Malaysia
Sunday, the day after the Malaysian Federal Election we should know the results, but … not yet. Malaysia is like Canada and the USA, split into 2 or more political beliefs. After the previous former PM got sent to jail, there is a move to voting along moral and religious views. It’s hard for Canucks to understand Malaysian politics because we can’t even pronounce the candidates names. We know enough to say that there is no winner by majority in Malaysia this time around and a coalition of members will likely make the next government.
Before we leave subject of the election in Malaysia, did you know that voters are required to dip their finger in an ink pad which dries fast and stains their finger. This is to show that they have voted. The ink lasts for many days. You can tell a good citizen here by the colour of their pointer finger, you know they voted. It’s a simple way to prevent fraud. They also put their criminal Prime Minister in jail. We should do the same in Canada. Ink on the finger, maybe jail too.
Today, we walked the streets of Old Town Georgetown, Penang. As we have been here before we have a faint memory of some streets, particularly the street art. We also discovered some places we haven’t seen before.
Armenian Street (Lebuh Armenian) has some very cool street art. Some of it needs retouching because it has faded and peeled from the sun and rain. We stopped at a huge food court for a refreshment drink about 11 am. It seemed that it had just opened. They had a sign up that there would be live music from 9 pm til midnight. We chatted with a couple of kiwi guys looking for some fruit to eat. Seems like they weren’t impressed with the local food, most of it being of Chinese origin. Penang has a huge Chinese population and is known for the great ethnic food. There is also a “Little India” area too. Most tourists here are Malaysians with a few foreigners from India and other Asian countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. A real hodge page of races and languages. Thankfully most people speak a bit of English! We are really fortunate to speak English!
We visited the Cheah Kongsi Temple in the Armenian Street area. We met a couple from Melbourne Australia. We offered to take their pictures and they returned the favour. It seems if you offer, couples are happy to have their pictures taken together. It’s a win-win situation although you always wonder after touching someone else’s phone, and them touching yours – how soon can you wash your hands! This whole post pandemic thing sucks.
We returned to an ice cream place that we visited in February 2020. We showed the store owner a picture from our previous visit and he was tickled that we returned. The mango float we had hit the spot but hardly seemed cold enough considering how hot and sweaty we were.
