Village Squire, 1979-07, Page 21language. It is a very clean city of white
buildings, red roofs and lush green foliage.
The British left this colony in 1971. There
are many restrictions, including compul-
sory voting, $10 fine for jay walking, $500
fine for littering, death for possession of
drugs or a knife over six inches long. Birth
control limits two children per family, the
schools refuse a third child. There are two
shifts of school each day. There are
hundreds of factories built on reclaimed
land. Huge buildings under construction
are scaffolded with bamboo poles fastened
with reeds. Washing hangs on poles
extended from apartment windows.
A visit to the top of Mount Faber gives a
view of a modern city of white sky scrapers
and a huge harbour including large dry
docks. The harbour serves 250 shipping
lines with a ship leaving every 15 minutes.
Our city tour included a visit to view the
collection of orchids in the beautiful
botanical gardens, also the jade house,
which has a collection of beautiful carvings
of green. pink. mauve, blue and white
jade.
A batik factory showed that process of
decorating fabric with an opportunity to
buy. We passed the famous Raffles Hotel,
home of the original Singapore Sling. Each
city provided a display of national dances.
This one had a snake charmer and the best
lion dance. People are told that to fully
experience the far east one must sample
the Singapore car park restaurants. These
are car parks by day, but at 5 pm when the
cars leave, little portable stands suddenly
appear to sell drinks, including freshly -
squeezed sugar cone juice, sea food and
vegetables cooked on the spot. If you buy,
a table and chair is produced and set up.
But western digestion systems rebelled at
the single dish pans reposing on the side
walks.
The next day we flew north of Singapore
to Penang, a tiny tropical island, its hills
draped in low misty clouds, situated in the
warm Indian Ocean off the coast of
Malaya. This stop was to be our period of
rest in this tour. Our beach hotel was called
The Rosa Sarong. The grounds included a
beach, pool, flame trees and reed thatched
tables. The rooms were furnished in wicker
with soft cotton batik bed spreads and
lovely FM music available. No window
screens are necessary. Meals are served
outside on a veranda, where mynah birds
cleaned up the crumbs and we caught
fleeting glimpses of strange cats. These
Penang cats were black and white, with the
long hind legs, stubby tail and the hop of a
rabbit. A fish barbecue that night included
choices of Indian, Chinese or Malaysian
methods of cooking chili or tiger prawns
and cuttle fish (baby squid). Penang
proved to be a poor choice for the place to
mail our only postcards. It took two weeks
for first class to reach Canada.
The following day we devised our own
tour. Three of us hired a taxi for five hours
for $30 American. We saw the old streets
and open market of the capital George-
town. Have you ever been caught in a
traffic jam in a fish market with the
temperature at 95 degrees? Trishaws
(three wheeled carts) are very busy and
used by the locals. Other cities just provide
them for tourists. Small herds of goats
roam city streets, and the occasional
Brahma bulls pulling carts. We stopped at
our first temple, the temple of the reclining
Buddha, which also housed many urns of
ashes. We photographed a beautiful
detailed and ornate private Chinese
temple. We shivered in The Snake Temple
- which literaly crawled with little green
vipers. Houses are on stilts or have cement
foundations because of poisonous snakes. ,
Penang (means betel nut) produces many
fruitsand spices. We listened to the
method of tapping trees in the rubber
plantation. About 50 cups of latex are
collected and firmed into a diaper size
sheet, which is hung over a line to dry. Our
driver stopped to buy some football sized
fruit called durand. Nets are strung under
the trees to catch these fruits as they ripen
and fall. As these fruit rolled around the
trunk, a rather strong, offensive odour
spread through the car. The natives
consider the durand a delicacy.
Sunday morning, after another early call
and ample buffet breakfast, we were off to
the airport to go to Bangkok, Thailan (The.
Venice of the East).
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BETTRIDGE'S
154 Downie St., STRATFORD Dial 271-9830
July 1979, Village Squire 19