Taiping Weekend

Last weekend found us ready to take our first drive over the Penang bridge to the "mainland" for a visit to Taiping, a small town about 1.5 hours from here known for its lovely lake gardens and a small zoo.  Chris had registered to run in the 21km Taiping Heritage Run taking place on Sunday and we had planned to make it a family trip.  So, even though he cannot run it, we decided to go anyway and support his fellow runners and explore the sites.
Taiping receives the most rainfall of any Malaysian town (there is actually a bookie in one of the hawker complexes that takes bets on the exact time rain will fall on a given day) and it did not disappoint!  Shortly after crossing the bridge, we hit heavy rain - just like home- and it drizzled pretty much the rest of the drive in.  We checked into the hotel and then met our friend Thuan for a late lunch - char koay teow, popiah (kind of like spring rolls, but not deep fried), chicken & rice, fried oysters and some teh tarik (hot tea sweetened with condensed milk....you really need to taste it to believe how good it is).  Chris can even eat with chopsticks left-handed now and Brenna is starting to pick things up.  That's the char koay on the banana leaf... not as good as the Penang char koay, but still good.



After lunch, we drove out to pick up the race packets and then around the lake gardens.  They were beautiful and it was really nice to see some open green spaces after the congestion of Penang.  We saw lots of brides and grooms in the gardens having their photos taken, families out for picnics and walks.  Everyone loves the gorgeous trees arching over the drive!

I loved this little pagoda with the crooked walk.  I read in a book once that the crooked bridge is designed to trap spirits or ghosts as they can only move in a straight line.  Not sure if that is true, but it's an interesting thought.



The morning of the race, we awoke to the sound of rain on the roof at about 4 AM (really miss that sound now that we are in a condo!).  It rained steadily until just before the race start at 6:15 AM, so was a long wet run for Thuan and the others.  It slowed to a drizzle and eventually stopped by the end of the race, allowing us to visit the zoo before it got too hot.  It was a really nice zoo with the exhibits well spaced and the animals all appeared well cared for.  We took a quick tour by tram first and then walked to a few areas.  Chris' range and stamina on the crutches are getting better, but he still can't wait to ditch them!


White-handed Gibbon

Malaysian Eagle Owl

These are just two of the different species we saw.  Will send more photos via Shutterfly to the usual suspects!  It was a nice trip and was great to get out and see some other parts of Malaysia. Can't wait to see more...

We'll need a bigger house...

One of the things my boss told me before moving here was that we could find beautiful, high quality furniture here for a fraction of the cost back home.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I have always loved furniture and decorating in general, so this was just another plus for Penang!  You will also know that our small house in St. Pete is already filled to the brim with furnishings we've (well, I've) accumulated, so even though we sold some things prior to moving, there's not much space to work with.  Well, that hasn't deterred me.... last week we finally got to visit a shop I had been wanting to get to during their annual clearance sale.  We got our delivery on Wednesday - so excited!  Here is our new console table (and the book case we ordered back in May):

You can see that I also overcame my fear of the concrete walls and hung up Brenna's baby photos.  This is in our living room with the doorway to the master bedroom to the right.  Here's a closer view of the console cabinet - the doors are covered with carved Chinese characters:

We also picked up an interesting lamp - the base is a salvaged ventilation tile from the old Penang shophouses.  You see them in some of the remaining structures and they are typically this glazed green color.  Couldn't pass that up...

And finally, we added this lovely piece... don't worry Mom N, we haven't become Buddhists, we just thought it was pretty and not something we could find back home!

We could have bought so much more, but thought we'd better pace ourselves!  There is still much to see and do here in Malaysia.  That was our excitement for last week.  More posts to come from our weekend in Taiping and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Orchids and hibiscus!

Since we don't have a yard here in Penang, Rox had decided she would try to grow orchids here!  I mean, they're native to the area, so what could be easier?  Since I haven't found a plant nursery yet, our first plant came from none other than Tesco and cost about 9 RM (~$3 US).  This plant would have cost us about $20 back home, so it made the gamble that much easier.  Well, I brought it home and hung it in the breezeway leading up to our door.  It gets a nice breeze and afternoon sun, so nothing too harsh.  I promptly left it alone only watering it about once per week and even then, very lightly.  Well, after about 2 months, we have our very first orchids opening and they are just beautiful! These photos were taken this afternoon as the sun was setting...

Once it is done flowering, I will move it to a larger pot as it has outgrown the original basket.  Need to find some dry wood chips or charcoal as it does not need soil.  Our other nice surprise was buying a few plants from some neighbors who were moving away a couple of weeks ago.  We picked up some more orchids (different variety), an ornamental plant or two and a large hibiscus tree we've placed on our balcony/ patio where it gets the morning sun.  The hibiscus started blooming last week and produces a very nice red "double" bloom if I am recalling my varieties correctly.  Different from the ones we grew in Florida, but clearly from the hibiscus family.



So we are off to a good start with the plants and hope to add some more soon!  We really miss our yard (not really the mowing and weeding part) and especially the butterfly garden.  We don't think butterflies will fly as high as our balcony, so not sure if we'll try that here.  You never know...

Welcome to Kenny Rogers!

Well last week was a busy week, with Chris visiting Dr. "Param" (well, Parameshwaran, but we can't say that very well and apparently neither can the staff at Gleneagles as this is what they call him too!) for a follow up on his wrist.  He's all set and ready to start rehabbing it - one hurdle down, big one still to go... we go back in three more weeks for new x-rays on the hip.
Tuesday, Rox headed to Singapore for some meetings, which unfortunately meant she missed the Hari Raya Puasa Aidilfitri and Merdeka Day holidays.  Hari Raya Puasa marks the end of Ramadan and is the biggest Muslim holiday of the year.  Most people return to their home cities and break the fast with their families and friends.  The event is also marked by the wearing of new clothes, purchase of new furniture and just generally making a fresh start after the month of fasting and atonement.  The traffic in Malaysia is legendary during this time and in fact, one of Rox's colleagues had to cancel his drive to Singapore because he could get no further than KL.  There are a lot of accidents during the "exodus" as it is called and so we were more than happy to stay off the roads.  On Tuesday morning, the streets were oddly quiet, but by the time Rox left for Singapore, Gurney Drive had turned into a slow moving parking lot.  She made it to the airport in time and enjoyed catching up with colleagues in the Singapore office for a couple of days.   Merdeka Day is one of the two dates marking Malaysia's independence from British protection and the formation of the new national government.  Things were festive, but overshadowed a bit by Hari Raya.
After returning late on Thursday night, Rox was up early to get Brenna off to school on Friday morning.  Hard to believe summer break is over, but we're all a little relieved since it's been such a dud of a summer for her.  She was sad about losing her lazy days, but excited to see her friends again.  Rox picked her up and after a bit of unwinding, we all headed out to dinner, which is the inspiration for today's blog title...
We have generally resisted eating at the "Western" food restaurants except when Brenna or Rox will just not eat anything else.  We try to resist eating in Western fast food outlets even more...especially those we have not seen in the States for more than 10 years.  However, this Friday evening, Chris was craving chicken and Brenna will not eat at Nando's (their chicken is too spicy for her...), so we decided to check out Kenny Roger's Roasters.  So although we have not seen a Kenny Rogers outlet in the States for several years, here in Malaysia they are all over the place (there used to be one in the airport).  The menu was as expected, the service was friendly - except that they forgot to inform us that they were out of drumsticks and instead just didn't bring Brenna's meal at all.  Once we asked, the other server told us they were out of drumsticks (on a Friday night?!), so we ordered something else.  Good thing we asked...  Anyway, back to the title.  The thing that was the most surprising was hearing them greet every new customer with an enthusiastic "welcome to Kenny Rogers'!!" in their melodious Malaysian accent as they walked in the door.  We almost expected to see "The Gambler" himself to come out of the kitchen and for some reason, this reduced Chris and Rox to hysterical giggles every time someone walked in.  I don't know why we found this so funny, but the only thing that would have been better was to have them playing his songs.... Too bad Mom Hooker didn't keep all those old 8 tracks from the SuperSkates days!  Good night once again from Penang... and thanks to Kenny for "decorating our lives" with tasty chicken and a good laugh after a long week!