I'm Loving Penang!

Methodist Grils' School decked out for National Day

      Well, it's been another long while since I've posted anything here, and I do apologize.  But recently I've been too busy some days to eat breakfast or even brush my teeth, much less do a blog post.  What am I so busy doing?  I don't know, exactly, but it sure is time-consuming!

   Anyway, I'm back now -- couldn't resist  posting again because I've just been out on another jaunt around town that made me fall in love with Penang all over again.  The whole place is starting to turn red, white and blue again as August 31, National Day, approaches this coming Friday.  You've never seen such displays of patriotism as Malaysia around Merdeka Day!  This decked-out school is just a small example.  

Penang's Historic KFC location

KFC "Drive-Under"

    Penang is just full of lovely old architecture.  In fact, that's what got it designated  a Unesco World Heritage Site, along with Malacca on the other side of the country.  One of my favorites is Penang's KFC, which operates out of this old building. See Colonel Sanders' picture up there on the first floor?  ( As they say here -- we Americans would call it the second floor.) Talk about a drive-thru -- how about this one?  (Well, actually, it's more like a drop-off point -- you don't actually pick up food there.) 

Gurney Pargon East Tower

St. Joseph's Novitiate in Gurney Paragon Complex

Artist's rendering of Gurney Paragon, side facing our place

    There's legislation here that prohibits the demolition of a heritage building, even by the owners of the land, leading to all sorts of interesting ways of integrating the old and the new.  Just at the end of our lane is the fancy-dancy new "lifestyle complex" called Gurney Paragon.  It has two 43-story resi- dential towers.  And nestled down between them, in front of the now-under-construction 8-story shopping area, is a lovely old colonial building called St. Joseph's Novitiate. It used to be a dwelling for seminarians, but now it's been converted into an event and entertainment center called St. Jo's. The Franciscan monks who used to run it must be turning in their graves, or very rich, or both, since it cost US$ 32 million a while back. 

 Incidentally, the flat area in front of the orange-roofed St. Jo's contains a string of fountains and at pre-determined times, the water shoots up in rhythmic waves, uplit by different colored lights.  Very eye-catching, and the kids (and photographers) love it.  

  I do, too!