Tropical Spice Garden

The garden itself was little more than a big, really nicely landscaped garden. The real treat was the café, not for the food by any means, but for the incredible views and free entertainment. Situated so close to the sea you can look out through lush trees onto the blue water of the entrance to the Strait of Malacca which joins the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. The sun was shining right into my lens, silhouetting everything and ruining the shots, so the pictures do absolutely no justice to the scene. As I sat there a family of monkeys decided to leap from tree to tree above me. What a treat!

Penang National Forest

Penang has the smallest national forest in the world, but many areas of it are so hilly and remote that you aren’t permitted to enter unless you’ve first registered with the authorities. Still, in my short trip I was amazed, and the forest became my favorite spot so far in Penang. The vistas were beautiful and the animals were nearby. The monkey in the tree isn’t very well lit but you can get a sense of how close he was to me. I don’t know what type of lizard was in the water, but I’m glad it wasn’t as close as the monkey.

Tropical Fruit Farm

I almost didn’t stop here. I’m glad I did. It was really neat to learn about all different kinds of tropical fruits and see cinnamon, nutmeg and lots more in their natural, growing state. That tree is a cinnamon tree. They shave the bark off and dry it in the sun. It smells wonderful when cut fresh.

After the tour we were treated to a fruit banquet, including any fresh-blended juice we wanted. On the recommendation of the juicer I tried pineapple juice blended with fresh nutmeg fruit. It was great.

Titi Kerawang Waterfall

The waterfall wasn’t a big as I was hoping, but it was a nice stop. The small bridge crossing the stream lacked handrails, which I came to find is pretty normal here.

Titi Kerawang Waterfall fruit stand & monkey

There wasn’t much room to park or walk near the entrance to the waterfall. As I leaned in closer to take the monkey’s picture his handlers started warning me, “Be careful! Be careful!” What, he doesn’t look friendly to you?

I guess he doesn’t look friendly to me either.

Road Trip!

For years I’ve wanted to drive on the left side of the road. The weather conspired against me in Ireland. But here in Malaysia I had my chance! I rented a car, a Proton Saga. Proton is a Malaysian manufacturer who draws technical assistance from Mitsubishi. They are active in rally racing and Formula 1. However I wouldn’t be doing any rally racing in my 1.3 liter Saga—the seemingly suicidal motorbike riders convinced me that slow and steady would carry the day.

Armed with a free tourists map I set out away from traffic up the west coast of the island with a couple of possible destinations in mind, but mostly with the aim of just hitting the road and seeing whatever there was to see.

I later found out from my regular cabbie, Zoo, that durians are a fruit that smell like “weeks old socks”.

Day of Goodwill

Here was the newspaper headline the day after Christian church firebombings in Malaysia. Malaysians of different backgrounds took to the street to offer flowers and smiles to strangers passing by in a gesture of friendship, unity and peace.

When Renee and I were in Costa Rica people that we encountered outside of Intel were often being nice because they were paid to be nice. I’ll call it “Oregon Nice”. As in, “Hello, I’ll smile because I have to, please spend lots of money, and then immediately return home”. It’s been very different here in Penang. Everyone has been wonderful and genuinely warm and friendly.

My prayer is that my Christian brothers and sisters here in Malaysia model Christ’s example of forgiveness. What a witness that would be, and the above photo is touching evidence that such forgiveness is being extended.

Batu Ferringhi

When I first heard I was going to Penang I thought it was a city in Malaysia. However, it is an island made up of numerous little towns and one major city (Georgetown). Until now I’ve been keeping close to “home” in Queensbay on the southeast side of the island. But when tourists come to Malaysia they come to Penang, and the resort town of Penang, Batu Ferringhi, is where they go for scenery and shopping.

Batu Ferringhi is on the opposite side of the island from where I’m staying and is a 40-60 minute cab ride. Normally that would be prohibitively expensive but here it can be had for 55 ringgits, which is under $16. I met with Intel in the mid afternoon (which went well, by the way). Afterwards I took a cab to Batu Ferringhi which went through Georgetown allowing me to at least see some of its tourist attractions in passing. On the recommendation of my cabbie he dropped me off at the Sunset Bistro.

The picture with all the cars shows the row of resort businesses including the bistro, a spa, and watersports rentals. Frankly it looked more like a slum area than a tourist trap to my eye. Nevertheless, with a couple of hours to kill before sunset I began exploring on foot. A car with tinted windows pulled up, a window rolled down revealing three men inside, and a passenger asked in a friendly voice, “Where are you from?” (I am so identifiable as a tourist here it’s not funny.) “California,” I replied. He extended his hand, welcomed me warmly, and the other passenger shook my hand while the driver waved his greetings before driving off. What I thought might be a prelude to robbery turned out to be just three nice guys welcoming a complete stranger. People here in Penang have been consistenly very genuinely nice.

I didn’t walk long. I’ve put more miles than I know on my sneakers in the last three days, and the sun was baking me good. I took cover in the Sunset Bistro where I hung out for several hours watching the sun set over the mountains while I was shaded under a canopy of trees. Paragliders took off and landed right in front of the bistro, making for good entertainment, especially when they landed too near said canopy of trees. It happened several times and always resulted in much shouting and hand waving. One couple actually put their parachute into the trees, but fortunately they landed themselves on the sand.

While I chilled out I sipped on fresh coconut water. I didn’t know what coconut water was, but it’s different from coconut milk. They take a chilled, immature coconut that hasn’t yet developed its husk, slice off the top, stick in a straw and hand it to you. It was rather refreshing. On my cabbie’s recommendation I tried satay. I know I said I would back off on the exotic food, but this wasn’t exotic. This is what I should have started with, grilled meat on a stick. It came with a spicy peanut dipping sauce, but I even liked that.

After dark I walked through one of Penang’s famous attractions, the Batu Ferringhi night market. Every evening many vendors set up booths on the sidewalk along the main drag. Think of all the vendor booths at a standard county fair and just put a mile of them (no exaggeration) along the sidewalk. I tried to get a picture, but it came out blurry. Just imagine booths along the road stretching as far as you can see, selling cheap knock-off watches, cheap knock-off handbags, cheap knock-off everything. All in all a very enjoyable evening, but man, I am going to try and do less walking tomorrow.

Hiya, Honey!

Jeff,
Thanks for the pix with descriptions. The food; Wow. If you're getting tired of exotic foods than I have found another reason to be grateful I didn't join you on this one. I mean, Wow. And to have people watching you while you eat a distasteful dish... like no pressure, Dude.

I am looking forward to your next batch to this blog. Everyone is asking about you, misses you, loves you and is praying for you and your safety. Oooh, don't eat anything too weird that will make you sick. Got Pepto?

Love,
-Me

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I know usually there is just one blog post at a time, but I've just posted a bunch of stuff at once since I finally got the time. So don't just look at the most recent post, keep scrolling down or you'll miss some!

Penang, first day

I didn’t do any real sightseeing today. I wasn’t jet lagged, I was just tired of constant travel. Plus, I’ll have to figure out how to get to the places I plan on visiting. I took the opportunity walk around near the hotel, which is very near Queensbay Mall, an enormous place full of restaurants. That’s where I started looking for food. I almost stopped at a corner café on the way that was populated by lots of locals, but I wanted to see what my options were before stopping at the first place.

The first restaurant I found in the mall was TGI Friday’s. Darned if my first meal out in Malaysia would be at TGI Friday’s. But after much walking around I had a hard time finding local food that looked appetizing, so I punked out and went to a Japanese restaurant. It wasn’t local but it was delicious. I tried a drink called sarsi, which is much like root beer. There are a lot of restaurants specializing in Chinese, Thai, Indian and other ethnic varieties. I determined I’d eat Malaysian food for dinner.

Walking around in the afternoon was different. That old cliche about the heat and the humidity is very correct. It wasn't that hot, but when the humidity is 80-90% you just can't get cool unless you find air conditioning. No shade or breeze will do. It didn't take long before my shirt was wet all the way through, and not just in the usual areas.

For dinner I found a local food guide that mentioned that laksa assam is a favorite Malaysian dish. I found a place called Laksa Shack and ordered away. It turns out that laksa means soup, and assam means fish. Oh joy. Imagine a soup with mackerel, tamarind, pineapple, shredded cucumber, ginger, mint leaves, and for that little extra, sour shrimp paste. I couldn’t eat it. They were looking right at me, and I was trying to be polite, but I knew after a few bites that it wasn’t for me. I managed to finish less than half the bowl. The drink it came with was a sweet, purple combination of coconut milk and black glutenous rice. It looked scary, like something a Klingon would drink, but tasted great.

I would up getting a second meal, going to another restaurant in the mall that specializes in local fare, Chicken Rice House. That sounded tame enough to me, and it was. Just roasted chicken over noodles, like the Malaysian equivalent of meat and potatoes.

On my way back from dinner I passed that corner café again and saw the silhouette of a cat scurry under a car. At least I'm trying to imagine that it was a cat, but it was pretty small for a cat, ran very low to the ground, and had a long tail. I’ll have to try some of the restaurants in Georgetown when I go sightseeing this weekend, but I’m afraid Malaysian food may not be for me. It’s too close to Thai food, and I can’t stand Thai food. I may wind up at that TGI Friday’s yet. I’m getting a little tired of exotic food.

Penang arrival

I made it safely into Penang. It’s very warm and very very humid. I thought some of you (especially Renee) might get a kick out of the banner hanging over the doorway in Penang customs. Remember, Malaysia is a Muslim country, with a lot of Buddhists, Hindu and Confucianists living here also.

It looks like food will be very cheap here. I was so tired from the trip I knew I would order room service and was afraid it might be expensive. How about a steak sandwich, fries, ginger ale, fresh squeezed apple juice and a half liter of Evian for the equivalent of $12 U.S.? From room service! Of course some things have to be a little different; the steak sandwich came with tartar sauce and cucumbers on it.

Ton Kiang vs. the Hong Kong auntie!

Perhaps you’ve heard me mention that Ton Kiang is my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. I’ve heard and read more than once it has the best dim sum this side of Hong Kong. Having made it to Hong Kong, I planned to put that statement to the test.

I was hoping to score some good dim sum in the Central district, but that didn’t pan out. Many of the restaurants I saw there looked pretty low rent, or offered other specialties, or were just downright scary. Then I got lost and started to run out of time. Therefore I was limited to airport restaurants. However I'd done some internet research and found a couple of recommended prospects. When I asked around at the airport, my internet reading was confirmed, and I was directed to Ah Yee Leng Tong, which means “Auntie's Beautiful Soup”. Needless to say, they’re known for their soup, but are also reputed for dim sum.

I started with a couple of favorites, barbecued pork buns and shrimp dumplings. Auntie doesn’t make anything until you order, so it’s very fresh. But for flavor I have to side with Ton Kiang. Score one for the home team!

I also tried a couple of items I’d never had before. One was shrimp-stuffed bean curd, which I didn’t care for. There wasn’t much flavor, just shrimp and bean curd, and bean curd doesn’t really taste like anything. I did have one of Auntie’s beautiful dessert soups, made with red dates, longan fruits, and the fat from a snow toad. I’ll list a few things; you put them in order of weirdness:

• Snow toad fat is sweet
• Somebody put snow toad fat in a dessert
• Something possessed me to order it
• I found it rather delicious

It had a very delicate flavor, but its texture was rather like snot. I really liked the way it tasted, but in the mouth it felt like soft tapioca. In the photo above, you can see the berry like red dates and longan fruits. The snow toad fat looks like whitish, translucent globs.

Hong Kong stopover

My plane landed in Hong Kong around 5:30 AM their time, which is 16 hours ahead of California. My flight for Malaysia didn’t leave until 3 PM, so I had some time to actually see more than the inside of an airport. Fortunately I had done some research. This sort of thing is so common that the Hong Kong Tourism Board has an interactive web tool where you just enter the time your flight gets in, the time your next flight leaves, then select from a list of interests, and it generates an itinerary for you. It’s so complete that it tells you exactly where to walk, what bus to get on, how much it will cost, how long it will take, just everything I thought I needed to know.

So I left the airport via train. The train was everything you’ve ever heard about trains in Asia. It was fast, efficient, smooth, quiet, and very clean. It dropped me off in downtown Hong Kong and from there I was to walk to the Central Piers and take bus 15C. I found my way there but the bus didn’t start running until 10AM (strike one for my handy dandy itinerary), so I took a taxi to my destination, The Peak.

I was struck by how hilly Hong Kong is. I should have known that, having noticed it in the background of John Woo and Jackie Chan movies, but driving up the hills in the foggy morning impressed on me how similar Hong Kong is to San Francisco in climate and geography. The Peak afforded great views of the city and Victoria Bay.

By this time it was 9 AM and time to move on. That’s when I realized that my itinerary had detailed info on how to get to attractions, but nothing on how to get back from them. Oops, I hadn’t noticed that. I took the Peak Tram down the hill, hoping to find an open bus stop, some taxis, or at least something interesting within walking distance. It put a smile on my face to realize that I was striking out into a foreign city, knowing not one word of the language, without any real plan.

Wandering by foot I found a “you are here” style city map that got me going in my intended direction. I had the vague notion to do some shopping in the Central district, and have some dim sum, but I had nothing particular in mind to buy (man I really should have talked to Sean first) and no idea where to find good dim sum. I figured I could just stumble into something.

My hike through the city took me through parks and past a cathedral. I was struck overall by how much Christianity was present. Given the British influence I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I just didn’t expect to see a big “God Is Love” banner in the lobby of an office building.

Hong Kong’s Central district is the teeming, lit up, bustling metropolis you see in movies. But I wanted to shop in the dingy little crowded bazaars you also see in movies. I didn’t have to go far. Just a block or two off the main drag and you’ll walk into the set of a different movie. As 10 AM approached, little shops were opening up for the day selling things I’ve never seen. There was a little booth with a man chopping up ingredients, cigarette hanging from his lips, and almost an inch of ashes hanging precariously from the cigarette. I decided not to eat there. There was a restaurant with a whole pig hanging in the middle, visible from the street, with a man carving from its shanks. Several restaurants specialized in medicinal foods, herbal teas and soups intended more for health than taste.

Perhaps you’ve seen in movies shops that sell medicinal herbs, often kept behind the counter in wooden drawers that look like old fashioned post office boxes? I walked into several of those, some that seemed very upscale, and a couple that looked like Uncle Egg might work behind the counter.

After a while I realized that I was lost, good and lost. I had lost all sense of direction and had no idea how to get back to the Airport Express station. I asked a policeman to point me in the right direction. Fortunately English is widely spoken, and he gestured me along. With that help and more from a friendly, English-speaking stranger, I make it back to the train in plenty of time.

Plane ride to Hong Kong

I got my first chance to fly on a 747, which I’ve wanted to do since I was a boy. It’s just a classic plane, and such a symbol of air travel, but all of the trips I’ve taken before have been on the newer, more fuel efficient models. But I finally went on a voyage long enough to warrant the classic, original jumbo jet.

Of course that means that the trip was long—14 hours long. And to steal from comedian Lewis Black, the airline can show you a movie, bring you dinner, show you another movie … and then you realize that you still have 9 hours to go. I thought it would be brutal, but it wasn’t as bad as I had it built up in my mind. Imagine the longest trip with the worst turbulence on the nicest plane, and that was my trip.

Cathay Pacific fed us dinner, breakfast, and a snack in between. The snack was fun, no peanuts here. Instead, ramen noodles, and pretty good, too. Many on the plane passed the time trying to figure out how to eat ramen noodles with chopsticks.

I brought a book, realizing that no electronic device would last 14 hours. But the turbulence was too bad to read, and every seat was equipped with a 9-inch LCD screen that showed dozens of movies on demand, video games, music and other goodies for free. That was cool. At 4:20 AM I made a determined effort to get some sleep. I gave myself until 5 AM, figuring if I couldn’t sleep by then it wasn’t going to happen. It was noisy, turbulent, and people kept bumping into me. I have to say over a dozen people bumped my elbow as they passed, despite my best effort at keeping out of the aisle. After what seemed like a half hour I could no longer stand it, and gave up on sleep. I looked at my watch; it was only 4:30 AM. About an hour later I finally started to drift off out of exhaustion and boredom, sleeping a half hour at a time. But that gave me enough. When we reached Hong Kong I had a few hours of sleep under my belt and I was ready to hit the city.

Hong Kong

While at my Nana's birthday celebration tonight, I heard from my sweetheart Jeff. He was and is still running around Hong Kong, sightseeing, while on an extended lay-over. He is loving it!! He will be boarding another jet to finish his route to Penang.

More later....

Big O' Jet Airliner

Jeff and I said our good-byes outside of SFO for his midnight flight to Penang, Malaysia. But, before he lands in Penang, he has an 8 hour layover in Hong Kong. He is taking great advantage of this and has planned a wonderful, world-wind sightseeing trip. I can't wait to see the pix he will post here.



It is amazing how time ticks away while you are in the busyness of life, when a loved one is forced to cope with deep, profound pain and loss. We have a relative who is living that scenario right now. We ask for your tender prayers for this person and thank you in advance for your compassion. Jeff and I know and count on Christ's mercies and thank Him for them all.

The World Clock

Curious about what the time differences are between us and Jeff? The World Clock website figures out the time zone differences for us.

Getting Ready

Hello loved ones! Jeff will be leaving for 10 days on a business trip to Penang, Malaysia this week. We are using our blog once again to share Jeff's journey.

*Side note: This will be the longest we have ever been apart...