Malaysia Penang

Never been to Penang and didn’t know much about it. I was briefly in Malaysia once in 1989 to do a presentation to a bank in KL, a short stay 24 years ago so not useful. I do stay aware of international politics so I do know which party is in government and why and some of economic, cultural trends and scandals. Mostly irrelevant to my visit but it did give me context to the conversations and experiences I had.

Despite the late decision to visit Malaysia I did score on the hotel. Very cute, centrally located, and in a restored building reminiscent of the colonial era in Asia. OK, yes, that sounds bad but it is a good hook to explain why Penang is so trendy now. Look below the pics to see why it was actually respect.

Context: what I learned is that this part of the world was greatly impacted when humans figured out how to sail long distances and international trade became a thing. Yes, I work sailing into the story, it comes back later in Malaysia in a big way. China-Europe and then China-India trade went through the Strait of Malacca across the Andaman Sea. Penang is a strategic island that can control this trade across that Strait and also serve as an export hub for anything from Malaysia. The British came to Penang and created a port in the late 1800’s, much like they did in Hong Kong (Portuguese were here first but bypassed it: they focused farther south and on Taiwan, the Portuguese name for Taiwan from year 1542 is Formosa).

Once the British built a useless fort that they did not defend and port in the late 19th century what followed was an exodus of chinese from Fujian province (across the Taiwan Strait from Taipei) to Penang to help the British with the enormous profits to made from international trade. The result is a city on an island with a unique past and architecture. This rando posting in my hotel really informed me on the history, architecture and attitude towards past.

Today, Penang is the most chinese city in Malaysia (54%) and almost everyone speaks some English. However, I later learned that Penang is an ossified remnant of chinese culture, particularly the diverse Fujian province. In Penang they still observe traditions that are not observed in rural Taiwan and certainly not in most of China. And, unlike China and Taiwan, there are various dialects of Fujian chinese spoken that don’t exist elsewhere. Also, the food is awesome. Penang is very popular among Singapore and Indonesian chinese as a weekend destination. Which means that flights to Penang from Singapore are plentiful, on-time and very cheap – which is part of the reason I washed up in Penang.

So when I say I scored on the hotel as a colonial relic, it was out of respect for history, not disrespect. Also, none of what this is new to the world, just new to me.

Committed to a week in Malaysia. Had big plans but did not expect the heat and poor infrastructure. I scaled bank on my plans and expectations and took long walks instead (click on the Video link in two of the images for more).