Swimmin' in Penang -- Hotel Style

Foreign Maid at Work

    First, my apologies to friends and family in cold climes.  I'm NOT writing this to rub it in that Penang is tropical and the temps are around 88 degrees F. or about 31 degrees C. every day.  Honestly, I'm not!  It's just a fact of life and in this new year, I'm going to embrace it, not fight it.  My New Year's resolution is "Swim more, weigh less!"   So, I've been paying more attention to pools and swimmers than ever before.  


    We spent the New Year's holidays by "traveling" to the G Hotel, which is about a block and a half from our abode.  There are too many reasons to explain why we did such a silly thing, but one is that they've been doing ear-shattering renovations in the unit next to ours for about three weeks now. (Isn't there some sort of statute of limitations on how long they can subject us to noise-and-dust pollution?  Unfortunately, I guess not!)   Anyway, our "trip" to the G Hotel was partly sentimental and partly to escape the dust and constant jack-hammering  on the other side of our bedroom wall.  Instead, we exchanged it for ear-splitting New Year's Eve revelry from Gurney Plaza, 19 floors below our room.  How sound does travel when you're trying to sleep!)


    But back to swimming . . . . one thing you often see at hotel pools is extended families (usually Chinese) with a little foreign maid (or two) in attendance.  You can always recognize the maid because she's wearing what we used to call pedal pushers (short pants) and she has a towel wrapped around her neck, ready to dry off the child she cares for.  And her eyes are trained on that child at all times-- they never even flicker elsewhere.  When the family emerges from the pool, if the parents have even bothered to go in, they dry themselves off and the maid takes care of the child.  That's how the other half lives!

Lucky Girl-- or Lucky Boys?

       Speaking of  Chinese families, I didn't dare take a picture, but I watched a little boy and his young mother splashing around in the baby pool.  The lad was 3-4 years old, I guess.  Grandma was hovering at the side of the pool and every minute or so, she'd call the little fellow over and stuff a cookie into his mouth.  It never stopped--not until the whole packet was gone!   "Man-boobs" and childhood obesity can't be far behind!


    Also in the pool was a trio of Malaysian young people.  The gal was modestly covered from head to toe in what I presume to be Muslim swimming garb.  Only her hands were showing and maybe her bare feet.  The message I took away was that you don't have to expose 95% of your body at the pool to attract the fellows.  In fact, there might be something to this notion of "What you can't see is more interesting than what you can." 


    And until I manage to shed about half of my own body weight, that's going to be my motto, too!  Something along the lines of  "If it ain't pretty, then don't show it off at poolside."  Let's see. . . . where can I get some Malaysian Muslim swimwear that would fit a lady like me?