Short and sweet today - general walkabout in the back lanes of George Town.
Exploring the little back lanes we came upon the only hand made Joss Stick maker in Malaysia.
The business was started by Beng Chuan on the left in the picture above, who continued making the joss sticks until he passed away at 93 two years ago. His son, in the picture above, Chin Po and his wife continue the business.
We had a lovely chat, learning about the different woods and scents used. Today they were making incense that is used in Catholic churches across Malaysia. They use only natural ingredients, sandalwood, teja tree powder, sawdust, frankincense resin and water, kneading and moulding the dough by hand.
They start early so that the heat of the day sets the joss sticks. People travel from all over Malaysia to attend workshops and learn the craft so that it is not lost.
With the museum and gallery being closed for construction, we heard of an art gallery in an old bus depot and being curious we trekked across town to check it out.
There looked to be a series of artists galleries around a green space, unfortunately all were shut. We got to enjoy some of the murals so all was not lost.
We enjoyed wandering the back streets. Just a few observations, we've seen very few people smoke which is interesting considering cigarettes are so cheap here. There are very few dogs as pets which is such a contrast to all the doggies in San Francisco where we saw doggies of all shapes and sizes, some even being pushed in prams. Hardly any electric/hybrid cars although we've seen a couple of electric scooters. Alcohol is highly taxed here so there are not that many pubs as such, although there are swanky late night cocktail bars I believe. A lot of the young girls are covered head to toe with just their faces showing and they smile so sweetly as we pass in the street. Tourism looks to have taken a big hit with Covid impacts. Locals tell us there are far fewer Western tourists and domestic travel is slow to pick up.
No comments:
Post a Comment