So long and thanks for all the fish... A fairwell to Malaysia.
This is where we are in comparison to the UK
This is where we are in relation to other bits of South East Asia
Here is stock footage of a nearby beach...
Penang - We've fallen a little in love...
This is a bittersweet love letter to our adopted home. We have had to take the very hard decision to leave it a year earlier than we had originally planned. There are lots of reasons for this and I'm not going to go into them in depth, but suffice to say the situation here became untenable. The distance from home has made it too difficult for us to remain here for the immediate future.
This is a pity for many reasons, not least because I'm enjoying my job a great deal. There are minor niggles, as there are in any teaching jobs, but on the whole the kids are great, the staff are great - my department is in brilliant shape - and the whole school is a very positive place to be this year. Also, next year looked set to be as good again, if not better!
It's nice to know that I've been able to effect a positive change in such a short space and the sentiments expressed by my colleagues upon hearing that I was leaving have been gratifying indeed. Maybe I'm actually good at my job?
It's also a pity because we have come to love both Malaysia in general and Penang specifically, despite their many faults (and there are plenty from which to choose). I'm still a Northumbrian through and through, but Penang is a fantastic place in which to bring up a family. It is a place which is enchanting and extraordinary - somewhere that is truly unique.
What makes Penang special?
Well it's a real melting pot (due to the heat this is at times almost literal). It's a mix of ancient tradition and hyper-modernity. It's a combination of multiple heritages from across South and South East Asia, but at the same time it is very international in its outlook.
Penang encompasses ancient rainforest - I mean properly ancient, they make the Amazon look like a toddler by comparison - it includes heritage buildings from the settlement of Chinese traders, Dutch sailors and the British colonial era. It has glistening modern shopping malls and rambling wet markets, upscale restaurants and ramshackle hawker centres. It has Georgetown, Bayan Lepas and Gelugor (all built up and industrialised) on one side and the paddy fields and kampungs of Balik Pulau on the other.
In short - it is fascinating.
The pace and quality of life is startlingly good. The food is... well, extraordinary. There is more than enough to keep anyone occupied here too; sports clubs, music venues, cooking classes, museums, hiking trails, cafes, bars, restaurants, art galleries.
And the fact is, none of it is on the kind of scale that is so overwhelming you can't take it in.
Kuala Lumpur is a great city, but it's a big and hectic capital where the population is sectioned off into island settlements surrounded by huge highways. Penang is on a scale that is manageable. In 80km you will have circumnavigated the whole island, but despite this there are still huge areas we have not yet explored.
Yes there are problems, ones I've frequently documented - humidity, trash, bureaucracy, low level corruption and inefficiency, but the place works and it does so more smoothly than the UK at the moment.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Penang to anyone - you really should come and spend an extended period of time here. It really is worth taking the time and expense to come. Sadly for most of the people we know there is now not going to be free ensuite accommodation with pool and gym access, a stunning rainforest view, in walking distance to at least a dozen excellent restaurants, two food courts and numerous hiking trails, but them's the breaks!
We are seriously considering coming back here again some time in the next few years. Once we can stablise a few things back home and see the lay of the land more clearly we would definitely look to return should the opportunity arise and the timing work out.
So what is it specifically that we like?
Number one is the mix of cultures. From the architecture to the customs to the people.
Number two is the food, which comes from this mixing.
Number four is the people - warm, welcoming and friendly.
Number five is the wildlife and natural environment - we see monkeys, geckos, squirrels (the large, black South East Asian variety), Sea Eagles and monitor lizards just to name a few.
Now I understand that our position as middle class immigrants (again, not going to use the term expat) shields us from many of the inequities that beset Malaysians on a daily basis, but in all fairness this is mostly our experience of life in the UK too - we lived charmed lives and we know it! The UK has as many, if not more issues than Malaysia. Our awareness of the problems here doesn't change our awareness of them back home.
But this is not a gripe about the state of the UK - it is a post in praise of this diverse and fascinating island. I genuinely think this is the kind of place you could easily make your home if getting back home were easier and you could physically adapt to the heat.
Anyone who can come and visit should - it is like nowhere else I've experienced.
Sadly though we have to say goodbye to Penang. We are going to make the absolute best of the next six months - travel, hosting people, experiencing everything the island has to offer and exploring more of Malaysia and the wider region (Bali at half term and the temples of Angkor Wat at the back end of the Easter holidays - it's a hard life...).
In short, we're going to have a blast.
Would we come back? Yes - definitely. In fact if we can arrange our lives in such as way that getting back from Malaysia were easier then we wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
For now though I will leave you with this - if you ever get the chance to visit Malaysia, do it! You will not regret it.
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