Port 25 Penang, Malaysia

Salam sejahtera! (Remember what this means?)

Today is April 25th, 2024. The sun is up and cutting through the haze as we approach Penang, Malaysia.

Our tour today is to visit Penang’s George Town to see “The Heritage Jewels of George Town”!  We head off the ship to a very new-looking cruise terminal – this is the Swettenham Jetty. The arrows ahead point us to the tour buses.

The local Tourist Information Center wants to make sure we know where we are! (And where they are!)

On the bus we meet Francis, our tour guide! And I am thrilled that our Oceania representative is Paul Smith, the Around the World Ambassador and leader of our Sing Out Loud choir!

The Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower was built in the Moorish style to commemorate Queen Victoria. A large artwork called the “Sphere” stands in front of it.

We pass by the George Town Fire Station built in 1908 and see the recognition of George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage site!

This is the Town Hall building, beautifully surrounded by trees decorated with streamers! At first, I thought these were aerial roots, like banyan trees, but found other images of the area and the trees are devoid of the streamers!

We arrive at the first stop today – the Wat Chayamangkalaram Temple. This is a Thai Buddhist temple. (You’ll see soon why I point this out…) I feel I need to point out that all of the documents and maps spell the temple name the way I do above, but that differs from what is on the sign in the photo below…

Once in the gate this amazing scene appears before us!  Nagas on the left! Dragons on the right! Yakshas in the middle! What else?

To the far left is a little temple guarded by a pair of single-headed Nagas.

Under a canopy is the demigod Vishnu!

Beside Vishnu is the first of two Nagas, seven heads, beautifully bejeweled and long!

Next is Garuda’s wife, Unnati, with a Yaksha guardian behind her! Notice the feet? In case you don’t remember, Garuda is the king of birds!

Here’s a better view of Garuda himself! Now the feet make sense, right?

Finally, we take in the majesty of the dragons, equally bejeweled as the Naga you saw earlier!

Now we get to go inside!

Inside is a gigantic reclining Buddha! 33 m long!

I am amused at the monk’s casual pose at the counter!

This is a fascinating revelation to me! The deities in Buddhism have halos in the shape of flames! If I ever saw these halos before, I totally missed it! But the flames signify the perfect enlightenment of Buddha!

Behind the Buddha is this row of demigods. In front of each statue…

…is a collection box! Each god represents traits that we all want in life. Donate and it’s yours!

Behind the row of gods are mausoleum niches, with the remains of many devotees! This is similar to what we saw at the giant Buddha in Hong Kong!

Our next tour site is Drammikarama, a Burmese Buddhist Temple! (Now you know why I pointed out the previous temple is a Thai Buddhist Temple.)

The temple is elaborate and stunning!

Rather than Nagas and Dragons, this temple is guarded by Lions!

Rather than gods in the Temple, the disciples of Buddha line the halls here. They, too, have their collection boxes beside them.

The Burmese Buddha is clad in gilded robes and is framed by an intricate background. I was able to capture a couple of monks approaching!

We move on to visit the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, the Clan Temple of Chung Keng Kwee.

We enter under an elaborate balcony. I’ll be up there soon!

Inside the doors is an incredible world so unlike the outside world we just came from! This is the formal dining room.

I catch Paul Smith, our Oceania rep, sneaking a critical peek at the piano keyboard! So much for “Do not touch!” His curiosity here is understandable!  After all, Paul is an awesome pianist, leading and accompanying our “Sing Out Loud!” choir on the ship!

The kitchen is spacious, but archaic. I guess this home became a museum a long time ago!

A small courtyard is filled with color!

This beautiful statue stands at the end of the courtyard. Meet the Sky Walker, Simhavaktra! She has wings at her waistline. An incredibly graceful piece!

I find my way to the Clan’s Temple courtyard. The detail in the dioramas above the doors and above the roof ridges is amazing! This is one end of the courtyard.

This is the other end of the courtyard – similar but different detail! Incredible!

Returning inside there is an interesting photo shoot taking place in this dining room! I like that the model’s image is also captured in the mirror!

Upstairs, the bride’s suite is interesting. Elaborate, but not the large beds we are accustomed to seeing in European royalty bedrooms!

Stepping out on the balcony (the same one we saw over the main entrance) I am reminded the world outside does not reflect the world inside this building!

This isn’t important, but I found this dragon-handled dish to be incredibly beautiful!

As I’m leaving to find Joy, I stumble on this lovely scene – a bunch of women lining up for a photo! So, I took advantage of the situation and snapped a photo for me! Wonderful!

On our way to the next stop, I catch this street scene. For some reason I really like this shot! It looks a little rustic, and I can’t figure out what that bicycle is doing up there!

We arrive at the next tour stop – a visit to the Khoo Clan Temple and Village! At the center of the village is the Clan House.

Each generation is given a name. This wall displays the clan names for the 8th through 47th generations!

This map depicts the village layout, showing the Clan House in the center. Everyone who lives in this block are family!

This display shows this is the site where “Anna and the King” (the latest movie version of “The King and I” story) with Jodie Foster, was filmed when Thailand refused to allow the filming to occur there.

Our final stop is Chew Jetty, still part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site we’ve been touring. It is similar to stilt towns we’ve seen before.

There are well-maintained “streets”. I like the makeshift motorcycle garage!

Other “streets” are not well-maintained…

The artwork here is amusing!

This mural is fun! I never did find out what “Folklore by the Sea” is or means – a store? a restaurant?

There are a lot of boats tied to the Chew Jetty, but this dragon boat being refurbished is the most interesting!

At the end of the Jetty is this charming bar! No one is here – I guess it’s too early.

On our way back to the bus I see this interesting 3-D mixed media artwork! Pretty clever!

That’s it for the Heritage Jewels of George Town! We make our way back to Insignia, and soon we are underway!

We bid “selamat tinggal” (Goodbye) to Penang.

Our next stop is Langkawi, Malaysia!