Georgetown, Penang, Maylasia

Sunrise over Georgetown. It was warm already when I took that photo at 7:00 AM. Bunny and I went separate ways this morning. She had a tour by Rickshaw. I went to a batik place and made a batik square. First they showed us the two methods of printing batik. There is the Block method where a metal piece with the design in it is dipped in the wax and laid on the fabric. This is good for larger pieces. It is a multi step process. The other way is to draw the design in wax, then fill in the shapes with paint. That’s what we did. There were squares of cotton stretched over frames with our names on them. We found our design and started painting. They gave us a plastic apron and gloves to wear. I still managed to get paint on me. We had to add water to the paints to get the color we wanted. I started with the green leaves and the paint looked black. Then I figured out I had to add more water. They were still darker than I wanted. Then I painted in the flowers. That was easier. I used a rosy color for the outside petals and light orange for the center. I decided to color in the background in a sky blue. I got started but got overheated and had to sit awhile. One of the workers came and finished off the background and frame. I wouldn’t have finished it in time if she hadn’t taken over. My piece has lots of flaws but overall it looks ok. While I was painting, Our art teacher from the New Zealand-Australia leg of the journey stopped in to say hello to us. They live in Georgetown. It was nice to see them again.
‘Of course there was a shop to buy goodies. I got a couple shirts and a pair of pants (with pockets!)I will be able to toss many of the clothes I brought with me since I’m buying new things. I hadn’t planned on buying so many clothes, but I had planned to toss several items before returning. I don’t know how much I will wear the elephant pants at home, but most of the other stuff I will wear.

Then we boarded the bus to go back to the ship. We got back around 12:30. Bunny and I were supposed to go on a Snapshot tour of the city at 1:30. We both decided we’d had it for the day so we cancelled the tour. Good thing we did. Betty texted and said it was really hot and we’d made the right decision. I had been awake since 4:00 AM and Bunny was tired from a lot of walking, so after lunch we took a nap-a rarity for me. I felt better when I woke up. We had to go to guest services to ask about a charge on Bunny’s credit card. They have charged her for the excursions we booked due to the itinerary change. It should have been charges to both our accounts. The Guest Services rep said she would find out about it and let us know. Famous last words…

We met Betty and Rudy for dinner in the restaurant. Then we went to the evening’s entertainment. It was the same singer we’d seen 2 days before. We always meet Beryl and Ben there. They had just moved to a larger room. Beryl is claustrophobic and couldn’t stand the smaller cabin like we have. After people got off at Singapore, a larger room became available on the same floor. So they moved yesterday. We saw it tonight. It is larger and has lots more storage.
‘Tomorrow is Phuket, Thailand.
Photos; sunrise, my print, me painting away, a couple city shots from the ship