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

Normally when I visit Chiang Mai, I stay at Tawan Court, a small budget hotel located a couple blocks away from Chiang Mai’s popular Night Bazaar. While there really isn’t anything really special about the hotel (the rooms are somewhat drab and need new carpeting), I feel comfortable staying there because the management is very friendly and the location is ideal. As the hotel rates go up every year, you would think that the owners would spend some extra monies on refurbishing the rooms.

On my last visit to Chiang Mai in December 2009, I decided to ignore my loyalties to Tawan Court and try something different. After considerable research online, I found the Banilah Hotel, a very stylish looking budget hotel located away from the tourist districts in a neighborhood popular with the University crowd.

The images on Banilah’s website are very flattering in an attempt to portray the hotel as a boutique property. While the office has a nice ambiance, the rooms were sort of dark and drab with very small and cramped bathroom facilities. When you take a shower, the toilet will get all wet. The hotel, which is over 3 years old, is beginning to show some signs of wear and tear. As with most local and budget hotels, there are no in-room safes or safe deposit boxes available at the front desk.

On the plus side, all the rooms have free Wifi and TV. In addition, the hotel offers complementary use of bicycles to all their guests.

Two of my biggest criticisms with Banilah are:

• The hotel management exercised very poor judgment by laying down a water hose across the narrow walkway to the guestrooms without putting up a caution sign. Somebody easily could have tripped and had an accident.
• The hotel staff doesn’t necessarily answer their phones during their normal business hours of 9:00AM – 6:00PM. That definitely created a problem for me. To give you some idea, I was near Taphae Gate in Chiang Mai (the opposite side of town) and was getting ready to return to Banilah by Tuk tuk about 4:30PM in the afternoon. As I was leaving on an early morning flight to Singapore, I had to retrieve my valuables from the hotel safe by 7:00PM (the hotel office closes at that time). As most of the tuk tuk drivers probably did not know of the hotel and where it was located, I tried calling the hotel numerous times to get directions but there was no answer. Fortunately the tuk tuk driver that I hired knew the way and I reached the hotel in less than 15 minutes.

Even though the hotel is a pretty good value, in light of my recent experience, I really cannot recommend Banilah Hotel at this time. Management needs to be more responsible to its guests, and most Western visitors might be not too pleased with its offbeat location. Then again, the hotel seems to cater mostly to a Thai clientele.

This is a continuation of my story about GEORGE KEMP,
a remarkable gentleman that I met in Nan, Thailand

Upon arriving at his sprawling house located just outside of the city, George showed me pictures of himself when he was younger. With his exotic good looks and the physique of a bodybuilder, George could have easily passed for a Hollywood star. Admittedly, George was somewhat of a butterfly (lady’s man) in his younger days and has been married four times.

Sometime in the mid 1960’s, George lived in Japan for 5 years, where he was married twice and earned to speak Japanese fluently, before returning to Thailand to resume his career with the police force.

Tragedy struck George in the prime of his life in late 1973 (at the time he was 35 years old). While on duty in his patrol car, a speeding car sideswiped the vehicle. At the time of the accident, George was taking a nap in the front passenger seat, while his colleague was driving the car. His colleague escaped with minor injuries but George wasn’t so fortunate.

The accident left George paralyzed from the waist down. After extensive physical therapy, George was unable to continue his duties as a traffic cop and resigned from the Bangkok police force. Confined to a wheelchair, George had to adjust to his new life and was forced to reinvent himself.

Shortly after his mom died, he married the Thai lady who was his mom’s caregiver. Not only did she become George’s wife, but she also became his caregiver. Sometime later George and his wife relocated to Nan, his wife’s hometown and settled down.

While George cannot walk because of his paralysis, he doesn’t let that slow him down as he drives both a customized car for the handicapped as well as a mini motorcar. Well known in the community of Nan, George promotes his wife’s dog grooming business and teaches both English and Japanese (he is fluent in both languages) from his home. Believe it or not, I think George’s classes are free!

In addition, George accommodates out-of-town visitors (mostly western tourists)at his house with “bed and breakfast”. There are five guestrooms available; most of the rooms are equipped with private bathroom and a TV ‘to boot’. I have seen the rooms and in my opinion, they are pretty decent (better than most guesthouses in the area). There is one catch however - George refuses to charge his guests any monies. Apparently George does not need the monies - meeting and interacting with people is more important to him!

I promised GEORGE that I would publicize his guesthouse to fellow travelers on the condition that he accepts a minimum donation of 150 baht (approximately $5.00USD) per night which he will donate to a charity of his choosing, He reluctantly agreed to this stipulation and indicated that he would donate any monies he received to medical research that helps other paralysis victims. If you’re interested in visiting Nan and staying with George, contact him by e-mail at g_kemp83@yahoo.com or call him at 0832932394

I always meet a lot of interesting people when I travel abroad – both fellow tourists and locals. Of all the people that I have met, there cannot be anyone more interesting than George Kemp, a remarkable 72-year-old Thai gentleman from Nan, a small city in Northern Thailand.

Actually George Kemp is not his real name but only a pseudonym that he uses when he is dealing with westerners. You’ll understand why he prefers to go by the name of George Kemp, when you discover that his real name in Thai is Akarintrara Adhidhebnarangkura – which is way too difficult for most us farangs to pronounce.

I met George as I was leaving Hot Bread Café in downtown Nan. He was sitting in his customized motor vehicle which looks like a cross between a motorized golf cart and a motorcycle. I had never really seen a vehicle like this before, but it serves George well as he is paralyzed from the waist down.

A big strapping fellow about 6 ft 2 inches tall, George does not look Thai nor does he look like a classical westerner. George’s bloodlines are mixed - his mother was Thai and his father was a white man from England. With Asian eyes, high cheekbones and otherwise Caucasian features, George has a very exotic look about him.

After shooting the breeze for about 10 minutes with George (he speaks excellent English by the way), he invited me to see his house just up the road. Now normally I don’t accept invitations from complete strangers but given the circumstances, I thought why not – I didn’t think a fellow like George had any bad intentions. So I hopped on my bicycle and followed him to his home, located only 2 kilometers from the cafe.

Upon reaching his sprawling country house, I was greeted by a chorus of barking dogs - mostly small Poodles, Shih-tzus, Lhasa Apsos. Most of the dogs were being housed in small cages in the back of the yard. George then introduced me to his wife and his extended family - a couple of young Thai girls (children of a good friend) who were living with him. As for the dogs, George’s wife is a professional dog groomer, and the caged dogs were waiting for their beauty treatment.

Talking about himself, I learned that George had a very distinguished career as a captain in the Thai police force in Bangkok during the 1960s - mid 1970’s where he worked primarily as a traffic cop. The highlight of his career came in the late 1960’s, when George made a special trip to Germany as an envoy of the Thai police force. This special mission led to the introduction of Traffic Lights to the busy streets of Bangkok.

Coming up - Learn how a tragic car accident completely changed the remarkable life of George Kemp

As a seasoned traveler, one of the first things I do when checking into a hotel is to ask if they have a safe deposit box in the room (in-room safe) or at the front desk. If they don’t have either one, I ask the manager if I can store my valuables in the hotel safe. Of course an in-room safe or safe deposit box is far more desirable as only you have the key or combination.

Typically smaller budget (and local) hotels and guesthouses do not have in-room safes or safe deposit boxes, in which case storing your valuables in the hotel safe is the only option. But entrusting the hotel with your monies/passports/credit cards etc can be a dicey proposition. The hotel safe may consist of just a desk drawer which can be opened with a key, and in many cases the ‘so called hotel safe’ - especially in many smaller hotels – can be accessed by all the employees.

During my many years of travel, I have never been victimized by a hotel when storing my valuables in the hotel safe. I guess the numbers game finally caught up with me however - on my last trip to Thailand in late 2009, I may have been a victim of hotel theft on two separate occasions. In both instances, small hotels in Northern Thailand were involved - the first instance involved local currency (value of $140USD) and in the 2nd instance, traveler’s checks were involved (I was later reimbursed by American Express).

I am not going to cry over spilled milk, but here are some tips if you decide store your valuables in the hotel safe.

• To make things easier to keep track of, keep your local currency, traveler’s checks and your home currency in separate bundles. By all means, double check your inventory every time your valuables are accessed from the hotel safe.
• Maintain a written log/running account of all your monies, travelers checks etc. Every time you retrieve something from the hotel safe, by all means log it in and keep a running balance as if it was your bank or checking account.
• If there is any discrepancy, possible theft may have occurred in which case you should bring the matter up with hotel manager/owner. If possible, you should also file a report with the tourist police or the local authorities.
• If traveler’s checks are missing (and you have diligently logged in your usage), you will usually get a prompt refund from the company that issued the checks after you have filed a report. After the matter is reported, the missing checks will be deemed void and cannot be cashed by the perpetrator.

If I followed my own advice, I probably would have been unable to prevent the actual embezzlement but at least I would have more conclusive proof that it actually happened. The next step would have been to confront the hotel manager/owner. Oh well, next time…

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

Thailand is definitely one of my favorite places - there are so many fascinating places to visit and the people are very friendly. After all they don’t call Thailand “ the Land of Smiles” for nothing. I don’t mean to make any broad sweeping generalizations but one thing that I find kind of disturbing is Thai people’s nonchalant “sometimes negligent” attitude towards public safety.

To give you an idea what I mean, on my recent most recent trip to Thailand, I stayed in Banilah, a small budget boutique hotel in Chiang Mai. There was a very narrow walkway to the rooms, and lying across the walkway was a rubber water hose that they were using to water the plants. This was a very dangerous situation as someone who is walking to their rooms (especially at night) could easily trip over the hose and have an accident. At the very least, you would think that the hotel management would have put up a yellow caution cone – as they do in the USA - to warn their guests.

This reminded me a situation, which I observed in Koh Chang a number of years ago, where a water pipe was laid across the middle of the long driveway to my bungalow hotel. At night, unless you had a flashlight, one could easily trip over the hose and fall down. I brought this up with the management, and they gave me a look of indifference and nothing was done about this hazard (even when I returned one year later). Well, two years later, the damn hose was finally removed – I guess one of their customers had an accident.

A 3rd incident was indeed even more disturbing. This past December as I was walking through Suvarnabhumi, the very sophisticated International airport near Bangkok, I noticed an electrical cord lying across the middle of the floor. There wasn’t any caution or warning sign or anything, but somebody who wasn’t looking straight ahead while walking could easily trip.

I am guessing that the prevailing attitude of nonchalance towards public safety in Thai Culture is rationalized follows - if you see broken glass or a puddle of water on the floor, just step over or walk around it. No big deal!

Now I realize that I maybe reading more into this than I should, as I have spent so much time in Thailand over the last 9 years – it could be that these situations present themselves in other countries in the same frequency as they do in Thailand, but I am just unaware of it.

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.