Speaking of dogs, I had a real epiphany (light bulb moment), while vacationing in Koh Libong, a small tropical island in Southern Thailand. Most of the people who live on this island are Malay Muslim; outside of the three small Muslim fishing villages, the island is relatively unpopulated.

While visiting two of the villages closest to my hotel, I found it be somewhat peculiar that I did not encounter any dogs. Cats on the other hand were a dime a dozen - it seemed that almost every household in the village had at least one or two.

Later on, I discovered there were five relatively mangy dogs that were kept as “pets” at the neighboring Libong Beach resort. I stayed at Le Dugong Beach Resort. Outside of these five dogs, I believe there was not a single other dog on the island.

Reflecting on the absence of dogs on Koh Libong, I thought about my prior trips to Malaysia – a Muslim nation state in Southeast Asia - and to a number of islands in Southern Thailand which were predominantly Muslim. Strangely, I recall not seeing any dogs on these excursions as well.
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Ah hah, I said to myself, there must be some taboo about dogs in Muslim Culture. Sure enough - after doing some research online, I discovered that in Islam, dogs are considered unclean and unhygienic, and it is forbidden to keep them as pets. Cats - on the other hand - are welcomed as pets in Muslim Culture.

Admittedly, I am very fond of dogs - while I may not agree with this particular attitude towards dogs, as a traveler and an open minded person, I have learned to respect cultural differences.

By the way, the management and owner of Dugong Beach resort are Buddhists and are not part of the indigenous Malay population of Southern Thailand

One of the most popular attractions in Penang is the Botanic Gardens. I went there on a lazy Sunday afternoon in mid December. As it was the start of the Christmas Holidays, there were many tourists - mostly from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore - visiting the gardens on that day. The biggest draw of the gardens are the long tailed macaques, medium sized monkeys who freely roam the park. They are neither wild nor domesticated, as they have adapted to the frequent presence of human beings.

The macaques usually hang out near the park entrance as they welcome the many camera-toting visitors, overtly soliciting for handouts. Unfortunately many people make the mistake of trying to feed the monkeys. This is a big mistake in my opinion, as the long tailed macaque can become awfully nasty when they’re surrounded by too many human beings. Furthermore the monkeys seemed to be bothered by the flash of cameras. While I was there, I saw several gals run for cover when an alpha male made a charge at them, baring his fangs and making threatening postures. Talking about trying to bite the hand that feeds you.

One of the larger males even had the audacity to make charge at me before I scared him off by making whooping noises and shaking my fist at him. Grrhhhh

Cost of eating out If you eat at local cafes, Moslem and Indian food shops (or at the more pedestrian food courts) it can cost you as little as 20RM (5-6USD) per day for three meals. If you go to some of the nicer restaurants (not crass tourists places) frequented by Malaysians, it will cost more of course - expect to pay $15-25USD per day for three meals.

To give you an idea of my dining expenses, I had a western style breakfast - two eggs, a small glass of fruit juice and toast - at Four Leaves Cafe, located across the street from Traders Hotel. It cost me all of 4.00RM (1.35USD). I also had lunch at a small local eatery (across the street from Traders) that offered only Halal and Indian dishes. The lunch cost me all of 3.60RM (a little over $1.00USD).

My dinner expenses for the three nights that I was in Penang were as follows:

• First night - Woodlands ….. 14.30RM
• 2nd night - Sri Anan Bahwani …17.50RM
• 3rd night - Luk Yea Yan… 23.60RM

The first two are very respectable Indian restaurants located in Little India, while the third restaurant is a very proper vegetarian Chinese eatery

There are a bunch of moderately upscale restaurants and cafes - including McDonald’s at the big shopping center located next door to Traders. On the bottom floor of the mall is the ever popular Starbucks.

Starbucks To put the cost of dining in MALAYSIA in perspective, consider this - if you go to a local Starbucks, a Veinte Latte will set you back 12.10RM (3.40USD) and a Veinte Americano 8.35RM (2.35USD). These prices are what Westerners are used to paying, but for Malaysians, Starbucks represents a big splurge!

Nightlife About 1.2 Kilometers away from Traders Hotel is Georgetown’s Pink Zone, a very touristy area with many upscale clubs & bars, trendy restaurants and outdoor bistros. Most of Western tourists can be seen congregating here at night. Be prepared to spend some serious monies if you go there.

Taxi For 7 ½ hours of touring, I paid 270RM, the equivalent of 76USD! Not too bad, my taxi driver was happy and I was haPee!

Note: 1.00USD = 3.55 Ringit (RM)

There are many things to do and see in Penang Island. Like most tourists, I managed to squeeze in an all day highlights tour of Georgetown, Penang’s bustling and historic capital city.

Cultural Heritage and Temples To start my day of touring, I stopped at Khoo Kongsi, a classical Chinese clan temple. At one time it was an active temple but now it is strictly a heritage exhibit for visitors. The elaborate wall ornamentation as well as the exotic statues, murals and paintings pay homage to the clan’s rich history and to their deities. This temple was far different than what I am accustomed to seeing during my numerous trips to Thailand; it made me feel like I was in China.

Many tourists visit a replica of a Thai Wat – inside the temple complex is a mock version of the famous reclining Buddha. Across the street was a replica of a Burmese temple - again I’ve seen Burmese style temples in Northern Thailand and those were the authentic article. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time here.

Next up was a Hindu temple – many Hindis gathered here on this Sunday, most of them dressed up in their traditional garb. Apparently there was a special festival being celebrated on this day, and everybody was enjoying the vegetarian feast that was hosted by the temple. They invited me - a total outsider - to partake of the feast. While I helped myself to lunch, I also made a donation to the temple.

The View at Penang Hill The biggest tourist trap in Penang. Most people take a funicular to a viewpoint located about 830 meters (2750 feet) above sea level, the highest point in Penang. While I am not fond of tourist traps, I admit that there are some absolutely spectacular panoramic views of Georgetown, the Straits of Malacca and Peninsular Malaysia. You can even see the long causeway which connects Penang Island with the mainland.

As I visited Penang Hill on the last Sunday of the holidays, the place was jammed with tourists – mostly from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Besides the view, there was a ‘horse and pony show’ going on – a crowd gathered around to watch fellow tourists pose with pythons draped around their necks.

The Monkeys of Penang Botanic Gardens If you have a limited amount of time, can take “A mini-shuttle bus” for a quick tour of the gardens. The star attraction of the gardens are the long tailed macaques, medium sized monkeys that freely roam the park. These monkeys can get very nasty - baring their sharps fangs and making threatening postures - when surrounded by too many camera toting tourists, who aggravate the situation by trying to feed them. One of the monkeys even had the audacity to make charge at me but I scared him off by making whooping noises and shaking my fist at him. Grrhhhh

The island of Penang in Malaysia has the reputation of having some of the best restaurants in Southeast Asia. In fact “dining” is one of the primary reasons why tourists go there. As a vegan, I cannot really vouch for the reputed excellence of Penang’s restaurants but during my limited time there (4 days/3nights), I had the opportunity to sample three very proper vegetarian restaurants. Admittedly the title of this post “A Vegetarian’s Dining Guide to Penang” is somewhat of a misnomer because of my limited dining experience.

Night One - Woodlands
Upon recommendation of the concierge at Traders Hotel, I went to Woodlands, a vegetarian Indian Restaurant located in nearby Little India. He reassured me that Woodlands was a very proper restaurant, popular with the upper class ethnic Indians who lived in Penang as well as tourists from Kuala Lumpur.

Well, needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. The décor was understated but very pleasant and looking around, most of the clientele were very well dressed locals. I ordered two dishes– Aloo Gobi , Garam Masala in addition to some Garlic rice and Garlic Naan(my favorite). While the service was very good, the food was outstanding, better than 95% of the Indian restaurants that I have been to in my life. The bill came to all of 14.30RM including a 5% service charge. Converting to USD that is $4.00USD - now that is cheap! Keep in mind, if you go to a local cafeteria style Indian restaurant, a whole dinner can be had for as little as $1.25USD!

Night Two - Sri Anana Bahwan
I returned to Little India about 9:00PM. Since Woodlands was closed, I went across the street to Sri Anana Bahwan, another Vegetarian Indian restaurant that I spotted the night before(and they were open till 10:00PM). The ambiance wasn’t quite as nice as Woodlands – a little bit too art deco for my tastes with black ‘n’ white tiled floor and huge whirring ceiling fans going full blast. Overall the food was good (better than average) and the service while friendly was at best mediocre. The bill came out to 17.50RM (approximately 5.00USD), still very affordable for a western tourist.

Night Three - Luk Yea Yan
On my third and final night, I consulted with my taxi driver, a Chinese fellow in his early 70’s, and I asked him to take me to the best Vegetarian Chinese restaurant in the area. He told me he knew of several places. We ended up at Luk Yea Yan, only a 7-minute drive from Traders Hotel. Not a very flashy or gaudy place, Luk Yea Yan was a very proper restaurant with a rather simple decor. Looking around the restaurant, there was a smattering of tourists but most of the clientele were natives of Penang.

After viewing their rather extensive menu, I ordered three dishes – a lotus flower rice dish, stir fried spicy greens and a vegetable satay plus some green tea.

The verdict – the food was very good (not quite as good as Su Hean in Taiping) but the service was just average. Total bill came to 23.60RM (6.60USD)

This Vegan’s overall verdict for PENANG, thumbs up!

I really didn’t know what to expect when I visited Taiping, “a small city” located in the state of Perak in northwestern Malaysia. Not too many western tourists stop here as it lacks the flashiness and glamor of such tourist meccas as Penang and Malacca. Probably Taiping’s biggest claim to fame is being the wettest city in Peninsular Malaysia.

Shortly after checking into my hotel in Taiping sometime late in the afternoon, the sky opened up with a very fierce torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightening. It rained hard for all of 15 minutes before it abruptly stopped. It was like the last movement of a symphony and I was tempted to give Mother Nature a standing ovation. After this initial downpour, Taiping was relatively dry for the remainder of my short visit.

As one of the oldest settlements in Malaysia, Taiping is steeped in history. Walking around old town (downtown), there are many old colonial buildings and a little further out is the Taiping Prison and the World War II Memorial Cemetery. By far, the most outstanding thing in Taiping are the magnificent lake gardens.

The Lake Gardens is truly Taiping’s centerpiece – its reputation is justly deserved. I can honestly say that I have never been to a more beautiful urban park. Rising above the lake and the town are the jungle-clad highlands - located just 10 Kilometers away (and at 1100 meters above sea level) is Bukit Larut, Malaysia’s oldest hill station retreat.

Although Taiping has the reputation of being of a small town, it is actually a sprawling city of close to 200,000 people if you include all the satellite communities and towns which make up the metropolitan area. Approximately 60% of Taiping’s population are Chinese with Malays accounting for roughly 30% and Indians 10%. I was told that these three ethnic groups live for the most part in different districts.

In addition, a lot wealthy people from Kuala Lumpur retire in Taiping because it is such a peaceful and relaxing city, quite a change of pace from the hustle ‘n’ bustle of the big city. Most of these “wealthy retirees” have built rather opulent homes around Taiping Lake Gardens but they maintain a rather low profile.

This Traveler can honestly say that Taiping is the most pleasant city that I have visited in Malaysia. While Taiping may be unsophisticated and kind of worn & frayed around the edges, her inner beauty grows on you after awhile.

It should be noted that Taiping has some wonderful Gourmet Chinese restaurants including two that are completely vegetarian. I highly recommend Su Hean – the food was extraordinary, very cheap and 100% vegetarian.

I found out about a hidden monument in the jungles of Bukit Larut from a group of Malaysian hikers that I met along the road. With the help of a Malaysian guy who was doing some road repairs, I was finally able to locate the trail head and he volunteered to escort me on the jungle trail to the monument. See part I of story

Although a short hike of only 250 meters, one should not attempt it alone. It is so easy to get lost and the footing up the muddy slope is somewhat difficult as the trail is overgrown by the dense jungle vegetation. I found myself climbing over branches and vines; fortunately, my guide knew exactly where to step.

Of course, one must be prepared to “pick up” a couple of leeches.

After about 15 minutes of relatively strenuous hiking, we finally reached the monument. Partially covered by vines and jungle greenery, the monument commemorates the visit of Mr. Birch, the first Englishman to climb this hill. Engraved on the stone was the following:

“THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN TO CLIMB THIS HILL WAS MR T.W.W. BIRCH. FIRST BRITISH RESIDENT OF PERAK IN 1875”

The hill to the monument was later remained Birch Hill after the famous Englishman.

After returning to the main road safe and sound, I breathed a sigh of relief after completing this minitrek successfully without incident. Too bad that my all my camera batteries were dead so I wasn’t able to take any pictures of my expedition. Just the same, there was definitely a sense of exhilaration of having been one of the privileged few to have actually seen this almost forgotten monument – truly an important piece of Malaysian history.

While writing this blogpost, I did some research about this monument. It seems there is a discrepancy about the correctness of the inscription. An excellent report about the rediscovery of the forgotten monument and its context in Malaysian history (and the history of the state of Perak) explains everything.

Shortly after arriving in Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill), the historic hill station located only 9KM from the city of Taiping, I commenced on a hike to the electrical towers located about 3.5KM from my hotel. In order to reach Bukit Larut, you have to take the land rover shuttle in Taiping.

Situated at 1100 meters above sea level, Bukit Larut affords some excellent panoramic views of Taiping and on a clear day you can see the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The sunsets are simply spectacular.

Hiking up the narrow paved road to the towers, I met a group of tourists from Taiping - a middle aged lady and her three nieces - who accompanied me for the first Kilometer. Hugging the hillsides was the luxuriant green vegetation of the rainforest.

Nearing the power plant and twin electrical towers, I ran into some Malaysian hikers who excitedly told me about a relatively obscure trail off the side of the road that led to a monument dedicated to an old Englishmen. A gardener who was working on the road volunteered to be their tour guide and he escorted them through the dense jungle vegetation to the monument. Sharing with me some digital pictures of their mini trek fueled my curiosity.

Apparently few people – foreigners and Malaysians alike - are aware of this forgotten monument in the jungle. As I was intrigued by “this discovery” I asked them to give me more information about the trail. They warned me that although the trail was right off the main road, the signage was very poor, and the trail up the jungle slope to the hidden monument – although only 250 meters long - was difficult to navigate because of the somewhat treacherous footing. They recommended that if I found the trail that I do not attempt to make the hike by myself.

Continuing my hike, I passed the electrical power plant and started looking for trail. I must have wasted over 30 minutes or more trying to find the marker for the trailhead without any success. Just as I was about to give up and head back to my hotel, I sighted a Malaysian man who was working on the road. Sure enough he knew exactly where the trail was and volunteered to lead me to the monument.

Upcoming - The adventure continues with the treacherous hike through the Jungles of Bukit Larut to the Birch Monument

Walking around the Taiping War Memorial Cemetery was both a very enlightening and somber experience. So many young men – from late teens to early 20’s - died on the battlefield during World War 2 fighting for the Allied forces in the British Colony known as Malaya (present day Malaysia) against the invading Japanese Forces .

On one side of the cemetery, most of the grave sites are for Christian soldiers who died in battle (mostly British and Australian). On the opposite side of the cemetery, most of the grave sites are for the Muslim, Gurkha and Hindi casualties of war. Most of these soldiers came from India and Nepal - at that time, British colonies - deployed by the British to fight against the Japanese.

Looking at the various headstones, I discovered that the British used various Indian regiments in the war effort – including the many Punjab regiments, the Indian Army medical corps and the 13th Frontier Force Rifles. The designs on the headstones for the different regiments were very exotic, especially the ship with a serpent head used for the headstones of the 2nd Punjab regiment.

I can imagine that there are a number of Malaysians today of Indian extraction who can trace their roots to these heroic soldiers who died on the battlefield in World War 2.

Sometime after the war, the British pulled out of Malaya and the independent nations of Malaysia and Singapore were eventually formed.

If you’re traveling to TAIPING, a very pleasant city located in Northwestern Malaysia, you’ll definitely want to stop by and pay a visit to La Promise Bakery and Café. A relative newcomer to the scene, La Promise may be the only restaurant in Taiping that specializes in Western Food, a city which is dominated by food shops offering Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes.

Centrally located in downtown Taiping, the café is especially popular with the University crowd and professional people. Very spacious inside with comfortable seating, the café also has free WIFI.

Prices are reasonable and the food – while definitely not gourmet quality - is fairly good. To give you some idea of the prices – a plate of spaghetti is 7.90RM (about 2.30USD) and a Western style Breakfast – complete with eggs, toast, sausage and juice - is all of 5.50RM(1.60USD). The pastries in particular looked absolutely scrumptious. Richard is a genuine pastry artist!

A young Chinese couple - Richard and Ling – own La Promise Café. I had an opportunity to talk extensively with the amiable Ms. Ling. Of all the people that I met in Taiping, Ms Ling probably speaks the best English. She said that her facility with English can be attributed to her being very diligent as a student in both primary and secondary school.

Born and raised in Taiping, Ms. Ling has quite an interesting history leading up to her career as restaurateur.

After graduating from high school in Taiping in 1999, she received a scholarship to study at a University in Penang, where she majored in hotel management and catering. After 2 1/2 years at the University, she left Malaysia for the Gold Coast of Australia, where she finished her studies at Griffiths University.

Upon graduating from the University in 2005, she returned to Penang, Malaysia where she worked as manager for over 2 years at a local Haagen Daas Ice Cream Store. It was there that she met Richard - her future husband and business partner - who worked in the pastry department of a major hotel.

In 2007, she traveled to Ireland where she took courses in accounting and lived with her brother-in-law for over 1½ years, before returning to Taiping in September 2008. Back at home, she decided to pursue career as a restaurateur with her newlywed husband, Richard.

Her parents, who own a local hardware store in Taiping, gave financial backing to Ling and Richard for their “new baby”, La Promise Café. The Grand Opening took place in August 2009.

I give La Promise a big thumbs up!