Day 61 – March 7, 2015 – Saturday – Georgetown, (Penang) Malaysia

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. It is composed of two parts – Penang Island, where the seat of government is, and Seberang Perai (formerly Province Wellesley in English) on the Malay Peninsula

To all of my Butterworth cousins. I bet you didn’t know there was a city in Malaysia named Butterworth! W.I. Butterworth was the Governor of Malaysia in the mid 1800’s. I guess we need to do some more genealogy.

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Just before dawn, the full moon hangs over Georgetown. I just walked out to the veranda and my lens fogged up with condensation. Normally I leave the camera outside for about 15 minutes to let the temperature of the camera and atmosphere equilibrate. I liked this effect though.

We were scheduled to dock this morning, but had been notified a couple of weeks ago that no berth would be available when we arrived. Therefore we had to tender in the morning and the ship came alongside about 1:00 PM.

The tenders getting ready for the morning’s transfers. Thankfully, it was a short distance and very calm waters.

Today is Carl’s birthday and our onboard travel consultants, Henk & Lucia decorated his door last night!

Happy birthday Carl…

Our tour today was with HAL. This was another “tour by default”, there were few choices and the port area was not inductive of walking. Our first stop was the Wat Chaiya Mangalaram Buddhist temple built in 1845, which is the home of the third largest Reclining Buddha in the world.

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The reclining Buddha statue was erected in 1957 and is 108 feet long and 32 feet in height. It is the largest in Malaysia and the third largest in the world.

Urns holding the remains of Buddhist faithful line the wall in the temple.

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Kay below the feet of the Buddha. This gives some perspective of size. Note Kay is shoeless and is not wearing shorts. Covered knees is a requirement for women to enter a Buddhist temple, although men may wear shorts but must also remove their shoes.

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We visited the Craft Batik Workshop (yes another batik shop) but they are interesting!

This woman is applying dye by hand to a design drawn in wax on the cloth. The work is done outside due to the fumes as well as the need for heat, if the applied wax gets too cool it will crack and the colors will bleed. The guide at the workshop said that was why there were only older persons working. The younger generation wanted to stay in the cool….

One slip and you could ruin the entire piece! Kay purchased a beautiful pareo, a wrap that you may wear in many fashions.

Then we continued our way around the perimeter of the island to reach The Penang Butterfly farm.

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Can you find the insect in this photograph? The lower leaf with the rough brown spots is the insect. He blends into the leaf background almost perfectly.

Here is a more detailed photo showing his head and forward legs.

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In the northern part of the island, we were in the mountains where fruits and spices are cultivated.

This cacophony of items were found at a roadside “fruit” stand.

We passed this apartment building on our way back to the port. Looks like Saturday is laundry day…

At dinner this evening Carl was serenaded by the dining room staff singing “Happy Birthday” in their native Indonesian language.

I apologize to my readers for the minimal commentary tonight. I am tired and we have another big day ahead of us tomorrow. I am looking forward to riding an elephant in Phuket, Thailand.

Goodnight..