3rd December - Straits Quay Marina - Penang - Georgetown

Tuesday 3^rd December

Singapore orchids

Straits Quay Marina is very grand.  We are tied up to a pontoon, along with quite a few of our friends all tied up within a small square area, protected by a sea wall.  Lining the waters edge is…a huge, glistening series of shops, restaurants and residential facilities.  The toilets are sparkling; there is a washing machine and a dryer.  (No swimming pool, but let’s not quibble.  As Mercedes, next door to us on SV Forty Two, says, Why do you need a pool when you can have LOTS of cold showers?  Plus a washing machine AND a dryer?)

Last night all I wanted was fish & chips.  I didn’t expect for a moment such a thing would be available, but there were indeed two possibilities – Uncle Albert’s, with haddock and cod sent in from the UK, and another one at the other end of the quay.

Straits Quay is in the waterfront affluent outer suburbs of beautiful Georgetown.  All of the massive buildings around us are built on reclaimed land. 

To Be Restored

Old Georgetown is quite different in character.  We took the bus in from Straits Quay, then wandered around a bit, getting very hungry.  

Another rainy photo...and another building to be restored

Pete chose an unprepossessing-looking streetfront Indian restaurant and ordered for us both.  I had no idea what the meal would be like but golly and GOSH it was fabulous!  He had mutton claypot – I thought the rice was totally delicious, the mutton not so much… But mine was tandoori chicken on garlic naan, with delicious green sauce.  Just fabulous!  We had mango juice with lots of ice and the whole meal came to less than $10, for a taste SENSATION.

I was much happier with a full tummy (I am very much influenced by whether or not I have eaten, and tend to trudge with leaden feet when I am hungry…Pete is much more stoic and much less prone to trudging and whingeing gently.) 

We explored the beautiful old Han Siang Temple, all lovingly restored – Georgetown is another UNESCO World Heritage Site – 

and then went to the ferry terminal to find the hop-on hop-off bus.  We love these free buses and always make great use of them, to orient ourselves in unfamiliar cities.

Colonial splendour - seen through the raindrops

The marina is very close to a large Tesco, so we went and had a quick look before coming back to the boat.

Pete has been searching for yet another fan…

And I have been searching for polystyrene beans for my poor deflated beanbag.  We were both successful – Tesco is our new Mecca!

Tonight we have done our internet business at the Irish pub not far from 2XS, on the marina front.  We have a very lovely waitress, Riza, who really deserves a place in this blog…

(I forgot to say that the reason we didn’t get as much Georgetown Sightseeing under our belts today was because…we started the day at the dentist.  At the other end of the marina crescent there is yet another large shopping area, and a wonderful dental clinic.  I had lost a vital bit of tooth, quite a few weeks ago, and I was very keen to have it fixed.  It wasn’t visible but it was…tricky, and at the back of one of my vital front teeth.  A lovely young Chinese dentist gently drilled and the filled this poor little tooth, and then he did a hi-tech cleaning session.  I HATE having my teeth cleaned…but I survived relatively unscathed, and the whole experience cost around $60.  Pete also had his teeth cleaned, and a few small fillings, and some check-up x-rays, so we are now all tickety-boo in the dental area.)