Hi Everyone,

   This is the final installment my George Town day with Elizabeth.  I totally enjoyed my day with Elizabeth, and writing these emails, I’ve learned even more as I try to explain the meaning of each photo.  We certainly will return to George Town and I can act as guide to Randal!  (Though no where near as good as Elizabeth!!)

Armenian Street

I have pulled the bits and pieces from the several pages about Armenian Street that I thought matched the time we spent there and my own bit of knowledge. Khoo Su Nin did a really wonderful job with Streets of George Town Penang. An interesting footnote is that she is a graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. 

“A map of the early 1800s shows that Armenian Street was once called Malay Lane due to the Malay kampong settlement there. By 1808, the name had been changed to Armenian Lane. The Armenian trading community from India settled here, but instead of remaining in a neighbourhood between the Chulias and the Acehnese, sought social mobility by moving their houses to the suburbs…” “… the Armenian diaspora that settled in Shiraz in Persia, and then in Bombay and Calcutta before coming to Penang.” “….by far the most famous Armenians in the region were the Sarkies brothers who made their mark as hoteliers of the Eastern & Oriental in Penang and of the Raffles in Singapore. By the 1920s most of the Penang Armenians had emigrated largely to Singapore and from there to Hong Kong and Sydney where there are significant Armenian minorities.” “A few houses on Armenian Street may have survived from the time when the Armenians lived here. These houses were probably retrofitted to function like shophouses when the Straits Chinese took over the neighborhood.” Streets 

Armenian Street.

Elizabeth and I visited the Galeri Seni Mutiara on Armenian Street looking for art. But trying to tell that story led me to read about Armenian Street in general. In many ways Armenian Street is the history of the world of southeast Asia including Malays, Armenians, Chinese: the fleeing populations and their success stories. Neighborhoods changed as different groups moved in and out for different reasons, like moving “up to the suburbs” or even to other parts of Asia and the Pacific. The Armenian story and the Jewish story in this area are very similar both coming along the trade route from India. And if you have ever had a Singapore Sling, you have a connection to Raffles Hotel where the drink was invented and now costs more than most cruisers will spend for an entire meal almost anywhere else.

Also on Armenian Street were an Islamic Museum, closed for the holiday;  the lovely green and white Yap Kongsi building and temple; and the shophouse that was Sun Yat Sen’s base in Penang.

Galeri Seni Mutiara’s exhibit the day we visited.

I don’t know if there was a “no photo” sign or if I just made the assumption that photos weren’t a good idea so I have none. This is a photo of the exhibit brochure. Elizabeth and I went into the gallery housed in a lovely, very large renovated shophouse. We looked at the paintings and were about to leave when Elizabeth went back to ask the owner for a brochure of the exhibit. Until that time he had been talking with a gentleman whom he seemed to know pretty well and I didn’t want to interrupt and really didn’t know what I would say, anyway. Elizabeth’s question and her comment that I was studying watercolor seemed to capture his attention. Mr. Koay Soo Kau provided a brochure and then sat with us for the next 30 minutes chatting about art, George Town, Malaysia, Dickens, Shakespeare and a local artist that Elizabeth had met years ago. He offered us something to drink. He showed us painting from past exhibits and then, a real treat, some of his own paintings. We probably would have been sitting there still but work intervened. It seemed a rather involved transaction concerning the buying and selling of a quite large painting so Elizabeth and I nodded our good-bye and thank-you and went on our way. I had planned to take a photo of Elizabeth with Mr. Koay since they seemed to have so much in common, Elizabeth taught English and Mr. Koay had loved studying it. He made us guess his age and we were flattered that he thought we were younger than he was. He beat us by maybe a year or two but that was it. A very charming man dedicated to art and helping new artists succeed. If you look at the website, under the artist link, select Gallery Artists and you can see My Koay’s work. http://www.galerisenimutiara.com/gallery1.php

Under the Events link you can see the works of Yong Look Law whose works were hanging in the gallery when we visited. http://www.galerisenimutiara.com/events.php

www.galerisenimutiara.com

Yap Temple and the lovely green and white Yap Kongsi at the corner of Armenian and Cannon Streets.

The Yap Kongsi was built in 1924, the temple in 1950 and refurbished in the 1990s. Judging from this photo I was obviously taken much more by the green and white building than by the temple which only gets one small corner of my photo. Now that I have read more about it, I wish I’d taken a better photo. But it was getting to be late afternoon and I was getting tired.

We left the gallery about 4:30 and I was starting to wear down and was definitely getting hungry. It had been a while since our chocolate samples and no matter what time we would leave George Town later in the afternoon, it would be at least an hour on the bus to get back to our boats. And we still needed to visit the Jewish Cemetery. Time for food! We stopped along our way at a small corner restaurant (open on the holiday because it was Chinese) and had small meals that oddly included the best French fries in the world.

Nyonya is a term for the descendants of late 15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants to other parts of Southeast Asia during the Colonial era.  (I think.)

There is a whole way of dress connected to the Straits Chinese and the Nyonyas. Beaded shoes would have fit perfectly with the long silky/satin skirts and fitted beaded jackets.

A shop passed along our way.

Our last stop was to the Jewish Cemetery and then we splurged and took a taxi back to Batu Maung because we were both just too tired to wait for the bus and then sit through the 90 minute ride and then walk up the hill to the yard. As it was we didn’t return to the boats until about 6:30 pm. But it had been a wonderful day of unplanned adventures. Oh, and somewhere along the way we stopped at a Heritage Center where the employee had time for us and that’s where I bought my copy of Streets and I’m really glad I did because reading it has taught me a lot about Penang and George Town.  Now when Elizabeth points out places and tells me about Penang, I think I might be a better pupil.

Ru

Doramac

Hi Everyone,

  Randal and I went off to a Rally event yesterday and had our first glimse of mainland Langkawi.  The last event is the final dinner tomorrow evening.  In the morning we’ll take the free Rebak Marina high speed motor ferry to the mainland for the veggie man.  He makes a stop near where we arrive.  He comes once each week on Friday so we’ll load up.

Ru

The Penang Chocolate Mansion

  One last bit of information about the tea shop, its web address: www.e-art2u.com. The web site explains the philosophy of the group of businessmen who bought and renovated the historic building and now want to support and promote local artists of Penang. And I realize now that the young man who served us tea is not the owner, Datuk Seri* Tan Khoon Hai, but does look quite a bit like him so might be related. *an honorary title awarded by the State. The official opening was in November of 2008 so it is an historic building with a new purpose.

We walked to the end of Muntri Street which is the home to many Chinese Associations and Guilds. My favorite bit of information concerns the Chinese amahs. “The association of Chan, Seng, Thong, Heong and Wooi surnames represent a joint association formed by a small group of Chinese with these surnames in Penang. A look at the pictures hanging on the wall (in the association building) reveals that the members are predominantly amahs. In the 1930s, these Cantonese women migrated in waves to Malaysia and Singapore to work for wealthy European and Chinese households. The “black-and-white” Cantonese amahs had impeccable reputations as live-in nannies, servants and cooks. Upright and frugal, they wore a uniform of white top and black pants, keeping their own moral cold, foreswearing marriage and family life to join the sisterhood. Careers as overseas amahs were an alternative to the peasant’s life in China and potential oppression by husbands and mothers-in-law. … “ Streets of George Town Penang The book continues talking about the amahs who have now reached old age and though some have returned to China, many remain in George Town in “shared quarters.” I think it’s really interesting how they chose their lives. Women in the silk industry did the same thing, becoming a sisterhood as well as co-workers. It definitely makes me want to know more about them and I will find out more when we return to Penang.

An example of a Chinese Association building on Muntri Street.

We did get to eat chocolate and I will tell you about it, but before the chocolate tasting came the incense burning. I needed to light more incense for the Red Sox since I had redirected my prior Sox incense wishes toward the solution of our fishing net mishap. Sometimes my priorities are straight. However, when I looked at my photos I couldn’t remember the name of the temple. I could sort of remember things by the order of the photos, but then I mixed up in my head what Elizabeth had told me about the different temples we had seen. So I dashed off a quick, “Help!” email to E and this is her charming reply. ….

I tried to find out about the George Town name at the Penang Heritage Centre

but after waiting for more than ten minutes when the employees didn’t

interrupt their conversations, I left, so I have no official ruling on

the name.

The Temple by the joss stick maker is the Goddess of Mercy Temple. It

has the incense and pigeons. The one where you lit the joss sticks is

the Hainan Temple on Muntri Street. It is also called the Thean Ho

Keong meaning “Temple of the Heavenly Queen”. Apparently it was

founded in 1866 and is dedicated to the goddess Mar Choo, patron saint

of seafarers. It was renovated in 1995. Part of its charm is the

natural lighting and that it is off the main tourist track. (I’ve

taken this from the black Historic George Town Trails booklet which is

the one with the black cover. There should be more information in the

Penang book).

Hope that helps.

Cheers from rust. LBD is now so well fed by the children that our

scraps are refused until she wants a late snack.

You can see why Elizabeth was such a great guide: I just wasn’t a very apt pupil.

The natural lighting.

The Streets book did add that a few more facts, the most interesting being that “Goats are slaughtered in offering to the goddess on her birthday.”

The man from the temple walked around with me since I really didn’t know exactly what to do.

I bought a pack of 15 incense sticks and then proceeded around the temple stopping at different spots to light the incense. It actually isn’t a complicated process once you have done it one or two times; and most temples have a similar procedure. I just do it so infrequently, though my real hesitation comes from feeling that I might be infringing on someone else’s religion for my non-religious reasons. However, one pays for the incense so I guess it goes for the upkeep of the temples and the temple workers are always gracious and helpful.

I think I’m at the third stop now.

Some of those sticks are mine.

I’m at the last stop to put in my last batch of incense.

I’m parading around in my socks: you always remove your shoes to enter a temple unless told otherwise as well as at many museums and even some shops.

There were stone carved reliefs were on the outside temple walls. We were told that the stone came from China though I’m not sure where the carving was done.

All of the photos of the temple that I’m in were taken by Elizabeth

Then we were off again. I don’t remember if we were aiming for the Chocolate Mansion or the “Blue House,” but the Mansion came first so we forced ourselves to go in.

This is the brochure: they were generous with the samples but didn’t allow photos.

We sampled away as our “guide” tempted us with a variety of the locally made chocolate. My favorite, believe it or not, was the chili chocolate. It had such a strong and unique flavor that you wouldn’t need much to be satisfied. Then we went to the coffee tasting room. My favorite was the mixture of tea and coffee. Oddly very good. But the prices weren’t tempting and anything we bought would have been a melted mess by the time we returned to the boats. And after all of the samples I felt pretty chocolated out for a while. Randal is satisfied with a cheapo Snickers bar and I can get by with a teaspoon full of Nutella. We’re such gourmands (if that’s the right word.) Full and no poorer for our treat, we left!

www.chocolateboutique.oomph.com.my and www.penangnettv.com/thechocolateboutique are the two web addresses listed on the back of the brochure.

This bit on the brochure struck me as funny. “Visit Malaysian Collection” “How do you know you’ve been in Malaysia? With those mouth-watering chocolates in the shape of Malaysian symbolic architecture now you can bring “Malaysia” home. “ Somehow that’s just a funny image to me, eating the places that you just visited. (During our visit to Langkawi yesterday, one of the Rally stops was a similar Chocolate shop with the same chocolate and same sample tastings. I still didn’t buy any. Earlier in the day Randal had bought some good ole Hershey Almond Kisses and that was more chocolate than we needed.)

One last stop for this email. Next along Leith St. was the “Blue House.”

Very blue.

The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion rates two full pages in Streets. Unfortunately, when we got there, we learned that the next tour wouldn’t be for about an hour. Elizabeth had already been and my priority was to see the Jewish cemetery and some art, so I put it off for our next visit to Penang when Randal could see it too.

However, here is an interesting bit about Leith Street:

“At the turn of the century, Leith Street was “Hakka Millionaire’s Row “    Streets

“When the term “Hakka” first appeared in household registries during the Song Dynasty, it was used to indicate “guests” who had left their homelands to settle down in other parts of the country, in contrast to residents originally from the area. The Hakkas took to the road in five separate major migrations. The nickname “Jews of Asia” intimates these mass migrations and their pioneering spirit.” http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/hakka/english/a/a.htm The Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission of Taiwan provided this info. It’s amazing what I learn trying to explain bits of information to all of you.

I have one last story to tell, and anything else that pops up I forgot for my final (for now) George Town email. I hope to have lots more to share about Penang and George Town when we make return visits, possibly late this year and definitely next year.

Ru

DoraMac

December 8, 2009 Rebak Marina, Langkawi, Malaysia

Continuing our George Town tour….  (We noticed that the city spells its name George Town and the highway department spells it Georgetown.  We were guessing one is local and one is federal)

Jin Xiu Art Gallery and Tea House 58 Muntri Street, George Town

It was lovely, cool and very relaxing.

Elizabeth going through her mail while we wait to order.

We ordered Puer tea which is a milder tea better to drink on  an “empty” stomach.

Although it was around lunch time, our second breakfast that morning kept us from being hungry for lunch. We were just tired and thirsty and tea was just the thing. The owner recommended puer tea. I remembered Stella (from Seahorse Marine) mentioning it when we were in China and also, the calligraphy teacher of Jingan had served puer tea to Sallie and me.

One of our stops earlier in the day was at the marina in George Town. E and P had stayed there for a bit and were having mail sent to them in care of the marina. That’s how cruisers receive mail and shipments. If you are lucky, mail/shipments will arrive on time; if not there are different options. You can wait for it to arrive. You can leave and hope other cruisers will retrieve it and bring it along to you. It can be sent back to its place of origination. ….. Usually though, if you stay at a marina for a month or so, your mail or package will arrive during that time. Other confusing things can happen when a resort and marina share a complex and the package doesn’t go to the marina office but rather to the resort front desk where often staff won’t sign for it. (No matter that you specifically asked that it be delivered to the MARINA OFFICE.)  We had that happen in KK. 

Our tea is being brewed for us.

I asked this young man how he came to be involved in the tea business and he said that serving tea was an art and that’s what attracted him to it.

There is an art to brewing, serving, and drinking tea. The tiny pot is refilled from the never empty glass pot of boiling water which is kept hot over a small candle. Boiling water is poured over the tiny ceramic pot to keep it hot. You drink from tiny cups, but if your tea gets cold you can pour it into the base of the tea tray through the slots and take more tea. And the cup nearest you actually belongs to the person opposite from you. I always mixed that up so we just drank from the cup nearest to us. I had experienced much of this in China acting as tour guide around Jingan for other visitors.  Everyone who visited wanted to buy tea pots and tea so we visited all the shops and drank lots of tea in similar tea “ceremonies”. But it is always a welcomed treat.

This tea house is also an art gallery. The current exhibit was the works of Charles Chauderlot.

www.charleschauderlot.com is his really fascinating web site

The exhibit was called Memories in Ink (of Penang) done in Chinese ink and brush.

Same temple, different view and nowhere near as interesting. You can see the large pink joss sticks on the right side of the photo since we are on the side street between the temple and the row of shops. At least I think it’s the same temple: I do remember the pigeons.

I’ve obviously cropped this and it’s off kilter, but you can still see how wonderful it is.

Mr. Chauderlot was invited by the Chinese to paint usually restricted parts of the Forbidden City and was later commissioned by the government of Macau to capture the city with his art. Had we been in the tea shop the previous day we would have met him at the opening of the exhibit. RATS!

A collection or priceless teapots! Tea pot warmers are on the top shelf.

Everything was decorative, even the chair seats if you can see the carving.

Local ladies having lunch. They gave us smiles as we left.

Looking out to the street.

We had a wonderful time, drank lots of tea, lots and lots of tea…and then refreshed we moved along to see what we would see. And what we would see would involve eating chocolate! And that will have to be left for another email.

Ru

DoraMac

ps: Tomorrow we’re off with a Rally tour of Langkawi for the day.  We take a small marina ferry for the short trip to the mainland and then join the Rally bus for a tour and lunch.  For the past two and a half days Randal and I have done nothing but clean the boat.  Randal works outside and I clean inside.  We’re both looking forward to a day off.  I stil have to clean the forward cabin, aft cabin and the galley. (It took me two days just to clean both “heads” and the entire saloon. To let air circulate many of the cabinet doors and the bottom half of the “head” doors have slats and getting the dust out of those slats takes forever.  I found that if you wet a rag and drape it over a small spatular, you can get that between the slats and rub it back and forth several times.  Takes forever!)   Both of us will clean the pilot house.  Because of the salt, boat yard grit, and just life we have to clean from floor to ceiling and everything in between.  But then I can ignore it for another several months of so, at least this heave duty cleaning.  Is it baseball season yet?

pps: Sorry about the missing photo of Mr. Lee, the joss stick maker.  It was in the email before I sent it.   But it wasn’t mine anyway so I guess the fact that it disappeared is fair.  

Thanks in large part to Elizabeth being such a wonderful guide I was able to see many interesting bits of George Town in the very short time we were in Penang. ( I should also thank Patrick for parting with Elizabeth’s help for the day and Randal who always encourages me to see the sights while he tends to boat needs.) Please, Elizabeth, correct me where I go wrong or totally make things up!

Elizabeth and Ruth drink tea, eat chocolate and meet an artist.

Our second Friday at the boat yard, Elizabeth was able to take time to guide me around George Town. Randal decided to go along with us, not to sight see, but to get some boat supplies. That Friday, unbeknownst to us, was the first day of Hari Raya Qurban, a Malaysian Islamic national holiday so all museums, some retail shops, and even most Muslim restaurants were closed. That didn’t spoil Elizabeth’s and my day at all but Randal, who had just come for one specific shop went home early and mostly empty handed. For Elizabeth and me, the holiday closings created the opportunity for different adventures.

Our first stop in George Town always being a second breakfast, we headed to our favorite Muslim restaurant only to find it closed for the holiday. As we toured the streets to find another, we ran into our good friend Ian from Reeflections II. We had first met Ian and his wife Robin in Sebana Cove at a dockside happy hour. Robin is the nurse who took care of me when I had my bout of food poisoning. We reconnected with them in Singapore and at that time Ian was the hero for climbing our mast several times to fix our anchor light. They were now in the marina in George Town where Robin was recovering from knee surgery performed at the local hospital. We ate breakfast with Ian and afterwards he and Randal went off for boat stuff and Elizabeth and I went off to see George Town. Had there been no holiday, our favorite green and yellow restaurant would have been open and we might not have met Ian.

On our way to find breakfast we passed by a man making popiah on Chowrasta Road. He makes them from 8 to 11 on weekdays. Like most shops, this one opens out to the road so you can watch the work being done: an interesting way to advertise.

Step one

Step two

Step three

“Popiah in Hokkien dialect translates to Spring Roll. If you’ve ever wondered how spring roll wrap is made, then this is the place to watch and learn. The owner can make a minimum of 15 pieces of spring roll wrap per minute! For those who aren’t familiar with the history of popiah or spring rolls. This ever popular dish has its origins in Northern China sometime during the Qing Dynasty to celebrate the good harvest. The Chinese believe that the new year’s cycle begins with Spring when everything comes alive after the cold, harsh winter. The original spring roll filling was made mainly out of fresh vegetables collected from the year’s first harvest, sliced, cooked and wrapped in thin dough” http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MI_penang3.htm provided the info: the photos are mine.

    When I had my art classes in Singapore, I had often gone for lunch at the Maxwell Food Court in Chinatown and always ate popiah. The stall didn’t make the wraps, but made the filling and the finished roll as I stood waiting. They were wonderful.

After breakfast Elizabeth took me to see the joss maker.

Some samples of joss

This is a photo of Mr. Lee but it’s from the website, he hurried away just as we arrived. We did see a box of joss sticks just like he is making in this photo.

Joss (Incense)

Unfortunately, when we got to his shop he only had time to tell us that he was off to see the doctor. But his story is really interesting.

“Mr. Lee Beng Chuan has been making joss sticks for decades now. This sprightly 60-some year old man and his wife continue to churn out joss sticks for a select group of loyal customers. Mr. Lee started out not as a joss stick maker but he was commissioned to handcraft dragon and phoenix effigies onto large joss sticks that were used for special occasions such as important Chinese festivals and birthdays. As his eyesight began to fail, he decided to switch to a labour intensive but less skilful career and hence making joss sticks instead. Today, Mr. and Mrs. Lee continue to churn out joss sticks for their very niche market. Although, Mr Lee used to produce thin jossticks – those often seen at alters in temples, he can no longer compete in pricing especially those from China and Vietnam. Instead, he makes shorter, fatter jossticks, which he says are more appropriate for his customers who many have moved away from houses and into apartments. In this way, the smaller jossticks would take a shorter time to burn and hence less smoke in the apartment.

Visitors can buy jossticks from Mr. Lee. He sells them in a variety of sizes. He will proudly show anyone interested, the process of making jossticks over and over again without missing a skip. However, Mr. Lee and wife speak only Chinese and a bit of Malay. On rainy days, Mr. Lee does other things apart from making jossticks, as the process requires quite a bit of sun. The final stages before packing is to dry the jossticks under direct sunlight for 2 days. Mr. Lee has lived in this house on this street for over 65years. He sadly reminisces days when the row of houses in which he still lives on were filled with folks working on all sorts of trades. As the younger generation went off to school and universities, they left their homes for luxuries of apartments and bigger cities. Many of the older generations went along and retired from their livelihood. Mr. Lee maintains that he and his wife would prefer to work for as long as they are able to ~ their way of life is what makes them whole.”

No. 1 Lorong Muda. Operations hours: 8.00am – 11.00am (also depending on the rain, weekdays).

http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MI_penang2.htm#5

We walked over near the Esplanade to catch the free bus that takes you around George Town.

I took this photo from the boat as we passed by on our way to Langkawi. You can see the style of the government buildings along the Esplanade built by the British during the 1800s and early 1900s

St George’s Church, dates from 1818 and is the oldest Anglican church in Malaysia.

According to http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/heritage_st_georges_church.html it was built by Indian convicts. I think Elizabeth said it was being renovated. In any event we didn’t go in but waited just in front for the free bus that takes you around George Town.

Elizabeth looks at the map to plan our next stop…to find some art.

Drainage ditches ran along the sidewalks so you had to plot your way.

Lots of trishaws around but I would guess they are mostly for the tourists.

Not everything was famous but it was all lovely to look at.

Just wandering the small streets gives you lots to see.

While I was noticing the lovely tile and woodwork in front of this building, Elizabeth had noticed the inside which was a tea shop. We went in for tea and also found art.

I’ll tell you about it next email…..

Ru

DoraMac

Kuah, Langkawi, Malaysia (70 miles north of Penang)  December 6, 2009

Hi Everyone

Fireworks at Kuah

Midnight fireworks under the full moon celebrated DoraMac’s arrival at Kuah, Langkawi!

Actually we don’t know what they were for but they were much nicer than 7 hours of screaming karaoke which we’d had at anchor in Penang. They did wake me up so I got up to watch for the 10 minutes or so that they lasted. But, after a 10 hour passage with winds and swells just off our starboard bow, I was tired enough to easily fall back to sleep.

We left Penang at 7:15 am and after a 71 mile passage arrived at Kuah, Langkawi at 5:15 pm averaging about 7.1 knots. Remember that shiny propeller and newly painted hull? Thanks to a clean prop and newly cleaned boat bottom, we are probably averaging one more knot per hour than when the boat was dirty. That may not sound like much but over 70 miles saved us at least an hour or possibly more of cruising time. And that can mean the difference between arriving at an anchorage in daylight rather than in the dark. 

See where it says SOG: that’s speed over ground. 8.9 kt (knots per hour.)

Our recent cruising speeds with adverse currents, winds on the nose, and a very dirty boat have too often been under 5 knots. Yesterday when we were cruising at under 7 knots we felt slow! The wind didn’t seem all that strong until I tried to hang up the bedding I had washed. Hanging the wet quilt- cover on the port side clothesline wasn’t so bad. But when I tried to hang our queensize bed sheet on the starboard side, the wind made it so impossible that Randal had to come down from the flybridge to help me. Everything was dry in no time. Trying to stay on my feet as the boat rolled and also hold onto the bedding as the wind tried to whip it away was a bit tricky, but nothing was lost and we finally have clean sheets. It is all of that boat movement as you try to move about the boat, sit in the small helm chair on the flybridge, or even lay down to rest that makes it so tiring.  And we just have gotten little rest in the past 3 weeks between passages and boat yard work.   My next big task is to clean months of cruising dust and salt crystals and 2 weeks worth of boat yard grit from the inside of the boat. Though Rebak, our destination on Langkawi offers a lovely marina, my goal is to clean the boat rather than hang around the pool. But I will paint! And read.

One last fireworks photo.

So later today we’ll move over to Rebak Marina. I tried their website to share but it doesn’t seem to be working so you’ll have to wait for photos, but it is supposed to be lovely. It is an island and there is a free ferry to the mainland several times each day.

Ru

DoraMac

Anchored near that awful karaoke bar between Batu Maung and George Town

Penang, Malaysia

Hi Everyone,

   We left the boat yard: yippee.  We had to say good-bye to Elizabeth, Patrick, and LBD: very sad.  DoraMac was put back into the water about 3 pm and it is much easier than coming out by a long shot.  Then we just cruised back to a spot to anchor for the night stopping a bit too close to the karaoke bar.  But it was the rain that woke us about 2 am so we had to close the boat up anyway and that muffled the much of the sound which ended at 5 am at the same time our clock alarms went off.   Today we’ll start for Langkawi our ultimate destination, Rebak Marina and anchor midway tonight.   We’ll arrive in Langkawi Sunday and move over to the marina Monday.  We’ll stay at Rebak until the end of December.  While we are there I look most forward to cleaning the boat yard grit out of Doramac who needed a good cleaning anyway. 

   I did some great touring of George Town with Elizabeth and will write that up and share the photos. Patrick and Randal gave each other moral support doing boat work, though Elizabeth did a lot of the primer painting following after Patrick’s sanding.  I was the one who was mostly spectator in the boat work department.  But it will take forever to clean inside the boat and that’s mostly my job.   I should catch things up in Rebak. 

We should be heading out about 7 am when it gets light.

Ru

DoraMac

Jewish Cemetery

http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/RaimyCheRoss.pdf Trinity Theological College, Singapore

“Yahudi Road” Jewish Cemetery

Penang had a small community of Jews whom the locals called orang* Yahudi. Like the Armenians, they came from India along the trade route. The Jewish Cemetery, which has over 100 graves from the 19^th and 20^th centuries, is well maintained.” Streets of George Town Penang by Khoo Su Nin

*orang means men

Our very learned friend Elizabeth had loaned me her copy of Streets and though the word Jew wasn’t mentioned in the index, as I was flipping pages I saw the Yahudi Road entry and learned about the Penang Jewish Cemetery. For some reason that I might someday explore, I felt I needed to go visit it. Elizabeth was happy to include it in the tour of George Town she and I did one day when neither Patrick nor Randal needed our help. It was actually our last stop on a very interesting day, but it needs a story of its own. I will tell about our other adventures, each possibly needing a story of its own.

I did read Raimy Che Ross’s article and recommend it if you have an interest. If you start with page 10 you’ll start with what I thought was the most interesting part. I do wish I’d read it before we visited the cemetery. Today I see no signs of Jewish life here and saw none in any places of Malaysia or Indonesia that we have visited. Maybe that’s why I’m interested; because of the very, to me, visible absence. It also gives me a way to focus on one small subject; something I can relate to more than battles or politics. The religions of the area and the treatment of women seem to have captured me more than the plants, animals or even the beautiful scenery. Singapore, as you might recall, does have a Jewish community as does Shanghai in China. I did visit the Singapore synagogues but not the one in Shanghai when we were there. Next time.

You know how you always smile when someone takes your photo?

When I looked at the photo on the computer, a smile seemed oddly out of place. Walking through the cemetery, had I been alone, I think I would have cried. It was really what I wanted to do. I guess I felt some kind of link to this tiny, somewhat abandoned remnant of a community that no longer exists. I did leave some money with the caretaker who took us around. After reading the story about the cemetery, I wish I’d left more. At the time, although I felt good about my visit and the remembrance stones that I left there, it was unsatisfying not learning more. My thanks to Raimy Che Ross for telling the cemetery’s story.

The caretaker’s family has cared for the cemetery for generations. Read about it in the article; it is quite interesting. Written in 2002, it mentions that the current caretaker, Mrs. Fatimah (79 in 2002 and in ill health), is the grand-daughter of the original caretaker. Her daughter says that she does not want to live in a cemetery. We did not see her but were guided around the cemetery by a middle-aged man who did not want his photo taken. There were some young women there also, possibly her daughter Tipah who was caring for her bedridden mother when the article was written.

This stone is set just in front of all of the graves.

The article mentions that the graves are placed close together though there seemed to be plenty of room. Raimy Che Ross speculates that the cemetery wouldn’t be able to expand so land needed to be saved. The photo in Streets shows most of the land is still unused. The cemetery occupies 38,087 square feet “cleaver shaped plot” on what has now been renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin. Jalan means road.

The cemetery is on the outskirts of George Town. Raimy Che Ross speculates that perhaps is what has protected it all these years.

I think this might be the oldest grave. You can see by the “remembrance stones” that it has been visited. I don’t know how long stones would stay undisturbed, rain storms can have pretty strong winds.

This person’s last name is Cohen. Raimy Che Ross points out that all of the Cohen’s are buried together in the cemetery in respect of their status as “Cohens.” I don’t know if that’s true everywhere, but all of the few Cohens are buried together here. (I can’t possibly explain it, but the name Cohen is connected to those Jews who were the religious leaders.)

The grave of a British Soldier, a Cohen, killed in an accident in 1941. His grave is maintained by the Commonwealth Graves War Commission .

I thought this one was interesting with the different types of inscription.

We saw the graves of sisters, husbands, wives, brothers and babies. I’m glad that I went. Glad that Elizabeth was willing to share the experience.

Tomorrow we will take care of the port clearance paperwork in the morning and then relaunch DoraMac late in the afternoon.  It will be wonderful to get back to our cruising but sad to say good-bye (for now) to Elizabeth and Patrick.  We will just go back down the strait and then head off tomorrow for Rebak Marina near Langkawi.  I said “for now” because we’ll all be cruising around the same areas and will hopefully meet again along the way. 

Ru

DoraMac

December 3, 2009

Pen Marine Boat Yard

Batu Maung

Penang, Melaysia