Tuesday 14 May 2013

are we there yet?


No, not quite yet. I have yet to finish trawling and selecting for you my dears, so hold tight, have those eyes peeled and get ready for another onslaught of Penang images.
These gold lined images were taken at the Reclining Buddha, a buddha that was, as you can imagine, a ginormous buddha in my child's eye but as an adult this was merely a massive buddha. The space where the buddha does it's reclining is surrounded by lesser known buddhas, with donation boxes labelled ' Prosperity and Long live' 'Riches for all your life' 'Happiness in your family' etc, so basically you can take your pick and make an offering to the buddha you think most meets your needs, so convenient. This space has recently been overhauled (it was looking decidedly shabby when last we visited), now it is absolutely sparkling, especially outside where the sun reflects off the gold leaf in a way that is very nearly disco.










A little night trip to the Pasar Malam, night markets. We walked, wandered, smelt, stared and delighted in the warm cocoon that embraced us in the fading light and hustle and bustle of our surrounds. True, the food was it's biggest lure but I do admit I had hoped for more, the markets of yesteryear which included, handmade wooden treasures perfect for little hands, a variety of special oddities, secondhand bits and pieces amongst a small amount of new plastic crap. But now it seems (as it is for a large proportion of our world), plastic has taken over, yet again it reigns supreme and the market was loaded with a sizeable amount of plastic crap, that nobody, nobody, nobody needs hmmm. 

Wandering the streets, gazing at the colours, the signs, smells, a quick haircut, yes, this filled our days just perfectly. 



We stayed in three places whilst in Penang, firstly the rather posh but totally lovely G Hotel (which has great internet rates) for hanging out by the pool, relaxing and an amazing buffet breakfast, then we headed to Mango Tree Place which is a selection of beautifully restored townhouses, just out of Georgetown. It is located on a quiet and quirky street that is close to everything and then we stayed at the Bayview hotel for a couple of nights. The Bayview would have been big in the 70's it has that brassy/Florida kind of feel about it, in a weirdly cool way. However the nighttime renovations and daytime varnishing of our whole floor, made us experts at running down corridors holding our noses and lying in beds with pillows over our ears, very quickly, it left a little to be desired. But wonderfully the Bayview was so close to Georgetown, which allowed for so much more wandering, etc, etc (by now, I think you get the picture).
After sampling three different accommodations, what we did realise was that when travelling with children in hot countries a swimming pool is a must, as all that wandering about is hot work for everyone involved, the pool provided the perfect space to cool off, relax, read and just take some quiet time (the photos below are of us enjoying some poolside time at the Bayview). 

13 comments :

  1. Beautiful! You have such a lovely eye for colour and line. And such a sweet blog. :)

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    1. Hello Christina, thank you for your lovely, words, so glad you came for a visit. xx

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  2. You are right about the pool when traveling with kids. We stayed at the Eastern and Oriental a couple of times. Amazing old colonial place. But I always loved the Chinese hotels, too. These days, the amount of new interesting hotels in Georgetown, I can't keep up. Here's a few I love:

    http://www.facebook.com/chinatiger
    http://www.facebook.com/23LoveLane
    http://www.facebook.com/PalanquinnPenang

    How did you find The Mango Tree??

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    1. The ENO, is amazing, we have had tea there many times before, but never stayed. The Bayview overlooks the ENO. We were going to stay at 23 love lane, which looks gorgeous but either there wasn't accommodation available or there was some weird thing like no children allowed (which a few have). The other places look great too. We found Mango Tree through the agora travel website, http://www.agoda.com/asia/malaysia/penang.html which is a great place to find discounted accommodation. Would definitely recommend Mango Tree, the breakfast was great too (divine Char Kway Teow, Roti Canai) and the owners were very, very accommodating and lovely.

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    2. The E and O was certainly an experience before it's refit, but I still loved it. I have thing for old colonial hotels. Another lovely one of this era was the Gale Face Hotel in Sri Lanka. And I like Goodwood Park better than Raffles in Singapore. And don't get me started on the lovely ones in Egypt, like the Cataract at Aswan and The Old Winter Palace at Luxor. But the E and O in Penang is up there with the best.

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    3. Wow, where haven't you been? Colonial hotels do have a wonderful feel about them, that beautiful step back into the past. xx

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  3. Jay I feel like I've been on a little trip via your photos..a wander through the markets and temples. Love the no durians allowed sign though I know to many it's as precious as gold..x

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    1. Thanks Natalie, such a pleasure to have you with me on this little wander.

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  4. loving the adventure, but why no durian???

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    1. Yes, Umi, they do have a special odour that people have likened to " rotting manure in a smelly sock", "a mix between candle and poo", " kind of a blend between mustiness and rotten flesh". I haven't quite pinpointed the words to describe my experience with the smell but it is cloying, sweet, sour, hmmm....Jeni?

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  5. Well you see umi durian has a certain smell .... should I elaborate Jay?!

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    1. yes, please Jeni, would love your take on it.

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    2. Actually I think you got it with those quotes above, especially " rotting manure in a smelly sock" lol. Remember British novelist Anthony Burgess? "eating durian is like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory"! Tastes amazing but you really need a peg on your nose.

      It's banned in a lot of Asian hotels, airports, buses etc because people who adore it keep trying to get some home. Bad idea, an open durian in the overhead locker of a plane is not going to be your best flight!

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thank you, thank you for sharing your words, thoughts, feelings. xx