Rabid monkeys with fancy tools

Digging through some books my sister had, I found one that I had read many years ago - Of Comb, Powder and Rouge by Yeap Joo Kim. Bad mistake to reread it - I miss Penang more than ever, and I’ve only been away for a mere four months!
The book tells the dramatic story of a high-born nyonya who has had a rollercoaster life. That part I’ve read in so many books and heard from the mouths of so many relatives it was nothing new. What tugged at my mind was the description of Penang.
Names of roads I’m so familiar with, terms I use every other day, names of food, things, all in print! Description of the scenery, of habits and places. All that has such a profound effect on me.
No, no place on earth is like my hometown. It’s backward, it’s unorganized, it’s dangerous and dirty, it’s boring, it’s dead, whatever. I don’t give a flying fuck if you hate Penang. No, actually, take a walk down old town and you might change your mind. It’s the most magnificent place on earth. Rats in plain sight, bikes always ready to mow you down, errant motorists, beggars, loonies, rubbish, sewage waste that smells pretty damn bad - all this next to a kopitiam or a mamak stall, and those pre-war buildings each teaming with history and a story of their own to be told. Roads so narrow it’s amazing how two cars can pass at once. Roads never meant for cars. The liquor shop next to an entire row of old shophouses selling religious paraphernilia. I can go on and on about old town, which will always be the heart of Penang to me.
Not even London can compare to this tiny little island so eager to shed her history. It ain’t all that bad, take a look around. So it hasn’t actually got a nightlife worth mentioning, the roads are rickety and you really gotta watch your belongings. Again, what-fuckin’-ever. It’s my fuckin’ home.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.