{"id":7917,"date":"2014-09-02T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T06:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=7917"},"modified":"2014-09-03T10:03:09","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T03:03:09","slug":"smithereens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2014\/09\/02\/smithereens\/","title":{"rendered":"Smithereens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now on, just call me \u201cHumpty Dumpty\u201d. The 2014 George Town Festival has concluded, leaving among its wake my now shattered and staggering self. From the wondrous Korean duo the opening weekend, to the fabulous visual exhibits scattered all about the island, to the weekly coffee-shop concerts, to the massively entertaining Thai Small Puppet Theatre, to the enormous five-day splash of the Obscura<\/a> fest-within-the-fest, to the Asian Premiere of The Kitchen<\/em>, to the stunning performances of the final weekend, the festival managed to boggle one\u2019s mind on an almost daily basis. Furthermore, of course, the Hungry Ghosts festival matched it blow-for-blow all month long before,\u00a0at the end of last week, ceding the limelight. And, oh yeah, another small little detail: the Ismail Hashim exhibition merely, you know, changed my fricking life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shit, that was a month that went by far too quickly. Would love to go back and do it again; but, also, am feeling rather overwhelmed. Have lots of multimedia to share \u2013 but as Penang\u2019s Internet services are strictly snail\u2019s-pace, it could take a few. Until then, here are a few other goings on from recent days. It\u2019s all kind of a blur right now, so please forgive if this comes across as woefully haphazard.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Firstly, cut\/print\/wrap\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-29<\/p>\n

A know-it-when-you-see-it moment. I\u2019m quite certain that this is the best picture I\u00a0 have ever taken, or will ever take, in my life. No real skill or technique involved \u2013 just being in the right place at the right time (and, of course, having the good sense to know that B&W photography conquers all). I guess everybody gets one best photo in their lifetime; this is going to be mine. Shoulda known it would take place here in George Towny Town.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

The Muslims down on Campbell Street love to see me doing my various workout moves as I transport my daily fruit haul from the market back to my hotel. Oh, the Chinese do too, but they\u2019re a little more shy, preferring to wave, extend an upraised thumb, and as I pass by excitedly call out, \u201cExercise!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Muslims, on the other hand, like to have me stop and chat with them, and always eagerly gobble up whatever fruit I offer to share. After<\/em> which, they set in to harassing me for walking \u2018round town without a shirt. Some of them \u2013 those who have nothing better to do with their time except worry about what other<\/em> people are doing with theirs — can even get a bit nasty, and one particularly busy-bodied gent even threatened to report me to the po-lice, and whatnot.<\/p>\n

But mostly it\u2019s good-natured, especially from the security guards hanging out in front of the gold and jewelry shoppes which line the street. One tells me almost every day that if I don\u2019t start wearing a shirt, he\u2019s going to shoot me (he sits there all the day long with a big rifle draping his lap \u2013 so he certainly could<\/em> do). And somebody gave me a bag of t-shirts, which I had to go and track down a Goodwill to pass on to.<\/p>\n

Update: <\/strong>Never did catch his name, but here’s our gun-toting friend; offered to pose for me on account my last day here in town. (Hey, I don’t like guns any more than y’all. It’s not an endorsement, etc….) Much like Abed, below, he had to put his hat on to stand for the photo.<\/p>\n

\"P1390677\"<\/p>\n

Gotta hand it to all of them, though: Even despite the heat and humidity here, they go about town all bundled up like they was off for the Shackleton Expedition \u2013 and, during Ramadan, without drinking any water, neither \u2013 without seeming ever to break a sweat. Me, when I do<\/em> chance to put on a shirt, it\u2019s dripping wet in less than five minutes\u2019 time (no exaggeration).<\/p>\n

This cat, name of \u201cAbed\u201d, is perhaps the most interesting of the aforementioned security guards. When I asked to take his photo, he made me wait for him to put his hat on.<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-19<\/p>\n

Most people here aren\u2019t so keen on U.S. geography, so I usually just tell them, when they ask, that I\u2019m from the western half of the country. But he kept narrowing it down for me, and when we finally arrived at \u201cSeattle\u201d, and I confirmed it as my home town, he excitedly brought out the old Kurt Cobain card usually reserved for European\u00a0 fellow-travellers (if Asians know of Seattle, it\u2019s for being the home of Boeing).<\/p>\n

We agreed that he had been \u201cthe best\u201d, and he further dumbfounded me by responding, when I told him my name, \u201cAh! Eddie Van Halen!\u201d He says, in answer to my confused wondering how he came to have such knowledge of American popular musics, that he grew up in the \u201870s on the eastern side of the peninsula, as though that should explain everything. Huhn, if you say so. At any rate, he\u2019s a nice guy. It was he who told me where to find the Goodwill (actually called \u201cKawan Shop\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-14<\/p>\n

And this<\/em> cat, who works the Nasi Kandar stand nearest my hotel, is always making me take pictures of him. Gotta admit, he\u2019s photogenic as Hell. One recent day, instead of asking me to photograph him, he asked for a tip<\/em>. For what \u2013 who knew? I offered him a 500-Rupee note which I\u2019d been carrying around since Nepal, expecting him to reject it on sight. Instead, he happily accepted; a fair enough price for keeping me entertained these last two months, I\u2019ll admit.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

The Muslim youth are fun, too. Flashing the \u201cPeace\u201d sign as they ride past\u2026<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-14 \"2014-08-30<\/p>\n

\"2014-09-02<\/p>\n

\u2026engaging in conversation as one walks by, or requesting photo-ops, it\u2019s always a fun time.<\/p>\n

I was chatting with a\u00a0 couple of these guys whilst waiting on line for the outhouse, then a while later over at the Esplanade, the entire flock descended and asked for a photo with me. As always, I was more than happy to help out \u2013 but then they made me put my shirt on before we could proceed. How does that rate? It\u2019s my<\/em> pretty face they\u2019re using to sell their magazines with, but they<\/em> get to dictate the terms? Ah, well, these guys were the most-fun youngsters with whom to hang out since those skate-punks<\/a> back in Mae Sai. The one to my immediate right in the colour photo implored me to make known to all and sundry his obsession with The Rock (\u201cRock Johnson\u201d, as he calls him). Now you know.\"2014-08-27 \"2014-08-27<\/p>\n

These guys were cool, as well. I really just wanted to get a shot of the dude\u2019s awesome blue blouse and shades, but then his friends insinuated themselves into the photo too, to nice effect.<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-03\"2014-08-03<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Two of my fave shots from the Obscura Festival. The second one was blown up to quite large dimensions, thought I could just stand and ogle it night and day. To mine eyes, it\u2019s as perfect a photo as one could ever hope to see.<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-17 \"2014-08-17<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

Harlem, circa 1972? No, silly, it\u2019s George Town, circa a couple of weeks ago. How could you not love<\/em> this place for all its worth?<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-12 \"2014-08-12\"2014-08-12<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Cone thief.<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-24<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

\"2014-09-01<\/p>\n

Saw these guys painting the building, and thought it might make a nice shot. Turns out, one of their colleagues was sitting atop his motorbike, right next to me. He explained that the location was to be the site of a 3-D Art Gallery, to open in November. As I seemed interested, he offered to show me around, warning me that it was only fifty percent complete.<\/p>\n

\"2014-09-01<\/p>\n

The works are just painted straight onto the walls, so I don\u2019t get how they expect to sell them. Nor did I notice any 3-D effects. Guy\u2019s English was a bit limited, so I didn\u2019t really press upon him too many questions. Some beautiful paintings, at any rate.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

\"2014-08-30<\/p>\n

Drunk by aroma and manner; drug-addicted, vegetarian, cancer-stricken, 100% Hindu, Muslim-hating, Jesus-lover by his own words. Pretty interesting guy in his way, but the Jesus crap gets old after a fairly short while.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

All right, I won’t run through the litany of how cool, funny, weird, friendly, intelligent, fashionable, and entertaining are the people of Penang. But do come see for yourself — you’ll not regret that! More photos and anecdotes around the bend\u2026<\/p>\n

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Now on, just call me \u201cHumpty Dumpty\u201d. The 2014 George Town Festival has concluded, leaving among its wake my now shattered and staggering self. From the wondrous Korean duo the opening weekend, to the fabulous visual exhibits scattered all about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}