or Georgetown in Pinang because the former is British and the latter is the Malaysian spelling

Hi All,

   We’re about to have our late afternoon/early evening drenching but we’re on the boat so that’s ok.  Jane, our boat neighbor tells the story about one cruising wife who refused to do laundry on the days Jane did because then it would always rain.  During the raining season, it rains about every day at some point so it can’t possibly be Jane’s fault.  We really like Jane who you will get to meet in this email.  She used to have a job right out of the script of West Wing but is here in Penang teaching math at a private school and taking on lots of administrative duties because she’s just good at those kinds of things.  Her husband Roger teaches too.  He is from Concord, MA originally but somehow isn’t emotionally tied to the Red Sox.  How that happened I don’t know.  More peace of mind that way, that’s for sure.  Randal and I both went to the dentist for cleanings and Randal went to the dermatologist for a skin cancer screening.  You show up at the hospital and register and then it’s first come first serve.  We got there at 8 am and he went in to see the doctor about 12:40.  She burnt many spots off his arms but said he was in better shape than lots of others and now we both wear sunscreen on our arms too and not just our faces.  We felt confident with both dentist and doctor, but no one cleans your teeth like an American dental hygienist!

Happy Passover and Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Ru

DoraMac

Chicken Rice and Cappuccino and a Reality Check on George Town Perfection

I used to not like chicken rice. It always seemed so bland: white rice topped by boiled chicken. My friend Sheila called boiled chicken “condemned chicken,” a variation of the Yiddish word that I have no clue how to spell but sounds like condemned. Boiled chicken on boiled rice = blah. And I haven’t really been a fan of dim sum. Too many things I didn’t like and way too starchy. So when Elizabeth asked us if we wanted to walk to dim sum last Saturday, we went for the company and not for the food. Jane and Roger, our boat neighbors would be there too, though they’d take their motorcycle. Jane and Roger are from various places in the US but are currently teaching here in George Town in a private school and we yet to meet them because of their long teaching days. We were to meet at 8 am so Randal and I skipped our usual toast and peanut butter breakfast. I was pretty hungry and figured any food would be good. But this food was great! Chicken rice like I’d never had it. I’m not sure where the chicken was except maybe in the flavoring that made the rice taste wonderful. There was pork and mushroom and something else that was probably chicken. Who cares, it was good and we went back today to have it again.

Chicken rice

(Or your brain on drugs…aren’t I awful!)

The rice is all stuck together and the mushroom, slice of pork, and probably slice of chicken are stuck on top. The really dark food is the mushroom and the red/brown piece is pork so I think the light colored food in front must be chicken. Because the rice was sticky I could eat every last bit of rice with those hard to use plastic chopsticks. The first trip I ate part of a sweet sesame round filled with maybe brown sugar or bean paste. This time I tried part of the small egg custard tarts that are so wonderful everywhere but this one was even better. We got hooked on them when we first visited China. Lots of dishes gets ordered and cut with scissors into small pieces to be shared. But everyone ate an order of chicken rice. Jane and Roger have been there lots of times and the waitresses treat them like old friends. Tai Tong Restoran is on Cintra Street just near the street fruit, vegetable and meat vendors. It’s also just around the block from the used book store on Chowrasta. We ate chicken rice and then Jane, Elizabeth, Randal and I went off to buy books, vegetables, chicken and pork.

One of the “favorite” waitresses dishing out food behind Roger’s shoulder.

http://www.wikistreetfood.com/Penang:Tai_Tong_Restaurant is a website about the restaurant.

Roger, Jane, Patrick and Elizabeth.

Jane and Roger met Zydeco dancing. “Zydeco finds its Creole-French roots in the black communities of early 19th-century southwestern Louisiana. This spirited dance music often includes improvised instrumentation of washboards and spoons, with piano, accordion, guitar and drums offering support.”

http://www.buckwheatzydeco.com/ is the website for Buckwheat Zydeco who just won a Grammy for Lay Your Burden Down.

Roger adjusting his helmet; the blue plastic box carries their cargo on their motorcycle.

Cappuccino

Last Thursday while Patrick and Elizabeth were on a 4 day wonderful train but awful bus trip to and back from a visa run to Bangkok, Randal and I walked off to meet Jane and Roger across town at the Bicycle Pit-Stop Café www.sitigun.com It took us about an hour but that included a return visit to the Jewish Cemetery to show Randal, and to make another donation for its upkeep.* We got to the café just about the same time as Jane who had race-walked over because Randal always sets a Marine drill pace for us. We love the café. The cappuccino and cinnamon roll were really good, the place “just like down on the Market in Roanoke” and the owners very cool with the most adorable one year old baby boy.

Cafe sign outside on a street with lots of colorful shop house businesses.

Jane, Tigun Wibisana and his son Zen, and Randal.

Tigun has lived and biked all around the world. He was born in Indonesia and his wife is Malay Chinese. Their son Zen “is his own person” they say though they had to declare him Chinese, Malay, or Indian when he was born, the three possible choices.  Because that information is “private” in the US I won’t tell his answer. But it was quite interesting and reminded one of some of the still lingering ethnic issues here.

Zen is just adorable!

Our table was across from the lovely tapestry-quilt and the bike parking stand.

Our kind of place. We will have a very hard time leaving George Town a few weeks from now which is a few weeks longer than we had planned to stay. We obviously enjoy our marina neighbors, the convenience and diversity of George Town, the helpfulness of most shop keepers and the relatively low marina fees. Plus the marina in Lumut our next possible stop still can’t provide power or water to the berths. So rather than go there, we’ll stay here longer.

Randal vs. the Taxi Drivers

Randal has gone to war with the taxi drivers. They refuse to turn on their meters so it’s whatever they want to charge is the fare. I have no clue what is reasonable, but those who do:  travel websites, Malay congressmen, newspaper reporters, Jane, say the fare is at least one third more than what it should be. When Elizabeth, Tammy and I went to the Botanical Garden we paid an unmetered taxi 31 ringgits to get there but paid 21 ringgits to the one metered taxi in George Town to get home. The return trip took less time too, which was a good thing because the driver kept up a running monologue that was just too much for the 3 tired women in his taxi.

* Sadly, many of the people buried in the cemetery came from countries that really didn’t want them and are now buried in a place they helped to build but now doesn’t really want them. I visit and donate because, somebody has to care about them. The Indian caretaking family that has lived there for generations does care about it and that’s nice to see. And this visit there were lots of stones at the graves indicating many visitors. I asked the caretaker and he said that lots of tourist had come in December and January on holiday. He said they were people of all religions. That’s good. The fact that importing anything from Israel is against the law, not good.  Does Israel import from Malaysia?  I wouldn’t even have thought of it but Randal read in on one of the tourist brochures of prohibited activities.  Ironically, the fact that TESCO a big Wal-mart like chain in Malaysia is named for Tessie Cohen, the founders’ wife, priceless.  And the Nanny is on TV from 5pm to 6pm with back to back episodes.  Most of the time we can and do ignore local issues, politics and political issues.  Sometimes they are just to unfair like the taxi fares.  And sometimes they are just too personal like Jewish not being an option to mark on the birth certificate.  But I could live here the same way I could live in China because most daily life doesn’t apply to me.  If there are mostly good people around, book stores, art museums, etc. I could live in a place for a long time though its policies are prejudice by law.  Oddly, in the US prejudice is personal but not legal where here it is legal but not seemingly not personal. 

Next week Elizabeth, Jane and I are going to see the new contemporary exhibit at the art museum and then going to find the public library.  Tomorrow off to Tessie Cohen’s.