Malaysian Airlines flight 247 from Singapore touched down on Penang Island in the Malacca Strait.  My partner, Lee Hall, and I were in Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia to get a visa to travel to Indonesia across the Malacca Straight to Medan, Sumatra.

Our destination was northern Sumatra to film orangutans for a documentary film.  Our plan was to fly out the next day but there were delays for our visas. We stayed at an old English guest house called The Orchid House. We had lunch in a screened in lunch hall, dining on cucumber sandwiches and tea.  Each room had screened walls to allow what little air there was to flow through.  A ceiling fan kept air moving.  This part of the world, a few hundred miles north of the equator, is steamy hot with 100% humidity. Two hour siestas from 1-3 P.M. are the norm.   I tried not to partake, thinking I didn’t need to.  By 7 P. M., I was ready to collapse.  I started my siestas on Penang Island.

Penang Island was settled by Chinese in the 5^th century, colonized by the Dutch in the 16^th century, and taken by the British in 1786, to compete with the Dutch in the spice trade.  The East Indies Company headquarters was established on the island.  One of the administrators, Charles Curtis, an avid botanist, established the Penang Colonial Botanical Gardens by filling in an old quarry and planting a wide variety of exotic plants, trees, and flowers.  Rare plants such as the Black Lily, a unique purplish-black colored flower, and Slipper Orchids wow tourists along with Penang Palm, Teak, and Cannon Ball Trees.

A 400’ waterfall off the property, feeds a small river cutting through the park. Ships would stop at Penang Island to get drinking water at the falls.  Sailors said the water was sweet.

Long tailed Rhesus Macaques monkeys, Dusky Leaf monkeys, and Black Giant squirrels are everywhere.  The Macaques don’t run from you, especially if you have food.  I approached a group of 20 Macaques.  They were fishing and swimming in the small river.  The flowing water is crystal clear, about 3’ deep and 5’ wide.  I moved closer and as I got closer, they began to watch me and make faces.  Their little heads swiveled to me and then back to their fishing and swimming.  They were getting something out of the river and eating it.  I had to get closer.  As I got closer, they began to move to the other side of the river, but didn’t stop what they were doing.  It reminded me of young boys at a swimming hole.  The Macaques would dive in and swim under water for 20 seconds and come up with something they found under rocks.  They were catching crayfish and gorging on them.

Not far from the river was a picnic table.  I went to the table to sit and set up my 35 mm camera.  The old cameras had a leather case the size of a small soccer ball.  I removed it, placed it on the table, and walked around with a light meter to get a reading.  While I had my back to a monkey, he grabbed my leather case and scrambled up a 50’ Pinang Palm in seconds.  In a panic, I put the light meter on the table and ran to the tree, thinking he would drop the big leather case.  He thought it was something to chew on and he did.  Meanwhile, my light meter, on the table, was going up another tree.  I sure felt silly, outfoxed by some dumb monkeys.  I waited and watched, entertained by the swimming Macaques.  The park was a nice place to be if I had to wait around.  I thought I had seen the last of my gear, but envy finally got the best of them.  Other Macaques wanted what they had and a chase in the tree tops caused them to be dropped.  I retrieved my camera equipment, chewed, but ok.  I later found out that Long Tailed Macaques Rhesus monkeys are in the top ten in intelligence for all creatures in this world. I’m sure I’m not.

The next day we got the visas and flew from Penang Island, Malaysia, across the Malacca Strait to Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia.  Most people in the World have never heard of Medan, Indonesia, but it is a city of more than one million people.  Our host was an old friend of Lee’s, my veteran traveling buddy.  For Indonesia, our host was a very wealthy man.  He had a fine house, half a dozen servants, koi (coy) fish ponds, and hundreds of chickens in a large coup behind the house. Our first meal in Indonesia consisted of a large Koi fish baked in curry.  Being the new guest, I was encouraged to dish up first.  I said ok and had a large bite so everyone would smile and dish up themselves.  I noticed a burning sensation immediately and then the bone stuck in my throat.  I grabbed the glass of water in front of me and gulped some steaming hot water.  I didn’t know that drinking water had to be boiled, like many parts of the World.  I was now the large white guest from the United States, turning red, then blue, then gasping, and then choking some more.  My host thought it was funny, so I needed to laugh a little and finally recover.  The fish was very spicy and I did eat some.

We were finally in Sumatra, home to the jungle man, the orangutan.  In the next week or so we would travel to the northern part to film them.  More in later posts.  Published every Wednesday, at least.