Penang: Life in the fast and slow lane

Penang could be a cool place to live in the future. If there's a tv industry here, I'd rather be on this tiny island than the big city which is quickly falling apart. My every visit here reveals something new. New building, new roads, new people, new fads, new government, you name it. Those big big names and brands you see at 'ol Kay Elle, they are all here. 

Yep... They are almost everywhere now, Penang island and mainland. Heck, I'm typing this at Starbucks and last week I was at Oldtown Coffee. Once, you could differentiate a islander from a mainlander (the island has better living standards/culture). Now its almost the same. They got Versace and Vincis over there, we had our Gucci and Guesses over here, and we still had the best foods in the entire state I dare say.

The strange thing about this small piece of land is that development happens in the expense of nothing. You get new stuff but the old things are here to stay. Take the roads for instance. Penang has lots of cars. Really lots of cars. The average mid income family now has an average of 2 cars. Times that to some few thousand and you'll get the scenario: a road full of cars. So the government was okay that they try widening most of the roads. But still, some things never change. The average speed of driving here is about 40 to 50 kmph. Be it narrow or highway, we just like to take it slow. So you see, being a reckless driver at the big city, you can imagine how frustrated I was. In fact, I'd be easier to crash here driving slowly than going full speed over there.

Anyways, Penang feels good. There's a certain aura you get, even the starbucks is different. You see the usual assortment of businesspeople and those that fit the busy person tag. But you also find a new kind of people: young kids. At least they are younger than me. Four months ago there wasn't much of these crowds. Now almost everyone owns a laptop. And looking out of the shop window, some girls on their laptop and over the distant, some guys with fishing gears passing by.

Ah... globalization my butt, modernization my ass.

Bukit Mertajam@Feminine Mag

My little hometown of Bukit Mertajam was featured in the September edition of local variety mag Feminine (风采).

For those of you in the dark, Bukit Mertajam is a bustling little town on the mainland side of Penang. BM (as it's usually called) actually denotes the entire district as well as the town itself. The town proper itself is a small packed area of shoplots and some shopping complexes, more or less the size of Teluk Intan. Small but nevertheless busy, its a center of commerce, a little simple shopping, and most of all, food. In fact, food is the favorite pastime for most of the BM population. You can do all you like, but you can't live a day in BM without food (it's a boring life here, hehe).

Good feng-shui, both for the living and the deceased.

Heh, i didn't know Chong Wei is a BM kid.

Of course, there's the hawker food.

By the way, i strongly believe the Penang hawker food quality (taste) is in the decline, especially in the island part. BM remains one of the last frontiers of good food in Penang. Trust me, its all about the food.

no-fark!