be meaningless and that no one could appreciate its wonderful history in fifteen minutes, “but thank you for your support today and perhaps you will come back some other time”. Then she carried right on with her slick commentary on the life of Theo Thiw Siet, who first took employment as a water carrier on coming to Malaysia from China via Indonesia in the mid nineteenth century, then went on to be created mandarin and financial advisor by the dowager empress of China. By the early twentieth century, he had created businesses in Europe and America, often meeting influential people from these lands. He left his home and businesses to his sons, who promptly sold them off, the house being last to go when Siet’s much younger Penang wife died in 1985. The building was plundered by the family for any of its removable riches before being sold and becoming a doss-house. Later, when it was already in a bad state of repair, it was bought by private owners who set about refurbishing it and it is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

 

It was never our intention to stay for more than three days in Malaysia, using it just as a staging post to Sumatra, the first of the islands we will visit in the Indonesian archipelago. So we went to buy our ticket for the ferry to Medan on the east coast of Sumatra, only to find that the ferry goes from Penang to Medan on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So we had to settle for Friday 2nd April. This turned out to be fortuitous, as we then decided not to accept the one month visa on entry, but to go to the Indonesian Embassy here in Penang to apply for two months, allowing us to do all the things we want to do.

 

We took a taxi for the fairly long trek across the city to the Embassy. A young lady provided us with forms and told us to go away and get some passport photos with a red background. So we agreed to return tomorrow, as they do not accept applications after midday daily. Back we went to the ferry ticket agent, who was waiting for confirmation of our visas before booking our boarding passes for Friday. We said we would see him tomorrow as soon as we could collect our visas.

 

Tonight we ate very cheaply at one of the many food markets. We are finding a lot more meat on the menus here, and very few main courses that are vegetarian. Although the very air seemed to be a sulphurous yellow, the threatening sky decided to be merciful and we made it home in the dry. The thunderstorms stayed in the distance.

 

1st April – We turned up bright and early at the Indonesian Embassy with, as we thought, all the right paperwork including the stipulated passport photographs with a red background. Wrong! The forms for most visa applications say that the traveller should be in possession of a return travel ticket, but we have always been able to get away without this, most countries seeming to use their judgement. Not this time. Although we explained that we don’t know exactly when we will be leaving Indonesia, the official insisted on a return ticket.

 

Back we plodded to the travel agent (paying another taxi fare) so that he could change our one-way ferry tickets for returns that everyone concerned knew we would never use. Then back to the Embassy (yet another taxi fare there and back) with, thankfully, what turned out to be all the required paperwork this time. But we would have to make one final journey there (our fourth in all) to collect the visas later in the day.

 

When everything has gone a bit wrong, do lunch, that’s what I say. So we did. We went to a lovely restaurant overlooking the ferry port and a big cruise liner, and had two courses and a couple of glasses of wine. Why be miserable, we couldn’t change the visa situation. I looked for vegetable broth on the menu but, not finding any, I settled for a starter of Filo Vegetable Roulade followed by a succulent Lamb Shank Osso Bucco with Milanese Risotto for my main course. Hey ho!

 

Returning to the Embassy at 4:30pm, we found our 60 day visas ready and waiting. The whole saga cost us more money and time than we anticipated and is a salutary lesson for anyone travelling to Indonesia – pay attention to the return ticket requirement, no matter how illogical it may seem!

 

So tomorrow morning, all being well, we make tracks to Medan in Sumatra by ferry from Penang. Once again we are looking forward to the journey as everywhere we visit seems to have a ‘shelf life’, the average being around 4 days.

 

Photos – Big Bros, the last one in the gallery is especially for you. Taken from a moving taxi in rush hour traffic, I wasn’t sure it would come out, but I think you will be able to read all the words!