Penang Now and Then - In Search of Name

Beautiful shots of Penang from a peer of mine insist me to put my own. Here are some pics during my visit to my old school in Balik Pulau a few months ago. The interesting twist is that I put forth some old ones, courtesy from Arkib Negara Malaysia (National Archive), to see how was Penang back then in colonial times, developing from a small port town to now a bustling modern UNESCO World Heritage Site.

First stop, downtown Georgetown. Took 4 hours walking to circle the vicinity I called 5 Trails of Light -Lebuh Pantai, Jalan Penang, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Lebuh Farquhar and Lebuh Light. 

Lebuh Pantai (then Beach Street), 1906.

Darn, this street's name escapes me. 105 years later. No much diff. save rickshaws for cars

Monument to commemorate a colonial judge

Closer look at the immemorial Lady Justice

Penang harbour back in 1906. Observe the two pier roofs to the right.

What it looks like in 2010.

Interior of the pier. I sensed a memory of lively scenery  trapped within its roof...

Fort Cornwallis at Lebuh Light possesses one of the best spot in Penang. In fact, this is where Francis Light landed and built the first settlements of British colony in Malaya. He gave his best shot for opening Penang, now mine with my camera:

Fort Cornwallis - The flag-raising site.

Same scene. Year 1786. Mountain to the far right-below is all that left.

Group of old guns faithfully defending Penang for eternity...

A cannon ready to blast ships to cinders

Gone flag and disused cannon...

VOC and Jawi labels. The Dutch and Malay sultan  really valued this gun 

The year it was made. I believe it stands for "Wassup Gangsta".

Statue of Captain Francis Light - The Man himself. A fitting recompense for his early death.

Detail of Capt. Light's shoes.

Standing and casting present shadow over the southwestern edge of the fort.

Fort Cornwallis back then 1906. Arrow shows my standing point above. Note the moat used to enclose the fort.

Victoria Clock tower. Refurbished and ever sublime.

I stopped at the Protestant Cemetery to visit Light at his grave. The atmosphere was spooky and chilled me to the bone. And it was at 2 pm broad daylight! Eeriness exudes from every crack and corner of the colonialists' final resting place. I couldn't bear the thought, took a few shots and hastily left.

Penang Protestant Cemetery - Path to the forgotten past. Click here to feel the fear.

'Thriller' music video should have been made here.

"Rest in peace Captain"

Flesh and blood amidst bone and dust...

During my walk, it came to me the thoughts about the long gone people, especially Capt. Light and their contribution to make Penang of what it has become now. They worked on great plans based on some old grand design, and their name live forever because of it. Surely Capt. Light has a bad reputation  in Malaysia, and so is Hitler. It's up to us on how to bring up our names, for that shall survive and evaluated by future generation, the unborn and beyond...    

RESPECTO.

Taiping & Kuala Kangsar - Perak Twin Serenity

After a few weeks away, I returned to Kuala Kangsar. This time I experienced the small town since I didn't have the opportunity to do so during the Lenggong speleological journey. Me and Ajib went to Taiping first thing in the morning, indeed the First Town in Malaysia with many titles with 'first' in everything, like first museum, first zoo and first lake garden. The latter was our first stop:

The Taiping Lake Garden. Algae bloom at its best.

Judging by age and size, this must be the First tree in Malaya

The town is an old yet bustling one. The trace of British Malaya remnants are present everywhere. The spirits of the colonialists survived, in form of decrepit buildings and old trees. If the tree above could talk, it would say something like this -"Come later at midnight and see how spooky I am".

Taiping Zoo -where animals are held captive, at mercy and whims of humans.

The Taiping Zoo is adjacent to the garden. Next, Taiping Museum. As an artifact aficionado, I went to lots of museum. I expected this one to have items came from Pangkor Treaty, Birch assassination, Larut War or other things uniquely Perak-ish. Instead, we were bored to death with cultural stuffs seen many times in TV. Seemed like 1Malaysia on tour. They forget to add the title 'The first boring museum in the world'. Yet, the nature lover would find their time worthwhile here:

Taiping Museum - not in the mood for bone soup

Few things unique -Assassination plaque 

F-86 Sabre: Let's kill the commie cunts!

Now, the real adventure begin. We stopped by at the Taiping War Cemetery, where the brave WW2 dead soldiers were buried. It was intersected by a road shown below, dividing into 2 section -Caucasians and Asians. Talking about afterlife discrimination. Yet the place was neat with cut grass and trimmed lawn, adding relaxing element to the serene environment. I bet the gardener comes here everyday just to keep the dead happy in the hereafter...

Taiping War Cemetery - orderly burial, but down under is another story...

Yep, because in wartime they had to bury the soldiers randomly and quick. So the remains are effectively EVERYWHERE on site. That explained some exhumation taking place when we were there in order to identify the remains, even after more than 60 years past..

Asian section. Living guerrilla and fallen ones.

I wonder how the dead would react to this. Yes, you will be remembered forever in the cyberworld.

 

My own personal respect to the fallen soldiers.

My journey wouldn't be complete without some food feast. Here we are, indulging on prawn noodles at Mee Udang Mak Jah at Kuala Sepetang. They are many stalls available, but I suggest you go for this one.  It cost RM7 for usual noodle, but we ordered the special one for RM11. Simply delicious! Long queue, yet it worth the wait.  

Lucky number for the groovy grub.

"Your Taiping adventure is futile without a stop at Mak Jah" -Ajib, a Perak native.

The light was drawing its curtain, and we went back to Kuala Kangsar. We stopped at the famous Ubudiah Mosque. Truthfully the most beautiful mosque in Malaysia. I have a special esteem on Sultan Idris, one who ordered the construction of the imposing edifice. To build the mosque, he ordered expensive marbles from Italy, and some were broken by on-site raging elephants. The construction was halted many months and sadly not finished during his lifetime. He was buried in the tomb next to the mosque.

Mind you that the cost was a staggering RM200,000 -money obtained via loan from the British. Now you know how the colonialist kept their power here in Malaya. It's not by force, but by temptation of money and superficial power. I felt divided to see the mosque whether as a proud present to our generation, or a symbol of the past spoilt lifestyle.

Nevertheless, Sultan Idris will be very proud! - Ubudiah Mosque

Where he was interred, along with the successors, and later, our beloved current Sultan Azlan Shah.

Sunset heralding the end of the journey, with Idrisiah school in the foreground.

Moral story is, imagine what will happen to our name 100 years later. Will it still be remembered? As honorable as the quiet soldiers of the War Cemetery? Or as pompous as Sultan Idris? Fortunately, Internet is the key.

RESPECTO.

Journey Through Time - Lenggong (UPDATED)

Last November, I trailed the path of our ancestors, way back 11,000 BC here in the Prehistoric Capital of Malaysia Peninsular -Lenggong. I went there before in 2006, but this time I expected a lot more due to my friend Maej, who invited me for the trip, had a friend worked there as an archeologist. Along the way from downtown KL, we stopped by at a lake at Sungai Tua road near Ulu Yam for quick clicks: 

Ulu Yam Lake at first stop after Batu Caves. Sneaking behind a newly wed couple for a harsh surprise.

Need to tie this up or I'll be soaking wet, which I did a few minutes later :p

The lake was near to the waterfalls, infamous for being shown in 'Edisi Siasat' TV series as lovers hideout some time ago. The view was relentlessly breathtaking! Maej and I went down and let the cams play their part ;)

Amateur fishermen casting nets.

 

Maej with killer pose. Note the dark-green portion. It leads to an unfathomable abyss.

Interesting to know that the lake was a huge dam and the dam was once terrestrial dusun (food orchard) back in the 70s. Government dealt with the locals and gave them compensation as exchange for the lands. That explained myriad of mansions in the village of Kampung Sungai Kertas, which is adjacent to the lake. 

So, careful if you were to venture here. The seemly shallow lake gives away to unknown depth, which I barely escaped just after a few steps forward into the calm, peaceful water. Ask Maej if you've got any doubt.

Ajib's country crib.

After a stop at Tanjung Malim, we continued along the PLUS highway to Ipoh, where we picked the third crew Ajib. We spent a night in Ajib's crib at Kuala Kangsar -the royal town of Perak Sultanate. Next morning, we continued our journey to Lenggong. The scenery of twin mountain ranges which hold Lenggong in the middle put me in awe... I felt back in time, and somehow the spirits of the ancestors greeted me like old friends...

Welcoming sight of peaceful Lenggong...

We had a nice lunch before the cave-venturing. Mouth-watering, nothing else holds sway than the truth:

Ultimate gastronomic delights.

Name of the restaurant. Empowered by Gerai Pak Ali.

Cavemen hard at work. The ancestors reenacted. History appreciated. They would be very proud...

Caverns of forgotten Homo sapiens. I could imagine they hid or even made love here 10,000 years ago... The bottle doesn't count.

Maej found a new path to deeper sections of the cave.

In 10,000 years, the graffiti will be a precious piece of art. 

Playing Adam & Eve of Lenggong.

Stalagmites which used to shape like KLCC, hypothetically.

Nice shot from Maej.

"This couple was cursed and turned to stone because FB addiction and cheating" -our tour guide.

Entrance to the ancestors.

Archeologist hard at work.

Reality of an Indie-wannabe. Who said that archeologist is a glamorous job?

Ajib as a test subject. Note multiple holes which contain untold treasures of the past...

Maej turn. Seemed we found a perfectly preserved Perak Woman.

In the hole picture above, Maej spotted a shell put there by the ancestors.

Going down the caves... Now that's some Indie in action! ;p

After a few cave explorations, finally we're up to the epitome of them all -Gua Gunung Runtuh. This is where Perak Man -the oldest human remains in Malaysia, was found. Mind you he was buried in the cave located on a hill. I couldn't imagine he was carried high up there. Perhaps the topography was different back then. Indeed, the site is now covered with lush jungle but research revealed that a lake existed here thousand of years ago, hinting that the area was alive with activities, perhaps stone-making, even partying... stone age style.

The timeless hill of Gua Gunung Runtuh looming before us.

The area surrounding Gua Gunung Runtuh. You can discern an outline of a lake if you observe close enough.

Same site, my view.

On top of the hill; signpost telling we were finally there for the Man.

Detail of the signpost.

Entrance to the cave. Like entering into a time machine. Emotions running wild...

Interior of the cave. Speechless. We were then in 11,000 BC.

Reenacting Perak Man burial position. Journey through time begins.

In this final photo, as I lied facing the ceiling of the ancient cave, I let my imagination ran wild with the thoughts of the people long dead millennia ago... At last, I could see through the eyes of my ancestors. They faintly spoke to me, through rocks, through sands, through dust that strewn the caves... whispering the call to remember the past, for the sake of the future.

Special: Lata Kekabu - we deserved a cool and splashing retreat afterward. What a day! 

RESPECTO.