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Travel Geek Update, Penang, Malaysia, December 19, 2013

I arrived in Malaysia yesterday and took the afternoon to relax, read my book and escape the dry heat in the paradoxically located “dry heat bubble” of Penang, a small island and financial capital of the country’s northern state of the same name.  And if you don’t know (or haven’t read the gobs of other blogs about my visits here since 2009), it’s just off the coast from the mainland industrial shipping complex of Butterworth.

But today’s little jaunt through Penang offered me the same thing I get every time I go there: an amazing peek at a new side of the city. I rented a bike and finally rode throughout the day as I’ve wanted to do for so long.

But why would I want to ride through an arid city center in the hottest time of the day, you might ask? Well, Penang is located on the westernmost side of Malaysia. So the sunrise, and all it’s “golden hour” light is robbed from it by Malaysia’s central mountains. And then, because of the city is located on the eastern shadow of the largest and most prominent mountain on the island, Penang Hill (as it’s colloquially known, or Strawberry Hill as it’s historically known, or Bukit Bendara as it’s officially known), there’s also no sunset.

Why is this so important? Well, if you’re not a photographer, it’s probably not — especially since the only beaches, which might otherwise make it’s emerald-green seas enjoyable, are shored by polluted waters. The removal of just a few hours on either side of the mid-morning and late-afternoon sun, the light that photographers live for, makes for harsh shadows and bitter, wincing faces, and pale, shallow color pallets, and generally unattractive shots all around.

But, knowing that going in, it makes exploring and taking risks as a photographer much more amicable. And even in the stark heat that beats down on this island city, it’s actually winter here. So it would still be much worse in the northern hemisphere’s summer months. So what better time, I figure.

In any case, I rented a bike and made my way down Beach Road to Midtown, where I found a construction crew had left the gate open to the property they had been charged with cleaning. So, naturally, I welcomed myself in and began filming and photographing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNjtrGIOWgs&w=560&h=315]

A note about this video: This would be the first actual time that I am using my DSLR to make a video that I intended on uploading to my YouTube channel. So you might notice that the focus is off on the A-Roll sections of the film. That’s because I had the focal length set on what I thought was my head. Being along and having no one to set it on me in-frame, this was the result.

I’ll have to work on that. But I must say, I did enjoy only carrying around one camera body and getting all my photography as well as my video content for today’s blog. Quite exciting. So perhaps look for more of that in the future. I do like the versatility. But the constant focusing was driving me a bit nuts. No tripod either. Again, just went out shooting for an update. Nothing special!

Coming soon, I’ll write up my experience with the visa scam situation (and what to look for, as well as how to minimize your costs) and watching the transvestite hookers at work. Interestingly, the Indian guys really seem to like them. Who knew!?

The album from today, as well as from when I was here earlier this year, should be coming out soon on www.cyleodonnell.com.

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Travel Geek Short: Documentary Georgetown

In the heart of Penang lies a recent but rich history of colonial British culture.

In this short documentary, I ride along with my Taiwanese friend, Jimmy, 20-year resident and owner of the Love Lane Inn, as he gives me a first class tour of the city and its history.  His lively description of the players from past to present in this part of town provides the backdrop of the history on this island town that not many visitors get to see.

As we ride through Georgetown, the state of Penang’s capital city, we visit residences-turned-colleges, a cryptic British cemetery and even an old Portuguese prison.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4KI6T7gLLg&w=560&h=315]

Enjoy the show and head over to subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch all of my documentaries and get the latest videos when they’re released.

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Penang for the Chinese New Year Part One

Travel Update:

This past week was the Chinese New Year.  And since it’s one of the biggest holidays for public and government workers, I spent almost an entire week on the road.  It was so nice to get back out and explore my favorite place in Malaysia: Penang.

Penang is one of those places that presents a near opposite persona to the rest of a country.  In the case of the very conservative, very Muslim Malaysia, Penang is much more liberal.  It caters to tourism in a way that most other places in this country do not – or at least will not.  And because they have become more dependent on this form of income, they have long since started to “put up” with the more unpleasant backlash to including many foreigners in their commerce – at least they’ve done so in terms of the way that the foreign element is seen in a majority Muslim country.

My trip started on Thursday morning and because it’s the monsoon season, my trip took more than 12 hours!  I left my home port at around 9am and changed buses in Seremban.  Then I traveled on what should have been an eight-hour bus ride to Butterworth.  From there, I took the ferry across to the island of Penang.  And then it was a short city bus to India Town inside of the Georgetown area of the city.

Being that it was the first evening of the New Year break, it was pretty difficult to get a hotel.  But I finally checked in at the “Red Inn” on the historic colonial street, “Love Lane.”

Love Lane is the road where one’s “love life” took an expansive turn when the city was first established by the British in the turn of the 20th century.  And the name quickly changed from its original designation, which predates the finality of the settlement – and which clearly was not instituted by the colonial era British settlers.

As the story goes, young men from the Catholic school (then named the School of the Assumption Church) would come to this street to meet with the girls of the Farquir Street Covenant School.  This street, even today, because of its narrow, high buildings abutting either side, was a clever and opportune location for escaping much of the risk of meeting in other highly visible locations nearby.

As the students grew up, they simply named it “the Lane of Love” which then stuck as this generation was the first to expand upon the building of the infrastructure.  Later still, it became even more iconic as more and more westerners used Penang as their jumping-off point to Thailand and parts south in Malaysia.  Because many of the old buildings were converted into hotels, it became a hotbed of prostitution and confirmed its appropriate title in the city maps and history books.

Today, this area likely resembles what it must have looked like back then.  Only now, the prostitutes have penises and the only clergy in this area aren’t out hunting nuns.

Penang’s location so close to Thailand has poised it to be the one-stop shop for all visa-runners and renewers from the country to the north.  And when they (and all the other through-traffic that frequents this island) come here, they bring with them a hint of their party lifestyle from Thailand.

The local shops here have adapted to selling passport photos, …

[Continued on Penang for the Chinese New Year Part Two]