Category Archives: Food and drink

19th March picture(s) of the day…

19 Sunday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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Today’s been Mothers day so the focus has been on Dawn and her family as I lost both my parents many years ago, whilst Dee still has hers. This has meant Dawn’s spent much of the day in the kitchen cooking or preparing a range of dishes for us to take to her parents house in nearby Huddersfield for a special Mothers day meal.

To be honest, Dawn was so organised and efficient most of my contribution was relegated to doing the washing up and helping keep the kitchen tidy whilst Dee sorted out a shoulder of lamb that had been prepared in a slow cooker overnight, then got stuck into baking. As I was supernumerary, I retreated into my office to do some more picture editing and be on call when there was more washing up to be done. I have my uses!

Needless to say, the smells that wafted up from the kitchen were gorgeous. Cooking done and clothes changed we drove over to Dawn’s parents in order to prepare the final meal. Apart from a traffic jam at Ainley Top by the M62 where some poor bugger had broken down and caused a tailback the roads were surprisingly quiet. That said, judging by the amount of men I saw buying flowers yesterday I suspect most of West Yorkshire was doing similar things to us!

Both Norah and John were blown away by the meal. Dawn’s an excellent cook and always delivers something special. The lamb was falling off the bone delicious – as was the gravy which was thickened with liquidised veg (pre-cooked garlic, carrots and onions) that had been used in cooking the lamb. This made for a really rich gravy, full of body that was an ideal accompaniment to the meat. As a dessert we had Dee’s (gluten free) apple pie made with cinnamon and Sultanas.

Now the pair of us are back at home, getting ready to start a new week. So, today’s pictures are very much food based as I can’t resist showing off what we had. Back to the diet tomorrow then…!

Gluten free Apple pie, plus a small Rhubarb crumble for ourselves.
Slow cooked Lamb henry and all the trimmings
Happy mothers Day!
Gluten free apple pie…
The luscious apple pie filling…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 57. The day before I return home…

09 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Photography, Singapore, Travel

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I was hoping to have a full and busy day here in Singapore but that was thwarted by my airline – Qatar. I’d tried to check-in online with them the other day but their website’s crap. It keeps hanging up. I even tried on my phone where I got a little further before the same thing happened. In frustration I tweeted about it and tagged them in. This gained a response which I thought was hopeful but it proved to be anything but. Whoever was on the other end of the Direct Messages went through the standard checklist. Not quite ‘have you tried turning if off and turning it back on again’ but not far off! When I was asked for information I’d already supplied I started to get a tad tetchy – especially as we were getting nowhere slowly. I was asked if I’d tried using another device – after having explained I’d used both my laptop and smartphone from the initial message. In the end, their bod on the ‘help’ desk gave up, basically. Their ‘constructive’ suggestion was that I turn up at the airport an hour early as I might get a seat I want! FFS! That’s it? What pissed me off even more was that I didn’t even get an apology, never mind any real help. To add insult to injury, Qatar sent me an email this evening asking me to check-in online. They’re oblivious to my earlier problems. Just for fun I clicked on it to see if it’d work. Did it hell…

After getting p*ssed off with Qatar Airlines and with the clock ticking I decided to head out to salvage at least some of the day. I found a local Indian establishment that served and excellent Masala Dosa which I scoffed for brunch before catching an MRT train from Little India down to Marina by the Bay – an area of Singapore that never even existed the first time I came to Singapore. It’s developed a lot since my last visit in 2017. In truth, it’s a fascinating ‘green’ area as it contains so many ecological sites as well as brilliant architecture. There’s ‘cloud forest’ which puts all Victorian palm and greenhouses to shame. Plus, there’s also ‘supertree grove‘ which makes you feel like players in the film ‘Avatar’. As if this wasn’t enough there’s also some great views across the serried ranks of ships waiting their turn to dock in the harbour. There’s so many that they look like a WW2 invasion fleet – on steroids.

The new waterfront.

In finest ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ tradition I walked almost all the way back home via a couple of places I’ve long memory of. Needless to say, that culminated in the 2nd shower of the day!

Afterwards I went out again to travel on the MRT whilst getting a few pictures. I pitched up at the end of the line, Marina Bay. Formerly Known as Keppel harbour the place has history, much of which is to do with WW2 evacuations but also a rather audacious seaborne raid launched after the island had fallen to the Japanese. The raid’s remembered by this plaque on the waterfront.

This evening I stayed closer to home as I needed to pack ready for a silly ‘o clock start (thanks, Qatar) whilst giving myself a free few hours to have something to eat, then write this – which was delayed by the fact I got into conversations with total strangers. The first was a retired Air Force technician around my age who now runs fitness classes. He was fascinating to talk to as we both shared a similar (although not identical) perspective, The rest we could agree to have differing opinions on. The second chap I met I bumped into purely because we ended up sharing a table at a popular Indian eatery. He was a wagon driver, originally from Tamil Nadu in the very South of India. He’d left his family behind to come and work in Singapore where he could earn good money and send remittances home. What a lovely way to end my trip, talking to locals and incomers about their very different lives out here.

My last Indian meal in Asia for now. This was a gorgeouschicken curry, full of the rich flavour of individual spices.

Now I’m back in the hotel, not quite believing that tomorrow I’ll be flying back to the UK. And what a time to do so. I won’t even touch on the shambles that passes for Government right now. My immediate concern is that there’s up to 40cm of snow predicted for West Yorkshire. A bit of a contrast to where I’m travelling from. But, whatever the weather, I know I’ve a warm welcome awaiting me as Dawn’s coming down to meet me at Heathrow, where we’ve a hotel booked for a night as I land far too late to get a train North.

So, this is my final blog from Asia – on this trip anyway. It won’t be long before I’m back The past two months have been fantastic but I’m not going to try and sum up the trip in this blog as it’s late and I’ve got to pack. Instead, here’s a few pictures from today’s wanderings.

Asian adventure day 56. Back in Singapore.

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Photography, Railways, Singapore, Travel

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Well, that was an interesting day. Yesterday I mentioned that my hotel wasn’t exactly what you’d call ‘top flight’ and probably rented rooms by the hour. Well, I was up at 06:30 this morning and when I went to open the bathroom door – it fell off in my hands! I get the impression that some of the clientele aren’t too bothered about the way they treat the place. This suspicion hardened when when I got the lift to the lobby and spotted a long list of repairs to be done to various rooms which had been left atop a toolkit by the lift door. As I was only here for the night I wasn’t too bothered. I’ve stayed in some far worse fleapits in my time travelling. At least here they’d got someone going round repairing things!

I was out early as I wanted to get some shots of the Johor Baru-Woodlands (Singapore) ‘Tebrau’ shuttle train crossing the causeway before it was my turn to ride on it. I also wanted to have a look at construction work on the new Rapid Transit System that will replace it in 2027. It took me a while to find a good spot overlooking the causeway but I was in place in plenty of time for the 08:30 departure from Woodlands. The light was good and I could frame the train with the backdrop of the massive Woodlands customs and immigration checkpoint. Of course, this is railway photography you’re talking about so the law of Sod came into play. Just before the train appeared the sun disappeared behind some clouds! Here’s the less than ideal shot I was left with.

Oh, well, I’ve got until 2027 to try again! The pipes you see in the foreground carried water from Malaysia to Singapore, although I’m not sure if they’re still in use.

Further East of the causeway construction’s progressing on the piers to carry the new RTS line.

The RTS will terminate just North of the existing Johor Baru station, which means it has to loop around the station on a series of viaducts. Here’s Bukit Chagar station under construction, adjacent to the existing railway.

Having walked a serious distance to amass these and many other shots I headed back to have a last shower (sans shower door) and one last Roti Canai breakfast before reporting to the railway station to await the departure of the 11:30 shuttle to Woodlands. The system at JB’s very efficient. Barriers open 30 mins before departure. You don’t need your ticket. Instead gates scan your passport (the number’s recorded when you buy online). Heading downstairs you pass through Malaysian Immigration then you’re held in a waiting area until the train’s ready. There’s no seat reservations, you just pile on. The journey across the causeway to Woodlands takes around 10 minutes, then you’re hurried off into immigration. No photographs are permitted on the platform. As you’d expect, Singapore customs and immigration staff are very efficient, you’re through in no-time. What was unexpected was they also have a sense of humour. A middle-aged female Officer joked ‘follow the handsome one’ about her older male colleague who was directing people through the barriers! Once through I caught a bus to Nearby Woodlands MRT before jumping on the train to Little India where my hotel is. It’s certainly better looked after than my last quarters, but then it’s over 3 times the price!

The rest of my day’s been spent catching up on some work and wandering Little India. The colours, sounds and smells are wonderful – as is the food. My friend Nicholas joined me for and evening meal at one of the Biryani stalls he knows in Lekka market. He had the chicken, I had mutton – which was excellent. the price was 7 Singaporean dollars apiece.

This is known a dum biryani because it comes with a curry sauce.

Sadly, we won’t have to catch up again on this trip. Now I’m back in my hotel writing this before enjoying my last full day in Asia, so it’s goodnight from me as I want to be up early in the morning…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 55. KL return day 5.

06 Monday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Photography, Travel

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My final full day in Kuala Lumpur (on this trip, anyway) was one of those days where I’d no expectations so just went with the flow and the day was all the better for it. I was up early, nipped out for breakfast and was back at my desk just after nine. This prompted me to to do the research for my earlier ‘crazy anti HS2 campaigner of the week’ blog as I’d seen their nonsense on social media earlier. I do despair of the English and Welsh ‘green’ party (The Scots have their own which is far more sensible) as it’s so out of step with European green parties when it comes to railways and actual solutions to climate-change, rather than just protesting and posturing. The greens have always been much happier protesting as it means they don’t have to come up with solutions and make the compromises we need to tackle climate change. Instead they can just play ‘holier than thou’.

Having got that off my chest and edited more pictures from the past few days the day changed. Social media can be very divorced from reality. You have ‘friends’ or followers whom you’ve never met and probably never will. I’m fortunate enough to have met several and found they’re just as likeable in real life as they are on the internet. Today was a good example. Alan Bligh and I follow each other on Twitter as we share the same interests and some friends. Alan also reads this blog and following something I’d posted earlier about my enjoyment of Laksa he extended an invitation to meet up for lunch at a place in the suburbs of KL he highly recommended so that he could introduce me to Sarawak Laksa. Why would I say no?

I had a lovely afternoon. Alan was a very gracious and informative host. His parentage is a mix of English and Singaporean and his family history’s fascinating. I learned an awful lot about life here in Malaysia which I found really interesting. It’s the sort of insight you can only get by talking to someone who’s led a full life. We ended up talking for several hours – and not just about railways.

Alan with a bowl of Shrimp Laksa

Oh, by the way, the food was delicious! Laksa is a dish that has so many variations depending on where in Malaysia you are. Alan told me there’s yet another variation where I’ll be tomorrow because a previous Sultan of Johor Baru liked spaghetti so that was added to the mix. I may have to seek it out.

After being dropped off back at my hotel I’d intended to head out to get a few more rail pictures but the glorious blue skies we’d enjoyed this morning had changed to dull cloud so I opted for a wander around the area where I’m staying and ventured further afield in order to take some street-scenes. I’m glad I did because as I walked back past the local Hindu temple they were setting up for a procession – the one thing I’ve not seen on this trip. This being 2023 the two gods on tour were in rubber wheeled palanquins towed by the sort of tractor you’d have found at airports followed by a lorry carrying a generator which was hooked up through cables to power all the lights. It’s a far cry from when the gods would have been carried on several sturdy shoulders. But, when you see the physiques of some of the priests who would be carried along with the Gods, you can understand why.

The whole thing was great fun and the people were very friendly to a curious photographer like me. Here’s a short video of the procession.

Now I’m relaxing back at the hotel, writing this in-between packing as I catch a brace of trains tomorrow in order to head South to Johor Baru once more. I’ll blog about the trip as it happens. In the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures from today.

One of the Gods gets lifted into a cart before going for a ride around town. I couldn’t work out if the route followed some religious boundary as they crossed the river, and no-one could explain.
No event like this is complete without music…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 54. KL return day 4.

05 Sunday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Photography, Travel

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I’ve had an enforced lazy Sunday today. It’s nothing to do with my back as that’s pretty much fixed now. The weather here in KL was gloriously sunny this morning so after finishing a few chores and nipping out of my more usual Roti Canai breakfast.

I’ll miss this! Two Roti with a variety of curry sauces and a coffee for breakfast.

Afterwards I decided to have another look at a couple of monorail locations to see if the sun was in the right place for blue sky shots. The only problem was when I got the the monorail station my prepaid card claimed ‘insufficient credit’. The ticket office was closed and the only one of three ticket machines that was working didn’t recognise my prepayment card so I was unable to top it up. So, I trekked back across to Pasir Seni, my local MRT station where the ticket office was staffed, only to find out they were ‘offline’. I then trekked across to Masjid Jamek station to the North and found out the whole ticketing system was down! Deciding someone was trying to tell me something and I was fated not to travel today I gave up and went for a wander on foot. That part of town was very busy today as Sunday’s the only day of the week the Indian construction workers have off, so most of them were out shopping or hanging out with friends. The rest of the city centre (including Chinatown) was crammed with cars. The place was virtually gridlocked which actually made crossing the roads easier as long as you kept a wary eye out for the scooters weaving through the static traffic like minnows.

Making the most of a bad job I spent a few hours editing and captioning pictures which have now appeared in my Malaysian rail and travel galleries before going for a wander around Chinatown. With it being so busy it’s been a good day for people-watching, seeing the different communities (Malay, Chinese and Indian) mixing with tourists from East and West. There’s a mélange of cultures, skin-colours and religions all accommodating each other. Scantily dressed Western or Chinese women rub shoulder with conservatively-dressed Muslim Malay women who even have their hair covered, never mind anything else. Admittedly, not all Malays dress this way, which is what makes it all so fascinating. Everyone seems to get along and no-one’s stressed about the attire of others.

Wandering home and recognising the time difference between the UK and Malaysia (8 hours) I said good morning to Dawn via Messenger before making our regular weekly video call and catch-up. After all my decades of travelling when letters were the only communication being able to talk face to face seems such a luxury – and for free! This will be our last call as next weekend I’ll be back in the UK which seems slightly surreal as 2 months seems to have flown by! Dee’s coming down to London to meet me at Heathrow, which will be lovely. I’m not used to being met at an airport!

But before then, there’s still some travelling to do and people to meet. Oh, and weather to experience. We’ve not had any rain today but we have had hours of the most intense thunder and lightning storm. So, my picture of the day is actually a video, shot from the window of my hotel…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 53. KL return day 3…

04 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monorails, Photography, Railways, Transport

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As with most mornings here in KL I was woken by the sound of the Muezzin’s tones as the call to prayer was announced from the local mosque which is literally only a car-park away. I don’t mind this at all, I don’t have to set my alarm-clock and the sounds are far less jarring and almost reassuring. After all, these ages old calls are so familiar to anyone who’s spent much time in a Muslim country’s. The place I normally go to for my roti canai breakfast normally has Muslim devotional music playing in the background. It’s similar to Qawwali music made famous in the UK by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Maybe the fact I had a CD of his and I’ve always enjoyed world music has influenced my sensibilities. When I went for breakfast yesterday the younger member of staff had changed the music to techno ‘Hindi Pop’ which was far more intrusive and less easy on the ear!

I didn’t plump for roti this morning, instead I tried Mee Sarawak at a place down the road that I’d spotted the other day. ‘Mee’ means noodles whilst Sarawak is the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo that’s bigger than the peninsular. I must get there one day.

Anyway, Mee Sarawak consists of noodles (obviously) with slices of pork and chicken, accompanied with a fiery chili dip and a broth made from the meat and noodle water with added spring onions. This being Asia nothing is wasted which means the pork hasn’t had the fat removed. Instead you have a fine layer of crackling atop it. It’s delicious but perhaps not the thing if you’re counting calories. As I walk around 17,000 steps and only eat two meals a day I’m not that bothered!

After eating a sizeable chunk of my day was spent getting picture of and exploring the city’s only monorail system from end to end. Looking through my picture archive I’d realised I’d not done this since 2012. In which time the size of the trains has doubled and the stations have increased in size. to cope with ’em. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll do a blog dedicated to the network in the future, now I have the updated pictures to do a ‘now and then’.

Another place I visited today was a beautiful clan-house/temple dedicated to the those Chinese with the surname ‘Chan’. It’s a fascinating place as it explains the origins of the name and how the Chans have spread. I have a passing personal interest in this as the first Chinese people ever I met when I was growing up in Southport were a Chan family who moved in next to my maternal Grandmother way back in the 1960s. There’s a story to tell there, but that’s for another day…

Now I’m relaxing back at my hotel whilst editing pictures and watching crap on Netflix. It being Saturday Chinatown’s packed with people, so I’m happy to be out of the way. I much prefer it during the week when it’s not choked with people and cars.

To finish my blog here’s a few pictures from the day.

This wonderful piece of craftwork is displayed above the door of the Chan temple.

Part of the informative displays inside the temple/clan house.

Do the maths. Each one of these 4-car monorail trains can carry up to 430 passengers. How many of the cars below only contain 1 person? Oh, spot the breakdown which has made matters worse!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 52. KL return day 2…

03 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Photography, Railways, Travel

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I’ve had another slow day back here in KL, catching up on work and dodging the rain showers and thunderstorm that have been growing in frequency and intensity throughout the day. Most of my morning was taken up with planning and booking the last part of my trip. My back’s no longer a concern and I’d loved to have done a side trip to a beach somewhere, but I’ve simply run out of time. Instead I’m going to stay in KL for a few more days in order to visit a few more rail sites to record the changes here, then retrace my steps to Johor Baru for a night. It’s not my favourite place, but the rail scene’s going to change quite a bit over the next 12 months, therefore I want to record some of the changes. The fact a hotel in JB’s a third of the cost of Singapore and I don’t arrive until 19:45 as there’s only one train a day from KL may have helped influence my decision!

Whilst much of my day’s been taken up with picture editing (you can find maritime shots here and Malaysian railways here) I have nipped out several times, firstly for my roti canai breakfast – calorific but delicious, then for something I’d promised myself, which was a couple of hours exploring photo ops on the KL monorail system.

Very few cities have monorails. Mainly because they’re low capacity and pretty inflexible. But KL’s will be 20 years old in August. It’s not long – just 5 miles with 11 station between Kuala Lumpur Sentral station and Titiwangsa where it connects with the MRT and LRT networks. Essentially, it’s an eastern loop line that passes over roads that bisect some big modern shopping and hotel areas like Bukit Bintang. Originally 3 lines were planned but only 1 was ever built. Operated as a 40 year concession by the KL Infrastructure Group it never paid its way so the line was taken over by the government in 2007. They’ve operated it ever since.

It’s fun to take a trip on and photograph, but when you do you start to realise the limitations and complexities of such systems (think escape). For example, steel wheels don’t burst then catch fire! I’ll cover those drawbacks in my next blog as I’ll be having another play tomorrow now I’ve worked out a few good photo locations. In the meantime, here’s a few shots from today.

A monorail train bound for KL Sentral passes along Jalan Sultan Sulaiman.
A monorail bound for KL Sentral beats the traffic at Maharajalela station.
Two monorail trainsets pass each other just outside Raja Chulan station.

Walking home in time for a well-deserved (and needed) shower I downloaded my pictures and did some more work before heading out for my evening meal. Earlier I’d spotted a place down the road from where I’m staying which was advertising ‘Mee Sarawak’ (Mee being noodles and Sarawak a part of Malaysia), they looked really good but by the time I got there they were closed so I ended up at my old favorite where you can mix and match with the possibility you’ll see something you’ve never tried before. That’s what happened to me tonight. I saw a dark meat dish in a rich sauce and thought – let’s give it a go…

11:00 is cow lung. 13:00 is Tempe. 18:00 is mixed veg. The rest is a bed of rice with a couple of extra curry sauces thrown in. This is self-service. You load your plate and show it to the staff who then decide what to charge you. This was 5 ringitt- less than a quid.

It was chewy but full of flavour and the sauce was divine. Afterwards I asked one of the staff what it was I’d been eating. Cow lung, apparently. Well, there’s always a first!

Now I’m back in the comfort of my hotel typing this before switching off to watch an intriguing Icelandic film noir series I’ve discovered on Netflix. Talk about a small world…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Asian adventure day 49. Georgetown day 17.

28 Tuesday Feb 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Georgetown, Malaysia, Photography, Railways, Travel

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Toda’s my last full day in Georgetown – at least on this trip, although I did nip over to the mainland for several hours to amass some more railway pictures. As is often the case my timing wasn’t brilliant and the fates conspired against me. I was up early but wanted to get a local breakfast so I wandered up to the Komtar bus station to buy some Nasi Lemak. I struggled to find it where I was staying in KL but then the opposite’s true here. I love Roti Canai to start the day with but the place I used to get it for breakfast here’s closed down. Funny old world…

Suitably fed and watered I scanned the skies and thought a trip over to Bukit Tengah, the first station out of Butterworth would be worth doing as I could spend a couple of hours taking pictures before coming home. As the ferries are only hourly now I even had time for a wander and buy some ‘clackers’ for a friend. Remember ‘clackers’? They were a 1970’s child’s toy phenomenon. Two plastic balls on the end of some twine that you bounced up and down until they ricocheted off each other in an endless cycle like a devilish Newton’s cradle (with half the balls). Well that was the idea, most people lost control after a minute or so and got a hefty clout on the wrist. It was a passing fad, but here in Penang they’re back.

My diversions meant the first ferry I could catch was the 11.30 which was fine, I arrived early, found a hard plastic seat next to a fan, logged on the the free wifi and waited. The seat was a bad idea, because as soon as I tried to stand up my back/bum muscle problems returned. I’d been doing so well up to that point too – bugger!

Despite the setback I continued with my trip, catching the ferry to Butterworth before walking up to the station to buy a 2 ringgit return to Bukit Tengah, the first station up the line but which is the location of the new depot which services locomotives, multiple units and wagons. Photographically, it’s far better than Butterworth, but there’s not a lot going on outside the station, so if you were tempted to visit, bring your own snacks. There’s a big petrol station outside if you’re desperate, but the choice of food’s limited, expensive and not very healthy. Anyways here’s a sample of the pictures I took.

‘Dalian’ 29106 powers around the curves at Bukit Tengah en-route to Butterworth.

Right now I’m enjoying my last night in a town I love. I’d planned to have a drink in one of the old bars I photographed in the past but found somewhere far mor interesting. After the rain had come and gone I went for a walk and passed what the Aussies would call a ‘bottle shop’. Only this bottle shop provided seating and gradually took over the road outside. A shout from a chap I’d bumped into earlier led me to sitting with a mixed group. He was from New Zealand, but the woman next to him was from South Korea. Also present was a local Indian guy as well as a bloke from Catalonia, who was keen to emphasise he wasn’t Spanish! It turned out to be a lovely group. We asked a lot of questions of each other and covered a lot of political and social ground.

The ‘secret’ International bar. It springs up some nights apparently and its clients are far more interesting and communicative than the ‘posh’ bars nearby. Here people talk, they don’t sit and stare at their smartphones

Now I’m back at home, packing and preparing to move on tomorrow. I can’t think of a better ending to my time here and I’ll certainly return, one day. Happy places are so rare…

On my way home I passed the Hong Kong bar (est 1920) on Lebuh Chulia which used to be packed. But fashions have really changed and the fleet’s no longer in. Instead there’s one lonely lady left staring at her TV, surrounded by old mementoes of better, busier times.

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If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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Asian adventure day 47. Georgetown day 15.

26 Sunday Feb 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Georgetown, Malaysia, Photography, Travel

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This will be a very short blog from me today as most of my day’s been spent at the Georgetown branch of Bigland Towers editing the huge backlog of pictures I have whilst still exploring the town and getting a few steps in. After that I had a long weekend video call with with Dawn which really bridged the miles.

Living in West Yorkshire, the one thing I’ve come to appreciate is how flat Georgetown old town is. Don’t get me wrong, Penang’s famous for its hills but the old town’s a cyclist’s delight. The biggest ‘hill’ I’ve climbed recently is the footbridge near the Komtar centre!

Anyway here’s a few pictures from the day…

There’s so many different food to try here you could spend months chomping your way around the place. Today I found a spare table at this place and tried their Laksa, which was gorgeous!
The soup’s more of a broth and you really wouldn’t expect the ingredients to work together, but they do. Despite its fame this restaurant charges 7 ringgit for a bowl – less than £1.30.

Oh, and here’s today’s random cat picture…

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Thank you!

Asian adventure day 41. Georgetown day 9.

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in Food and drink, Georgetown, Malaysia, Photography, Travel

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This won’t be a huge blog. Not because nothing’s been going on, rather the opposite! I didn’t get back to my hotel until late because I’ve been over to the mainland to meet up with a friend, Nicholas Lim. Nick is from Singapore but he’s travelling back from Bangkok. He’s broken his rail journey at Butterworth for the day before heading the rest of the way to Singapore by train tomorrow. As he knew I was in the area he contacted me and we arranged to see each other. I caught the ferry over to Butterworth where the pair of us enjoyed exploring part of the local rail network. The Northern sector of Malaysian railways is heavy with freight as well as a pretty intensive local passenger service. From February 18th that’s been strengthened by an extra three 3-car trains transferred North from KL that previously operated the suspended Skypark service. I can understand why. I travelled on it once and I was the only passenger. In contrast, the trains around Butterworth are busy, especially the ones to Padang Besar which often have six-car SCS sets working them.

We nipped out to Bukit Tengah the first station out of Butterworth which is where the new loco depot is located. On the platform we bumped into two local rail enthusiasts, both in their teens. Nick translated a question for me and I found out there’s 34 people in their local group which I found interesting, as it’s clear rail enthusiasm isn’t just a UK thing, nor is it confined to older ages.

We moved on to the next station, Bukit Mertajam to inspect the old steam locomotive plinthed outside the station. I remember it being outside the lovely old Butterworth station and wondered where it went. The years haven’t been kind to it. It needs some serious restoration (especially on the tender) otherwise in a few more years it’ll be a pile of rust.

As the Penang ferries are so infrequent now that was the limit of our travels. We headed back to Butterworth and caught the 18:00 ferry to Penang as Nick was keen to show me what he considered one of the best Nasi Kandar restaurants on the island. We boarded the free shuttle bus from near the ferry terminal to the Komtar centre and walked from there. I have to admit, Nick was right, this place is so popular you have to queue to get in – and I can see why, the combination of spices in the curry sauces was excellent and the staff are liberal with the mixtures. I had chicken and squid, both of which were delicious.

After eating we stopped off for a shared bottle of beer at a street restaurant which turned into an interesting experience as whilst we were sitting outside on the pavement the police turned up in a wagon and confiscated all the outside tables bar the one we were sitting at! The officers of the law had decided some infringement had taken place, so that was it!

I left Nick at the Komtar tower to get his bus back to the ferry terminal and catch the last ferry (21:00, what a travesty of a service) whilst I walked home. I’ll detail more of the trip tomorrow, but for now, here’s a few pictures.

One of the Chinese built 29xxx series freight loco’s which were bought in a palm oil swap many years ago. Known as ‘Dalians’ (after where they were built) they’re not as reliable as the ‘Blue Tigers’ but recent work has helped many of them return to traffic after being stored. This one’s returning light after having brought an intermodal service to the North container terminal.
The new shopping centre built over Butterworth’s bus station provides an excellent vantage point from its rooftop car park. Here’s looking back across a ship in the oil terminal at Butterworth to Swettenham Pier on Penang and a huge cruise ship which is getting ready to set sail. Two more from Singapore are due in tomorrow, which might make for some interesting pictures. In the background to the shot are some of the many residential skyscrapers that have sprung up like weeds in past 10 years – and there’s many more to follow…
Two of the redundant Penang ferries left rusting at Butterworth. Hiding behind them is one of their temporary sissy replacements.
The huge ramps to the Butterworth ferry terminal that used to be rammed with cars. Now all they see is the occasional scooter.
Also left rusting is former Malaysian railways ‘Pacific’ No 564.25 which was moved from Butterworth to a place outside Bukit Mertajam station.
Wearing Skypark livery but with all branding removed (at least on the outside) set 33 sits at Butterworth before working a local service to Padang Rengas.
Nicholas enjoying a plate of Nasi Kandar. It’s a mix of chicken, boiled eggs, veg and rice with lashings of different curry sauces.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to pottering around Georgetown whilst trying to catch up on editing todays pictures, so expect an earlier blog – or two.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!