Tag: misc

Penang: Georgetown street scenes

Some random shots while walking around Georgetown:

Penang: funny signs

Some funny signs in Penang:

Penang: bug-eyed monkey and obligatory money shot

These bug-eyed monkeys look like Muppets, but they are real. Up on Penang Hill, in the trees behind the Hindu temple. Freaky.

And the Malaysian money shot. Both old and new 5 and 50 sen coins.
The new RM20 bill comes out in a few months.
The newer bills are plastic.

SG: MRT notes

Some MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) notes:

  • Not to be confused with MTR in Hong Kong :-)
  • Mostly everything a modern subway should be: goes everywhere, clean, air conditioned, wide concourses
  • Definitely buy an “ez link” transit smart card (there’s a S$5/US$4 non-refundable deposit), but after Macau, trust me, you really don’t want to futz with change and figuring out fares
  • Goes to Changi Airport (but not if you have a late arrival or a super early departure)
  • I like the way stations are named and numbered (and colour-coded) by the line designation, e.g. NE7 Little India is the 6th station on the purple NE (northeast) line.
  • mobile phones work in stations and trains
  • Does have washrooms in unpaid area of stations (unlike Hong Kong which is shameful), but they are very dirty
  • Full glass walls on the edge of the tracks; it occurred to me that besides the obvious safety benefits (can’t jump or be pushed by crowds onto the track), it makes air conditioning of the station platform area more efficient.
  • There is a local area map in the station, both in the main concourse and, what I find noteworthy, in the middle of the platform as well (this lets you head in the right direction off the platform, which would have have been more useful in Hong Kong since the platforms are twice as long and the exits more spread out)
  • Trains less frequent than Hong Kong – about every 5 minutes
  • The floor markings by the train doors have a really wide “let them off” marking, i.e. you Q on the side (Q = queue), unlike Hong Kong where the exit lane is about 1/3 the width of the doors (too narrow!)
  • Some lines indicate on which side the doors will open, some don’t

General related notes:

  • Cars drive on left side of the road (former British colony), just like in Hong Kong and Macau
  • Escalators in the MRT stations usually follow the same pattern, i.e. keep to the left, and you stand on the left on the escalator (in Hong Kong this was totally random)

Penang: disappointing start

Malaysia is still nowhere near a Top 10 favourite country.

And not just because it’s pouring rain right now. Maybe it’s the gray skies yesterday, my phone not working, the stress of falling behind on this blog, needing some downtime…
Yeah, the lack of sunshine definitely isn’t helping my photos or my disposition.

Walking around yesterday evening looking for dinner, I could barely be bothered to pull out the camera for anything.
And sidewalks are a disaster, when they exist, uneven with exposed deep runoff (sewer?) concrete ditches.
Hawker stall was tiny compared to Singapore.

Admittedly, my char kuay teow (flat wide rice noodles with fried egg and seafood) was much tastier here than in Singapore.
And the rojak penang was good too: cut up fruit & veg in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce (a “salad” of sorts).
Penang is supposed to have the best food in Malaysia (people fly here primarily to eat).

And there are some fine colonial buildings and a mish-mash of religions and their places of worship…

Update on my phone: after googling, this Android-hanging-on-startup problem isn’t uncommon, though the usual fix (clearing the cache) doesn’t work since that seems to hang as well.
I can probably fix it at home (via usb connection to my computer which has the right drivers and software) but I’m stuck for now. Though I may forego buying a new phone…

SG: my bag finally arrived (48 hours later)

Yesterday morning I finally bought a few bits of clothing.
Called baggage and United Airlines several times over the 2 days, each time correcting some bit of info that was wrong (bag colour; my local mobile phone number had one wrong digit etc.).

Even when I called last night, they didn’t know where the bag was. Just as I was going to bed at 1:00, my phone rang and it was the local baggage office saying they had my bag and would be delivering it in the middle of the night (the UA117 flight from Hong Kong landed at 0:30, just like mine did).

I find it a little troubling that the system didn’t show last night that my bag was in fact on a plane at that very moment.

When I woke up this morning, indeed the concierge had my bag!
Just in time for me to head to the airport (carry-on only) in 5 hours (going to Penang for 2 days). Hopefully there’s some clean laundry in there or I’m in trouble…

Note: this would seem to indicate that the bag was not grabbed by accident by someone at Singapore airport.

SG: I’m here, my bag is not

Arrived last night and didn’t see my checked bag.
Though there was a very similar one belonging to someone from Toronto (my flight originated in Newark) so I suspect they grabbed the wrong one by mistake while I was in the washroom.

Funny, I’ve always had a nagging little fear of that happening if I’m not at the luggage carousel when bags arrive.

So it took another half hour to wait for all bags and then talk to Lost and Found, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:00.

Hopefully it will show up today.

I’m disappointed though that they couldn’t see where my baggage tag was last scanned, i.e. did it in fact make it to SIN or was it still in HKG?

Just finishing my coffee, will go buy a SIM card next at a convenience store and am planning on spending the day relaxing and catching up on blog (plus reading/planning on Singapore and my likely little 2 day jaunt to Malaysia). Quite gray out and a chance of thunderstorms today.

Update: my bag arrived 48 hours later, though UA was never entirely sure where the bag was (and they didn’t know it was on a plane when I called).

Statue in SIN airport, just before immigration

If it’s Sunday, this must be Macau…

But heading on to Singapore after a whirlwind 26 hours in Macau.

Baccarat and Sic Bo (3 dice) seem to be the game of choice. But nobody is drinking!
Not many poker rooms.
And now I have a whole new meaning for mall walking.

The World Heritage old town sights are interesting and the Macanese food is good.

At 4:00 I awoke briefly to pouring rain and hoped it would continue so I could relax instead of sightseeing. But alas it waspartly sunny today.

Right now I’m sitting as the lone passenger in the upper deck “super” class (only about two dozen folks in steerage – ha! How do you like that Titanic reference?) on my way direct to HKG airport (no HK customs involved)  and am now back into HK cell coverage – I missed it in Macau!