From the fort we drove round the clock tower (not on
the programme, so we noted it for later) to the Penang Peranakan Mansion. Peranakans
(called Baba-Nonyas in Malacca) are the descendants of the earliest Chinese
settlers who semi-assimilated with Malay culture. The mansion was the town
house of Chung Keng Quee (spellings vary) a man of humble origins who came to
Malaya in 1841 aged 20. He became wealthy tin mining in Perak and at his death
in 1901 he was Malaya’s richest man. His part in the Larut Wars (a decade long
turf war between Chinese secret societies over mining rights) cost him dearly
but in 1874 he was appointed as one of the two Chinese members of the Larut
Pacification Committee (the other four were British). Thereafter he worked
closely with the colonial power and in 1877 was made Kapitan China, the officially
recognised leader of the Chinese community.
 |
| Penang Peranakan Mansion |
A noted philanthropist, he donated money for Chinese
education, temple building, the advancement of European engineering in Malaya
and (wisely!) charitable causes close to the hearts of the British (Widows and Orphans
of the Transvaal War, among others).
 |
| Penang Peranakan Mansion |
As the pictures show he lived in some style.
 |
| Penang Peranakan Mansion |
His ceramic collection was Chinese designed and made, but
the colours are much brighter in accordance with Malayan taste – a typical
Peranakan compromise.
 |
| Kapitan China's collection of China, Penang Peranakan Mansion |
As a Staffordshire resident I, of course, regret he sourced
his china elsewhere, but at least his floor tiles were imported from
Stoke-on-Trent.
 |
| Floor tiles from Stoke-on-Trent, Penang Peranakan Mansion |
Next door is his ancestral temple. The life-size bronze
statue of Chung Keng Quee half hidden by the altar was sculpted by Benjamin
Creswick, cast in Birmingham and presented by the Engineers Institute.
 |
| Ancestral Temple, Penang Peranakan Mansion |
From the mansion we made our way to Little India,
though this being Penang it looked considerably more scrubbed than ‘big’ India ever does.
 |
| Little India, Penang |
E bought us a samosa each (elegantly spiced sweet
potato) because it was on the programme while ignoring my suggestion of a cup
of tea, because it wasn’t.
 |
| E buys samosas, Little India, Penang |
Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling used to be called Pitt
Street, indeed it still often is, not out of nostalgia for the empire, but
because of its admirable brevity.
 |
| Everybody knows it is Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, but Pitt Street is easier |
Penang’s citizens of Indian descent (10% of
the population) are mostly Hindus, but the Sri Mahariamman Hindu Temple is situated in
the heart of the Muslim Indian quarter, just along Pitt Street from the Kuan Yin Taoist
Temple. But this is Penang, so who cares?
 |
| Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Little India, Penang |
Sri Mahamariamman is small, but the interior is unbelievably clean and shiny…
 |
| Inside the Sri Mahamariamman temple, Little India, Penang |
…and the gods wonderfully garish.
 |
| Assorted gods, Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Penan |
Further along the jalan (Street) is the masjid
(mosque) of Kapitan Keling (the Indian equivalent of Kapitan China). Although
of Chinese descent, E lived near here as a child. ‘The advantage of living near
a mosque,’ he said, ‘is the dawn call to prayer means you are never late for
school’. The disadvantage, he did not add, is that the call can also be heard
at weekends and throughout the school holidays.
 |
| Masjid Kapitan Keling, Penang |
From their earliest days, the Chinese community (now over
50% of Penang’s population) banded together in clan groups for mutual support
and protection. Clan houses are easy to spot on the streets of Penang - and
elsewhere, in 2012 we visited Chinese clan houses at Hoi
An in Vietnam.
 |
| Small Chinese Clan House, Penang |
The Khoo Kongsi clan house, at the end of Jalan Masjid
etc, is the largest and wealthiest.
 |
| The Khoo Kongsi Clan House, Penang |
The Khoos, who originated in the Xiangcheng district
of southern Fujian province, built their first clan house in 1851. That burned
down 50 years later and the present structure, dating from 1906, contains a
temple, meeting rooms, a traditional theatre…
 |
| Inside the Khoo Kongsi Clan House, Penang |
…and a space for reverence to ancestors.
 |
| Ancestors commemorated, Khoo Kongsi Clan House, Penang |
Although the importance of clans has declined, they
remain active and lists of committee members past and present, are prominently
displayed along with their credentials. Most Khoo leaders seem to have attended
English universities (many of the current crop are alumni of Bristol
University) and meetings are held in English rather than Hokkien,
the language of southern Fujian and the most spoken language among the Chinese
diaspora of south east Asia.
Penang’s famous street food definitely was on our
programme, so we went to a laksa shop. Laksa
is a Peranakan fish based noodle soup popular throughout south east Asia. It
has two main varieties - with coconut milk or with tamarind - and dozens of
regional variations. Traditional Penang Laksa consists of flaked mackerel in a tamarind
flavoured fish stock with lemongrass, galangal and chilli, plus various additions
(pineapple, onion, prawn paste) depending on the maker.
 |
| Laksa shop, Penang |
As we bagged the last table in the crowded little shop
E asked if we wanted a dumbed down laksa for Europeans and whether we could ‘hold
chopsticks’. He seemed surprised that we
wanted (and enjoyed) full-on laksa and proved familiar with the chopsticks-in-right-hand-spoon-in-left
technique used for all noodle soups from Vietnamese pho south. I am not entirely
sure what was in it, but a vivid procession of fiery flavours marched across
the palate, freshened by tamarind sourness. Absolutely wonderful!
 |
| Lynne eats laksa, Penang |
After our starter we crossed the alley for dessert. We
had encountered cendol before and enjoyed the shaved ice with coconut milk,
palm sugar syrup, red beans and green rice flour jelly.
 |
| Lynne eats cendol, Penang |
The driver reappeared and he and E discussed whether
we should go for the main course, or visit the reclining Buddha first. We would
have told them we needed a break from eating had they not come to that
conclusion themselves.
Very much in the Thai style, the Therevada Buddhist
Temple was a short drive away.
 |
| Therevada Buddhist Temple, Penang |
 |
| Reclining Buddha, Therevada Buddhist Temple, Penang |
The statues of leading monks in front of the Buddha
have been covered in gold leaf by devotees, a particularly common practice in
Myanmar…
 |
| Gold leafed monk, Therevada Buddhist Monastery, Penang |
…while behind are what look, at first glance, like
rows of lockers. These actually contain the ashes of the deceased, along with
photographs and a brief genealogy. A few remain empty, but what happens when
they are all filled?
 |
| Ashes in glass fronted lockers, Therevada Buddhist Temple, Penang |
Leaving the Buddhists, we resumed our lunch with the
Muslims. Hussein’s Nasi Kandar stall provided us with a plate of rice with
vegetables and curry sauce, all very pleasant without reaching the heights of
laksa. Nasi means ‘rice’ and kandar is a ‘carry-pole’, so it was originally
rice from a hawker carrying it through the streets; now, any rice with curry sauce poured directly onto it, with or without side dishes, is called Nasi Kandar.
 |
| Hussein's Nasi Kandar stall, Penang |
Most of Penang’s Buddhists are Chinese, and most
Chinese Buddhists belong to the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, but Kek Lok Si
Temple, not only Penang’s but Malaysia’s largest Buddhist Temple, blends both traditions.
The temple was built in 1890 on a hill outside George
Town and the drive to the top gave us a view of the surrounding hills. Channel 4's ‘Indian Summer’, E told us, was filmed in Penang, to avoid Indian red tape. One
of the hillside villas became the Simla club and Armenian Street in George Town
was heavily disguised as Simla’s Indian quarter.
 |
| The Hills Around George Town |
We started at the top of Kek Lok Si with the animals
of the Chinese zodiac. Both being tigers, E photographed us with that less than
fearsome beast.
 |
| Not the most frightening tiger, Kek Lok Si, Penang |
Nearby is a massive statue of Guanyin, Goddess of
Mercy.
 |
| Guanyin, Kek Lok Si, Penang |
We passed more gods …
 |
| Many armed deity, Kek Lok Si, Penang |
… and took the funicular….
 |
| Funicular Railway, Kek Lok Si, Penang |
...down to the main temple building.
 |
| Kek Lok Si, Penang |
From here we had a good view of the 10,000 Buddha
Pagoda, also called the Rama VI Pagoda as the foundation stone was laid in 1930
by the King of Thailand. With Penang’s typical inclusiveness the bottom third
is Chinese in style, the middle Thai and the top Burmese - though it looks less of a dog’s breakfast than that might suggest.
 |
| Rama VI Pagoda, Kek Lok Si, Penang |
That was the end of E’s tour and we were driven back
to our hotel in the heart of the UNSECO World Heritage Site of Old George Town.
After a refreshing cup of tea, we decided to check out
the sights omitted from E’s programme.
The Jubilee Clock Tower, a few minute’s stroll away,
is a Moorish style tower built in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. It has
not quite been vertical since Japanese bombing in 1941 – and that is probably
the most interesting thing about it, not that the Leaning Tower of Pisa should
feel threatened.
 |
| Jubilee Clock Tower, George Town |
Heading for the protestant cemetery we crossed the end
of (inevitably) Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling past the Church of St George. Completed
in 1818 and modelled on St George’s Cathedral, Madras (now Chennai) it is the
oldest Anglican Church in SE Asia and is busy preparing for its 200th anniversary
celebrations. The rotunda in front is a memorial to Francis Light.
 |
| St George's Anglican Church, George Town |
Light’s grave in the protestant cemetery is well
marked. He stayed on in Penang as superintendent of the settlement, dying of
Malaria in 1794 aged 53.
 |
| The grave of Francis Light, George Town protestant cemetery |
Reading the gravestones is sobering. So many men
and women died young from tropical diseases not then understood, and the infant
mortality rate among the British community was appalling.
We rather stumbled upon the grave of Thomas Leonowens.
After a short but a chequered career that took him from India to Penang via Australia he died
aged 31 of ‘apoplexy’ (probably a brain haemorrhage) in 1859 leaving a young
widow. Anna Leonowens set about supporting herself by opening a school in
Singapore and her resulting reputation persuaded the Thai consul to recommend her
when King Mongkut came looking for a governess, thus spawning an unreliable
memoir, a best-selling novel, an Oscar winning musical (the King and I is still
banned in Thailand), two films and a television series. The 1999 film ‘Anna and
the King’ starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat also featured our guide E (as
an extra).
 |
| The grave of Thomas Leonowens, George Town protestant cemetery |
Reaching the cemetery had been a long hot walk but we
had identified a beer stop on the way out and paused there for refreshment on
the way back. At this latitude it is unusual to sit outside at 5.30 without
being enveloped by the fast-falling tropical night. Countries to the north, and
as far east as Vietnam, are 7 hours ahead of GMT (or UCT, if you prefer) while
the Malay peninsula chooses to be 8 hours ahead, so daylight lingers until
after 7pm.
Despite our sizeable lunch the evening found us back
at the Red Garden Food Court – portions are small, little more than tapas
size (well, that is my excuse), and we snacked happily on fried mantis prawn, chicken and Chinese dumplings
(jiaozi).
 |
The Red Garden Food Court, George Town, Penang
|
No comments:
Post a Comment