today, our last day in Penang, my plan was to roam aimlessly around George Town & see what I found. I ran into David & Phoebe at breakfast. They had just returned from Kuala Lumpur and we exchanged Malaysia stories and decided to head into town together. We started at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Chinese Buddhist), which I’ve got to say totally challenged my notions of houses of worship. I found it hard to wrap my brain around. First off (as you might have guessed), there is a HUGE reclining Buddha. I couldn’t get it all in one photo:
The Buddha is also pictured here very female.
Other photos of the temple:
and there are many different places to pray for many different things:
And then there are walls of urns of ashes.
At UVA, we are written into the will of a faculty member at Yale who has a significant Asian collection. When he passes away, we will be receiving his collection to fill our new East Asian Reading Room. We will also be receiving his ashes. This was part of the deal, he wants his ashes in the room with the collection. Now, seeing all the urns of ashes in the Buddhist Temple, I better understand. Interesting, I had no idea.
And then we went across the street to the Burmese Buddhist Temple, where there was also a giant statue.
(that photo is not zoomed at all. I was very far away, it was so big.)
Then we went shopping (of course, last day in port …). Batik is the thing that is particularly Malaysian. There is also much Indian and Chinese dress, as would make sense.
and had lunch at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel (E&0). Like the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the E&O is an old colonial hotel. It was built in 1885 and it sits on the waterfront. According to the website: "among its more famous guests it has welcomed Noel Coward, Douglas Fairbanks, Hermann Hesse, Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham."
Lunch was delicious and the hotel was totally elegant. Walked around a bit more, did more shopping, ended up in Chinatown, and returned sweaty and exhausted back to the ship. I really loved Malaysia. I knew very little about the country before last week and had no expectations for it. But it is beautiful and multicultural and friendly and really interesting in all kinds of different ways. I would definitely like to come back someday to go to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore or some of the other islands. Ho Chi Min City is our next port. I’m really looking forward to Vietnam. Vietnam and South Africa were the two countries that had me excited about this voyage itinerary. Three days at sea and then we arrive in Vietnam. We're headed now into the Straits of Malacca. This is where there is pirate risk! Wish us safe travels ...
