March 4

George Town, like Kuala Lumpur, was well situated to host visits from the Dutch, Portuguese and British as they were seeking commercial opportunities near the Straits of Malacca. In 1786 George Town became a British outpost and then a colony in 1867. After the prime of the spice trade, the economy was driven by tin mining and exports and then rubber. Now, both cities are working to emulate  Singapore.

Following World War 2, George Town was defined by “incoherent planning, poor traffic management and a brain drain.”  But, more recently, as the capital of Penang, it has achieved much more success. It is a commercial center that focuses on services and technology and has attracted a number of multinational corporations. Tourism is another driver. Currently, it has low unemployment and the highest GDP per capita of Malaysian cities. Fortunately, from our perspective, it still has lots of small markets and businesses. There are lots of large malls like Singapore, but it is still fun to visit the small shops of Chinatown and Little India.

Following our standard excursion which visited an old town, the long (13.5 km) bridge to the mainland and a Buddhist temple, we returned on foot to small shops. Lots are run by Chinese who make up about 50 percent of the population. Walking was a bit of a challenge…not just because of the 90-95* temperatures. Karla ended up with 36,000 steps; I had 20k. There were lots of taxi and trishaw drivers that thought we needed their help. Perhaps tomorrow. We decided to wander around town rather than visit the orangutans. There is an excursion that visits a compound in which you can walk through a fenced off passage and view the orangutans. It’s actually more like walking through an enclosed area and letting them watch you. Since they have watched us before, we thought that we would skip it.

In the evening, we visited the Kimberley Street Night Market.” We settled for fried chicken, veggie springrolls, chicken satay, and beer. Walking back to the ship, we passed through “Little India.”  That was more diverse with food and wares. A nice first day.