The Northern Chronicles Chapter 2

I’ve been in Penang a few months now and am rapidly settling into life here. The Tank with her Selangor number plates maintains a visible clue as to my identity as does my inability to converse in Penang Hokkien, but I have generally been taken in rather than taken advantage of when buying stuff or ordering things for the new cafe we’re setting up. Overall it’s been really quite good.

How good? Well, for starters, I’m typing this in a pub a few minutes drive down the road from where I live. Bailey’s is a little place that serves good Kilkenny which, though a very nice beer, for some reason makes me sleepy. I do enjoy it though. Bailey’s also has live football on TV and just the sort of atmosphere I like. In many ways it reminds me of Rennie’s when I used to live in PJ and The Yard when I was in Singapore. Both neighbourhood pubs populated by regulars and managed by a barkeep who knew how to make you feel welcome, when to engage you and when to leave you to your thoughts . Yes, it’s good here…


Let me list, in no particular order, some of the other good things here and why I’ve taken to Penang in such a big way.

Friendships

I’ve established some really good friendships in the last year and sometimes it feels like Ive been here decades rather than just months. The people I’ve met have embraced me and taken me into their fold almost like I were a long-lost cousin returned home, or a childhood friend come back to the hometown after years abroad. Perhaps I should not compare, and I concede I made some good friends in Singapore in the 25 years there, but there’s something touching and gratifying in the number, quality and depth of the relationships I’ve made in just the last 12 months.

OK so they can be a little silly, but they're good people to have around.

My new friends here have accepted me in a way and at a depth few, if any, of my Singaporean friends have achieved. And hey, I am one who works at friendships. I think this speaks volumes of the kind of people Penangites are. They may have a reputation for being Kiam Siap* but what I have found is a generosity of spirit that is touching and endearing.

Driving

Yes, Penang drivers are among the craziest in Malaysia. But, short of having an accident, they’re also among the most forgiving. Yes, they’ll create 5 lanes when there are really only three, and yes, they’ll cut you up on the left and swing in from the right, but when you need to get somewhere you’re not quite in the correct lane to get to, they’ll let you switch lanes. No fuss, no horning, no agro. It just works. I find my journeys in The Tank are usually stress-free and quite calm ones. In the last few years in Singapore, I’d gotten quite cranky every time I drove. Now, 800 km up north, I find I’m almost always quite the opposite. What is, simply is and I have little desire to thump another driver on the head for being such a (perceived) prick…

Scenery

Penang isn’t very large but has amazing geographical and societal variety. There really is a little for everyone. There’s the heritage area, the shopping centres, marinas and beaches, hills galore, more hills, and then even more hills!, a national park, plenty of hiking and mountain biking trails, plantations and paddy fields, orchards and waterfalls, fishing villages and homestays… I love drawing the living room curtains and sliding open the living room balcony doors every morning and taking in fresh air and the view of the often-cloud-draped hills nearby. And cycling around where I shall soon be working, Balik Pulau, brings me close to padi fields, the seaside, fishing villages, kampungs and more.

I love seeing this view every time I draw the living room curtains.

Agression. Or the lack thereof.

I always thought Hokkien was a rather rough-sounding dialect. Then I heard Penang Hokkien. Less authentic and original than the southern counterpart which I have become used to hearing, it is also a softer-toned language with more rounded sounds. As an example, ‘eat rice’ in southern Hokkien is Chiak Png - the ‘Png’ sound in particular being a hard, sudden stop with the feel and weight of a command - to me anyway. The Penang equivalent is Chiak Poi, which is altogether softer and gentler and carries an air of invitation and grace. I’m very used to not understanding conversations that go on around me. 25 years of being surrounded by Hokkien and Mandarin conversation, and not being party or enlightened eavesdropper to either has made me more aware of tone rather than words.

The same applies to Penang in many ways too but the difference here is that I find sounds of conversations here gentler and less seemingly confrontational or agressive. Penang Hokkien is partly responsible, but so too, I think, is how Penangites generally carry and conduct themselves. The pace is slower of course (except the mad motorcyclists) but it’s also how social etiquette is different. People are less afraid to make eye contact and to acknowledge each other. Sitting in a coffeeshop, strangers are generally more willing to smile or at least nod at each other. It’s a refreshing change I’m enjoying greatly.

Cycling

I don’t actually cycle as much as I would like to, but I must say I feel safer cycling around Penang - even with the mad drivers and bikers here - than I have ever felt in Singapore. There are cycling lanes, dedicated cycling lanes and trails everywhere which are great fun to ride on. I no longer have a usable mountain bike and running around on skinny 28mm tyres on my current bike means sandy or gravelly trails are a little nerve-wracking, but I still find that the diverse scenery and the friendiness of people in general make for a great cycling experience. My fitness has tapered off so much in the few years since my Celebrate Malaysia ride that I am not really capable yet, but I intend to be fit enough soon, to tackle a round-island ride. Soon… Meanwhile I happily ride 25-35 kms around the Balik Pulau area, discovering new trails and villages and more.

So we hammed it up a bit, but isn't it nice to cycle past padi fields?

Food

Must I even elaborate? Lonely Planet voted Penang top street-food destination in the world for 2014. Enough said.

Street Art

Must I even elaborate? When Penang began seriously gaining international attention these last few eyars, Ipoh, Johor Bahru and even SIngapore began to try and emulate the street art culture of Penang. JB had a serious faux pas with this when Ernest Zacharevic’s Legoman Mugging piece was not appreciated and was whitewashed. Singapore has her own issues with legislation and needing everything to be registered and allowed and so on. Penang, meanwhile, just quietly goes on being wonderfully creative. I mentioned to a few Singaporean friends that the infamous SKLo, the young Singaporean artist who pasted humourous stickers on pedestrian crossing buttons and who got eventually done for vandalism, would have been right at home in Penang. One of them opined that in Penang, she would have been ordinary. And I think that sums it all up really. Penang is a widly creative place where thinking artistically and creatively is the norm.

And this brings me to an idea I have expressed a number of times recently - that the truly great thing about Penang is its self-confidence. This is a city/state with a history it is not embarrassed about. A place that instinctively knows and understands at a very deep level who and what it is. And where it’s headed. One that has a clear picture of what it represents and what it stands for.

For me, someone moving back after 25 years away and dealing with so many uncertainties and variables as I reestablish myself, building on a solid foundation like I find in Penang sure feels darned good.