My Calling: A Diplomat?

We worked on the website this morning with free wireless in the SD Guest House. I also spent a good bit of time chatting with Mr. Teh, the daytime manager. He sits at the front all day, reading the papers and sometimes smoking out at one of the tables in the front. He is the best feature of this guest house and I have a great time talking with him about the U.S. election, the economies of our countries and others, bicycle touring (he calls our bikes the babies: are we taking the babies out today? are we letting the babies rest today?) horse racing, and, oh yeah, my future. First he says I need to go to China and teach English, my “English very good,” he says. He’s a Chinese-Malaysian, and he’s very interested in the Chinese economy and markets. Next he says I should go back to America, forget the small town, and move to a big city to become someone great. He says I can do great things in America. And then after that, he says I should be a U.S. diplomat or ambassador because I’m very good with people. Then it’s back to talking about current affairs around the world. I think he reads every paper he can get his hands on. He’s retired from the shipping industry in Singapore and has this guest house gig so his kids won’t worry about him and he’ll have something to do. He’s perfect for this. His kids are both Malaysian but work in Singapore, one in finance and one in shipping. Seems he wants all the young to be great.

Food Talk

Georgetown, Penang has a Little India just a few short blocks away, so of course we seek out some Indian food. We went to lunch at Shusi Banana Leaf Restaurant. You walk in and sit down and they plop a huge piece of banana leaf down in front of you for a plate. Someone comes with rice, another with dahl and other sauces including vegetables. Another brings crispy things like fried tortillas, and someone comes back again with sauce for your rice. We say right off “vegetarian” and they bring the vegetarian sauce instead of meat or chicken. One reason we love Indian food is there are always veg options because many Indians are vegetarians. This lunch was absolutely fantastic. All the sauces were delicious and full of flavor, spicy but without overpowering the meal. The vegetable today was eggplant. I have never in my life tasted such a mild and buttery eggplant, and the spices complemented the vegetable incredibly well. We ate until we were full, as this kind of “set” meal is usually all-you-can-eat. Too bad we weren’t riding today, or we’d really get our money’s worth. Two set meals came to 7 RM, or US$2.16. We highly recommend this place for their set lunch!

Banana Leaf set lunch and my stretched out head.

Being Tourists

In the afternoon, we visited the Penang Museum, which offers a very well presented history of Penang including the different cultures that have co-existed peacefully for many generations. The three main cultures on this island, (and much of the West coast of the peninsula) are the Malay people, Chinese, and Indians. We spent a couple of hours going through this beautiful museum and we both really enjoyed it. We also appreciated the air conditioning as the day was extremely hot! The admission is only 1RM per person (30 U.S. cents). The sign stated they closed at 5:00, but at 4:45 they started ushering us to the door, even more forcefully at 4:50. I wondered if they were this prompt in opening in the morning.

Next we walked a few blocks over to Fort Cornwallis, where Captain Light first established the town and encouraged settlement. There’s not that much to see, but there is a very old cannon, a “magazine” that housed the artillary, a small chapel, a statue of Light, and a few jail cells converted to house a few pictures and explanations of Light’s role in the history of Georgetown. Once again, about thirteen minutes before closing I was ushered out of one of the museum cells with the lights turned out and an impatient man holding a watch. Then over the loudspeakers we heard five cannon booms and someone saying Fort Cornwallis is closing in five minutes. This repeated, obnoxiously, three or four times. We surrendered and headed out the front gate. This was all pretty funny, as the place is not all that big and they make such a big to-do about it. Even so, it was interesting to see and worth the inexpensive entry fee.

Buddha’s Ashes Grow

After dinner this evening we walked back by a Buddhist temple and there were a lot of people gathering to listen to a monk speak. As we were looking in, a man came out and invited us in to take a look. He ushered us right past the gathering of people and the monk who was being photographed before speaking, and we went right to the back where they keep their relics. When you visit old cathedrals in Europe you get to see bits and pieces of saints sometimes, and I guess the Buddhists do this as well. We were shown the ashes of the third Buddha, and while our guide’s accent was very thick, we understand that this Buddha’s ashes were not grey like yours or mine would be, but red. Not only that, but they grow in volume infinitely! The red ashes we saw had multiplied many times over after being put into the glass holder. We were told story after story of the miracles of the Buddhas. Once again we were the audience for someone who had a LOT to say and intended to get it all out while we were his audience. This happens to us all the time. Everywhere we go. We finally got out of there some time later, after the man wrote down for us his special chant for becoming Buddha in one lifetime only (not the usual seven) and after Dave was encouraged to take pictures to show all of America the miracles of the Buddha.