Category: Indochina (Page 2 of 2)

We arrived at our next port on a Sunday morning and were immediately disappointed for several reasons…… We were moored for 2 days in this small port. Everything was shut in the town on Sundays and Mondays! It was raining!

We docked on an island opposite the mainland, the capital is called George Town. George Town initially seemed quite small with little but military history, but it was all about the FOOD. Every other building was a restaurant – Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese or Malaysian, posh sit down or cheap street corner cafe, fish, meat, noodles, vegetarian or anything else you might imagine could be cooked, its all there.

We didn’t indulge in any food, primarily because the only places open were (highly unhygienic) street cafes or pre-bookable restaurants for evening sittings and we had dinner reservations at the ship’s very (hygienic) decent al a carte restaurant.

However, we eventually found more than just food and restaurants. During our first walk out later on Sunday morning as the sunpoked its head out, we were greeted by lots of British style buildings; we found “Little India”, a part of town full of silk saree shops, Indian spice sellers and Indian restaurants; came across an area built by Armenian people who had settled there; finally we found Chew Jetty, a little Chinese township built on stilts, bustling with shops, restaurants, temples and living accommodation. However, the stupidly hot 32c heat and 90% humidity beat us (and lots of other people) and we returned to the ship, showered and snoozed.

Chew Jetty is one of 6 orogonal wooden jetties built in the 1880’s, each jetty was controlled by Chinese family groups known as clans, and fines or fees needed to be paid to the clan to use the jetty. As well as a Chew Jetty, which is still controlled by the Chew Clan, there were also jetties controlled by Lim, Tan, Lee, Yeoh, and Koay clans.

In the late 19th Century was a period of violent rivalry between different immigrant groups for control of economic resources in Penang and the jetties were at the forefront of these conflicts.

During our second walk out on Monday morning we found the museum of Penang history, very interesting interactive rooms telling the history of the city from the 1700s to 1960s. An informative bearded Chinese guide followed us around and we learned a huge amount about Chinese/Malaysian culture and how the mix of almost 10 different cultures came together, and to this day, live together in total harmony.

In the 1700s a Sumatran traveller landed on the island and formed a coastal town, later Arabs stopped at the island to trade and the inter-marriage formed the Malay community.

In 1770 Francis Light from the British East India Company landed, promising British military protection, establishing a tranquil harbour on Penang Island perfect for free trade, noting that if “Malay, Bugis and Chinese will come to reside here it will become the Exchange (of goods and trade) of the East, and the island then became what it is today. An ex Navy base, a trading post, a hot pot of culture and religion.

During the Second World War the Japanese took control of the city for 4 years before it was liberated by the British. Occupation happened when the Brits abandoned the city overnight but 4 years later the local people took control, one man hanging a white flag from the masts on Cornwallis Fort, saving the city from more destruction and occupancy, until the city gained independence from the UK in 1957.

George Town has now become a tourist destination following the city’s revognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

We woke on Saturday morning to a stunning sight. To the images you see in travel magazines that advertise Malaysia, aqua blue mirror still sea, mountains and islands covered in deeply luscious greenery rising from the horizon, the odd quiet small fishing boat and not much more. It was a sight to behold.

We were all up early, and raring to go. The small jetty led us to a carpark where David and Graham once again negotiated the services of a driver for the day to explore this small but rich island. Yameen was an extremely chunky Malaysian man full of chatter who was happy to show us around his lovely hometown.

Langkawi was simply an island where Malay people lived until the 1980s when the President decided to invest big money and create tourist attractions, a small capital called Kuah and main roads criss crossing the island, which also saved the locals from having to drive miles around the coast to thenext village or get a boat to circumvent the island.

Emphasis was placed on Eco tourism and the island is now home to three of the four Unesco listed Eco parks in Malaysia.

Langkawi is a predominantly Muslim country, 30% Malaysians, 30% Thai, 30% Indian and the rest Europeans (UK, Polish, Dutch and Norwegians) who have settled there, the government encourages apartment purchases by non residents and they all seem to muddle along very peacefully. The whole island feels tidy, quiet, and relaxed.

The President was thanked by the Malay people by having a tower erected in his name, a viewing point over one of the parks on the outskirts of Kuah and home to a statue of a giant Eagle.

Lang means “eagle” and “kawi” means limestone. The reason for all the 100+ islands that make up this archipelago was a volcano eruption 500,000 years ago, throwing up limestone boulders and creating several large and numerous small uninhabitable islands, which became home to several different species of eagles.

In the early morning as we docked, it had rained which bought the temperature down to 30c, normally 37c! Being near the equator, December is going into the 8 months of summer having just had 4 months of a rainy winter where temperature drops to 20c.

Yameen, our driver, first stopped at the city’s Eco park where we saw the Eagle Statue, a baby sea monitor (lake lizard) and the white Maha Tower.

Next stop was some very picturesque waterfalls in the Kilim Eco Park, small in comparison to others we’ve seen, but being enjoyed by families paddling in the water and bbq-ing on the walk side.

Then the highlight of the day!!!!

A high speed speedboat trip amongst the mangroves which included watching troups of monkeys on the riverbank, a visit to a cave inhabited by sleeping bats and stalagmites, watching Brown Eagles and Brahminy Kites feed off the fish that were bought to the surface by the boat movement, admiring the various shapes made by the limestone and overgrowth and speeding along the waters at full throttle, something that made us all smile.

Graham was simply ecstatic, there’s no other words to describe him. There are also no other words to describe the beauty of the scenery, beaches and island outcrops, it is simply beautifully lush.

Lastly, we were taken to our only prebooked activity, a panoramic cable car to the 1st platform, a walk out over a glass floored cantilevered viewing platform, another cable car to the highest platform then 350 steps to the top platform, right amongst the clouds!

Diane certainly conquered her fear of heights (and even calmed a young Asian girl who was clearly panicking while her boyfriend ignored her), David used 2 batteries on the camera taking hours of videos and we all exhausted the words “wow, stunning, amazing, lush, spectacular, out of this world”.

The Skycab is the world’s longest free span mono cable car, and worth every penny of the £15 each, we spent 3 hours going up and down, including a break for lunch, and were absolutely knackered, breathless and hot by the time we got back into Yameen’s car for our 40 minute journey back to the cruise terminal. As we got in his car and left the car park the heavens opened, the torrential rains stopping just as we arrived back at the cruise terminal.

A very long, busy day but we all agreed that it was a fantastic trip out!