Friday, February 17, Penang, Malaysia. – Thursday was a day at sea as the ship sailed from Singapore up the Malacca Straits on the west side of the Malaysian Penninsula to Penang. Penang is an island with a million population and used to be a British center. We decided to take off on our own instead of taking one of the planned tours. The old city has a British fort, Fort Cornwallis, named for the same guy who surrendered at James Town. This blue mansion was built by a very wealthy Chinese industrialist who emigrated from China and went from rice fields to riches. A real entrepreneur. We had a wonderful lunch overlooking the harbor at the Eastern and Orient Hotel, built by the same Sarkies brothers that built Raffles. There are a lot of upscale resorts being built further out from town. We shopped in the local stores, many run by the Moslem population. Definitely more prosperous and orderly than Viet Nam or Cambodia. Lots of electronic manufacturing in the southern part of the island. A wonderful day seeing how people in this side of the world live.
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