Mal-haze-ia

I'm not sure to what extent it's being reported back home, but there have been terrible forest fires recently in Indonesia (Malaysia's neighbor to the south). Last week, the winds blew north, leaving the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, nearly unlivable due to the haze, smoke and smog. Officials were telling people to stay inside if possible, and to wear air filter masks if they absolutely had to go outdoors.

So when we heard that news on Thursday, and internet pundits predicted that the haze wouldn't lift, we decided to change up our plans a bit. We'd been planning to go to KL today or tomorrow, and instead, decided we'd stay here in Penang for two nights, then head down past KL to...Singapore! So we changed our flights and booked a hotel here right on the beach, and off we were to a 4th country!

Wouldn't you know it - Saturday morning, we woke up to a smell of smoke all the way up in Penang. Sure enough, the winds had shifted, and now our island paradise was covered with the Indonesian haze and smog itself. We had to wear those masks all afternoon - you'll see a few goofy pictures of us in George Town (the capital of Penang state) with the masks on. It cleared up a bit last night, and while the haze returned today, it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday. We're hoping it eases tomorrow, because we really like it here. As it is, KL's had it a lot better the last few days - but we're not changing our plans again, because there's no way to predict which way the winds will blow. Is Singapore ok? Can't be sure, but we'll just have to deal...

So back to Penang. This place is a lot of fun and one of the most fascinating destinations either of us had ever been to. First, to ease some of your minds: this is a very modern, safe, comfortable island. Malaysia is relatively well-off, so we're not facing the poverty of Cambodia. They've done a much better job planning here, so the country's not as dirty as Thailand. It really is a good vacation spot. More interesting and intriguing is that this might be the best example of multiculturalism around - and that includes the USA. Malaysia is populated primarily by ethnic Malays (most of whom are Muslim), Chinese, and Indians (Hindu and Muslim both). What's so impressive is that everyone seems to get along splendidly. We see men and women of different backgrounds walking together, eating in one another's restaurants, working together, etc. There's hardly any talk of ethnic strife, and the Malaysians are therefore, and justifiably, quite proud of the society they've built.

To be fair, there are some uncomfortable aspects of this place - though not many. This is a Muslim country, and as a result, there are many, many Muslim residents and tourists - and many of the tourists come from those places where a woman's eyes is all you get to see. It's imposing, not only in the post-9/11 atmosphere but also because, well, we're of a different tribe, one that might not be too welcome here. A funny side note is that our hotel for tonight and tomorrow (which is very comfortable) is the first major hotel I've ever seen that doesn't have a King James Bible provided by the Gideons in the nightstand drawer. In its place? What else - the Koran!

That said, we do feel comfortable here and have experienced zero problems whatsoever. We spent both Friday and Saturday bumming around George Town, and fell in love with it. It's a wild mix of people, with modern skyscrapers, traditional Asian food markets, street vendors galore, and quaint, narrow cobblestone streets. Friday, we went to the viewing gallery of the tallest building in Penang, the KOMTAR, 55 stories up. If only they'd cleaned their windows, we'd have had a great view. We also visited the famous "wet market" (i.e. fruits, packaged foods and spices), explored Chinatown, and parts of little India. Saturday, we first took a tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, which you may recognize as our hotel for the last three nights. The Mansion is beatiful, and the stories are even better. Cheong Fatt Tze was a 19th century Chinese entrepreneur who came to Malaysia nearly penniless and died as what the New York Times called "the Rockefeller of the east." He had his hands in every pot that could make him money, and boy, was he good at it! He became consul of the Chinese government to both Singapore and Penang, and had so much money that when the Chinese and American governments agreed to partner on an international bank in the late 19th century, Cheong put up more money than the Chinese government did. The tour, which took two hours, was great - we got to see a lot of Cheong's old belongings, hear all the great tales of his life, and explore the house in a way we wouldn't have seen by just staying there.

As for the stay there - we didn't get into the Old Kitchen room, but we were in the room next door, which was the residence of either Wife #3 or Wife #6. See, Cheong had eight wives over the course of his life (usually more than one at a time, as was the custom). His favorite was #7, so she got to stay in the main bedrooms. If you were a disfavored wife, you got exiled to an auxiliary room, or even across the street if you were really bad. Well, there we were on the side, so we must not have enjoyed the luxuries that Ol' Seven did. Nevertheless, it was a great room - we had china plates in the display case, as Allie kept observing. A very cool experience to stay in this historic mansion, and one I'd recommend strongly to anyone else coming here.

The rest of Saturday, we spent exploring the city. We visited Fort Cornwallis, where the British set up camp when they arrived in the late 18th century. Nearby is the clocktower donated as part of the gift to the then-ruling British Empire on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, in 1895. We saw two relics of the Chinese community here: the clan piers and the Khoo Kangsi house. When the Chinese arrived, they grouped themselves into their old, traditional clans, as they had in the motherland. So some of the clans built long piers into the water, with a temple in front and all of their homes in the back. Others built elaborate temples and guild halls for their meetings and secret societies - the most magnificient of which is the Khoo Kangsi building. The clans continue to operate to this day, and seem to be major forces in the local community. From there, we only had to walk two blocks to also see the 200-year old Indian Muslim mosque and a popular Hindu temple. That's the kind of city this is.

The food - good gracious, the food is spectacular. Penang is known within Malaysia as having the country's best eats, and though we can't compare, we'd agree that it's marvelous here. Last night, after failing to find a recommended Nyonya restaurant (Nyonya cuisine developed as a mixture of Chinese and Malay), we stumbled into a popular Indian place. The waiter came in, asked us what we liked, and then before we knew it, we had six or seven different dishes being scooped onto our banana leaf plates (that's right, the plate is just a banana leaf, nothing more). We could barely walk after eating that massive feast, and could only motivate by laughing at the price we paid - less than $7 for the two of us, and that's with an unexpected 20% tip!

We spent the rest of last night (and tonight) at the night market in Batu Ferringhi, the most popular of Penang's three beaches (we're staying on Tanjung Bunga, about 5 km east). Like all night markets, we've met all sorts of friendly shopkeepers who insist that their fake goods are the "best price" we'll find. Ok, so we've picked up a few things here and there, enjoying both the bargaining (we're getting pretty good, mostly by being tough) and the atmosphere.

Today, after switching from the Mansion to the Paradise Sandy Beach Resort, we took it easy for most of the afternoon - I read, while Allie got a mani and pedi (n.b. see how well I'm learning to speak Canadian!). We also took a nice stroll along the beach, which would have been nicer had it not been for the haze. We then spent a few hours at Penang Hill, which is 2400 feet above sea level. Again, would have been nicer without the haze; we'd have been able to see a lot more from up there. But that's how this has to be - we're here, and if the haze is here too, so be it. We're not likely to get back here anytime soon (Cape Cod is so much closer), so we may as well get all we can out of it.

Tomorrow, we're hoping to spend some time in the Penang National Park, which is a rainforest, and then at the Tropical Fruit Farm (if anything is better than Penang's delicious and cheap food, it's the amazing fruit they grow in these parts). Tuesday, we fly to the southern city of Johor Bahru, across a narrow causeway from Singapore, and will make our way into the city-state from there. We've also moved up our travel to Koh Samui, Thailand - we're going there directly from Singapore, on Thursday night.

I haven't written about Thursday in Thailand yet, so I'll cover it quickly. We loved Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn - a unique tower of a wat, decorated with lavish porcelain aristry that was made possible because the villagers all donated their porcelain to the project (500 years ago, mind you). We did not love the National Museum of the Royal Barges, both because the barges weren't all that impressive (the funeral chariots we saw a week earlier were much cooler) and because we spent two hours wandering around an area where almost no English was spoken trying to find it. We even tried stopping into a local cafe for lunch, but to order, you had to write your order on paper - in Thai! We conversed with the waitress just enough to learn that they didn't serve pad thai, and so not knowing what else they had, we moved on. Chalk it up to a funny experience and a lesson to try and learn a little more of the local language.

It's hard to believe that we've been here for two weeks - and that there's only one more week to go. But there's another country to visit, and a beautiful island to soak up for the last few days, and we're going to squeeze out every last drop of Asia that we can. Now about this haze...