Penang Mai

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Although back home, my mind is still at Penang.

How fast the island has changed. The last I was there was a few months ago on a photography cum wedding trip with the husband. So many constructions were going on. When we went there on a road trip in 2o06, I couldn’t recognise the island with all the sky scrapping apartments erected. A year later in late 2007, we went back again and lo and behold, more buildings. It looks eerily like Singapore now. Like a quaint sanctuary losing its soul and definitely, its charm.

Gone were the days when I was little and used to follow my mother back to see her family in Bayan Lepas. At that time, Komtar was the tallest building. As a whole, Penang changed alot. Demographically, urban geographical landscape and to a certain extend, culturally.

But we did go to Georgetown again for a quick breakfast in between the conference. And also a drive through before we made our way back home. There are things there that still stay stagnant against the tide of time. And I really wish it would be preserved. With the new government taking over Penang, I just hope in their quest to change, they would just leave some things the way it was. Otherwise history and heritage would be alien to the younger generation.

Penang sandy beaches now set against the sky scrapping background. Move aside Komtar. Gurney Plaza is the in thing now.

Calm morning after subuh

Thankfully, this one still stays the same !

…. and the one thing I associated Penang with is USM, the place for that hilarious ALI SETAN movie in the 80s. It was what we would describe as ‘Obit‘ but it was funny, really. I even remember some of the corny dialogue to this very day…

Singh : ‘ Hang nak pi mana?’

Girl : ‘Tapah Road.’

Singh : ‘ Sakit perut? Sakit perut makan kacang !’

Or the… ‘ Tipah tetipu bang.. Tipah tetipu..! ‘

I irritated the hubby throughout our USM stint by singing this song

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