We’re finishing up four days in Penang, and we’ve had a great time. This is supposed to be a highlight of Malaysia with a great mishmash of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures, and it’s all here. And of course you put all that together with and you’re likely to get some great food, which we’ve certainly enjoyed.

To our surprise, they are still celebrating Chinese New Year here. Last night, the ninth night of celebrations, there were huge fireworks displays around midnight. It felt as though they were going off pretty much right next to our hotel, and that might literally have been true. Today streets near our hotel are blocked off for more celebrations and we’re hearing all sorts of music and drums; we’re hoping to see a parade or two tonight. Fortunately, most things are open these days, so it’s not disruptive like it was a week ago.

One of the odd things we’ve observed about Malaysia is that in restaurants that rely on local Malays for an important part of their business, as opposed to just tourists or even Indians or Chinese, they don’t serve any alcohol or beer or wine at all. It’s not just that the Muslim locals wouldn’t drink it – apparently they would be offended to have it in their presence and so we can’t get it either. Strikes me as strange, and it must certainly make it harder for those restaurants to prosper. But then it got even stranger this afternoon when we observed that a Malaysian restaurant with great food we’ve been to twice for lunch doesn’t serve beer or wine but it does serve pork. Strange indeed.

Tomorrow Mark’s father and brother fly to Singapore to start their trip home, while Mark & I take a morning boat to the island of Langkawi, Malaysia’s most famous beach and tourist destination. This life of ours is exhausting, so we’re looking forward to relaxing on the beach for five days. 🙂

So without further ado, here are some great pictures of our time in Penang, courtesy of John Sullivan.

One of the most remarkable aspects of George Town (the city we’re staying in, on the island of Penang) is the murals painted on exterior walls. Some of them – like this one – are really beautiful.

This is another. There was a lot of public art in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Street life in George Town

There were a lot of fun signs here. We particularly loved the icon attached with the last rule.

I loved this one. If you’re 10, you can only stay at the bar until 6:00, but if you’re 13 midnight is fine!

Mark’s dad in the lobby area of our hotel. We *loved* the hotel – our rooms were on two floors with tons of wooden Malay furniture and great staff. Can’t say enough about how much we loved the hotel!

One of the highlights was a hike through what is billed as the world’s smallest national park. It was a real walk in the jungle.

A walk that ended on a beautiful beach, so there I was with my Kindle. Unfortunately the water was heavily infested with jellyfish and closed to swimming, but reading on the beach is still good.

And then there was the walk through a spice garden

Mark & his brother John in a Buddhist temple

I loved this abandoned building with trees growing out of it

The Chinese New Year celebrations continue to haunt us. From the time we moved out of Singapore – first to Malacca, then in Kuala Lumpur, now in Ipoh – most everything has been closed. It’s getting better; yesterday it seemed as though maybe 60 percent of stuff was open, but it’s been a challenge finding interesting stuff when things are shut up tight.

We went to a bird park in KL where there were lots and lots of peacocks and other beautiful birds. For me, though, this Scarlet Ibis stole the show.

We spent three days in Kuala Lumpur (known to all as KL), the capital of Malaysia. We stayed at a nice hotel with a great view of the Petronas Towers, from 1998 to 2004 the tallest buildings in the world (and still the tallest twin towers in the world). And then for some seemingly random reason we got upgraded to the “Club Floor” or whatever it’s called, where you can get free drinks in the early evening with even better views of the Towers. But while we loved the hotel, the city was a little hard to enjoy with so much stuff closed.

From there we moved up further to Ipoh where, contrary to legend, Steve Jobs did not invent and name the first iPod. Supposed to be a great old colonial town with great food … but a little hard to tell when most things were closed. We couldn’t quite figure out why people say it’s such a good place to stop for a while.

So today we’re moving further north to George Town on Panang island. This should be the highlight of our Malaysian trip; a UNESCO World Heritage Site, cultural center, and most things are opening back up. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of KL and Ipoh, all courtesy of John P. Sullivan. When you’re traveling with an expert, no need to take your own pictures! Sadly, though, there are no pictures of Lidd’s pork knuckle that made up dinner last night. I mean, when you’re in Malaysia you should always go to an Irish Pub that serves German food, right? That’s what we did, but we forgot to memorialize it. Sad.

The architectural highlight of KL is the Petronas Towers. Designed by César Pelli to reflect Islamic art, they’re stunning. This was the view from the lounge at the hotel.

As evening rolled in, the sky changed and the towers changed. Amazing.

Lots of street food in KL

…and more street food

And lots of colorful nightlife in one neighborhood. I know this doesn’t look as though everything was shut down but take my word – this was the exception, not the rule.

This is a memorial in Ipoh to the first British resident. The amusing thing is that the British built it with 44 historic figures, like Shakespeare, Moses, and Mohammad. When the Malaysians got independence, though, they whited out the picture of Mohammad, since you’re not supposed to draw pictures of him! You can see over on the left side the now-blank space where he had been.

John and I took a walk in the afternoon heat along a small river in Ipoh. To our surprise and delight, it was a pretty little park along the river.

Flash alert! John just posted a picture of Lidd and his pork knuckle. Here it is!

Lidd and the famous pork knuckle!