Mr. Penang 2011

        There's always something happening at the nearby Gurney Plaza shopping center, and this past weekend, it was the Mr. Penang Bodybuilding compe-tition.  You may question why an older lady like myself would be eager to watch it. My interest is because, back in the day, I used to do a bit of weightlifting myself and on Guam I even judged a few local competitions.  And then there was that dalliance with Mr. Mexico. . . .but that's a story for another day!
   So I went along at 10:00, the announced start time. Silly me.  Nothing in Malaysia seems to start when it's supposed to. Big difference from Japan!  But I did get a good seat since I arrived so much before the actual start time.  At least it started out as a good seat!  By the time everybody got assembled, the good seats were still there, but there were walls of heavily muscled guys standing between us and the stage.  Boo, hiss!
     That problem got solved, however, by a Chinese granny sitting to my left who made it all really fun.  I have no idea why she was watching so intently (but people must have thought the same about me.)  Anyway, when those muscular young whippersnappers stood up in front of us, she'd just poke 'em in the butt with her umbrella and move them off to the side.  The 75-year-old grandpa on my right kept elbowing me saying, "Number 4!"  This was evidently his grandson.  He (the young lad, not the gentleman sitting next to me!)  did have some good muscles on his long and lanky body, especially his abs.  He'd clearly worked hard to get his body into the condition it was in and Grandpa was plenty proud of him!
     If I said I didn't even take a peek at those heavily-muscled, scantily-clad bodybuilders would you believe me? Well, I did look  . . . but I didn't drool!  At first I marveled at how, for such a multi-cultural society, the contestants all seemed to have the same beautifully bronzed skin tone. Then I noticed several oddly white faces perched atop heavily bronzed bodies and realized that the body oil they all used to highlight their musculature was also a dye.  These fellows are examples of some who'd opted not to have the tint put onto their faces.
    I didn't stick around to watch the whole contest, but I was most impressed by the Masters (or Seniors) division.  They may not be young, but there's something to be said for being mature and experienced -- at least I think so, being both myself!