Written on August 6, 2021
I’ve been busy lately so I apologize about the lack of updates. I’ll try to keep updating this irregularly for a month or so, then maybe I can get in a predictable routine again. This is a short summary of our first week (Feb. 23-28, 2020) in Penang, Malaysia at a hotel.
Covid-19: By 28 February, the USA had 66 confirmed cases. Thailand, just a few miles away from us, had 41 cases and Singapore had 98 across across our southern border. Malaysia only had confirmed 25 cases by this time and there were zero in Penang. [Wikipedia]
In our first week in George Town/Penang we remained in tourist mode. It was a brand new place to us. We found our way to interesting sights and activities. Covid-19 precautions weren’t visible. I think we carried around hand sanitizer and washed our hands more often. We spent the days exploring the culture and food. The architecture of the buildings is quaint and picturesque. The city also commissioned some murals that are sprinkled around to attract photo conscious tourists. Somehow I discovered the most useful events calendar ever simply called the Penang free sheet. Thanks to that, we had no trouble finding things to do. We went to an arts & crafts market in a repurposed bus depot. When Jill was working on her schoolwork I went to a writers’ group in an unremodeled building and a tour of the protestant cemetery to discover some of the history of this unique piece of the world.
After a few Malaysian meals we decided the cuisine, like Bali’s in Indonesia, was a little too sweet. Luckily, there were many foods to choose from. We quickly found Indian banana leaf lunches as well as avocado and egg smashed toast. For desserts Malaysia capitalizes on its simple street food and ever present heat to bring crushed ice, coconut milk, and various jellies and beans. They named this Cendol [Wikipedia] and no one should pass up a taste of the refreshing treat.
On February 23, my school administrator guessed that I should return March 1 – 15. This guess was not based on any directive, just the assumption that classes would begin in April if the virus could be contained. Jill and I made a new plan with this in mind. We decided to stay in Penang until March 6 when we would return to China. It didn’t look like we would make it back to Bali. We both wanted a kitchen and a little more room so we moved over to an Airbnb in a high rise condominium that promised blazing fast wifi and a balcony. So, on February 28 we hopped in a taxi to go to our new accommodations.
Great blog and photos, Martin!