By Bob Van Leer

(PENANG, MALAYSIA, Saturday, March 25, 2000) - Penang is an island off the north coast of the Malay peninsula and connected to the mainland by a bridge.

   Our cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, arrived here this morning but did not have dock space so we anchored offshore and passengers were taken in to shore by motor launches called "lighters".

   Betty and I went ashore and hired a taxi to take us around the island. The taxi charge was $10.00 per hour for taxi, driver and fuel. At that price I didn't have the heart to try and bargain him down. It is not a large island and, without stops, it would only take about an hour and a half to drive around. But we made stops.

   First was at a batik factory, a method for turning out colorful fabrics by using wax to save some areas of cloth and dying the rest.

   A butterfly garden was next with a large area enclosed with netting and thousands of butterflies of many species flying around. Also on display were local insects, many of which are huge by the standards we are accustomed to. One walking stick, a type of mantis, is literally more than afoot long. Scorpions in a covered cage were as large as a crayfish.

   We drove through a tropical fruit farm but we were out of season for most fruits. One fruit I have wanted to try is the durian, but it is just out of season. Some call it the prize of tropical fruit but others have different opinions. As close as we got was to smell a husk which even after the season with the fruit removed still had a very strong odor. Our driver said hotels will not let you bring the fruit inside. He said one of the football-sized fruit will smell up a whole house.

   Our general impression of Malaysia is the country is advanced and prosperous beyond what our pre-visit expectations were. The country is not as prosperous as the U.S. For instance, there are a lot of motorcycles on the road rather than cars. But the big names such as Intel and Ericsson have set up factories here and manufacturing has taken over the economic lead from natural resource export.

   Our driver said people at lower income levels live in apartments which they buy for as low as $25,000 and pay a small monthly management fee. There is some sub-standard housing, but not much in comparison with better accommodations.

   A lot of signs are in English and many of those in Malaysian using the Roman alphabet are easy to translate. For instance, "teski" for taxi, "restoran" for restaurant and "klinik" for clinic.

   We set sail this evening for Phuket, Thailand. One of the advantages of being on a cruise ship is that the ship ia a floating hotel that moves at night to a new country and you don't have to pack.