My sojourn in Georgetown was all too short, but I’m running out of time. Today I’m moving on to Kuala Lumpur. I was awake and out early to make the most of that time, although Georgetown sleeps late. Nothing much is open before 10:00. That said, it’s lovely and cool and a good time to explore the empty streets and take pictures – just not shop!
The first part of today’s trip was getting off Penang Island and back to the mainland. That’s a lot easier now the new ferries are running from the old terminal in Georgetown. It’s just a few minutes away on a bus from Lubuh Chulia (around the corner from where I was staying). The ferries run every 30 mins so I connected with the 11:00 sailing. At Butterworth I discovered a fantastic (but deserted) space that’s been built where the old ferry ramps were. There’s great views back to Penang, and you can ship-watch or just enjoy the breeze. Oh, it has free WiFi too – hence this blog!
A classic view. One of the new ferries passes mine as it heads for Georgetown, with the Komtar tower in the background. This was the first ‘skyscraper’ on the island. When it opened in 1985 it was the tallest building in SE Asia! Goodbye Georgetown. For now…The view back to Penang. Here’s looking the other way. There’s various shop units here but few seem to be occupied. That said, the one nearest to the camera opened up at lunchtime, serving food to a dozen or so local people who helped make the space useful. I’m sure that when more units are let this could become a busy space.
Another good photographic vantage point is the rooftop parking levels at the massive new shopping complex that’s been built at the back of the ferry terminal. This was where I was shooting pictures from in 2023, but where I am now is far more pleasant!
My train leaves at 13:05 and arrives in KL just over three hours later. I’ll update this blog from there. Here it is – an ETS set built by CRRC of China in 2018 but assembled in Malaysia.
15:45.
Wow! There’s working wifi aboard this ETS trainset. Well, in coach C where the buffet is – which is where I’m sat enjoying a coffee (made with coffee bags, and really rather good), checking in with the world and updating this blog. This train’s sold out. Whenever people get off en-route their seat’s been rebooked. The train’s one of the 2nd batch of ETS sets and it suffers from the same issues as earlier ones, such as blown windows that are almost impossible to see through and a lack of exterior cleaning. It’s all a bit careworn too. Even so, it can still hit over 140kph, not bad for a meter-gauge railway.
A busy Coach C, looking along from the buffet portion.The buffet area of coach C. There’s a good selection of pre-prepared local food such as Nasi Lemak. There’s also a small selection of sandwiches for those who prefer plainer fare. Hot and cold drinks are also on the menu. There’s two small tables which seat two apiece next to the counter for those who want to linger.
21:50.
I’m settled here in KL so it’s time to bring this blog to a close. We were a few minutes late into Kuala Lumpur (old station) which is where I disembarked. It’s a much handier location (within walking distance) for Chinatown than the new KL Sentral. Whilst I was there several trains passed through the magnificent trainshed. Sadly, the whole edifice is showing lots of signs of neglect. The hotel which took up part of the main building and kept it alive was closed down in 2011. Since then, the place has been in a slow decline as no plans have materialised about what to do with it. A railway museum was established, but that didn’t last long. The erratic nature and history of the commuter services through KL hasn’t helped – but more of that in another blog.
The vast trainshed and four platforms of Kuala Lumpur station, with the main part of the building to the right. The station was designed by Arthur Benison Hubback in Indo-Saracenic style which was much in vogue at the time.The sad signs of decay in the largely empty main building. A KTM Commuter train calls on the way to Batu Caves.Another SCS EMU passes through the 1986 addition to the station. This was built to allow greater access to the Pasir Seni area and new commercial district. Only now, commuter trains no longer stop here as they’ve reverted to using the main trainshed, leaving it all a bit of a white elephant, although the escalators and walkways are still rather useful to get through to Pasir Seni.
Tomorrow I’ll be having a slow day around Chinatown in order to catch up on a few things in the morning before meeting a Malaysian friend in the afternoon, so expect more blogging and picture updates.
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Today was my first Monday back at work and the past two months travels already seem like a dream if it wasn’t for the fact I’ve all the pictures that prove it was real. Oh, and a tan! Jet lag is already receding. I’m still waking up early but not half-way through the night, although tiredness in the evening is still hitting me. It’s not as if I’ve been exerting myself physically as I’ve been stuck behind a desk for the vast majority of the day because I’ve been busy wading through emails and a pile of real mail that’s been accumulating whilst I’ve been away. Then there’s been the weather. We had heavy, gusting rain during the night that’s disposed of all of the remaining snow. The rain returned this morning and never really went away. Persistent precipitation meant that I didn’t even get out for a walk today – making it only the second time I’ve not hit my steps target this year. I’m hoping to make up for that tomorrow although the forecast looks bleak.
On the bright side, I’ve got a lot done today even though I’ve been trying to ease myself back in to my usual routine slowly. I’ve edited the final selection of pictures from my trip although most of them still need to have captions added. I did get a few dozen completed which you can find in the Malaysian gallery (link) on my Zenfolio website. There’s many more to follow tomorrow. Now it’s time to call it a day as the jet lag’s beginning to catch up with me and I’m planning on an early night. But, before I go I’ll leave you with a sample shot from my latest Malaysian pictures.
Homelessness is a problem in Malaysia, just as it is in the UK, although as a more developed and richer country we have even less of an excuse to allow it to happen. People find all sorts of temporary places to live. In the case of the chap in the green shirt it’s the bus station underneath the Komtar centre which provides a roof over his head (and that of several others). His belongings are hung on the rail next to him and stored underneath seats to the right. With the constant to-ing and fro-ing of buses it’s hardly the quietest or least polluted place to live, but at least it’s safe…
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Much as I’d liked to have lingered longer in Georgetown it’s time to hit the road and begin my journey south towards Singapore. I’ll miss this place, but I know I’ll be back again sometime. This is such a fascinating multicultural place with rich history I could never tire of it. Add in the fantastic food and the fact it’s a crossroads for so many travellers, what’s not to like?
The weather’s overcast making it a good day to travel. I didn’t want to risk my back (or the wheels on my case) so I got a taxi from Star Lodge to the ferry. terminal – well worth the 12 ringgit (just over £2) it cost me). With the limited capacity ferries only running hourly now I’ve arrived in plenty of time to get to the front of the queue for the 11:30 ferry before catching the 12:45 train from Butterworth.
For once, I’m going to write a rolling blog throughout the trip. I’m travelling ‘Platinum’ class this time, which is the Malaysian version of 1st which should make for a relaxing trip. It takes just over four hours to reach KL Sentral nowadays, a great improvement on the past. The only shame is that services aren’t more frequent with just five ETS trains a day linking the two cities.
There’s more than a dozen other Europeans in the queue for the ferry. I suspect most of them will be doing the same as me as the trains the best way to travel. Plus, Standard class only costs £16!
11:22. The ferry has disgorged the inbound passengers, now it’s our time to board. These ex-Langkawi boats are nowhere near as much fun as the old ferries but at least they get you there (most of the time).
12:45. (Malay time).
We’re off! Platinum class in these new ETS sets is rather good..
Almost as soon as we’d left we were served lunch. It may have been prepared and served in a plastic tray, beut the quality of the chicken, bamboo shoots and green rice was rather good.
These particular ETS sets are from the second batch supplied by CRRC Zhuzhon Locomotive Ltd but assembled in Malaysia in 2018. Like most Chinese rolling stock quality (or rather the lack of it) and attention to detail are the issues. Despite only being only five years old the sets are fraying at the edges. Some of the windows have blown so are full of condensation, paintwork’s flaking and nothing really seems to have been made to last. That said, what did KTM specify in the contracts – and was there a warranty? At least they’re doing a bit better than the SCS Komuter sets.
Build quality aside, they ride well. We’re currently bowling along at 139kph so the PIS screen above the doors tells me. Oh, and they don’t leak – which is just as well as it’s chucking it down outside as we approach Taipeng.
13:55 (Malay time)
We’ve just passed through one of the new tunnels between Taipeng and Padang Rengas that were bored as part of the line’s modernisation back in the 2000s. The old British built single track line used to stagger through these jungle-clad hills – which was great fun if you were a railway enthusiast, but not if you were an ordinary passenger keen to get to their destination.
This part of Malaysia is very attractive because its so hilly. Whilst the lowlands around the railway are cultivated by palm oil and rubber plantations and the occasional fish farm, the high hills with their lush jungle are mostly left untouched.
14:40 (Malay time).
We’ve just left the town of Ipoh. Its an interesting place I’ve visited a couple of times. I was another colonial centre famous for mining so not only does it have an impressive Edwardian station building it also boasts an attractive old town centre. I’ll post a couple of links to pictures later. This area provides the railway with a lot of freight traffic due to the massive rail-served cement plant at Tasek. The size of the rail yards around the town reflect this.
Next stop after Ipoh was Batu Gajah which has become a railway centre nowadays. The new depot and associated sites which include a CRRC plant replaced the old British-built Sentul works which was Malaysia’s Crewe, employing thousands of people. Batu Gajah’s far more up to date, built to maintain diesel and electric fleets – not steam!
As soon as we departed the staff fed us again, this time with a snack box containing peanuts, a kitkat and a carton of apple juice to accompany a hot drink (I plumped for coffee) as well as a Danish pastry and cupcake.
15:40 (Malay time)
We’ve arrived at Tanjung Malim which is the Northernmost extremity of KL’s ‘Komuter’ network. There’s a few stabling roads here, one of which contains two badly damaged cars from set SCS06. They’ve clearly been in a collision, but what with I wonder? No-one appears to be in a hurry to do anything with them as I passed them on my way North over a month ago. I’ve just Googled these class 92s and found out this set was badly damaged at this location way back in October 2018! 6 clearly isn’t a lucky number as this was the 2nd accident the set was involved in, and it was hit by a Class 26…
16:30 (Malay time)
We’ve crawled into Sungai Buloh which is the start of single line working through to KL Sentral whilst the second line’s being re-laid and rebuilt. It plays hell with capacity in the Klang valley and I’m hoping to have a closer look at work whilst I’m here.
21:30.
Time to round up the day from ‘Bigland Towers’ KL branch! My train arrived into KL Sentral spot on time. A one stop hop on the MRT system to Pasir Seni got me back to the City Lodge Hotel on the edge of Chinatown where I stayed earlier. I now have a room next door to my old one!
The rain that’s followed me all the way from Penang had remained over KL all day so I’ve not been tempted to venture out. Instead it been a case of getting my new ‘office’ set up. I like the rooms here as they have good desk space by a window with plenty of power sockets. Looking at the forecast the weather’s going to be the same tomorrow but I’m happy to have a day working, catch up on picture editing and UK stuff whilst having the odd wander for food. Here’s not as sociable a place as Georgetown so there’s no distractions in that way.
My new office…
Thankfully my back problems didn’t cause any problem with travelling. Maybe it’s finally on the mend which will be a relief – especially with the fact in 10 days I’m going to be spending an awful lot of time glued to aircraft seats!
Right, now it’s time to get on with a few others bits. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s rolling blog. One thing I haven’t explored on this trip is KL’s monorail. I intend to put that right before I leave…
To end the day, here’s a couple of pictures from Butterworth. The ‘new’ ferries may be lousy for taking pictures from compared to their counterparts, but the new shopping complex adjacent to the ferry terminal has a multi-story car park above it. Here’s the view from the 8th floor.
Class 25 number 25109 removes empty container flats from the North terminal. Vosco Unity is a Vietnamese bulk carrier. Built in 2004 by Imbari shipbuilding the ships gross tonnage is 29,963. After unloading she sailed to Prai (Malaysia) earlier today.
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/
Today’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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I’d thought of a visit to one of the beaches around Batu Ferrenghi on Penang’s North coast today but when I got up this morning the weather was overcast and the threat of rain was very much in the air. So, plan B it was then which meant having a far more chilled time and not subjecting my healing back/bum to the hard plastic seats on the local buses. Instead, I spent much of the morning editing and captioning some of the backlog of travel pictures I have in order to get them onto my picture website. You can find them here.
There’s a lot more to add but I’ve always got to balance the time taking them to the time editing them, especially as the former can only be done in one place and the latter anywhere. Tomorrow’s my last full day in Georgetown before catching the train back South to KL (Kuala Lumpur). I’ve mixed feelings about that as I’m very happy here. I’ve always loved this place, but I know I can’t stay here forever. I’ve spent hours and walked miles exploring the streets which has been fabulous – as have the people because the overwhelming majority (from whatever original nationality) are so friendly. Make eye-contact and smile and you’ll get a smile back – or even a wave and ‘hello mister’. Do that in the UK and many people will think you’re some kind of nutter. It’s the same with photography. Most people on motorcycles will wave and grin if they see you’re taking a photograph. Here’s an example from the food fair I went to a couple of days ago.
This picture was entirely unforced. I just happened to be walking past their stall and they saw my camera pointing towards them so responded positively. That’s one of the things I like about this part of the world.
Tonight I’d nipped out for some local street food. Char Kway Teow (stir-fry noodles) and ended up sharing a table with a young Indian guy. Whilst be waited for our food to arrive we struck up a conversation. It turned out he lives in Mumbai. He’s in his early twenties and works on the Indian oil and gas rigs as an engineer. They do 28 days on, 28 days off and as he’s young, footloose and fancy-free he spends much of his time travelling. He’s in Georgetown for a few days before heading up to Bangkok and then Vietnam. As I’ve done the same route we swapped travel tips and talked about places we both know in India. It’s yet another example of why I really enjoy this cultural melting pot and international crossroads. We were so busy talking that I forgot to take a picture of this signature Malaysian meal, but I’m sure I’ll have it again before I leave.
Now it’s time to have a quiet night in, my penultimate one in Georgetown (on this trip, anyway) before heading South. Still, you can see some more of the pictures I’ve been busy adding to my Zenfolio site by following this link.
There’s so much that I could write about and pictures that I could show you but times limited. It would be so very easy to write a book about this place. In the interim, I’m going to leave you with another bit of street art that references world war 2 but also a cartoon strip in the iconic 1960s ‘Mad’ magazine which I used to read second-hand thanks to my brother, Dave. Plus, it’s about photography, so it scores full points with me.
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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…
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/
Here’s the latest snapshot of life in Georgetown which never fails to fascinate me as every day is different. You can walk down the same street a dozen times but there’ll always something that turns your head.
Whilst my back injury’s been healing it still isn’t perfect which has meant I’ve had to make a go/no-go decision. I’ve less than two weeks left here in Asia before returning to the UK so heading back to Bangkok by rail only to spend another two days retracing my steps to Singapore doesn’t make sense – as much as I’d have liked to. Instead I’m going to stay here in Georgetown until March 1st, then head back down to Kuala Lumpur en-route to Singapore. There might be a side-trip involved yet, but we’ll see.
In the meantime I’m loving being here in Georgetown. I’ve often said how it’s one of my ‘happy places’ and I feel very at home here. It’s not the cheapest place in Malaysia but it is one of the most interesting. I’ve spent most of the day wandering the streets with my camera, so here’s a few of the results.
Tram tracks still embedded in Jalan Penang despite having been abandoned 100 years earlier. Georgetown used to have a fleet of trolleybuses until 1961. Some of the vehicles were ex-London buses.
I’d walked over to the Komtar tower bus station to stretch my legs and pick up a traditional Malaysian breakfast of Nasi Lemak but what I saw on the way back really pissed me off. I passed a young European ‘beggar’ with a sign asking people to give him money so that he could get a ticket to Bangkok. What the fcuk? He was sitting there staring at his smartphone without making eye-contact with anyone or making any interaction other than with his cardboard sign. Now, my head is full of questions as I know how border crossings work. I’d read about these western beggars in the newspapers recently, but never thought it would be a thing and that Europeans could have such a sense of entitlement and lack of understanding of the countries they’re in. More fool me, obviously.
His sign says “Hi, I’m travelling, please help me collect money for the train to Bangkok and food. Thank you”.
Less than 50 metres away I passed this woman. Guess which one got my money?
What really pisses me off about this guy is he’s offering nothing in return, just expecting. For the past few nights there’s been another European who’s set up a stall near where I’m staying who sell bracelets he’s made. I consider him to be in a completely different category.
This incident has led me to dig this old sign that was prominently displayed as Padang Besar station which is the rail crossing between Malaysia and Thailand. This was still here in 2009.
Oh, on a completely different note, here’s today’s random cat picture.
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/
Shit – 12 days already? OK, if it wasn’t for my injury I might not have stayed so long. On the other hand – I’m in no rush to leave. I love it here and it’s the one place where – if I had another life – I’d consider moving to. Funnily enough Charlotte and Adi expressed the same sentiment because you can get everything here – and you’re not too far from the Thai border -hence the daily minibuses. Only now there’s a fly in that ointment. The Thai Government have decided you can only make two stamped at the border crossings a calender year. After that you need to apply for a (free) visa at a Thai embassy – which will take up a whole day of your time and a page in your passport. This doesn’t apply if you fly. It’s purely about land crossings. Let’s not even get into ‘green’ options – although I’m considering mine.
Therefore I’ve decided to stay longer in Malaysia and spend time thinking about where I go next. After all, there’s so much to see and do here and Georgetown’s the perfect place for people -watching. I’ve been taking pictures today which do exactly that. I love wandering the streets so here’s a couple of todays pictures.
I walked through Downing St earlier. Remember when you used to be able to do that in the UK? Admittedly, is wasn’t full of tw*ts in those days…
Having been here for a while I’ve started to get to know some people. Not foreigners – I had a very depressing experience sharing a table in an Indian curry house tonight, when my enforced English companion (no other table was free) started banging on about ‘illegal’ immigrants taking people’s jobs in the UK. I was too mellow to rip him a new arsehole on that one, especially when he admitted he just drifted around Asia. But that’s a lot of Brits for you. Neither history nor immigration laws are their forte. It’s frustrating and the fact these xenophobes can’t put 2 and 2 together makes me want to scream.
It’s late and I won’t start telling the story of the chap in the bechak (tricycle) tonight as he deserves more. Instead, here’s a cuddly cat picture. Malaysians love their pets and also look after strays, You’ll always see pellet food and water being left out in strategic places. But in this case – this pudding thinks it owns the shop-house it lives in by the simple expedient of blocking the narrow doorway.
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/
I’d planned to write a long blog about Georgetown today, but there’s been one problem. I’ve spent too much time exploring it and now it’s late. I’ve been wandering the streets since this morning and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It’s such a fascinating place, full of life and with so much to see and experience. I’ve always loved the town and today’s reminded me why. I took off this morning with no particular plan or destination in mind. I was literally getting lost, getting to a crossroads and then suddenly deciding to go left or right, just to see where I ended up. I’ve no guidebook to tell me where I ‘must’ go so I’m unconstrained. Half the fun is not being told where to go and discovering things.
Georgetown in such a vibrant, artistic place I was bound to fund street-art everywhere and the old town’s an UNESCO world heritage site, so there’s plenty of old temples and shrines to find, but I’m fascinated by the everyday architectural styles and the way the old Chinese shophouses developed. There’s such a mish-mash of architecture here it’s brilliant. Then there’s the shantys. Places that have no style as they’re organic, being put together out of whatever the occupant could find. I will do a long blog about the place as I’ve been taking photographs and collecting material all day, but for now, here’s a few pictures to show what I’ve been up to.
One of the classic pieces of street art that appears on T-shirts and bags. This is in Lebuh Ah Quee, only a few minutes walk from where I’m staying. Street-art is everywhere and a lot of it is very inventive.A lot of the buildings here carry their date on which they were built, which is incredibly useful for gauging the age and development of the town. This is a 1940 version of a Chinese shop-house. I wonder if the occupants had any idea what was coming the next year?
. One of the many delights of Malaysia is the way so many people work open to passers-by. This man’s a Chinese calligrapher and carver who was sat outside his shop. Deep in concentration, he didn’t even see me. Believe it or not, this is was passes for parking in Georgetown. This is Lebuh Chulia, one of the main arteries and bus routes, but abandoning your car like this whilst you go to a shop is OK, apparently. To the right you can see one of the many local ‘Wombles’. People who eke out a living by collecting and recycling plastic, cardboard and cans they collect off the streets.Who needs a car when you can fit all this on a scooter? Georgetown’s a photographer’s paradise. All you have to do is stand on a street corner and wait…
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After the all my exertions (and steps walked) yesterday, today’s been a day for relaxing. The good news for me is that my back seems to be in full recovery mode so the pain I felt a few days ago is really subsiding. It hasn’t gone completely by any means, but I now feel confident about planning my future travels. To be honest, I’m quite content here in Georgetown, there’s so much to see and do, but it is the most expensive place in Malaysia (food, accommodation etc) – even the country’s capital – Kuala Lumpur, is cheaper. But this place is special, which is why I’ll probably stay a few more days. The only question now is which way to go. North back into Thailand or stay in Malaysia. Yesterday, Nick pointed out something I wasn’t aware of. You can only make two land crossings into Thailand in any calender year. This is to clamp down on the famous ‘visa runs’ that supplied a lot of traffic from Thailand to Georgetown and back. It’s fine if you fly in (which I don’t want to do) and you can get a Thai visa that will allow you another crossing. It’s free, but you have to spend a day at a Thai embassy applying for one and said visa takes up a whole page in your passport.
I’ve not been up to much today other than editing pictures from the past few weeks whilst taking a daily wander to explore the area. The film crew who’ve been occupying the East part of Jalan Muntri have taken over more side streets as their filming expands, which has led to a bit of a diversion for me and the locals, but there’s plenty of other options. As it’s only Tuesday the place is somewhat quieter as the weekenders aren’t here.
When I was strolling back from getting something to eat I bumped into a group I helped last night as they’d got hopelessly lost but whom I was able to help with directions. Tonight we stopped for a chat. They were a Kiwi and a Singaporean Sikh, along with their Asian wives/girlfriends. Whilst the girlfriends found a bar the three of us got talking about travel – and politics from our own regional perspectives. The Sikh chap (I only know of his background because he told me) is what Indian friends have told me is known as a ‘cut’ – in that he has no beard, long hair or turban, but still identifies as Sikh. The conversation was really interesting – as was he – and it would have been very tempting to continue it in a bar but I’m trying to be good. So now I’m at home typing this!
To pique your interest in Asia here’s a couple more pictures from Georgetown.
We’re getting thunderstorms and rain showers very often right now. Yesterday I saw this localised shower sweep across parts of Georgetown from Butterworth. I’m going to miss my morning alarm-clocks provided by the local Mosque. Admittedly, this one isn’t *that* local, but it is just down the road. This is the Kapitan Keling Mosque whom the nearby main street takes its name from.
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/
Paul Bigland 