Our New Office

Friday, November 28th and Saturday, November 29th, 2008 – As time passes, Sara and I are spending more time working and less time touring. Part of the reason is that we’re a little busy (awesome), but part of the reason is that we’re starting to see some repetition. A lot of the sites and sounds of South East Asia are repeated in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Singapore, and Penang. This isn’t to say we aren’t enjoying our visit to Penang or that we’re not having fun – rather, we don’t need as much time to visit all the sites as we did when we first started our little trip.

One of the highlights of our visit to Penang followed a fairly long day of walking. We were thinking about grabbing a snack and a taxi back to our hotel (the Evergreen Laurel, quite nice and inexpensive to boot) and I was looking around for a place to eat. A very gregarious man noticed I was looking “lost” and approached us on the street. He asked us if we knew where we were and where we were headed. Stunned by someone seeming so open, and a little concerned this was some sort of come-on for a scam, I was reluctant to respond. However, he had such a friendly and matter-of-fact manner that I didn’t know what to do.

Before I knew it we were following this man to the “best view in all of Penang.” He walked briskly and with great importance, his huge belly sticking out proudly. He guided us across 5 lanes of traffic on a busy street, dramatically stepping in front of cars and sticking out his hand. They stopped abruptly, and then he would motion for us to follow. Imagine a serious version of Chris Farley’s old “motivational speaker” and you’ve got some idea. It was odd to say the least.

We followed him into a dank corner of a tall office building, jumped in a small elevator, and next thing we know we’re paying about $6 to see the view from the Komtar tower. Turns out that the guy worked as a tour guide at the tower, and it dawned on me “he’s done this before…” It was very funny when it was all over.

The view from the Komtar Tower was great – here’s a look at old Georgetown.

The office tower was tall, cheap to enter, and 40 years old in a state of disrepair. The floors were cracked, the ceiling tiles were gross, and it smelled a little odd too. Still, the views were amazing.

Next, it was time for a little jungle action. We visited the Botanic garden (which edges up against the jungle) and walked down a dark, scary jungle path. We saw ants that were about an inch long and as big around as your little finger – crazy. We were scared of stepping on a snake, getting bit by a bug, and “aggressive monkeys.”

Speaking of monkeys, we saw a very cool scene – we even managed to capture it on video. Alas, we’re having a computer problem right now and I can’t get the files off my old machine. Rest assured, it will happen.

We were surrounded by monkeys at the park, and we got some great video of them being mischievous. We’ll post it as soon as we get our computer problem worked out.

These two were too cute.

Finally, we enjoyed a very nice Indian meal in Georgetown on our last night. Things were great right up until the very end, when a curious little cockroach crawled up on the chair right next to Sara and looked over inquisitevely saying “anything left for me?” just after I paid the check.

Such is life in the tropics…

Thursday, November 27th, 2008. We ventured out into Georgetown this afternoon after a morning’s worth of work. On the way to our first attraction, we bumped into Sheila, an expat visiting Georgetown but currently living in China. Genuinely excited to meet another westerner (especially one from the USA), we invited her along on our tour. We talked about China mostly, and it was very enlightening to hear the perspective of a person who had lived in China for more than 10 years (as opposed to our 3 weeks of experience).

After navigating Georgetown’s treacherous sidewalks (or lack thereof) for a few miles, we parted company with Sheila and visited Cheong Fatt Tze mansion. It was hot, so we stopped at the bar of the Eastern and Oriental Hotel for a cool drink and an appetizer. Next, we walked past St. George’s Church (built in the early 1800’s by the British East India company), the Kong Hock Keong Temple (an icon of worship for the local Chinese population), Capitan Kling Mosque, and a host of other local religious buildings.

The Cheong Fatt Tze mansion.

St. George’s Church in Georgetown, Penang.

The Kong Hock Keong Temple, where Joss sticks and paper are burned for good luck.

The Capitan Kling Mosque.

The culture of Georgetown, along with other cities along the Straits of Malacca, is very similar. Indians, Chinese, and Malays settled cities created and defended by the British and Dutch. The melding of Hindu, Muslim, Taoist, Buddhist, and Christian religions (and cultures) has created a place where everyone shares a common experience despite a completely different heritage. “Americans” (a term I’ve learned is improper – What are all the other people who live in North, South, or Central America supposed to call themselves?) tend to think of the USA as the greatest cultural “melting pot” in the world. Not so – the USA is a great melting pot, but there are a lot of other places that manage this same feat too. What’s more, the USA has yet to embrace and respect Muslim religion and culture as well as Singapore, Georgetown, and elsewhere.

Georgetown is a great example of culture and religion co-existing peacefully – an example we should all hope to aspire too.

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008. We left Singapore today (boo) and flew to Penang (an island about 600 miles northeast). Penang is part of Malaysia, but very much like Singapore, it was colonized and developed by the British Empire. Our guidebook says it offers all the best of Malaysia, and we’re quite excited.

First, can I tell you how great both Singapore Airlines and Changi International Airport are? The airline is great – super friendly staff, everyone wears smart uniforms (the flight attendants looked hot), and even though our flight was only 45 minutes long, we got two drinks and a nice little sandwich as a snack. Asian airlines blow their U.S. coutnerparts out of the water when it comes to service.

Changi International Airport was amazing as well. It looks nice, it’s huge, it’s very open and friendly feeling, it’s pretty easy to navigate, and they have one of the smartest security setups I’ve ever seen. Once you check-in, you can do whatever you like in the main concourse (like Bangkok). Security is a breeze because each and every flight has it’s own security team. When it’s time to board your aircraft, there’s an x-ray machine and security staff waiting for you at the gate. It doesn’t take long to get through security because the only people you’re waiting on are also on your flight. If there’s a problem in security, good news – YOUR FLIGHT WON’T LEAVE. Everyone that’s on your flight will be waiting, just like you. Very smart indeed – but I imagine it takes more people to provide security to each flight, so I doubt I’ll ever see this in a major US aiport.

Once we landed in Penang and made the long drive from the airport to Georgetown, we were hungry. Penang has a large variety of Hawker centers (like Singapore), but they aren’t as clean and nice. While searching for a place to find a nice meal, it occured to Sara and I that Thanksgiving, the famous U.S. holiday, was tomorrow. We started thinking about finding a real Thanksgiving meal, and we got a little homesick I think. What happened next, well, it’s funny but I’m a little embarassed.

WE WENT TO CHILI’S! There was one right down the street from our hotel in Georgetown (unbeknownst to us), and when we turned the corner and saw the sign, we both knew that’s what we wanted.

We justified it by saying it was “almost Thanksgiving” and we deserved some food from home. We ordered queso dip and chips for the appetizer, Sara had a rum and coke and chicken fingers, and I had an “Oldtimer with cheese.” My burger tasted like fish a little bit (they must have just cooked fish on the same spot on the grill that my burger cooked on), and Sara’s rum and coke was a huge task (you have to order them separately), but BOY OH BOY WAS IT GOOD.

Chili’s for Thanksgiving – not the high point of my life but certainly not bad. You try being on the road in Asia for 9 weeks…you miss some things you never realized you liked that much. Like Seinfeld re-runs, smooth sidewalks, clearly marked road signs…and Chili’s.