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Nancy and Doug TripsNancy and Doug Trips
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“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Our lifelong travel bug has given us our most prized ‘possessions’ - the many memories from business and especially family trips.
 “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” Read more British Columbia, Canada
  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 56

    Arrival at Flower (Gilligan's) Island

    April 29 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    DRAFT
    SINGAPORE POSTS DELAYED DUE TO CONNECTION
    Internet only in the dining room with OK download (100MB) but very poor upload speed (<0.5) and no electrical plugs in our cottage to charge our camera phones , so we are partially "off-line", but will get one post on our trip here and the first notes. Will see if we add to this before we get back to the mainland or not?
    Breakfast at our Manila Airport hotel, then a Grab to the quaint old Domestic Terminal 4 to take the turboprop on very friendly Air Swift to El Nido..Van and boat and here we are in paradise with only 5 other guests.    Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 46

    George Town Explored

    April 19 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    MUSINGS ON GEORGE TOWN, PENANG ISLAND
    George Town is a mixture of elegant Colonial streets, parks and buildings, typically hectic Asian street life, and an inner city "decayed grittiness" that is in evolution. Nearby Penang Hill was a surprising retreat from the heat, and we would visit here for this alone. We would have liked to have gone to the Tropical Fruit farm, the largest collection of tropical fruits in SE Asia, but it was an hour trip each way. If we had been "stranded here" due to the recent volcanic eruption in East Indonesia, we would have taken in the north of the island. There are beach resorts here, but the water is unfortunately polluted. Much needs to be done to fight the water quality issues and plastic pollution we have seen all over SE Asia on our trip. We've enjoyed our 4* Georgetown Shangri-La Hotel for a North American bargain of $100 per night and have the local Asian news station CNA, wtih programming offering a lot of insights to add to our growing awareness of the challenges facing this part of the world.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    1
    Day 46

    Cheong Fatt Tze House (Blue Mansion)

    April 19 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Built by a "rags to riches" Hakka immigrant, Cheong Fatt Tze, at the end of the 19th century, the mansion has 38 rooms, 5 granite-paved courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 timber louvre windows (at a time the British taxed each window on the front of buildings). It served as Cheong's private residence as well as the seat of his business activities in Penang. Of interest, he had eight wives, 7 of 8 were arranged marriages based on business connections as was the custom of the day. A "wife in every port" to run the family business as who could trust others? The house had many Feng Shui principles incorporated into its construction. For example, there are plant pots at the central courtyard where the "Qi" energy field (that connects all things) is centred, the rain water collected by the roof gutters flow into the courtyard then out in a circular pattern under the courtyard and flooring of the house before going to the street. Feng shui dictated that arrangement would help ensure that Cheong's fortune would not be quickly drained away if the flow had been straight out (also had the advantage of cooling the floor and house!). Unfortunately, none of his family was as good a financial manager as Cheong was; due to this and other factors, the mansion fell into disrepair. In his will, he stipulated the house could not be sold until his last son (of favorite wife No. 7) died. The sale came up in 1990 and his daughter in law, who had managed to hang on to it, had the wisdom to sell to an architect who took six years to restore to meet a UNESCO world heritage site designation. Now it is operated as a hotel, restaurant with a capped capacity for tours. We decided to spring for the linen table cloth 3 course lunch in the Indigo Room, knowing it would help to support this good work, and it was yummy!Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    1
    Day 45

    Habitat

    April 18 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The Habitat Penang Hill is a rainforest discovery centre located at the edge of the magnificent rainforest located within the top of the Hill. It is one of the main attractions that can be accessed from Ayer Itam using the historic funicular railway. With its nature trail, a treetop walkway, and the canopy bridge, it is an exceptional rainforest experience. It also includes a 360-degree VR movie about wildlife.Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 45

    Penang Hill

    April 18 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We really enjoyed this day out of a city environment up to the top of Penang Hill by funicular. During the ascent the temperature drops from an average of 31C to 27 C degrees and the flora adapts over four levels. This is the oldest colonial era hill top station in Asia established in 1786 by Penang's founder Captain Francis Light. Formerly called Flagstaff Hill, as a defence look out point, it stands at height of 833m. A significant community with more than 50 buildings developed during the colonial period and were used as British retreats with walking paths, a place of recuperation away from the heat and disease of Penang and eventually a school. HABITAT is a walking path and bridge skirting along a UNESCO biosphere protected rainforest. It was special to walk along the rainforest tree tops with views of Penang below. We spent almost seven hours there; spending a bit of time waiting for a downpour to stop so we could use our umbrella (see "The Thinking Doug" holding the umbrella!).Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 44

    Chew Jetty

    April 17 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We stopped at Chew Jetty on our way back to the hotel from the museum. This was one of 6 remaining wooden jetties on the quay side in George Town and used since the late 19th century for loading/unloading cargo before the bigger seaport opened. Over time Chinese groups sharing georgraphical origin and dialect, formed clans, took over control of each of these jetties and fees needed to be paid to the clan in charge to use the jetty. As well as a Chew Jetty, which is controlled by the Chew Clan, there were also jetties controlled by Lim, Tan, Lee, Yeoh, and Koay clans. Each clan also had a temple in town. The late 19th Century was a period of often violent rivalry between different Chinese immigrant groups for control of economic resources in Penang and the jetties were at the forefront of these conflicts.

    Chew Jetty remains in something of an historical time warp. Running water and electricity were introduced in 1957 but the people still live on the jetty in wooden houses on stilts, sell things in shops opening on to the main walk way and live in stilt houses as they have done for over 100 years.

    The Chew Clan’s continued survival as a community on the Jetty is uncertain. The city government does not recognize their rights as land owners, indeed the residents are not taxed by the local government as technically speaking they do not reside on Penang Island but live on the water.

    There is a Taoist temple just inside the entrance to Chew Jetty, which is principally dedicated to the God of Heaven the most important of all the deities worshipped in the Taoist religion. There is also a temple at the end of the main jetty dedicated to the Taoist Sea Deity, Haisen.    Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 44

    Wonderfood Museum

    April 17 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We went to this museum to try to get more insight into what was in the many dishes on hawker and menus in Indonesia and Malaysia which is a fusion of Chinese, South Asian and Malay influences. The Food Wonderland Museum displays "food sculptures/replicas" of all the famous Malaysian dishes and dioramas of street scenes with a touch of historical information on Penang. One of the interesting things was that the typical Malay may eat up to six times a day, with the largest meal at noon. We figured out this explained what seemed to be the erratic opening and closing time of restaurants with more snack/smaller items being open early and late and more big meal items such as roast chicken/duck and the fixings being open 10-4 pm. We have struggled as Western tourists with the late breakfast culture (no coffee until 8 at the earliest!) which makes our usual routine of being up and out to make use of the cool part of the day for touring (by cool we mean low 30s!).Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 44

    Peranakan Mansion

    April 17 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The Peranakans (mixture of Chinese and local Malay, also known as the Babas (Mr) and Nyonyasa (Mrs), was a prominent Chinese immigrant community in the "Straits Settlements" (Penang, Malacca and Singapore); hence its other name, the Straits Chinese. Adopting selected ways of the local Malays and later, the colonial British, the Peranakans had created a unique lifestyle and customs which had not only left behind a rich legacy of antiques but its cultural influences like cuisine and language are still evident in Penang today.

    At the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, the typical home of a successful Baba of more than a century ago is recreated to offer a glimpse of their opulent lifestyle and of their many customs and traditions. With over 1,000 pieces of antiques and collectibles of the era on display, this Baba-Nyonya museum is housed in one of Penang's heritage mansion of eclectic Chinese/European design and architecture. Built at the end of the 19th the "Hai Kee Chan" or Sea Remembrance Store had once served as the residence and office of Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee. Though not a Baba himself, his Chinese courtyard house was a typical large Baba home of eclectic style, incorporating Chinese carved-wood panels, an anestors temple, English floor tiles and Scottish ironworks.    Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 43

    Goodbye K-L Hello Penang

    April 16 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    MUSINGS ON KL
    This is a BIG city! Highway dominated, traffic moves well, hardly any motorcycles compared to where we’ve been. The massive apartments and interchanges seem generally aesthetically integrated into the surroundings. It seems true that inhabitants here “don’t walk”. Sidewalks have sudden drop offs or end abruptly. Pedestrian walkways do exist but you won’t always find them on google! With humidity, the weather was 43 degrees C yesterday; this limits activity for tourist and local alike. With more days, we would have liked to investigate a megacentre, a nearby food street, the highest McDonalds in the world atop KL Tower and take in the evening laser light show at the park. Locals have seemed a bit aloof, perhaps just a reflection of a big city. We note a late breakfast culture and food doesn’t vary much from breakfast to dinner. We've had a challenge taking advantage of "street food" partly because of irregular hours, food sel3ction, needing a break from heat, and not wanting to sit on stools. Same stuff is in restaurants, albeit a little more expensive for the A/C

    We departed on ETS business class train from KL Sentral station, arriving at the Butterworth Station, Penang four hours later. Most noticeable along that way were the many palm oil groves. Palm oil has been used since at least 3,000 BCE and became a commodity for British traders as an industrial lubricant during the Industrial Revolution and in soaps. It is made from the fruit of the palm and further developments in its refinement have made it the most commonly used fat for frying in the world, a major source of calories for many people the most extensively used fat in processed food due to its stability. There are many controversies - significant ecosystem impacts, indigenous territorial right infringement, exploitation of workers, biofuel vs food conflicts and debate about whether it is a "healthy or unhealthy" fat. After a quick read about palm oil in Wikipedia, Nancy avoided checking to see what type of oil was in the chocolate muffin provided in the snack pack on the train!

    Our booked hotel is just south of the "Old Quarter", but the area is a bit desolate with scrap shops, mechanical shops, lots of old shop houses but no eateries etc. After the first night of no sleep due to a water pump whirring and clunking all night (among other reasons) , we did something we have never done and walked away to go to a newer (but more expensive) hotel.    Read more

  • TravelerSE Asia 2024
    Day 42

    Muzium Negara

    April 15 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Just across from the Sentral train station, the National Museum (Muzium Negara) built in the style of a Malay palace is an excellent overview of the nation’s history and rich cultural diversity. The recently upgraded galleries present an exciting and innovative approach to exploring the history of Malaysia from prehistoric times to the present. Muzium Negara was officially opened on 31st August 1963. The museum houses four exhibition galleries. Gallery A was superb, covering the geological and biological features and the Stone Age and Prehistoric human development. Gallery B was about the many small Malay kingdoms prior to European colonization. C was about the period of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Japanese occupation. Finally, Gallery D was a patriotic display of independence and the cultural and political context of modern Malaysia.Read more

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