Nicole schreibt...

Penang & Langkawi 2019

Way back in 2002 Malaysia had been my first destination in the Far East - rather unexpectedly as we had been hoping to go to India, but changed our minds when India and Pakistan went through one of their spells of sabre-rattling as they do from time to time. The Malaysia trip was also the start of this website, although I'd like to think that my reports have improved since that first one. While I had enjoyed the trip and it marked the start of my obsession with South East Asia, I had also been quite a scared chicken back then in this foreign world and stuck with a difficult travel mate to boot. So when I was groping around for a sunny winter destination similar to last year's glorious trip to Phuket, I decided that Malaysia's vacation island no.1 Langkawi would be quite the ticket. But first I wanted to return to Penang Island and its capital George Town, a place which I had really loved, but hadn't really seen much of - never mind that we had felt so out of our depth in the city's streets.

We had travelled by long-distance coach all over the Malaysian pensinsula back then, but this time I chose the more comfortable route: Flying from Frankfurt to Singapore on Lufthansa, then onwards to Penang on Jetstar, the low-cost arm of Australia's Qantas, and finally by cab to my fancy abode, the Royale Chulan near the waterfront, a far cry from the rather ramshackle cheap Chinese hotel we had stayed in back then. Arriving in the evening was also handy as it meant, I could crawl right into my comfy bed, get some decent sleep and head out for a sightseeing tour of George Town next morning. The hotel was also just a few steps away from Fort Cornwallis and the Victorian Clocktower, for wherever in the world the Brits established a colony, you could be dang sure they planted a clocktower somewhere central. Fort Cornwallis was the first building erected when the Brits swanned in and bought the island from the local sultan in late 18th century. As Penang became part of the Straits Settlements (that also included Malacca and Singapore), more gorgeous colonial buildings were erected like the pretty town hall (below) and a string of other government buildings, churches and the fancy Eastern & Oriental Hotel.

Because the Brits needed cheap labour in their new colony, they imported several thousand from British-India as well as from Southern China, who turned Malaysia into the multi-cultural society it is today. Considering the mounting intolerance in the world, not least in almost all other Islamic nations, it's quite lovely to see that everyone still manages to get on with each other here in George Town:

Above are the British St. George's Church, the oldest Anglican Church in South East Asia and the Chinese Guan-Yin temple (where they were gearing up for Chinese New Year already), below are the Hindu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Little India and the splendid Kapitan Keling Mosque nearby. The name, by the way, not referring to a single person but an official position as Leader/Spokesperson (Kapitan) for the local Indians (Keling).

George Town's gorgeous historic centre is now an UNESCO world heritage site and one of the things I had regretted most after the first trip was, that we had been too scared to just go wandering. This time I did, though, along the backpacker mile Chulia Street with its countless restaurants and bars, Little India where Bollywood music was blaring from the shops and of course cute historical Love Lane (right). The name is telling: This was once the red light district where rich merchants and other officials snuck off in the evenings to spend time with their mistresses. Now it's part of the backpacker district, full of lovely little hotels (well lovely from outside at least), bars and so on. I had a nice Malay dinner here and a fabulous Malay (Thai) massage as well.

Of all the ethnic groups in Penang the Chinese rose to become the most successful group with their dedication to hard work and sticking together in clans. A guy called Cheong Fatt Tze rose from simple cowherd in his native Guangdong Province to shopkeeper in Jakarta and finally moved to Penang, where he had the gorgeous "Blue Mansion" built both as his office and residence. These days it's a luxury hotel (and starred in several movies, among them "Indochine" with Catherine Deneuve), and they only offer guided tours a few times per day. Timing didn't work out for me, so I moved on to the Khoo Kongsi, the clan house of the Khoo, who had come from Fujian province in 18th century and basically owned a whole block of buildings where everyone lived, met and celebrated. Here's the entrance to their temple and a room commemorating (some!) of the many clan members:

Last stop on the heritage trail was the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, commemorating that unique culture. When the first Chinese labourers came down to Malaya, they met and married local Malaiian women and their offspring became known as Peranakan or Baba/Nyonya, a fusion of both cultures and bridging the two worlds. I had taken a particular interest in their history after reading Selina Siak Chin Yoke's wonderful novel The woman who breathed two worlds (which was also in part responsible for making me want to come back to Malaysia) and the beautiful mansion, stuffed to the brim with antiques, gives a great insight into their lives.

The second day on Penang was reserved for a return to Kek Lok Si Temple, one of South East Asia's biggest temples, which had almost bowled me over back then with its colourful beauty. Even now, having seen so many other temples, I still think this is one of the most amazing and definitely worth seeing twice, especially as I don't think we really explored it back then. To get there, I used Grab for the first time, Malaysia's version of Uber, which worked surprisingly well. The temple complex, a mixture of Buddhism and Chinese beliefs, is still as beautiful as I remembered and this time I took my time to see it all. I even climbed up the main pagoda, which is cleverly built with the lowest tiers in Chinese style, followed by some tiers in Thai style and crowned by a golden Burmese stupa. I also took the cable car up to Guan-Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy who stands in her own beautiful pagoda further up the hill. Here are some images of the whole complex:

Above, the main pagoda Ban Po Thar, the Ten Thousand Buddhas and one of those Buddhas, as well as Guan-Yin on her own hill. Below, the beautiful pond by the main pagoda and another temple dedicated to Buddha.

Of course every pilgrim and faithful (and not so faithful) is welcome to pray to one of the deities for whatever they wish for. To faciliate matters you buy a wishing ribbon which you then tie to a branch. For certain reasons I decided to turn to Guan-Yin rather than Buddha, so let's see if the lady listens :)

After the long ramble around the temple complex I walked downhill into Air Itam, the nearest village, where I had a nice cheap lunch at a hawker's stall before taking the public bus back into George Town to chill by the hotel pool for the rest of the afternoon. I am definitely glad I returned to Penang and took my time for proper sightseeing around George Town with its many sights, most of which I couldn't remember at all. Back then we had taken the ferry for a one-day trip to Langkawi and saw very little of the island except the Thai Summer Palace set from the movie "Anna and the King" which has since been dismantled because it was falling apart. Wanting a few days of "sun and sea" rather than exhausting sightseeing, Langkawi now seemed the perfect place for that, so I was up early next morning to catch the ferry (which was even smaller and more rickety than I remembered) for the three hour journey to Langkawi.

I remembered the ferry port at Kuah as some sleepy little backwater, but it was now a massively busy place with a whole mall sprung up around the port (that also welcomes more and more cruise sheeple these days), so instead of taking a bit of time to look around and take a proper photo of Langkawi's massive eagle statue, I just wanted out of the chaos and hopped into the next cab to take me to Pantai Cenang, Langkawi's most beautiful beach on the western coast. It turned out to be a great choice because Cenang was just right: Busy enough to have a big choice of restaurants, shops and other nice places along the main street, but not mass tourism awful. It occured to me later that with Malaysia being a Muslim land where alcohol is frowned upon and not even sold in most restaurants, you just don't get the kind of cheap trash backpackers and boozehounds that blight Thailand and other countries in the area. I had to kill an hour before I could check into my hotel, then it was off to the glorious beautiful endless beach:

Of course I did want to see a bit of the island as well and what better way to do so than on horseback? I had discovered a stable offering journeys that's basically just you and a guide, so they can tailor it to your abilities and wishes and it's not just a tourist circus. I opted for a two-hour-ride through the jungle and along the beach - and it turned out with incredible irony that the beach we rode along was Pantai Kok, where I had been all those years ago when we had visited the Summer Palace and spent some time at the very beach afterwards. Galloping along the lovely quiet beach (and right past the guests of the fancy Danna resort in their sunloungers) and along Telaga Harbour Park was wonderful though.

Since the stable was basically right next to Seven Wells Waterfall, I decided to walk up there to take a look after the ride, though it wasn't all that spectacular now in the dry season. I couldn't be bothered with the pricey cable car or the "Skybridge" up in the hills, so I just walked back to the cable car station to find a taxi there and return to Cenang and the beach - which is where I spent the rest of the day and both the following days, doing nothing much at all except to enjoy the water, the gorgeous food along the main road, some shopping and another cheapish Malay/Thai massage. Overall I had a great time in fairly sedate Langkawi and once again, was really glad that I had returned to see and enjoy the island properly. Part of me is even tempted to retrace my other steps through Malaysia now, revisit the capital Kuala Lumpur, historic Melaka and the lovely Cameron Highlands - who knows? But for now it was nearly time to go home.

Since I had to connect through my beloved Singapore anyway, I couldn't resist temptation and booked another night at the Marina Bay Sands to enjoy their incredible infinity pool. Three years ago it had been a wild dream coming true to be able to swim in that pool with a prime view over Singapore and to stay in this amazing hotel at all. I just knew I would regret not returning there to enjoy it all once more, even though it costs an arm and a leg to stay there. So after an early flight from Langkawi to Changi on Air Asia I could even check in early and head up to the pool straightaway for a few hours to chill.

In the late afternoon I headed out to the historic Chinatown area with its bustling street markets, hawker stalls and gorgeous architecture that has become so rare in Singapore overall. As it was nearly Chinese New Year and we have the Year of the Pig ahead, all the stalls were selling arrays of cute pigs in all sizes and colours as well as other New Year stuff, a riot of Red and Gold. I had a nice cheap dinner at one of the hawker stalls, then just strolled around to enjoy the atmosphere and poke around all the shops and the souvenir tat they offered, before making my way back to the riverfront.

Above, a sky full of porkers and the infamous Durian "stinkfruit" of South East Asia. Singapore was also gearing up for official New Year's celebrations in Marina Bay at the Formula One race track with an impossibly gorgeous colourful dragon marking the entrance:

At the same time Singapore had the iLights Festival going on, a series of installations along the Singapore River and Marina Bay that, naturally, only came to life after dusk. The Merlion, Singapore's most famous landmark and usually white, was bathed in various gorgeous light designs, though personally I most liked to see him turn into a tiger. The Esplanade Bridge was lined with "oriflammes" that were being lit up in different colours all the time and there were many other beautiful things to gawp at. A wonderful idea and so much nicer, quieter and more stylish than the various fireworks festivals we got going on here in summer. Somehow Singapore always gets it just right for me and I returned to the hotel a very happy camper indeed. The show wasn't even over for me, because I could watch the changing lights of the magnificiant fake trees in the Gardens by the Bay right from my hotel bed!

First time I had stayed at MBS I had been too stingy to include breakfast, so I ended up with a cheap lame sandwich bought at a 7-11 the previous evening in a fancy suite of a glorious 5-star-hotel. This time I decided, to hell with it and bought the Bed & Breakfast Package - which turned out to be a good idea as the massive buffet at Rise restaurant beggared belief. I don't think I've ever eaten so much (and it filled me up nicely until the evening!). I returned to the pool for another hour or so then (although by this stage I'm quite sure I haven't been there the last time anyway...) before it was time to check out. Not wanting to exhaust myself in the tropical heat like last time, I opted for culture instead and first visited the National Museum of Singapore, that recounts the island's history from medieval times through Sir Stamford Raffles' arrival in 1819 and the Japanese occupation during WWII until today's thriving little nation. I could have done without the drama of realizing that I had lost my camera, which made me return to MBS after the museum visit to ask around at reception and elsewhere until Security came through and said they had indeed found a camera in the lobby, which turned out to be mine. WHEW!

This done, I went to the second museum on my list, the Museum of Asian Civilizations that claimed to cover all of South East Asia and beyond. It was smaller than I had expected and after the business with the camera, my focus was somewhat gone, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. From here I could walk back along the riverfront, past the historic Cavenagh Bridge (once the first to span the Singapore River) and along Marina Bay back to the hotel to pick up my luggage and head for Changi Airport. I know I've said this before, but Singapore is just a town I love very much and just like London, Paris or New York could just visit again and again. Overall yet another wonderful trip to South East Asia and the return to Malaysia giving me the feeling of having come "full circle" somehow since my very first trip in 2002.

For good measure, here's a little 360° video I took in (and of) the pool: