Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower, Georgetown Penang. December 2005
[from FB post: July 11, 2017]
From many moons ago:
Once I was traveling to Penang, Malaysia to see my dear friend MF on a bus from Kuala Lumpur. Not the normal bus but the fancy, express bus that even has a downstairs lounge and a toilet (that is NOT for "heavy usage" as per the conductor's explanation).
I was on the tail end of the life of some sandals. They had served me well but .... they stunk. Not a little, but a lot. Normally, walking around they posed no public health danger, but in a confined space they were rather toxic. It hadn't struck me that the bus would be just such a confined space.
I took my seat and due to the vagaries of air flow, I did not smell my sandals. Not so for the poor Japanese ladies seated directly in front of me. Shortly after departure I overheard them exclaiming "big stink!" "I can't believe it" and "I can't stand this". I was mortified. I wondered if I could actually be removed from the bus??
The young conductor came and agreed it was rather stinky but the bus was full and they could not be moved. He assumed it was coming from the toilet below. So the young ladies being stoic Japanese put their handkerchiefs to their faces and endured the multi hour journey. Horribly, I just had a fit of giggles the whole trip.
When I arrived I met MF and told him it was extremely urgent that I replace the offending footwear. We went to the best department store in Georgetown (it was convenient) and I purchased new sandals. I put them on IMMEDIATELY and put the stinky pair in the new box. I was desperate to dump the old sandals and luckily for me just outside the entrance was a trash bin.
So I exited a high end store with a new shopping bag and dumped it in the garbage right at the entrance. Of course, this was quite shocking to other shoppers entering the store as it appeared I had bought something and simply thrown it away.
Mark remarked that I didn't do much for the image of Americans having so much money that they can just shop and throw their purchases away at the door!
I am not sure why that story popped in my mind from years ago, but it really is one of my funniest travel memories from this part of the world.
That is still one of my best travel moments from my time in and around Southeast Asia.
The clock tower above, by the way, is in Penang. That is why I used the photo, kind of grainy - like an oft-told story:
The Jubilee Clock Tower is a Moorish-style clocktower located at the intersection of Light Street and Beach Street in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. Built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee, The tower is sixty feet tall, one foot for each year of Victoria's reign. A corner of the wall surrounding Fort Cornwallis is situated behind the tower. The clock tower is slightly tilted, a result of bombing during the Second World War.
(Wikipedia)
I love that it leans due to a Second World War bomb - I never even realized Penang was bombed in the war! Similarly, those Japanese young ladies never realized that the old guy sitting behind them was bombing their bus ride by stinking up their seat. My feet didn't explode, but I am sure those women would attest that that stink could well have been weaponized.
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