Motorcycle Explorer December 2014 Issue 3 | Page 66

Photography Sam Manicom and Ian Guffy
I
’m convinced that the island of Penang is an
undervalued waypoint on a journey through SE
Asia. Though only 114 square miles, it’s packed
with historical, geographical and cultural gems. I’d
originally headed there, in my ignorance, only
because I’d heard that it might be possible to find a
passage for my motorcycle and I to India. I’d arrived
with my mind focussed on the hunt for a boat, and
the delights and challenges that India inevitably
held in store for me. I was chasing down rumours
of a ferry that crossed the Andaman Sea to the post
of Chennai. I didn’t want to miss out on the
opportunity to travel on the same vessel; that just
had to be an adventure and I suspected would
make the customs work in India a far easier thing to
deal with. Ignorance of another kind! Plan B was
that if I failed to find the ferry, then with luck there
might be the chance to hop on a cargo ship.
As is so often the way for the overlander, events
conspired against me and I literally missed the
boat, but as usual there was a silver lining. The
ferry had existed, but on its last voyage it’d caught
fire, badly. Without a slightly longer than planned
stay on a Thai beach, I could have been on it. The
ship was always overloaded, with many
entrepreneurs using the route to trade back and
forth between India and Malaysia. I was told that to
save costs, most of the passengers would cook
their own food, often over the heavy brass primus
stoves that India still makes, or over open charcoal
braziers. Health and safety? A different world, but
this time perhaps the passengers had paid the
price.
"Penang is a historical and geogra
phical crossroads that allows a
traveller to dip their toes and minds
into a very unusual taste of SE Asia"
A chance to cross on an onion cargo ship presented
itself, but fate played its games again. I missed that
boat too. Fate is a strange thing isn’t it? Mine this
time was to fall through the slats of a bunk bed in a
hostel. Of course I’d chosen the hostel, not because
it was well maintained or luxurious, but because it
had off road parking for my bike! My turn to pay
the price; I damaged my back badly enough that I
wasn’t going to be travelling anywhere in a hurry.
In pain, this time the silver lining took a while to
become obvious, but then I realised that I’d been
on my ship hunt wearing blinkers. I started to take
more note of my surroundings; I still had a quest
but now no real urgency.
Penang is a historical and geographical crossroads
that allows a traveller to dip their toes and minds
into a very unusual taste of SE Asia. Located just off
the west coast of Malaysia and to the north of
Indonesia, at one time the island was occupied by
the British East India Company. At that time Penang
was called the Prince of Wales Island and George
Town was named after the British Ruler; King
George III. Once a mosquito infested swamp, in
2008 the old town was declared to be a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. As you wander the streets,
through an at times sweaty heat that can range
between 24⁰C and 32⁰C, you can easily see why
UNESCO thinks that the city has a mix of
architecture and culture that’s unparalleled
anywhere in both East and South East Asia. Being a
relatively small island, Penang is easy to get
around and I was enthralled by the wealth of
contrasts within George Town.