Penang with a Personal Touch

March 4, 2025

"Malaysia is a country unlike any other. Full of promise and fragility..." Tariq Ramadan

Meet Suraiya. She's our guide for this day's "Round the Island of Penang" tour. Her voice is low and melodious, her English, the clearest we've heard since we left Australia. She's easily the best, most informative guide we've had on a Viking tour this trip. 

She also reminds me of my Great-Grandma Fletcher. 

Even as a small child, I recognized that my great-grandma was a tiny bird of a woman. Considerably under five feet tall and not an ounce of fat on her wiry frame. She even had a prominent nose like Suraiya, which she said grew long because she "kept it out of other people's business!" 

I was predisposed to really enjoy spending our day with this pint-sized Malaysian muslim woman, and I was not disappointed. Islam is the national religion of the country, though all other religions are welcomed and treated with respect. Bless Suraiya's heart. It's Ramadan, the month long holiday that requires muslims to fast from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. She confessed that once she's able to break her fast, she's often not hungry, but she's very thirsty. Even so, she handed out bottles of water to all of us on her bus more than once.

The Reclining Buddha Temple, guarded by dragons and demons--not to be confused with the good-looking guy in the foreground!

Some people call this Buddha the "Sleeping Buddha," but don't let a Chinese Buddhist hear you say that. This gigantic sculpture depicts the Buddha's posture at his death, completely reclining, eyes half open.  

The statue is 33 meters long (108 ft. & change). That's real gold plating for his clothing and his toenails are mother of pearl!

Many families have paid for their loved ones' ashes to be interred in the temple's columbarium behind the long statue. The higher locations in the wall are believed to help the departed reach Nirvana sooner. Offerings from their descendants can also help their ancestors along the way.

The Chinese put great store on which animal sign is dominant in a person's birth year. Girls born under the sign of the Tiger were considered not desirable as a wife because Tiger girls were too agressive. In the past, female babies born in those years would often be dropped off at a Christian mission if one was nearby. In those instances, they'd be raised, cared for, and educated. Suriaya didn't say what happened if there was no mission available.  

The DH was born the Year of the Horse, which maybe accounts for why I think he's such a "steed." When we lived in Wyoming and had horses, I discovered he is an excellent rider. (Who knew I'd been sleeping with a centaur all those years?)  Daughter #1 is also a Year of the Horse girl, while Daughter #2 was born in the Year of the Monkey! Alas! I am a lowly Year of the...wait for it...Goat. 

According to the chart, which animal year are YOU?

It surprised me to see a globe with the entire north and south American continents turned to the wall. Clearly we have little influence on this part of the world, and we are guilty of not looking beyond our own shores to notice what's happening on the other side of the globe. Malaysia is the deep red country spread over a peninnsula and part of the island of Borneo.

Across the street from the Chinese temple, there is a Burmese (from the country now known as Myanmar) one. Evidently it's not only Christianity that's divided by myriad denominations. Buddhism has many different flavors as well.

Our next stop was a batik factory where we had a more in depth tour of how the exquisite fabric art is produced. Still by hand. Still in painstaking repetitions. 

From there we headed up into the hill country and the deep rain forest. The island of Penang is quite vertical in places and so dense I could well believe there are three small tribes of peoples still living in stone age isolation in its green depths. They don't venture into the towns and the townies don't bother them. 

After we crested the peak and started back down toward civilization again, we stopped briefly at a roadside fruit stand. And by roadside, I mean, half on the winding road, half off. Amazingly, the few motorists who came back slipped into the other lane to avoid mowing us down. 

If you cut open a dragon fruit (the red on in the foreground), you'll find white flesh dotted with tiny black seed and a taste that places it in the watermelon family.

Our last stop was at The Snake Temple in Georgetown. No, they don't worship snakes. They are overrun with them. The area was a haven for adders, all very poisonous, before the temple was built. They slithered off during construction, but after the building was done, the snakes returned to the site and took up residence. During the day, they are lethargic and the monks who care for the temple are careful to move snakes that they find on the floor up to trees in the outside garden or on rattan stands inside where they can rest unmolested till darkness falls and its time to hunt. 

On the plus side, I'll bet there are no mice in this open air temple...

Suriaya kept up a running commentary about life on the island of Penang, and her descriptions of how peoples of different races and religions can live in harmony and acceptance. But she also gave us occasional opportunities enjoy the villages and countryside in silence. Unlike some guides, she didn't require us to stay by her side at all times. Since we all had a Viking Quietvox in our ears, we could still hear her, even if we chose to linger in one area after she'd moved on. She was a gracious host and a wonderful representative of her country.