{"id":4294,"date":"2012-06-29T15:17:06","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T08:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=4294"},"modified":"2013-06-27T17:32:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T00:32:14","slug":"durian-shop-landak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2012\/06\/29\/durian-shop-landak\/","title":{"rendered":"Durian Shop Landak"},"content":{"rendered":"

[dc]O[\/dc]kay, here\u2019s my fucking fantasy. I would join up (or start up?) the Asian division of the ELF, and we would just obliterate every last motherfucking motorcycle on the entire landmass. Just fucking annihilating them, man. Just fucking\u2026no prisoners, know what I\u2019m saying? I\u2019m talking \u201cmake a desert and call it peace\u201d \u2013 only, it really would<\/em> be peace. Think of it: no more motorcycles in Asia!<\/p>\n

Shall we begin with Chiang Mai, or George Town? Maybe a spectacular simultaneous two-city event to announce our new campaign? We could leave behind some brochures.<\/p>\n

Ah, well, probably I\u2019m too cowardly (not to mention just plain lame) to actually be doing anything so righteous. But stay tuned: I may well snap.<\/p>\n

For, George Town, much like its cousin-in-Heritage-status Luang Prabang, is an wholly intoxicating cultural\/historical\/architectural\/sensory melange the likes of which to leave one\u2019s head spinning \u2018round and \u2018round and \u2018round again.<\/p>\n

But the fucking motorcycles<\/em>, brah (automobiles too, really). They\u2019re stomping right to death this beautiful accident of space\/time which is Penang Island. Deader even than Chiang Mai, maybe. And what can one cowardly farang do, save weep? If you think of something, let me know, \u2018cause I\u2019m almost running out of tears.<\/p>\n

[dc]B[\/dc]e the foregoing as it may, it didn\u2019t prevent me from on Wednesday, following a bracing noon-hour thunderstorm,\u2026<\/p>\n

\"umbrella\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026really digging in to the heart of George Town; just walking the streets of the historic district, and allowing the molecules gloriously to suffuse my concisouness.<\/p>\n

In Little India can be found, exploding out of the many record\/video shoppes in the neighbourhood, the most exhilarating music in a city with a lot <\/em>of it. The lively street scene is punctuated by shoppe-owners so strikingly gorgeous and utterly friendly and charming that — when admixed with the aromas emanating from their restaurants\u2019 kitchens \u2013 I came very close<\/em> to cracking and eating a Veggie Buryani. So far I have been able to resist; but for how long\u2026?<\/p>\n

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The visiting of the gaggle of temples populating the length of Cannon street began auspiciously enough with a most excellent omen with which to begin such a journey:<\/p>\n

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And the temples? Well, the temples\u2026<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s interesting: the Chinese temples in Thailand seem so cartoony as to make one believe they were designed for children<\/em> rather than adults. Not so here in George Town, where the Chinese temples are exquisitely beautiful and peaceful \u2013 with just enough whimsy around the edges to keep farang grounded. The Hock Teik Cheng Sin has now been entrenched as one of my very favourites in all of Asia.<\/p>\n

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The architecture around town is of course evocative and inviting.<\/p>\n

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The people-watching is phenomenal. Hell, it\u2019s probably the most entertaining people-watching scene I\u2019ve ever encountered anywhere.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s plenty of weird shit what\u2019ll cause doubles- triples- quadruples-take.<\/p>\n

\"babycar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The shoppes and galleries are to the hilt. And there\u2019s (from the looks of it) so much more<\/em> to the city and island outside<\/em> the main core historic area, not to mention the country at large, that it\u2019s little wonder ninety-day visa-free entry is so willingly granted: given such licence, the visitor will surely wind up extending his or her stay much longer than originally intended.<\/p>\n

And on top of all this is the Durian!<\/em><\/p>\n

But first, on the way to Times Square, a stop in to see if we could spy on a little bit of Pooja action.<\/p>\n