Passion for Pewter

After a wonderful month here, today is our last full day in Malaysia. I spent the morning reveling in my passion for pewter at the Royal Selangor Visitor Center in Kuala Lumpur.

Yong Koon was a young man when he sailed from China to tin-rich Malaysia in 1885 to join his brothers and work as a pewter smith. His legacy, which his family still runs, is certainly a successful business!

Image of the founder from the entry to the visitor center

Image of early placer mining of tin

Tin mining is similar to panning for gold - and large dredges were introduced by 1913 when Malaysia was already producing over half of the world's tin.

Early pewter designs, including animals, were used for money. You can even snap the "coins" off the money tree and then return the stem and branches to get new coins attached as needed!

Pewter money animals and a coin tree

Yong Koon and his children crafted beautiful pewter products for ceremonial use and home use. This melon teapot created by Yong Koon saved a man's life during WWII when the man reached down to pick it up off the floor just as shrapnel flew over his head.

The "Lucky Pot" made by Yong Koon

A free guided tour goes through the history and then showcases the production method of the pewter products - from poured molds to polishing.

Molten pewter is poured into the molds

The molds cool quickly and tiny alligator money pops out

The production line is huge with many people working!

This is half of the production line!

Polishing the pieces on the production line

Today, products from Royal Selangor are sold all over the world in some of the most exclusive stores.

This beautiful self-sealing tea canister sells for $400

Besides the small and elegant, they have created some large objects including a model of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Model pewter Petronas Towers - begins on the floor below me!

They celebrated their 100th birthday in 1985 by creating a Guinness World Record pewter tankard.

Ready for almost 2,800 liters of beer?

They also hold two different classes for people interested in trying their hand at pewter-smithing. I took the easier "School of Hard Knocks" class where only one other student and I hammered away at our flat circles to create small bowls.

My classmate and I in the "School of Hard Knocks"

When we passed our class we received a certificate and the bowl we created as a reward. My classmate had a wonderful family that also cheered me on!

The successful students and their support crew

I had a lot of fun and learned many things about pewter at the Royal Selangor experience!

The Teddy Bear Museum

On our last morning on Penang Island, I took the bus to the Teddyville Museum, hosted by the DoubleTree Resort between George Town and Batu Ferringhi. As you may have guessed, this museum is all about Teddy Bears - but it also tells the history of Penang using Teddy Bears as the characters in a large number of well-done dioramas!

This 1905 bear is the oldest in the museum

The museum has many Steiff brand toy bears from Germany. Richard Steiff designed and sold his bears beginning in 1902. Meanwhile, Teddy Roosevelt inspired American Morris Michtom to make a small, stuffed bear cub to put in his candy shop window, after Roosevelt refused to shoot a small bear cub while on a hunt in 1902. Thus the "Teddy" bear was born and has since proliferated around the world.

Francis Light established George Town in 1786

Francis Light was a British sailor and explorer who established George Town as a trading hub/port in 1786. He leased Penang Island from the local Sultan to establish the first British settlement in Southeast Asia for the East India Company. Fun note: Francis was the father of Colonel William Light who later founded the City of Adelaide in South Australia in 1836. They are now Sister Cities.

Diorama showing the multiethnic active port city of George Town

The museum has so many dioramas I can only show a few of my favorites! If you read my post on the Thaipusam Festival this scene will make a lot more sense! The Waterfall temple depicted is the largest temple dedicated to Lord Murugon outside of India and thousands of devotees climb the 511 steps up to this temple during the festival and outside that time as well.

Thaipusam Festival in George Town

We also experienced both Chinese New Year and the beginning of Ramadan when we were in Malaysia. I love this country scene of the local Malay (mostly Muslim) celebrating with their families in their ancestral homes.

The Kampung House is a wooden village house elevated on stilts

Some of the diorama's have larger bears enacting important roles in Malaysian life. I'm not sure if Khalid from Mypintu Plate would welcome the comparison, but this is a hard-working bear cooking Malay food!

Cooking Malay street food for the other bears!

And here is a woman bear creating a Batik. Compare this diorama to the photo I took earlier of a real woman creating a batik in the Penang Batik Factory!

Woman hand-painting a batik cloth

Speaking of fashion, did you know that Jimmy Choo began his shoe apprenticeship at 11 years old under his father in Penang in 1959! Of course the Teddyville Museum commemorated that with its own Jimmy Choo bear.

I don't think Jimmy Choo would appreciate these shoes!

The Teddyville Museum has many more dioramas and darling displays - and then the gift shop has D.I.Y. dress-up for your mini-bears. Reminds me so much of our daughter and her friends and their very adventurous stuffed animals!

"Piggylet" and her friends would have loved to shop here!

I have a soft spot for Teddy Bears as I loved my mother's bear from her youth during my own youth. My mom's name was Theodora, but she went by "Teddy". I've been thinking of her pretty constantly as I write this post. Below is one last Teddy photo from the 3D Museum in the Oriental Village on Langkawi Island.

Feeling loved by the giant bear at the 3D Museum!

Malaysian Cooking Class

I took a delightful and tasty Malaysian cooking class before we left George Town. I wrote to Khalid at Mypintu Plate and he responded with an offer to join a class. Unknown to me until I arrived, I was his only student that day so I got all his attention! As he wrote in his description "The dishes taught are of Malay, Chinese, Indian and others influence reflecting Penang's diverse ethnicity and multi-cultural tradition."

It turned out we were making (and eating) three dishes!

Khalid is the wonderful cooking instructor at Mypintu Plate!

First up, under Khalid's great instructions, we made Malaysia's national dish -  Nasi Lemak. This is a coconut flavored-rice with sambal, a chili-based sauce/paste originating in maritime SE Asia. There are a variety of complimentary foods that go with the rice to create an easy and well-balanced meal. It is frequently wrapped in banana leaves so it can be sold as a quick and healthy street food.

Khalid's brilliant organization and preparation for cooking!

I am an indifferent (and sometimes hostile) cook. I love to eat and I enjoy baking - but I have never felt competent at making meals. With Khalid's tutelage I really enjoyed making these foods! He taught me and then quizzed me on the ingredients so I'd know what I was using at each step - though you can see he had prepared a lot of the foods in advance.

Mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients for the Sambal

While we could have used a blender, I decided to try the mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients for the sambal - there are a lot of ingredients and some didn't like smashing easily. Sigh. Khalid was patient with my decision to do it the hard way and we eventually got a wonderful sambal after some patient cooking to meld the flavors together.

We made the coconut flavored rice in a rice cooker - which I had never used before. It was such delicious rice! We made the sambal and the accoutrements for the meal while the rice cooked.

Then we put it all together. So yummy!

Nasi Lemak and accoutrements!

Second, using some of the sambal we made for the Nasi Lemak, we made an award-winning dish called Rendang. This dish won the CNN Readers Choice Best Food in the World Award in 2011! I believe it! I hope I have the patience (and can find the ingredients) to make it again...

The ingredients for Rendang except for the chilled chicken pieces

Rendang, the World's Most Delicious Food!

Rendang required a lot of ingredients, especially when you added in the ingredients for the sambal included in the recipe. But it really was an exceptional blending of wonderful flavors.

Our last dish was a quick stir fry Char Kway Teow (locally called CKT) which is a fried flat rice noodle cooked in soy sauce and seafood at high heat.

Ready to make some CKT!

One of Khalid's friends came over as we were making the CKT and waited while we finished the quick recipe and ate the yummy result.

Char Kway Teow

Khalid was generous to let me take some of each meal home to Darrell in our trusty leftover container.

Darrell's lucky dinner!

Then Khalid's friend took a photo of us at his front door - Mypintu means door in Malaysian!

Khalid and I handcuffed to the door

I'm sure Khalid would welcome you to his door for his wonderful cooking classes! You get wonderful conversation along with cooking lessons and eating the unique food! He took almost all the photos I included in this post, and sent them to me, along with his Malaysian Recipe book, after the class. I highly recommend a class and conversation with Khalid!

The Chinese Clan Jetties

The old town of George Town, Malaysia was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 for the variety of architectural styles from both East and West influences. The diversity of religious temples and churches from many religions is also legion.

My favorite styles, forgoing elegance and frills, are the Chinese Clan Jetties. Immigrant Chinese from the 1880's on were landing at the waterfront and assisting in loading and unloading cargo on the jetties. Simple housing built on the jetties (to avoid taxes from building on land) evolved into each clan having a unique jetty with diversified work.

Two of the original nine jetties were destroyed during urbanization, but having UNESCO status and increased tourism has helped save the other seven jetties. The information comes from signs in front of each jetty.

Ong Jetty - was never a residential jetty - it is now just a long pier at the beginning of the series of residential jetties.

Lim Jetty - Was once a large settlement but was destroyed by the Japanese in 1941. The homes were slowly rebuilt.

Home with fishing equipment at end of Lim Jetty

Chew Jetty - The largest and most touristed jetty is now lined with shops, food stalls, and homes.

Fun art on the side of a Chew Jetty residence/shop

Tan Jetty - The ancestors of this clan were fisherman and oyster harvesters from a coastal village in China. This is one of the most scenic jetties.

Tan Jetty has a scenic long tail into the bay

Lee Jetty - The ancestors of Lee Jetty came from impoverished villages. The ferry terminal is now at the site of the original jetty so it was moved in the 1960's to its present location.

Lee Jetty had decorative arches and newer homes

New Jetty - Also called Mixed Jetty because it is home to people of various backgrounds and clans. Many people moved here from other jetties when this one was built in 1960.

New Jetty had neat houses with small alters on the wall next to each door

Yeoh Jetty - The ancestors of Yeoh Jetty made a living by transporting goods ashore. The jetty was bombed during WW2 and many of the residents never returned.

View of the Floating Chinese Temple from Yeoh Jetty

It was very fun seeing all these jetties and gaining a better understanding of their history. If you are intrigued, you can read much more in Wikipedia!

Happy Thaipusam!

I have never witnessed as dramatic a cultural event in my travels than the 3-day Thaipusam Festival in George Town, Malaysia. I'm relying on Wikipedia and the Penang Website for my information about it - so you can read more at those sites if you are interested.

Thaipusam began here in the late 18th century via Indian immigrants that now make up a little more than 6% of the country's population. The devotees are seeking blessings, fulfilling vows, and offering thanks to Lord Murugon, the Hindu God of War. 

The festival begins with a day-long procession of two chariots. The gold one, pictured below unless there was another more grand gold one I missed, is carrying the Vel (sword) symbolizing what Lord Murugon used to defeat the demon. The silver one, beginning at a different Temple but then joining this route, carries the statue of Lord Murugon.

The gold chariot carrying the vel (sword)

Hindus are lining the streets, and in the streets, waiting for the chariot to arrive so they can deliver their offerings.

Waiting for the chariot

There are food stalls offering free food and drink for the attendees and also entertainment in the street.

Dancing figures in the street

There are also piles and piles of coconuts lined up. Many are from local Chinese companies that are honoring the festival and its participants - at least that is what it seems like to an outsider like me. There are also some Chinese devotees of Thaipusam. The coconuts get smashed at a later time that we missed seeing. I hear it is dramatic though!

Piles of coconuts line the procession route

The procession stops at Hindu Temples along the route and I'm guessing more offerings are made there. We didn't feel comfortable walking into temples as outside observers.

Hindu Temple along the route

The procession went on and on, but we retreated from the 89 F heat into our air-conditioned room. We  went out again the next evening to experience more of the Festival.

Unsure of what was happening, we followed the noise of drums toward the Waterfall Temple that devotees walk up over 500 steps to reach. We were in throngs of people marching alongside (and some supporting) the devotees that were carrying heavy Kavadis (burdens). It was so loud we maneuvered our way back and found the less crowded, but still ongoing lines of devotees heading toward the temple.

Prior to Thaipusam, the devotees have cleansed themselves, remained celibate and fasted. The burdens are carried as a ceremonial act of sacrifice, and to beseech Murugan for assistance, the healing of a loved one, or to balance a spiritual debt.

Devotee carrying Kavadis

This Kavadis was the largest one we saw

Some devotees are ritually pierced with a vel skewer. Just a warning that the photo below may be a little shocking. It was certainly hard to witness.

Darrell watching a devotee pass by

After we returned to our room, we watched a video on Malaysia that said public holidays are rotated among the religions. There was a public holiday for Thaipusam the next day (Monday) but I'm not sure if that is every year here or if it rotates. In any case, it shows how multiculturalism is widely accepted here. Bravo for Malaysia!

Biking in the Mekong Delta

 January 17th – Long Cau to Cho Gau “Rice Market” town - 52.7 km/32.7 miles

Darrell and I were picked up from our hotel and driven over an hour south with our bicycles and gear to Long Cau. The Mekong Delta is a watery wonderland and we had our first ferry crossing soon after we began biking. The ferries have a bow ramp they can raise and lower to the cement incline at the shore. We boarded with all the motorbikes and one elderly woman with her bicycle, quickly turning around so we are all facing the bow again for a fast exit. Some ferries make a quick turn-around with motorbikes starting to load while we are still unloading.

At each river crossing we see giant rafts of Common Water Hyacinth (see photo below) floating by. Pontederia crassipes is native to the Amazon basin but has naturalized throughout the world and is often invasive outside of its native range. It certainly clogs up smaller water channels and ponds in Vietnam.

Typical ferry and water hyacinth in the channel

We zig-zagged on our sweet Trek Marlin bikes through many rice paddies – gorgeous now with tender looking shoots of spring-green rice. We only saw the leftover brown stubble after the rice was harvested when we were in Hoi An in early December so this is a treat! The rice in the south can be grown 3 times per year, while there are two harvests per year in the central areas like Hoi An, and only one harvest each year in the north around Hanoi.

Dragon fruit "cactus" plant

We also bicycled through acres and acres of what looked like cactus – but it was dragon fruit! It turns out dragon fruit is from a cactus species known as pitahaya in Mexico. We saw bushels of dragon fruit ready for transport. Vietnam is the world's largest supplier of dragon fruit!

Bushels of dragon fruit

We caught our third and last ferry – a longer one – to Longan Island and our homestay. The home is a beautiful open home built around a courtyard with a large patio in front so you can watch the fishing boats and barges go by. Most of the rice grown in the Delta is gathered here before being shipped to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon (used interchangeably) and abroad. The house has louvered doors open to the patio and outside gardens. We have an outdoor bathroom and shower off our room and a bed net over our bed. There are also many hammocks hanging in the courtyard. All three ladies of the house were resting in them when we arrived that afternoon!

Sunset from our Homestay

We were requested to join the other 3 guests and our hosts in the kitchen at 7 pm to help make our dinner. We grated taro and cut carrots and green beans. Then the taro was mixed with other goodies and we wrapped small bits of it in rice paper and rolled it up. We fried it in hot oil for one of our courses. We also made our own egg pancakes folded over the veggies, with some shrimp and minced pork. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes! You eat it hot and dipped in the delicious sweet and sour sauce that accompanies most meals.

Darrell cooking his egg pancake for dinner!

January 18^th – Cho Gau to Ben Tre - 49.4 km/30.6 miles

We had the typical tourist breakfast of fried eggs and French bread and started biking around 8:30 am. We caught a ferry soon after we began, the first of 3 again. Today we biked through fields of coconut palms. There are rows of trees in raised humps with drainage ditches between the rows. Motorbikes pulling narrow trailers of piled up coconuts sped by.

We got to “Maison du Pays de Ben Tre”, our homestay, around 2 pm. The owner/manager was a very outgoing young man who lost his job during COVID so returned to his family home to take care of his grandmother. In the five years since, he has created an aesthetically pleasing homestay with five guest rooms plus a nice sitting and dining area.

The Maison was hosting a thank you party paid for by the local government to the folks who had donated food to 400 poor families in the region. We were invited to the party as we were heading out for a walk. A little food, conversation, and some rice wine and we were on our way. A lot of folks said “hello” as we walked by and a little girl ran up and gave us some candy! This is a friendly and welcoming community.

Looking for hidden birds in the Mekong Delta

January 19^th – Ben Tre to Tra Vinh - 43.4 km/26.9 miles

We bought some of the candy the Maison was selling – a spicy banana and nut chew that I just loved, then we headed off after breakfast. We only had two ferries today but they were both much longer and rougher crossings. We waited a long time for the first ferry to arrive and then were stalled longer because a motorbike with a big trailer tipped off the narrow cement ramp and ended up with two wheels in the mud. I’ve got a sequence of photos with folks trying to right it, but the hero was the female captain of the ferry that used the loading ramp like a forklift to lever the trailer back onto the cement ramp. Darrell helped along with a few others and there was good cheering when the motorbike and loaded trailer got up the ramp!

Darrell and others ready to help

The second ferry was much quieter with just one local couple besides us. I gave them each a banana nut chew while we waited for the boat to arrive and we attempted a short dialogue using google translate.

We landed in Tra Vinh in a sterile hotel – not nearly as nice as the homestays but it did have a pool. I took a shower in my bike shorts and sports bra so I could use them as a bathing suit and cool off in the pool.

January 20^th – Tra Vinh to Cau Ke - 59.3 km/36.8 miles

Darrell had an 8 am zoom meeting, so I checked out the “Ecostore” across the street. It was the Vietnamese version of the Dollar Store – everything was 19,000 dong – just under a dollar.

We left around 10 am and had our longest ride yet, almost 60 km, with a few detours off the outlined route. It was like being the ball on a mini-golf course (Darrell’s expression) with quick turns, short steep bridges, broken “sidewalks” (actually narrow roads), ducking under palm fronds and under electric lines, all while dodging motorbikes and giant piles of coconuts…

A giant pile of coconuts

We stopped at two Khmer Buddhist temples – “Ang Temple” was just outside Tra Vinh and is the signature temple here. Then our route took us right through the grounds of another temple as we approached the end of the bike ride.

Khmer Buddhist Ang Temple 

We found Suonsia Homestay and it is another delightful place. The Homestays were all highlights of this trip. Suonsia had a self-serve fridge with chilled mugs and cold beer, plus a hot shower, and hosts that speak both English and French in addition to their native languages. It has been their home since before the American/Vietnam War. The grandfather worked for the American soldiers and had to leave when the Vietcong took over. But now they are back, with remnants of trenches that were dug during the war, and the craters left over from bombs.

B52 bomb crater in their backyard

We had a delicious dinner of egg pancake with fresh veggies, lettuce, mint, giant shrimp, tasty chicken and a squash soup, plus a perfect mango for dessert.

January 21^st – Cau Ke to Can Tho - 60.6 km/37.6 miles

I woke up with the roosters and Darrell was already awake. I tiptoed into the host’s kitchen to make coffee around 5 am. D and I took a bird walk after our wake-up juice and listened to the noisy white-nest swiftlets flying in and out of a tower window. We also saw yellow-vented bulbuls – so two new species for us!

We ended up on our roughest road yet – lots of sidewalk-width and very broken up cement paths – so a lot of rattling and I stood up on my pedals much of the time to avoid the jarring. At one point our bridge was down (see photo below) so we detoured around that as well. Then when we thought we were taking a bridge into Can Tho it turned out to be our 11^th ferry – this time a small boat that we had to maneuver our bikes on as well!

The bridge was down and being rebuilt

Our fancy hotel is situated on the Hau river and we had a wonderful view over the city and river system here.

View of the Hay (Bassac) River and Can Tho

January 22^nd – Can Tho boat trip to Cai Rang floating market – return to Saigon

We met our boat captain at 7 am for our trip to the Cai Rang floating market. This market gets a lot of tourist looky-lou’s but the tourists are not buying much – it is a working market for the folks along the river. The sellers put up a sample of what they are offering on a pole in front of the boat so buyers can see which boats are selling what they want – sweet potatoes, onions, watermelon, etc. It is a huge market since the boats must be far enough apart for the buyers to connect with them and for the tourists to cruise by snapping photos!

Morning chat at the Cai Rang Floating Market

We also saw the Interceptor 003 from the Ocean Cleanup Project as we were returning to Can Tho. While there are some real issues with the OCP netting living organism as they collect plastic in the ocean, I don't know much about their river interceptor success. You can read more about it here if you are interested.

The Interceptor 003 from the Ocean Cleanup Project

We met our driver back at the hotel at 9am and he was loading our bikes into the back of his truck. Then we began the almost 3-hour drive back to Saigon for our last night in the big city. We had reservations (you NEED reservations) to eat at one of the many Pizza 4Ps in Saigon. There is a remarkable story behind the success of this enterprise. It reminded me of our friend’s pizza restaurants in Flagstaff and the pizza was almost as good as his! 

Pizza 4Ps lives up to its hype!

Summary of the bike trip – We highly recommend Mr. Biker Saigon for both guided and self-guided trips or for renting a bicycle and arranging your own trip. The bikes were high quality and outfitted with panniers and a phone holder for easy navigation. The team was accessible by quick communication on the road with WhatsApp. Our average speed was only about 10 mph, so if you are looking for a higher-speed ride, we don’t recommend the occasionally rough roads, and frequent turns you need to make going on the scenic back roads. But, if you are willing to slow down, and have a few bumps along the way, this trip was fantastic! 

We’ve had a wonderful 2-months in Vietnam, and the Mekong Delta was a highlight. We are so grateful for the time we spent with the friendly, hard-working, kind people in this beautiful country.