In 1972, Royal screened the Hindi blockbuster ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ (Elephant My Friend) for six months running to full house.

Till now a family , ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ the only box office hit with a silver jubilee run of 175 days in Penang.

As teary-eyed children growing up in that era we could not tolerate the harshness towards the lovable elephants and hated the fact that the hero was forced to choose between the elephant he loved and his jealous wife.

To this day, many Malaysians could continue fondly the movie’s lead song when the tune is played and sing, “Chal chal mere haathi…” by rote without knowing a single Hindi word!

Catching a blockbuster movie was a real treat in the 1960s, 70s right up to the 80s in Penang, especially in George Town City.

Movies perhaps were the best and affordable entertainment treat then for families, couples, and even school pupils, who would catch up an afternoon matinee after school.

Life was simpler and cheaper back then.

For a mere 40 cents, we could escape into a make believe world, sitting front rows; with the screen literally in our faces.

As students, we could only afford the cheap tickets; and would steal to the empty seats in the first class rows about 20 minutes into the show.

That’s when the torch light wielding uncles (cinema hall attendants) go for their short breaks.

Back then, there were separate queues for men and women to purchase tickets.

Tickets were drawn from perforated booklets and a tailor’s dual colour pencil was used to mark out seats sold on a sheet of the cinema’s floor plan.

Blue ticks for men and red for women!

If you’re a single woman watching a movie alone, have no fear, the ticket seller would allocate a single seat just for you.

There were two such seats between the pillar and the aisle in then the Cathay cinema hall.

Such was an era for modesty.

Read more here…

An excerpt from online Malaysia Outlook

An excerpt from blogpost on SmartDory…

This is the best Asian wet market experience in George Town.  Wake up early for a true blue Penang experience of shopping at an authentic lively wet market. Watch the street vendors set up stall just before the crack of dawn. By 6am most of the roadside stalls would be set up with vans parked and goods offloaded.

Watch how the local housewives shop as they moved from stall to stall to do their marketing. Most of the shoppers and vendors know each other. It’s the daily chat and mingles they look forward to.

It’s worth the effort to walk through the market even if you don’t plan on buying anything. Just taking in the colours, smells and people watching is a great pastime.

FOOD CARTS

It is easy to find good and cheap food for breakfast in most outdoor food markets. There are five “kopitiam” (coffee shops) on Kuala Kangsar Road. These are hidden just behind the umbrella hawkers selling decent, affordable breakfasts.

I head to my two favourite breakfast food here. There is a popular Chee Cheong Fun cart which serves steamed flat rice noodle rolls is without any filling. The springy rice rolls are drizzled with oil and three types of sauces. The pungent prawn paste (hae ko), sweet red sauce (tee cheou), and chilli sauce.

Another breakfast favourite is the Chee Cheong Chok, a thick flavourful congee cooked with pig innards and blood cubes. This is topped with loads of white pepper, spring onions and chopped crispy deep-fried pig intestines.

I down that with ‘Kopi C’ a thick local coffee with thin evaporated milk. ‘Kopi‘ is local coffee with thick sweetened condensed milk. ‘Kopi O’ is just black coffee with sugar.

For a truly Malaysian experience, watch out for the motorcycles balancing containers and goods riding through the crowd of pedestrians and shoppers! Seriously no one seem to care as everyone just go on their own pace as they jostle for space on the narrow road.

Read more here… 

An excerpt from blogpost on SmartDory…

ANNUAL COOL WEATHER

Chiang Rai is famous for cool weather with the perfect climate for the pride of the Netherlands to bloom. The elevated terrain mountains are surrounded by hills, valleys, serene rivers, lakes, and green fields.

Chiang Rai city offers little diversity when it comes to nightlife. Without night entertainment and shopping malls, the charms of Chiang Rai lie in her floral festivals.

Smaller and quieter, the floral festival on the 4.5 acre grounds  a large variety of flowers. I saw petunias, lilies and the ageratum known as the Blue Hawaii. It is the tulips that steal the show. These blooms are colourful and showy in a riot colours. Orange, yellow, pink, red and magenta. This tulip farm is heady sight to behold.

The annual cool temperatures in Chiang Rai are the best time to visit Thailand.

Read more here…