Malaysia 2022/23 - #13 - Transfer To Penang

 When we exited the cavernous house and rearranged our trip, we decided we didn't want to spend the whole month in Melaka and added going north to Penang on our trip. 

We left Melaka on the 30th. To my surprise, I found a direct flight from Melaka to Penang that was an incredible bargain. I was a little worried it was a fly-by-night airline. But research showed it to be a part of bigger, well known airline here in Southeast Asia. Since we had to be out of the apartment at certain time and we had our luggage with us, we had no real choice other than to go to the airport and wait. There we discovered just how small Melaka airport is. Not small in size. It is actually a good size, modern facility. But there are only two flights a day in and out! Seems like a lot of overhead to handle such a small amount of traffic. 

Having had many a bad experience with discount airlines and luggage, I was afraid we'd be dinged for additional fees or told we had to discard something. Nope. Even though we were slightly overweight, we were checked in no problem. The flight was smooth even though it was a smallish turbo prop plane. Arriving in Penang Airport, however, was bedlam. All kinds of people arriving to be in George Town for the New Year. I went to the taxi kiosk and was told, "No taxis." I am looking at the hoards trying to get a ride into town. "No Taxis? How can that be?" "You want to wait three hours, you can have a taxi." Clearly this guy was not going to be of any help. 

What are my options? Have to try to get a Grab. I am looking a the volume of people with their bags all staring at their phones. Wife is saying, "They are all looking for a Grab." Here we go. Christmas night all over. Wife does reconnaissance. She finds a quiet place to sit next to a Dunkin Doughnuts. She grabs us some doughnuts and me some coffee. Just as she arrives, to my shock, I see I have a ride! It will be picking us up in 12 minutes. In the Grab world that could be 12 minutes, 8 minutes, or 40 minutes. Turns out it was 8 minutes! We were hustling our ass with our bags to get to the pick-up point. We just got out of the terminal and to the median as the driver came up. 30 minutes later we were at our apartment. 

The place is nice but in a weird location with nothing around it. Fortunately there is small convenience store in the building with a little cafe. We were able to get water, some kind of drinks, and a hot meal. This was good because we were beat.

Transfer completed.

Malaysia 2022/23 - #11 - Second Photoshoot In Melaka - Candids And Night Shooting

 One of the highlights of a Melaka visit is taking the Melaka River Cruise particularly at night when the river is lit spectacularly. This opened the opportunity for attempting picture taking under the difficult conditions of very bright lights in a dark environment while in motion! Actually the motion part was far more significant than we anticipated. The Melaka River Cruise isn't a leisurely cruise along the water. It is more like a rally race where they had to cover the course in a certain amount of time. This added increased movement of the boat, exacerbated when other boats passed by causing us to rock over their wake. 

 Arrival

We got to the center of old town in short order, the crowds being way less than the Christmas weekend. It was still light out. We had time to kill. 

Ambiance

 A replica of the Portuguese ship that brought the invaders (it also sank on the way home because the leader was so anxious to get his loot back that he pushed the ancient ship beyond its limits).

 

 River reflections

 Candid People Photography

Hadn't tried this in years. But since I had the time, I decided to give it a go.

 

 

 

 The Main Attraction

River of Lights!

 SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Bet you didn't even imagine their could be salted soft drinks!

(We have discovered that Wife's weird lime juice actually had a salted prune in it. Is a Malaysian specialty!)

 Entering a Sauntering Zone

Malaysia 2022/23 - #10 - First Photoshoot In Melaka - Harmony Street

" WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT de-I? What Have Been the Approximately Two Hundred Pictures You've Posted So Far?"

Calm down audience. Those are just pictures, snapshots so to speak, to punctuate the story of the travel. If you studied under the Master (Wife) you would KNOW that is NOT real photography. REAL Photography requires you to focus on the total act of taking pictures with the outcome being the photos themselves.

 "Oh. I guess that makes sense."

Thank you audience. I may continue?

"Yes. Like we have a choice. You're writing this."

As I was about to say, having seen the sights we were primarily interested in, we have shifted into photographic mode and are going to various parts of the city for the specific purpose of picture taking. Wife can shift modes easily or do the two together (visiting/seeing sites and photography). I, however, need to be focused strictly on photography as it does not come as easily or naturally to me and takes a lot of thinking of what I am doing.

 Our focus for today's shoot was what is euphemistically called Harmony Street. It is one street over from Jonker Street in Chinatown and it has religious buildings for all the major ethnic groups in Melaka. This includes Muslims, Buddhists, Chinese Confucian/Tao/Ancestor worshipers, and Hindus.

Looking up the street in front of a Chinese temple to the Hindu temple and the Mosque

Looking down the street from the Buddhist temple at a major Chinese temple and the Mosque

 Let's start with some miscellaneous street scenes

 Inside a small Chinese temple

 A study of deities in the Hindu temple

Scenes from inside the Mosque (where we were going despite not being properly attired since there was no one around to stop us)

 

 The primary Chinese temple

Roof repair meditation

This is at the entrance to Jonker Street. I am sure these are demi-deities to protect the Night Market visitor

 

 The zen of laughing

 

 In the Buddhist temple

A study of Buddha's disciples

 

 Other Buddha images

View from the Buddhist temple toward the Major Chinese temple and Jonker Street

Photography Master and Meditation Master sharing ideas

Their disciples sharing a joke