Home in Penang

A view of buildings that might not be out of place
in Hong Kong (but, actually, are located in Penang)

Alternatively, this view looks like what it is --
of a place that's thousands of miles away from the Big Lychee

Late last week up to earlier this week, I was back in Penang -- where my parents still live (but not my siblings as well as myself). Although I was born there, I have spent more than half of my life -- and most of my adult years -- outside of my home state; and it often shows -- in terms of such as my often getting easily mistaken by my fellow Penangites for a foreigner. (I tend to think it's because of the clothes I wear, the hairstyle I favor and maybe also my gait.)

Increasingly too, even while I have not lost my ability to speak Hokkien (my mother tongue and Penang's majority language), Bahasa Malaysia (the national language) and "Manglish" (AKA Malaysian English), I find myself automatically thanking people in stores with a Cantonese m'goi rather than, say, the equivalent Hokkien kahm siah, Malay terima kasih or English thank you!

Additionally, more than four years of living in Hong Kong has gotten me all (pleasantly) surprised -- like many foreign visitors to the place -- to find how cheap great Penang food really can be. (E.g., a plate of my favorite assam laksa still is just RM$2.50 (about HK$6.50 or US$0.83) and a dinner for two consisting of one kilogram of female crabs, half a kilogram of big prawns, a plate of fried fish, a plate of cockles and two drinks (one alcoholic) amounted to less than RM$120 (about HK$313 or US$40)!)

On this recent trip, I further got to really noticing how comfortable Penangites are with speaking English -- not just in terms of their ability to do so but also not having cultural political hang ups with the language. Put another way: English isn't really seen (anymore) as a colonial British tongue or vestige. Instead, it -- and, yes, more so than Bahasa Malaysia -- appears to be the de facto socially equalizing language for Penangites to communicate with their country folk from other ethnic groups.

On another linguistic note: something else I appreciate after spending time in Hong Kong -- and visiting Macau, never mind Beijing -- is how it is that in Penang, I am not expected to know Mandarin (AKA Putonghua to denizens of the People's Republic of China). For in this part of the world which has had ethnic Chinese residents as far back as the eighteenth century, it truly is understood that there are people whose ancestors may have come from China but those ancestors left the old country so long ago that China is no longer looked upon as their descendants' true homeland.

For my part, I look forward to a year not too far in the future now when I can apply for and hopefully successfully receive Hong Kong permanent residency status. At the same time, I don't plan to give up my Malaysian citizenship (to take up such as a Chinese one) any time soon. And come what may, Penang food remains the food that most represents "home" to me. So even if other parts of me may not seem like that of a Penang native, I do reckon that my stomach and tastebuds -- and my abiding passion for tasty food -- will forever remain that of a Penangite! ;b