We are now in Georgetown, on the island of Penang in Malaysia. We think of San Francisco as a real melting pot. Well, imagine a place comprised of Chinese, Malay, Indians, Arabs, Burmese, Indonesians, Dutch and Brits. Now imagine them all mixed around, but NOT melted. These folks have lived together here on this small island for 200 years and more, but have for the most part kept their cultures and identities intact and separate. Well, the Brits and the Dutch pretty much split town after WW II and independence.
The neighborhoods are fascinating. One minute you'll be in the middle if a totally Chinese area, but cross the street and you are in Little India or the Muslim neighborhood where people are speaking a different language. You'll be hearing the sounds of a lion dance, but a couple minutes walk and you hear the call to prayer. Loud Indian music will fill the air, but two streets over the air will be filled by the smoke of giant joss sticks.
We're here for Chinese New Year and arrived last night on New Year's Eve. Walking around the old colonial district, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site, is a delight. Most of the 2 story buildings were built in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many are still private homes or small stores, but some have been turned into boutique hotels and restaurants. Since all the hawker food stalls were closed, we had dinner at an Indian place. We had mutton roshan ghosht, which is actually goat in a spicy brown curry, and chicken biriani, a chicken and rice dish.
Afterwards, wandering the back streets, we heard loud drums and cymbals. When we finally found the source, what we saw was amazing. A group of young men, all members of an athletic club of some sort, were doing a lion dance. There were four lions that consisted of 2 men, one standing in front as the head, one in back, bent over, as the rear. They pranced around, swinging the head and occasionally the front guy would jump on the shoulders of the back guy and stand up tall. As this was going on, another guy in the street lit big fireworks that exploded right over our heads. It's a bit frightening at first, but after 15 or 20 you get used to it. At one point the lions ran down the street to the big temple, dedicated to Quan Yin, and danced around. A little later the dragon came out. About 6 men with 4 foot poles attached to the body ran around, one person following the next, creating a beautiful looping pattern.
On the way home, we stopped at a little hawker stall for a bowl of Hokkien mee. This is a spicy noodle soup with pork bits and a gorgeous spicy red rich broth...$1.25.
For breakfast most stores were closed, so we had nasi kandar at a restaurant called Line Clear, which translates to 'everything's cool'. Nasi kandar is an amazing conglomeration that shouldn't work, but does. It's a plate of rice that they put several things on...fried chicken, curry goat, grilled prawns, fish, fish roe and more. Then they spoon on top of all these things several sauces, mostly of a red variety, but also one very, very dark color. It's a wonderful dish and is very famous here in Penang.
We are staying at Chew Jetty home stay for a few days. This is located on one of the clan jetties, large piers out on the bay with many homes on them. They are around 150 years old and our family, the Chews, have lived here for 5 generations. There are three guest rooms, a living room and a kitchen. Te bathroom consists of a nice hot water shower and a "traditional Malay toilet", which translated is a hole in the cement floor that empties out into the sea. There is a small deck with beautiful views towards the mainland. The Chews are very nice and welcoming, especially Ms. Chew, the daughter who speaks very good english and welcomes the guests. We had a delicious lunch here with a hotpot filled with all sorts of goodies, a chicken dish with a rich Hokkien sauce, and grilled shrimp that were to die for.
Right across the street from the Chew Jetty is the CF Hawker stall. We've been in it three times today and have had lor mee, a Chinese spicy noodle soup; char koay tao, spicy noodles, stir fried; and assam laksa, another noodle soup with a fish broth reminiscent of soup de poisson from the South of France. But the dish that topped it all off was the fish head curry, a giant fish head cooked in an amazing dark red, spicy broth that has been cooking all day. I've waited years to eat this amazing dish and it was all its cracked up to be. The fish head's meat, and there was a surprising amount of it, was juicy and tender and perfectly cooked. The curry was so rich and spicy and had a wonderful dark red color.
Today I had a marvelous experience that every man should have once in his life. It was relaxing, cooling and felt oh so good. It was a shave and a haircut. The barber was an Indian man in a small, air conditioned shop. I indicated with my fingers that I wanted about an inch of hair taken off, but apparently he thought I wanted an inch of hair left on. With scissors snapping at warp speed, he ran over my head with skill and precision. Then he massaged my head and put all sorts of different smelly, but feel good liquids in the hair. He even parted my hair on the left side, even though all my life I've parted it on the right. Then came the best part. He splashed a pre-shave lotion all over my face and with a shaving brush, smoothed lather all over. He got out his straight razor. For those unfamiliar with this, this is a very old fashioned type of razor, just a single, straight and thick razor that is very sharp. You need a lot of skill with this as with one slip up you can cut your customer badly. But my barber was very skilled as he glided the razor over my face, pinching my skin just the right way to help glide the sharp instrument. By the time he was done (more splashing of lotions, slapping and rubbing of face) I had the absolute closest shave of my life. Smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom.
We ended the evening by standing on the back deck of Chew Jetty Homestay and throwing fairly lightweight fireworks out on the wooden deck. While this sounds rather dangerous, especially with the 5 year old little boy in on the action, Su Peng Chew assured me that these fireworks weren't very strong and wouldn't hurt you or burn down the entire jetty. As we lay down at midnight, the earplugs will be used for sure, as there are loud explosions going off right above our heads.
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